Nerd Geography Knowledge

[Kingpoleon]

Since we have one about animals, why not one about geography? Don't just mindlessly parade the knowledge, share it with each other and learn about it talk about favorite geographical oddities and all the weird geographical facts you may have built up in your life.

Hints:
1. Post intelligently.
2. You can talk about earlier geographical knowledge, preferably after the Napoleonic Wars.
3. Have fun!

Now my contribution to get the thread started: http://lizardpoint.com/geography/

Really fun! On my first try on test, it took me three minutes before I got all correct on europe.
So anyway, I find the fact funny that the USSR brought itself down and with it brought down russia. Russia in 1914 controlled most of poland, all of belarus, ukraine, lithuania, estonia, and latvia, not to mention Finland, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia. The modern parts of Asian countries Russia owned then weren't so clearly defined into modern borders/countries. But then the USSR took over, gained a bit more land, and then lost half of it in the Communist Fall of 1989-1994. I also know about borders in Europe post-Belgian Rebellion, the Long Peace after the Franco-Prussian War, and then the Rise to Power of the Axis borders.

Anybody who has geographical knowledge they wish to share can now post and discuss it here!

 

[Chou Toshio]

Cool--

Don't know if this counts as Geography, but did you know that the entirety of China has only 1 time zone? The entire country is set to Beijing standard time-- so if you live out on the other end of the country, you just get used to the sun rising at 2am and setting 1pm I guess-- lol

 

[Cresselia~~]

The Philippines is made up of over 7000 islands

 

[Brap]

You know that film about Volcanoes in California?

Yeah that could never happen because the type of tectonic plate West USA is on only produces earthquakes.

 

[Myzozoa]

we have 5 active volcanoes in california, for your information:

http://www.seismic.ca.gov/volcano.html

 

[Brap]

Oh crap, think I meant New York and East USA then or something like that.

Lol fail.

(That's probably why I didn't take geography any further than high school)

 

[doublenikesocks]

You know that film about Volcanoes in California?

Yeah that could never happen because the type of tectonic plate West USA is on only produces earthquakes.

California is very volcanically active. I bet we have more active or dormant volcanoes than any other US state, excluding alaska. Oregon being the other one with perhaps more.

Also, did you know that the Long Valley caldera is one of the most powerful volcanoes on the planet?

 

[Codraroll]

Looking at the map, it's quite easy to see that Canada has the world's longest coastline, if you count every island and inlet. But the second longest? Actually, that's Norway.

(This varies a little between sources. According to the National Norwegian bureau of statistics, Norway claims a coastline of roughly 101 000 kilometres. Wikipedia operates with other numbers, and some measurements gives both the US and Russia longer coastlines too. Still, Norway's size-to-coastline ratio is pretty impressive).

 

[billymills]

How do you measure coastline length?

 

[Codraroll]

^That's a bit of a problem, actually. The shorter the ruler you use, the more inlets you find, and the longer the coast will be measured as. Some decide to exclude islands from the count, some count tidal areas where others don't, and so forth. It's hard to get an accurate measurement, but a list can be made nonetheless if everybody measure using the same method.

 

[Zukai]

Lake Baikal in Russia has 20% of the unfrozen fresh water in the world, it has the largest volume of any lake in the world despite only the 7th largest surface area.
Only two countries are doubly landlocked (They only border other landlocked countries), they are Uzbekistan and Liechtenstein.
France has 12 different Time zones, ranging from -10 GMT, up to +12 GMT.

 

[Codraroll]

Other fun fact: There is actually just one country between Norway and North Korea. By land, there are also fewer country borders to cross between China and Norway, than between China and Malaysia.

 

[Kingpoleon]

Fun Fact: The Western Hemisphere above Panama and on the mainland used to have only 3 countries with their capital THERE: The United States of Central America, Mexico, and the USA. The only other countries with colonies there were Russia (Alaska), UK (Belize and Canada), and France (a tiny island a couple hundred of square miles off the coast of Canada).
Fun Fact: The smallest countries in the world are all in Europe: Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Cyprus, North Cyprus, Vatican City, Monaco, San Marino, and Andorra.
Edit: This requires Hong Kong to be considered a part of China, which it is in all but law.

 

[Trax]

The French Republic has a land border with Brazil.

