GEOGRAPHY  FACTS

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, ice.), 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, Turkey, is the only city in the world located on two  continents.

Los  Angeles

Los  Angeles' full name 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 as of 2001 has a population of 80, 20 less people than  the Vatican.  It is a sovereign entity under international law,  just as the Vatican is.

Sahara  Desert

In  the Sahara Desert, there is a town named Tidikelt, Algeria, 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 rabbits.'

St.  Paul , Minnesota

St. Paul, Minnesota, was originally called Pig's Eye 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

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

I have always said, you should learn something new every day.  Unfortunately, many of us are at that age where what we learn today, we forget  tomorrow. But, give it a shot anyway.

In God We Trust!