there are many geography related facts that are straight up easy to believe simple and or pretty welln such as the Pacific Ocean being the largest ocean on the planet but what about the facts that are harder to believe facts that kind of make no sense at all facts that are somewhat counterintuitive and facts that might just change the way you look at our planet so in this video I've put together 30 random geography related facts that seemingly make no sense at all now you may be already aware of some of them but I guarantee at least a few will take you by surprise so enough yapping let's just jump straight into number one if you were to stretch out Norway's entire Coastline the world's 61st largest country it wouldn't just wrap around the planet once it could do it twice with some extra despair this mind-blowing length is stks to what is known as the coastline Paradox where all the tiny inlets and Jagged edges make no's Coastline the second longest on Earth number two there are more people that speak English in the Philippines than what live in the entirety of the UK an estimated 70 million people can speak English in the Philippines whereas the total population of the UK is around 69 or so million of that 69 million It is believed that around 64 million speak English number three so North Korea and Norway are found rather far away from one another right there must be dozens of countries separating the two well in one scenario this isn't actually true true it is in fact completely possible to travel from pongyang to Oslo by crossing a single country that country of course being Russia number four what do you think the closest US state is to Mainland Africa when you visualize a world map on your head it has to be Florida right that logically makes the most sense however it turns out that main tued away in the Northeast is in fact the closest US state to Mainland Africa at just over 5,000 km whereas Florida's closest point is some 1500 km further number five when you think of England SL theuk in terms of climate you probably imagine something like this gray overcast and rather miserable which for the most part is correct now if you're from a hot country this next sentence might make you giggle in order for a heatwave to be declared in parts of the UK the temperature must exceed 25° C for three consecutive days yeah guess you heard that right 25° C as cold as UK usually is the highest temperature ever recorded in the country was a crazy 40. 3 de C Which is higher than the highest recorded temperature in Malaysia Sri Lanka the Republic of Congo or Vanuatu places you most certainly associate with being very hot number six at an estimated 3. 3 million there are more native German speakers in Brazil than in Belgium Luxembourg and lichenstein combined where German is an official language if we include the United States and France Brazil still has more and whilst we're on the topic of the German language Germany must be the country with the highest percent of its population being native German speakers right it has to be well no it doesn't run first nor second first belongs to lichenstein with 91.
5% and then Austria at 88. 6 Germany ranks third with 84. 8 number seven Australia with around 300,000 has more camels than Egypt now when you think of camels which you probably don't do on a daily basis if you were to associate a country with the animal many people including myself would instantly think of Egypt however Egypt is nowhere near the country with the highest camel population although figures are rather unreliable numerous African countries have upwards of a million that's significantly more than Egypt number eight so this is Bolivia one of two landlocked countries found across the entire Americas at 1.
1 million km squared it's a pretty decently sized country however it doesn't have access whatsoever to any Seas or oceans yet quite unbelievably the country has the 19th highest amount of Warships on Earth at some 173 that's more than the likes of Spain Japan or Brazil Bolivia's Navy operates across its many river systems fighting against drug and people Smugglers as well as providing support and Aid to those in remote regions number nine if you were to split Russia into two by its European and Asian territory both would respectively easily still be the largest on the corresponding continent the Asian part of Russia would still be the largest country on earth now whilst on the topic of Russia its largest subdivision is sacka which uh nearly 3. 1 billion km squared would be the eighth largest country on Earth if it were to become its own independent country number 10 Bhutan is a peaceful country nestled away within the Himalayas it's a country that famously measures its progress by GNH that's gross national happiness as opposed to GDP around 3/4 of its population are Buddhist they tend to live a way of life that respects mindfulness Harmony and peace however in 2019 in its most recent participation the country ranked 95th out of 156 countries in the world happiness ranking index so take that index with a pinch of salt the index focuses on more modern quality of life elements rather than actual dayto day happiness of the inhabitants number 11 so China is somewhat seen as a rather non-religious country around 52% of its population identify as atheist that's not to say that many people don't follow certain religions in the country for example an estimated 2% of the population is said to be Christian a rather insignificant amount right well remember China's population is around 1. 4 billion meaning 2% equates to around 27 million people that's more than the entire population of Australia if China's 2% Christian population formed their own country they'd be around the 54th most populated country on Earth number 12 this is Indiana the 38th largest state in the US it's home to around 6.
