Geography Trivia
Africa
• Africa is the world's
second-largest and second
most-populous continent, after Asia.
• Although it has abundant natural resources, Africa remains the
world's poorest and most
underdeveloped continent, due to a variety of causes that may include the spread of deadly
diseases, government corruption, failed central planning, high levels of illiteracy, lack of access to
foreign capital, and frequent tribal and military conflict.
•
In some African states
half or more of the
population is under 25
years of age.
•
By most estimates, well
over a thousand
Africa
• The Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt was the world's tallest structure for 4,000 years, until the completion of Lincoln
Cathedral around the year 1300. • Islam is the largest religion in
Africa, followed by Christianity. According to Encyclopedia
Britannica, 45% of the
population are Muslims, 40% are Christians and less than 15% are non-religious or follow African religions.
• Kilimanjaro is the highest
mountain in Africa at 19,334 feet .
• Mount Kenya is the
second highest at 17,057 feet.
• The Nile River in Egypt is
Africa
• Nigeria has the highest
population of any African country, while Lagos ,
Nigeria is the largest city followed by Cairo, Egypt.
• Around 60 percent of
African workers are employed by the
agricultural sector, with
North America
• North America is the third-largest continent in area,
following Asia and Africa, and the fourth in population after Asia, Africa, and Europe.
• With various climate zones, agricultural products vary from country to country. Job sectors are also different, with
industrialized countries having more service workers, and
developing countries relying on agriculture.
• Economically, Canada and
the United States are the wealthiest and most
developed nations on the continent, followed by Mexico, a newly
industrialized country; the countries of Central America and the
North America
• In Mexico and the Central
American countries where civilizations like the Maya developed, indigenous
people preserve traditions across modern boundaries.
• Canada and the United
States have a similar culture and similar traditions as a result of both countries being former British
colonies.
• Spanish-speaking North
America shares a common past as former Spanish
North America
• Demographically, North
America is a racially and ethnically diverse
continent. Major influences include:
European, African, Asian, and Native American
cultures.
• The prevalent languages in
North America are English, Spanish, and French.
•
Mexico City is the most
populous city in North
America.
North America
• Mount McKinley or
Denali (Athabaskan for "The High One") in
Alaska, USA is the highest mountain peak in North America at 20,320 feet.
• The Mississippi-Missouri
Middle/Central America
• The region is geologically
active, with volcanic
eruptions and earthquakes occurring from time to time.
• Unofficially, Middle America
marks the territorial
transition between North America and South America, connecting yet separating the two.
•
Traditionally, Central
America is a region
formed by six Latin
American countries and
one Anglo American
nation (Belize).
•
Agriculture is very
important in Central
American and
Middle/Central America
•
Central America has
many mountain ranges.
•
Between the mountain
ranges lie fertile valleys
that are suitable for the
people; in fact most of
the population of
Honduras, Costa Rica
and Guatemala live in
valleys.
• Services (health,
government, law, education, retail,
tourism…) in the Caribbean make up a large part of
employment.
• Tourism is extremely
important for the
Middle/Central America
• The Panama Canal is a 48 mi
ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean.
• It was one of the largest and
most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken, the canal had an enormous impact on shipping between the two oceans.
• The canal was started by the
French in 1880 but was abandoned after 21,900 workers died, largely from disease.
• The U. S. launched a second
effort, incurring a further 5,600 deaths but succeeded in opening the canal in 1914.
• The U.S. controlled the canal
South America
•
South America ranks
fourth in area (after
Asia, Africa, and North
America) and fifth in
population (after Asia,
Africa, Europe, and
North America).
• South America is home to
the world's highest
waterfall, Angel Falls in Venezuela.
• It is home to the largest
river (by volume), the Amazon River.
• It has the longest mountain
range, the Andes (whose highest mountain is
South America
•
South America is home
to the driest place on
earth, the Atacama
Desert.