 

[Kingpoleon]

The French Republic has a land border with Brazil.

In fact, if my memory serves me correctly, it has the only remaining colony on the mainland of any continent. Colony meaning a part of a nation on a different continent of its own, not like the UK's Gibraltar.

 

[Trax]

In fact, if my memory serves me correctly, it has the only remaining colony on the mainland of any continent. Colony meaning a part of a nation on a different continent of its own, not like the UK's Gibraltar.

I believe that's correct if you do not count the Antarctic territories.

 

[Kingpoleon]

I believe that's correct if you do not count the Antarctic territories.

Antartican colonies are illegal by the 1959 International Pact.

 

[Limi]

Fun Fact: The smallest countries in the world are all in Europe: Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Cyprus, North Cyprus, Malta, Monaco, San Marino, and Andorra.
Edit: This requires Hong Kong to be considered a part of China, which it is in all but law.

Wrong. By area, the 10 smallest independent countries are (in order) Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, San Marino, Liechtenstein, Marshall Islands, St. Kitts and Nevis, Maldives and Malta. Andorra only follows at #17, Luxembourg at #28, and even if you split North and South Cyprus, they're #30 and #34, respectively. You'd be surprised at how many small island nations there are in the Carribean and in Oceania, plus other small island nations like the Seychelles or Singapore!

Lake Baikal in Russia has 20% of the unfrozen fresh water in the world, it has the largest volume of any lake in the world despite only the 7th largest surface area.

Actually, the Caspian Sea holds 3.3x as much water as Lake Baikal, but is also 11.8x as large (and a saltwater lake). Lake Baikal beats out all other lakes in terms of volume though, including all 5 great lakes together, as well as the fucking Baltic Sea (actually a sea this time), which is even a bit larger than the Caspian Sea.

 

[jumpluff]

When posting facts that involve some sort of comparative measure, please specify what that is (area/population/whatever) as Limi did.

 

[gvmgvm40]

The French Republic has a land border with Brazil.

Netherlands has a land border with France, too.

Lesotho is the country with the highest lowest point.

 

[Kingpoleon]

Wrong. By area, the 10 smallest independent countries are (in order) Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, San Marino, Liechtenstein, Marshall Islands, St. Kitts and Nevis, Maldives and Malta. Andorra only follows at #17, Luxembourg at #28, and even if you split North and South Cyprus, they're #30 and #34, respectively. You'd be surprised at how many small island nations there are in the Carribean and in Oceania, plus other small island nations like the Seychelles or Singapore!

Actually, the Caspian Sea holds 3.3x as much water as Lake Baikal, but is also 11.8x as large (and a saltwater lake). Lake Baikal beats out all other lakes in terms of volume though, including all 5 great lakes together, as well as the fucking Baltic Sea (actually a sea this time), which is even a bit larger than the Caspian Sea.

I didn't clarify. Mainland nations, and I forgot Vatican City. North Cyrorus and Cyprus each cover part of an island only, and thus cannot be classified as island nations.
Plopper : I'm 99.999% sure the Netherlands don't still own any of continental South America. Where are you talking about?

 

[billymills]

Please post links or sources if your facts are not easily verifiable. I think Plopper is talking about Saint Martin.

 

[Diana]

The northernmost point of land in the world is actually in Denmark, thanks to Greenland.

One of my favorites: The most populated country that primarily speaks French isn't France. It's the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

 

[Trax]

One of my favorites: The most populated country that primarily speaks French isn't France. It's the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

While this is technically correct, there are vastly more people in France who primarily speak French.

 

[Kingpoleon]

The northernmost point of land in the world is actually in Denmark, thanks to Greenland.

One of my favorites: The most populated country that primarily speaks French isn't France. It's the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Isn't Greenland semi-autonomous from the Danish government and it puts it's taxes into the local government directly, unlike America where it goes through the national government that then spreads it out to the country as a whole, rather than each state towards itself? Greenland is more autonomous than Puerto Rico, which isn't considered a true "part of America" by the majority of the population. In fact, most are surprised Puerto Ricans can vote. Greenland is slowly drifting towards independence peacefully. I may be wrong, but I keep decently-informed on European geopolitics, even if Denmark isn't my strong suit.
Edit: Source: http://www.stm.dk/_a_2957.html