Geography
10 Geography Facts That Will Change How You See the Map
10 facts · 5 min read
Maps and globes hide surprising details. These ten facts about oceans, lakes, deserts and countries are drawn from geography and earth science, and a few of them contradict what many people learn at school.
Background
Geography has two broad branches: physical geography, which studies landforms, climate and oceans, and human geography, which studies people, cities and cultures. Every flat map has to distort something, because a sphere cannot be flattened without stretching area, shape or distance. India's geography is remarkably varied, with the Himalayas in the north, the Gangetic plains, the Thar desert, the Deccan plateau and a coastline of about 7,500 kilometres including its islands. The Indian plate is still moving northwards by a few centimetres a year, pushing the Himalayas slowly higher.
1The deepest place in the ocean is almost 11 kilometres down
The Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean is about 10,900 metres deep, give or take a few dozen metres depending on the survey. If Mount Everest were placed inside it, its peak would still be more than a mile underwater.
2The Pacific Ocean is larger than all the land combined
The Pacific covers roughly 165 million square kilometres. All the continents and islands together add up to about 149 million square kilometres. It is the largest and deepest of Earth's oceans and holds more than half of the free water on the planet.
3The Dead Sea shore is the lowest land on Earth
The shore of the Dead Sea, between Israel, Jordan and the West Bank, lies more than 400 metres below sea level. The water is so salty that swimmers float easily. The lake has been shrinking in recent decades, which is a growing concern.
4Russia spans eleven time zones
Russia is the largest country in the world by area, and it stretches across eleven time zones. When people in Kaliningrad are having breakfast, people on the far eastern edge are already well into the next part of the day.
5Lake Baikal holds a fifth of the world's lake water
Lake Baikal in Siberia is the deepest lake on Earth, at about 1,600 metres, and is estimated to be around 25 million years old. It holds roughly 20% of the planet's unfrozen surface fresh water. It is also home to many species found nowhere else.
6Antarctica is a desert
A desert is defined by how little precipitation it gets, not by heat. Most of Antarctica receives very little snowfall, so it counts as the largest desert in the world. It also holds around 70% of Earth's fresh water, locked up as ice.
7Everest is not the tallest mountain from base to peak
Mount Everest is the highest above sea level at about 8,849 metres. But Mauna Kea in Hawaii rises over 10,000 metres from the ocean floor, with most of it hidden underwater. Which mountain is tallest depends on where you start measuring.
8Many world maps make countries look the wrong size
The common Mercator map was designed for ship navigation, and it stretches areas near the poles. Greenland looks as large as Africa on such maps, but Africa is actually around 14 times bigger. Many modern atlases now show more balanced projections.
9Indonesia is made of thousands of islands
Indonesia is the world's largest island country, with over 17,000 islands. Only a portion of them are inhabited. It lies along the Pacific Ring of Fire, which is why it has many active volcanoes and earthquakes.
10Canada has the longest coastline
Canada's coastline, including its countless islands, is by far the longest of any country, at more than 200,000 kilometres. That is far more than the distance around Earth at the equator, which is about 40,000 kilometres.
Common myths and misunderstandings
Mount Everest is the point closest to space
Everest is the highest above sea level, but Earth bulges at the equator. The summit of Chimborazo in Ecuador is the farthest point from the centre of the Earth.
Frequently asked questions
How many continents are there?
English-speaking countries usually teach seven, but some regions teach five or six, depending on how the Americas, Europe and Asia are grouped.
What is the longest river in the world?
It is traditionally the Nile, at around 6,650 kilometres, though some measurements make the Amazon longer, so experts still debate it.
Which country has the largest population?
India overtook China as the most populous country in 2023, according to United Nations estimates.
What is the smallest country?
Vatican City, at roughly 0.44 square kilometres.
What is the tallest waterfall?
Angel Falls in Venezuela, with a total height of about 979 metres.
Try this yourself
Open a map-comparison tool such as The True Size Of and drag India or Africa towards the poles to see how map distortion works. Then compare the same countries on a globe. It is a quick way to understand why flat maps can mislead.
A map is a flat picture of a round and complicated planet, so it always hides something. The more you read about geography, the more you notice how much there is left to explore.
Good places to verify geography facts: National Geographic, NOAA, the CIA World Factbook and the United States Geological Survey. Numbers are rounded and some figures vary between sources.