•
It is also home to the
largest rainforest, the
Amazon Rainforest.
•
South America is one of
the most biodiverse
continents on earth.
•
Brazil is the largest
country in both size
and population.
•
The three largest cities
in South America are:
São Paulo, Brazil,
Buenos Aires,
South America
• Spanish (194,600,100
speakers) and Portuguese (191,480,600) are the
most spoken languages in South America.
• An estimated 90% of
South Americans are Christians (82% Roman Catholic, 9% other
Christian denominations), accounting for 19% of
Middle East
• The Middle East (or,
formerly more common, the
Near East) is a region that encompasses southwestern Asia and Egypt.
• In some contexts, the term
has recently been expanded in usage to sometimes
include Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Caucasus and Central Asia, and North
Africa.
• The Middle East is home to
numerous ethnic groups.
• The Middle East is very
diverse when it comes to religions, many of which originated there.
• Islam in its many forms is by
far the largest religion in the Middle East, but other
faiths, such as Judaism and Christianity, are also
Middle East
• The Middle East generally
has an arid and hot climate, with several
major rivers providing for irrigation to support
agriculture in limited areas.
• Many countries located
around the Persian Gulf have large quantities of crude oil.
• The three top languages,
in terms of numbers of speakers, are Arabic, Persian and Turkish.
• Middle Eastern
economies range from being very poor (such as Gaza and Yemen) to
extremely wealthy
Middle East
•
The Fertile Crescent is
located in the Middle
East.
•
The region is often
Asia
• Asia is the world's largest
and most populous continent.
• It covers 8.6% of the
Earth's total surface area (or 29.9% of its land area) and with approximately 4 billion people, it hosts
60% of the world's current human
population.
•
The wealth of Asia
differs very widely
among and within its
regions, due to its vast
size and huge range of
different cultures,
environments,
historical ties and
Asia
•
China has the largest
economy on the
continent and the
second largest in the
world.
•
It is also the largest in
Asia (second in the
world) in terms of
purchasing power.
• Asia is the largest
continent in the world by a considerable margin, and it is rich in natural resources, such as petroleum, forests, fish, water, rice, copper
and silver.
• Manufacturing in Asia has
Asia
• Most Asian countries have
more than one language that is natively spoken. For
instance, according to
Ethnologue, more than 600 languages are spoken in Indonesia, more than 800
languages spoken in India, and more than 100 are spoken in the Philippines.
• China has many languages and
dialects in different provinces.
• Asia is the birthplace of
most of the world's mainstream religions.
• China has the largest
population in the world, followed by India.
• The three largest cities in
Europe
• Land relief in Europe shows
great variation within relatively small areas.
• Europe lies mainly in the
temperate climate zones. The climate is milder in comparison to other areas of the same latitude
around the globe due to the influence of the Gulf Stream.
• Four seasons occur in western Europe, while southern Europe experiences a wet season and a dry season.
• The main natural vegetation cover in Europe is mixed forest. • Probably eighty to ninety per
cent of Europe was once covered by forest.
Europe
•
As a continent, the
economy of Europe is
currently the largest on
Earth and it is the richest
region as measured by
assets under
management with over
$32.7 trillion compared
to North America's
$27.1 trillion in 2008.
• The majority religion in
Europe is Christianity as practiced by Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Protestant Churches.
• Following these is Islam. • European countries have
Europe
• The culture of Europe can
be described as a series of overlapping cultures; cultural mixes exist
across the continent.
• London is the largest city
by population in Europe, while alongside New York City, London is
Nations of the Former Soviet Union
• The Soviet Union, with
8,649,500 sq mi, was the world's largest state.
• Covering a sixth of the
world's inhabited land, its size was comparable to that of North America.
• The western part (in Europe)
accounted for a quarter of the country's area, and was the country's cultural and economic center.
• The eastern part (in Asia)
extended to the Pacific Ocean to the east and
Afghanistan to the south, and was much less
populated than the European part.
