Fascinating Geographical Factoids

Alaska

More than half of the coastline of the entire United States is in Alaska . 

Amazon 

  
The Amazon rainforest produces more than 20% the world's oxygen supply.
  
The Amazon River pushes so much water into the Atlantic Ocean that, more than one hundred miles at sea off the mouth of the river, one can dip fresh water out of the ocean.  The volume of water in the Amazon river is greater than the next eight largest rivers in the world combined and three times the flow of all rivers in the United States.

Antarctica 

  
Antarctica is the only land on our planet that is not owned by any country.
  
Ninety percent of the world's ice covers Antarctica . This ice also represents seventy  percent of all the fresh water in the world. As strange as it sounds, however, Antarctica is essentially a desert. The average yearly total precipitation is about two inches Although covered with ice (all but 0.4% of it), Antarctica is the driest place on the planet, with an absolute humidity lower than the Gobi desert.

Brazil

Brazil got its name from the nut, not the other way around.

Canada

Canada has more lakes than the rest of the world combined. 

"Canada" is an Indian word meaning ' Big Village .' 

Chicago

Next to Warsaw, Chicago has the largest Polish population in the world.

Detroit

Woodward Avenue in Detroit, Michigan, carries the designation M-1, so named because it was the first paved road anywhere. 

Damascus, Syria

Damascus, Syria, was flourishing a couple of thousand years before Rome was founded in 753 BC, making it the oldest continuously inhabited city in existence.

Istanbul, Turkey

Istanbul is the only city in the world located on two continents.

Los Angeles

The full name of Los Angeles is El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula -- and can be abbreviated to 3.63% of its size: L.A. 

New York City

The term "The Big Apple" was coined by touring jazz musicians of the 1930's who used the slang expression "apple" for any town or city. Therefore, to play New York City is to play the big time - The Big Apple.

There are more Irish in New York City than in Dublin, Ireland; more Italians in New York City than in Rome, Italy; and more Jews in New York City than in Tel Aviv, Israel. 

Ohio

  
There are no natural lakes in the state of Ohio , everyone is manmade.

Pitcairn Island

  
The smallest island with country status is Pitcairn in Polynesia, at just 1.75 sq. miles/4,53 sq. km.

Rome

The first city to reach a population of 1 million people was Rome, Italy in 133 B.C.  

There is a city called Rome on every continent.

Siberia

Siberia contains more than 25% of the world's forests.

S.M.O.M. 

The actual smallest sovereign entity in the world is the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (S.M..O.M). It is located in the city of Rome, Italy, has an area of two tennis courts, and has a population of 80 (20 less people than the Vatican).  It is a sovereign entity under international law, just as is the Vatican. 

The Sahara 

"Sahara" means "desert", so to say "the Sahara Desert," you're actually saying, "the Desert Desert."

There is a town named Tidikelt, Algeria in the Sahara which did not receive a drop of rain for ten years.

Technically though, the driest place on Earth is in the valleys of the Antarctic near Ross Island . There has been no rainfall there for two million years.

Spain

  
Spain literally means "The Land of the Rabbits." 

St. Paul, Minnesota

  
St. Paul was originally called Pig's Eye. It was named after a man named Pierre "Pig's Eye" Parrant who set up the first business there.

Roads

Chances that a road is unpaved in the U.S.A: 1%, in Canada: 75% 

Russia

  
The deepest hole ever drilled by man is the Kola Superdeep Borehole, in Russia. It reached a depth of 12,261 meters (about 40,226 feet or 7.62 miles). It was drilled for scientific research and gave up some unexpected discoveries, one of which was a huge deposit of hydrogen - so massive that the mud coming from the hole was "boiling" with it.

United States

  
The Eisenhower interstate system requires that one-mile in every five must be straight. These straight sections are usable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies. 
                                                  

Waterfalls

Angel Falls in Venezuela is the World's highest waterfall.) The water drops 3,212 feet (979 meters) and is 15 times higher than Niagara Falls.


(Thanks, Billy)