Absolutely Useless Geography Facts
The United States would fit into the continent of Africa three and a half times.
The Sahara Desert comprises an area as large as Europe. It's total land mass is some 3,565,565 square miles.
All continents, with the exception of Antarctica, are wider in the north than in the south.
Florida is not the southernmost state in the United States. Hawaii is farther south.
The principality of Monaco consists of only 370 acres.
More than 25 percent of the world's forests are in Siberia.
The town of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, is closer to the equator than it is to the North Pole.
The precise geographical center of the North American Continent is in a town called Rugby, North Dakota.
There are sand dunes in Arcachon, France, that are 360 feet high.
Panama (because of a bend in the isthmus) is the only place in the world where one can see the sun rise on the Pacific Ocean and set on the Atlantic.
For 186 days a year the sun is not seen at the North Pole.
Of the 3,000 Islands in the Bahama chain in the Caribbean, only 20 are inhabited.
Israel is one-quarter the size of the state of Maine.
The Hawaiian Islands are the projecting tops of the biggest mountain range in the world. Mauna Kea, on the island of Hawaii and part of this range, is the largest mountain on Earth—through partially submerged, its full height from base to crown is 33,476 feet, some 4,000 feet taller than Mount Everest.
The distance from Honolulu to New York is greater than the distance from Honolulu to Japan.
Jacksonville, Florida, has the largest total area of any city in the United States. It takes in 460 square miles, almost twice the area of Los Angeles.
Question: If one were to drive from Los Angeles, California, to Reno, Nevada, in which direction would he be going, east or west? Answer: West. (Check the map)
In the northern Hemisphere water goes down drains counterclockwise. In the Southern Hemisphere it goes down clockwise.
Saudi Arabia, which contains one of the largest expanses of desert in the world and through which great camel caravans have traveled for centuries, must import both sand and camels. River sand is sent to Arabia by the ton from Scotland for use in construction; desert sands are not suitable for building purposes. And since camel herds are dwindling in Arabia, camels must be imported from North Africa.
The King Ranch in Texas is bigger than the state of Rhode Island. It comprises 1.25 million acres and was the first ranch in the world to be completely fenced in. At one time its borders were guarded by armed patrol.