• It covered eleven time
zones.
• The Soviet Union had the
Nations of the Former Soviet Union
•
The longest river in the
region is the Irtysh
River in Russia (Siberia).
•
The highest mountain is
Ismoil Somoni Peak in
Tajikistan.
•
The world's largest
lake, the Caspian Sea,
lay mainly in the Soviet
Union.
• The world's deepest lake, Lake
Baikal, is found in Russia (Second largest, oldest, largest
freshwater).
• The Soviet Union was one of the world's most ethnically diverse countries, with more than 100 distinct ethnic groups within its borders.
Chernobyl Disaster
• The disaster is a nuclear
accident that happened in the Soviet Union (now
Ukraine) on 4/26/86.
• It is considered the worst
nuclear power plant accident in history.
• The first and only (as of
3/19/11) accident classified as level 7 (out of seven; the highest) on the International Nuclear Event Scale.
• It started as a systems test
at reactor 4.
• There was a sudden power
surge.
• Attempted shutdown. • Extreme power spike. • Reactor vessel rupture. • Series of explosions. • Fire.
• Fallout and exposure to
Chernobyl Disaster
•
The deaths from the
accident are difficult to
confirm; 4,000 to close
to a million.
•
In total, some 200,000
people were relocated
as a result of the
accident (
www.iaea.org
, FACs).
• On April 27, 1986, unusually high
levels of radiation were detected in workers' clothing at the
Forsmark Nuclear Power Plant, in Forsmark, Sweden, prompting concerns of a radiation leak. No leak was found, however, and the radiation was subsequently determined to have originated from Chernobyl, where the explosion had happened the previous day. Chernobyl is
Chernobyl Disaster
•
The remaining reactors
were used until 1991,
1996, and 2000.
•
People still work at the
plant.
Aral Sea
•
This is one of the most
insane stories involving
geography (my words)!
•
The Aral Sea, found
between Kazakhstan
and Uzbekistan, was
once (up until 1960)
the fourth largest lake
in the world.
• Dams built by the Soviet
Union to create a cotton industry in the desert
began to cause the sea to shrink.
• By 2007, the Aral Sea had
lost 90% of its size.
• There are efforts to save
the North Aral Sea, but the South Aral Sea is
Aral Sea
•
Obviously, this is
considered “one of the
planet's worst
environmental
Australia/Oceania/Antarctica
• For at least 40,000 years
before European settlement in the late 18th century,
Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians.
• Australia is a country in the
Southern Hemisphere
comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and
numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
•
After discovery by Dutch
explorers in 1606,
Australia's eastern half
was claimed by Britain in
1770 and initially settled
through penal
transportation to the
colony of New South
Australia/Oceania/Antarctica
•
A prosperous
developed country,
Australia is the world's
thirteenth largest
economy.
•
It is the world's
smallest continent and
the sixth largest
country by area.
• Australia is the flattest
continent,with the oldest and least fertile soils.
• Australia is home to many
dangerous animals including some of the
most venomous snakes in the world.
• About 90% of the people
Australia/Oceania/Antarctica
• Oceania is a region
centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean.
• The predominant religion
in Oceania is Christianity.
• In recent Australian and
New Zealand censuses, large proportions of the population say they
belong to "No religion“.
• Antarctica is Earth's
southernmost continent, it is the fifth-largest continent in area, and about 98% of Antarctica is covered by ice that averages at least 1.6 km (1.0 mi) in thickness.
• Antarctica has no
Australia/Oceania/Antarctica
• Antarctica, on average, is
the coldest, driest, and windiest continent, and has the highest average elevation of all the
continents. Antarctica is considered a desert, with annual precipitation of only 200 mm (8 inches) along the coast and far less inland.
• There are no permanent
human residents, but anywhere from 1,000 to 5,000 people reside
throughout the year at the research stations scattered across the continent.
• Only cold-adapted plants