9 million people and has a GDP of roughly $500 billion that's pretty impressive for a relatively small state right well what's even crazier is that Indiana's economy is actually larger than the entire GDP of the Philippines Vietnam or Bangladesh countries with populations of 115 100 and 170 million people respectively now this isn't to downplay those three economies they're all developing nations and growing at a solid Pace it's more about highlighting the sheer wealth of the US and how even a smallish State like Indiana packs such an economic punch number 13 all right this has to be one of the most counterintuitive facts of the video Alaska is both the US's most eastern SL Western State but how exactly well it's because part of Alaska crosses a line called the 18 th Meridian which splits the world into East and West this means that a tiny part of Alaska is technically in the Eastern hemisphere making it the most eastern state even though it's way out west on most Maps this means that Alaska stretches further into the West than Hawaii does and one that doesn't really make sense until you double check it on a world map number 14 this is San Marino one of the smallest countries on Earth in terms of population and land size it's population is around 33,500 yet unbelievably there are estimated to be 54,000 road vehicles in the country that's 1. 6 per person the highest on Earth for reference the US which is a very car Centric country has a rate about half of San marinos the reason why San Marino vehicle per capita is so high is because it's a rather wealthy hilly country with limited public transport meaning cars are almost essential for its res residence so we've now reached the halfway point with number 15 now this is quite a commonly spoken about fun geography fact as it defies all logic but I'm sure if you asked 100 random people on the street who France's longest borderers with pretty much no one would guess it correctly most people would likely guess Spain Belgium or maybe even Italy if their geography knowledge isn't up to scratch however it is in fact Brazil as French Guyana is a department of the French found in Northeast South America their border runs some 730 km which is over 100 km longer than its border with Spain number 16 the closest point of Earth's land to space is the summit of a mountain that doesn't even rank in the top 100 tallest mountains on Earth Mount chimazo stands at some 6,200 M tall about 1,000 M shorter than the 100 tallest mountain however due to mount Chim bazo's location and what is known as Earth's bulge the mountain protrudes out towards space further than any other point on Earth so whoever the tallest person to Summer this mountain is could technically be classed as the closest human to space whilst touching the earth's land number 17 now this one seriously took me by surprise we all know that Samsung is an absolute Behemoth of a global brand and that it's easily South Korea's largest company but just how important is Samsung to the country well the company is responsible for roughly 20% of the country's entire GDP Yes you heard that right 20% the company is the absolute backbone of the South Korean economy if it were to fail the country would see some serious consequences the CEO of Samsung is so important to the country he's sometimes regarded as being just as if not more important than the actual leader of the country number 18 this is qua an autonomous Spanish City that must be be found in Spain right or Europe for that matter well no this city is actually found on Mainland Africa it sits on the northern coast of Africa right next to Morocco overlooking the Mediterranean Sea the city was taken control of by the Spanish in 1580 and has remained Spanish ever since due to its importance for facilitating trade and military defense in the region number 19 Greenland and Iceland are sort of Neighbors just 330 km apart at their closest point but which one has more Forest cover with a name like Greenland you'd assume it' be the obvious winner however it's not even close Greenland has only around 2. 2 km squared of forested land Iceland on the other hand boasts around 1,800 km squ of forest which makes up around 1.
5% of the country number 20 Papu guine is named after a historic region found in Africa even though it's found some 14,000 km east of the Continental Mainland the name papa is believed to derive from aay word meaning frizzy head referring to the hair of the indigenous people New Guinea was used because the explorer who named the island thought the people of papano Guinea resembled those from the guinea region of West Africa particularly in their appearance thus giving us the name papano Guinea number 21 we all know that Chile is an extremely long but narrow country at its widest this point it measures just 350 km squared this means that if Chile were to somehow float across the Atlantic it could easily fit in the gap between Iceland and the Pharaoh Islands another Gap that it could slip through quite easily is the space between Mainland Africa and Madagascar number 22 a country's EZ or exclusive economic zone refers to the area around its territory that it claims for economic purposes such as drilling or fishing so which country do you think has the largest EZ claim you might think it's a giant like Russia or the us but it's actually a country that ranks 48th in the world for its size any guesses which country It is Well if you include all of this country's territorial claims it has an e totaling 11. 7 million km squared the country in question is France France of course owns numerous overseas territories around the world many of which are islands meaning the zones surrounding these islands belong to France number 23 Equatorial Guinea is a country found in Africa Western Central is to be precise now with a name like equatorial you'd assume that this country sits on the equator however this is simply not true Equatorial Guinea is in fact found just a little north of the equator line and has no land sitting directly on the equator itself a country that does get this right however is Ecuador whose name translates to Equator this country actually does lie on the equ equator as his territory is located directly on the imaginary line number 24 so Chicago is famously known as the windy city but why exactly is it because it receives a lot of wind well originally no it is absolutely true that Chicago is a rather windy place due to the prevailing winds coming from Lake Michigan but the original reason for it being given this name is due to the nickname given to politicians who were described as being windy meaning they were full of hot air often overly boasting about the city's greatness number 25 at 1,345 M Ben Nevis in Scotland is the UK's tallest mountain well kind of if we include all territory claimed by the UK then this mountain wouldn't even rank in the top 10 nor top 20 it would in fact rank as the 23rd tallest in this regard Mount Hope in British claimed Antarctica will be the tallest at 3,329 M number 26 so Antarctica is infamously home to the world's largest desert as its polar desert covers nearly 14 million km squar of land that's actually larger than the world's three largest sand deserts combined if we were to drop this desert into Europe it would easily engulf the entire continent plus another 4 million km squared so that would also include the entire Mediterranean and the Black Sea number 27 this is another one of those that you have to double check on a world map to make sure sure it's correct however if you drive directly south from Central Detroit where do you think you'll end up I mean The Logical answer would be Ohio as it's the state that is found south of Detroit and some of Michigan however the actual answer is Canada traveling directly south of some parts of downtown Detroit would take you into the Canadian city of Windsor number 28 this is Lake Bal located deep in Eastern Russia just north of the country's border with Mongol IA it's the largest freshwater lake on the planet by volume holding an incredible 20% of all unfrozen surface fresh water on Earth to put that in perspective it holds about as much water as North America's five Great Lakes combined those five lakes cover a massive area of around a quar of a million kilm squared compared to Lake by Cal's much smaller 31,700 km squared but how is this even possible well it all comes down to Lake by C's Extreme depth in some parts it plunges to an astonishing 1,600 M at its deepest point far deeper than any of the Great Lakes number 29 at around 1. 8 m the Maldives is the world's lowest lying country by average elevation this also gives it the crown as the world's flattest country the maximum height of the country is believed to be found here at just 5.
