30 Geography Facts That Might Just Blow Your Mind

Kings of the jungle, lions once ruled the continent of Africa and were even present on the European continent, before they were driven out. According to official records, lions are extinct not only in Europe but also in 26 African countries. It’s sad to imagine how much of the lion population has been wipped out.

Second by size but first with the number of lakes, Canada outmatches every other nation with the number of lakes it has. A survey found that Canada has the most lakes per square kilometer in the entire world. Canada is home to an astounding 62% of the 1.42 million lakes globally, with a size greater than 0.1 square kilometers.

There are a lot of interesting facts surrounding the pyramids. The Giza pyramids are just some of the oldest pyramids in the world. In fact, Sudan has more ancient pyramids than Egypt.
 
Apparently, there are 138 pyramids in Egypt and 200–255 pyramids in Sudan. Interestingly, the pyramids in the latter were not built by ancient Egyptians, who may have moved further south.

Who likes mosquitoes? Probably no one. Lucky for you, Iceland is free of them. Although they are widespread in other nations, they aren’t in Iceland. Because of the chilly climate, mosquitoes can't enter Iceland and cannot deposit their eggs on the ground, preventing them from colonizing the island.

It seems that one person can make a town. Located in Nebraska, Monowi might be the smallest town in the United States. The only resident of Monowi, Nebraska, is 84-year-old Elsie Eiler, who pays her taxes and issues her alcohol license.

Time zones can be strange and create strange situations. The Diomede Islands are only separated by 4 km (2.4 mi), yet due to the International Date Line running across them, they are not only in different time zones but also 20 hours apart.

While Kentucky might be known today as being the homeplace of Kentucky whiskey, it is also a host to more caves than any other place on Earth. The longest cave system, known as Mammoth Cave National Park, is located in this east coast state. So get your gear, get those tickets and go explore (with a guide, of course) just how deep this state goes.

Iceland — the volcano nation. If you ever visit this island, be sure to visit the volcanic magma chamber that is open to tourists. A volcano's magma chamber is frequently referred to as its heart. That is where all the "bad stuff" happens. The only notable exception to this is the Þríhnúkagígur volcano, where the magma in the chamber appears to have vanished.

Australia might have the largest number of rocks within its borders, but Papua New Guinea takes the title of having the most languages, with 840 active languages. Second place goes to Indonesia, which has 711 surviving languages. Nigeria comes in third with 520 surviving languages.

In the KwaZulu-Natal Province of the Republic of South Africa, the Drakensberg of Royal Natal National Park is home to the complex of seasonal waterfalls known as Tugela Falls. With an uninterrupted leap of 411 m (1348.43 ft) and a total drop of 947 m (3106.96 ft), it may be the tallest waterfall on Earth, according to some measurements.

Antarctica is the largest desert? Something is not right. Sometimes, a desert is not only composed of sand. Deserts can be described as being a dryish place with no possibility to survive for a long period. By this description, Antarctica has one of the largest deserts on Earth. Interesting geography facts like these only showcase how Antarctica is unique as a continent. 

Situated on the entrance between the Black and Mediterranean seas, Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, but not the capital city. It is also located on two different continents — Europe and Asia. The city is united by a system of bridges, but both sides of the city are still quite different. The European side has banks and historical buildings, while the Asian side is a bit more relaxed.

Sequoia sempervirens, found in California's Redwood National Park, is the tallest tree still standing. The coast redwood, known as Hyperion, was found by Chris Atkins and Michael Taylor on August 25, 2006, and, in an effort to preserve it, its exact location is kept a closely-guarded secret.

Seeing an island in the ocean is a common thing to see, but what about a floating island on a lake? Well, Peru has a number of them. The world's highest navigable lake, Lake Titicaca, has a small area where the movable Uros Islands are located. It's safe to assume that nowhere else on the planet is like it.

When World War I came to an end, a lot of Australians returned home and took up local jobs to support themselves and their families. Some took up laying roads along the coast of Australia. One of the roads, completed in 1932 and spanning a total of 241.402 km (150 mi), became a memorial dedicated to fallen soldiers called the “Great Ocean Road”.

