Geography fun facts and oddities
Geography fun facts & oddities
page organization t.b.a.
- just a collection of facts and oddities for how
Geography fun facts
- Pitcaren Islands in Polynesia, are the least populated political entity in the world (67 residents)
- Vatican City, for example, has 825 residents
- Rio de la Plata is the widest river in the world (max width: 140 mi)
- the Rio de la Plata is considered a river, estuary, gulf or "marginal sea"
- it is fed by the Uruguay and Parana rivers at Punta Gorda ("fat point"
Geography oddities
sink holes
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- Thor's Well: a sinkhole on the coast of Cape Perpetua, Oregon, that drains at high tides
Enclaves & Exclaves
- see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enclave_and_exclave
- enclave = a country or territory that is entirely surrounded by another country or territory
- "enclave" is derived from the Latin "inclavare" for "to close with a key," meaning one property that is entirely surrounded by another proprerty
- nation state enclaves:
- Vatican City (within Italy)
- San Marino (within Italy)
- Losotho (within South Africa)
- semi-enclave states are surrounded by another states by land but also have a water border, such as:
- Monaco (surrounded by France and the Mediterranean Sea)
- The Gambia (surrounded by Senegal and the Atlantic Ocean)
- Brunei (surrounded by the Malaysian state, Sarawak, and the South China Sea)
- several other enclave states exist politically independent but are not recognized officially as independent nations
- click on EXPAND to see list of nation state enclaves
- exclave = a territory or part of a country that is separated from the main country or territory
- examples
Geographic extremes
Largest & smallest nations, Highest & lowest populations
Africa
- Algeria is the largest country in Africa
- The Gambia is the smallest country in mainland Africa
- The Gambia is a semi-enclave surrounded by Senegal and the Atlantic Ocean
- Seychelles is the smallest country in Africa, including islands
- Nigeria has the highest population in Africa
- Ethiopia as the 2nd highest population
- Djibouti has the lowest population in mainland Africa
- Seychelles has the lowest population in Africa among independent nations (territories excluded) and including island states
- Saint Helena the lowest population in Africa, including island states and semi-independent territories
- Seychelles has the second lowest population in Africa, including island states and territories
Asia
Australia
- Australia is the largest and the smallest country in Australia
- Australia is the only country to entirely occupy a continent
Directional extremes (north, south, east, west)
United States
- northernmost state in the continental U.S.: Minnesota
- northernmost point in the continental U.S.: Northwest Angle, Minnesota, known as "The Angle"
- when negotiating the US-Canadian border following the American Revolution (Treaty of Paris, 1783), negotiators used an inaccurate map of the border of present-day Minnesota and Canada, and thereby included the northwest portion of the Lake of the Woods as the border, while it actually lies within Canadian territory
- thus The Angle is one of six "practical exclaves" of the U.S., as it is only accessible by land via Canada
- in 2010, it's population was 119
- see: Northwest Angle (wiki)
- Click EXPAND to read more about the Northwest Angle