While the Sweden town of “Ö” takes the title of the shortest town name, Bangkok might take the title of the longest name with 163 letters. Ready? 
 
Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Yuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit. 
 
Try remembering that.

When the closest other person to you is an astronaut in space, then you know you are quite far from civilization. Point Nemo is as remote as remote can be. Whenever they fly over Point Nemo, astronauts on the International Space Station, which is 415.211 km (258 mi) distant, are the closest people to this point.

A simple volcano alone might be scary, but a supervolcano? Now, that is truly scary and amazing. Being the first natural park in the USA, Yellowstone is special. A big part of the park rests on top of a supervolcano. 
 
While the last time the Yellowstone supervolcano erupted was 640,000+ years ago, one might just wonder what kind of power and destruction lies beneath this park.

Jericho is the world's oldest continually inhabited city. This area belonged to the ancient city of Palestine, which was founded 9,000 years before Christ and is situated on the Jordan River. Jericho is not only the oldest city in the world, but it is also the lowest due to its location of 258 m (282.152 ft) below sea level.

4 million people live on the island, thus a lot of mail travels through Manhattan every day. The ZIP code system is essential to completing the enormous work of getting all that mail where it needs to go. It's interesting to note that 42 buildings in Manhattan have unique ZIP codes.

While Russia might be cold, how cold can it get on Earth overall? The Vostok station in Antarctica reported the lowest air temperature ever measured at the planet's surface on July 21, 1983, at 02:45 UT, with a reading of -89.2°C (-128.56°F). Due to its high susceptibility to marine air mass intrusions as Rossby wave activity shifts across the peninsula, the surface temperatures at Vostok station in the winter are highly changeable.

The super inception. Like a Russian Matryoshka doll, there is an island with a lake inside of it, which houses an island on it… which hosts a lake. Arguably one of the most awesome geography facts, these types of Inception -kinda islands are usually summed up and called simply recursive islands.

Nobody likes to fly or ride for a long time. It just becomes too boring to sit in one seat and just wait. The longest airline route in the world, from Singapore to New York, will be operated by Singapore Airlines from October. Approximately 15,322 km (9,521 mi) are covered over the route. Now that is quite a long flight!

The sunny state of Arizona is, well, sunny. Yuma, Arizona shines the brightest with 91 percent of the year's daylight hours, earning it the title of Sunniest City on Earth. You might appreciate the fact that the environment in this town is also the driest and least humid.

Ahh, the Amazon rainforest. The wonder of this world, a place where life thrives and plenty of species of animals exist. By current records, the Amazon rainforest hosts an astonishing 3,100 different animal species. One can just wonder what hides in the trees and leaves of this magnificent place.

Mt. Everest is called the highest mountain for having the highest peak, but it isn't the tallest mountain. If you were to measure a mountain from the very bottom of where it starts, the title of the tallest mountain would then go to Mauna Kea, which starts from the bottom of an ocean and reaches a total of 10,210 m (33497.375 ft).

Located on the continent of South America, it might surprise you just how huge Peru is when compared to a large European nation like Sweden. Peru is about 1,285,216 square kilometers larger than Sweden, which is about 450,295 square kilometers. It kind of makes you think just how small Sweden is.

The Mariana Trench, also known as Marianas Trench, is a deep sea trench that runs down the bottom of the western North Pacific Ocean. It is the deepest trench that is known to exist on Earth and is predominantly found to the east and south of the Mariana Islands. 
 
Challenger Deep, a minor valley with steep walls on the bottom of the main trench southwest of Guam, is where the greatest depths are found. Cool facts like these might make you want to take a swim in the ocean!

Australia's diameter is 600 km (372.82 mi) wider than the Moon's. While Australia's length from east to west is over 4000 km (2485.485 mi), the Moon's diameter is only 3400 km (2112.662 mi). Even though the Moon has a larger surface area than a spherical one, it is still rather beautiful.

With Japan being stuck on an island, the weather there gets crazy from time to time. The majority of the 312 inches of snow that falls in Aomori City each year occurs between November and April. Because of the city's chilly winter temperatures, colliding winds speed cloud formation, which leads to significant precipitation that falls as snow rather than rain. Unbelievable facts like these only boost the tourism sector of this town.