10 Solid Minutes of Geography & Culture Facts

so i got the idea for this video from austin mcconnell's useless information series and with these bits of random geographic country and regional information collected with the help of my 8th grade students i put together this video 10 solid minutes of geography facts let's go ahead and begin at a distance of 1 620 miles to the closest coastline the indian ocean kyrgyzstan is the most landlocked country in the world the national flag of nepal is the world's only national flag that is non-quadrilateral in shape libya's flag was completely green from 1977 to 2011. the flag of mozambique includes the image of an ak-47 and is the only national flag in the world to feature a modern rifle amsterdam has a maritime event that occurs every five years called sail amsterdam where tall ships from all over the world come to participate in the event this event was organized for the first time in 1975 to celebrate the 700th anniversary of amsterdam between russia and the u.s state of alaska lies the bering strait when it freezes up in the winter you can journey across with 3.8 kilometers being the shortest end in 2006 two adventures set out from alaska to cross the frozen path on foot it took them 15 days before they were detained in russia for violating immigration laws located in the rainforest of indonesia is the world's largest flower the reflacia arnaldi it can grow to be 3 feet across and weigh up to 15 pounds the number 4 is widely avoided in many east and southeast asian countries as it often sounds too similar in their respective native languages for the word for death often times the fourth floor and number four for house numbers are skipped japan is home to the oldest company in the world and japan also has no melt ice cream sierra lyon is the roundest country on earth and egypt is the squarest iceland is often called the land of ice and fire about 11 of the country is covered in glaciers at the same time it is home to 32 volcanic systems encompassing around 130 volcanic mountains thanks to the cold temperatures and lack of shallow ponds iceland also does not have mosquitoes iceland sits where the eurasian and american tectonic plates meet these plates are moving apart causing the country to grow by about five centimeters per year you can actually swim between these two plates india has over three hundred thousand moss and two million hindu temples one of which is home to 25 000 rats legend has it that karni mata an incarnation of a hindu warrior goddess implored yama the hindu god of death to revive her son who had drowned yama first refused but eventually relented permitting karni mata's son and all of her male children to be reincarnated as rats eating food that has been nibbled on by one of these rats is considered a high honor less than 200 kilometers away is the taj mahal it was commissioned in 1632 and completed in its entirety in 1653 it is estimated that at the time to have cost around 32 million rupees which in 2021 would be around 70 million rupees or just over 900 million us dollars a village in india named shani shingnapur has no doors on any of their homes only door frames despite this there have been next to no reports of theft there has not been an official recording of a criminal act for almost 400 years although there has been two thefts reported once in 2010 by a tourist that claimed items were stolen from his car and a second incident in 2011 involving gold ornaments however the local villagers claim that both incidents took place outside of the village moscow russia has more billionaires per capita than any other city in the world russia is also home to the longest railway in the world the trans-siberian railway it stretches 9289 kilometers or 5772 miles starting with the capital of moscow and ends at vladivostok chimborazo an inactive volcano located in ecuador standing at just over 20 000 feet is the farthest point from the earth's center despite mount everest being over 29 000 feet above sea level this is due to chimborazo being located on the equatorial bulge which occurs due to the earth's rotation though mount everest is the tallest from sea level chimborazo is closer to the moon and the stars in space pheasant island a tiny island located on the bizarre river switches sovereignty every six months between france and spain this tradition began in 1659 as a symbol of peace between the two nations at the conclusion of the franco-spanish war in 2021 for the fourth year running finland has come out on top as the happiest country on earth in the annual list powered by data from the gallup world poll with iceland denmark switzerland and the netherlands following in second third fourth and fifth positions respectively the entire country of liechtenstein could be rented for seventy thousand dollars a night in the 2010s this included customized street signs temporary currency and hanging out with a monarchy snoop dogg before had asked to rent the country for a music video but the government was unprepared sri lanka was not an island until 1480 when a cyclone broke the land bridge connecting it to modern day india italy has 55 unesco world heritage sites the most of any country singapore is home to a lucas film facility that was inspired by the star wars sand crawler though china is about the same size as the continental usa it only has one official time zone continental united states has four china also produces at least 45 billion chopsticks each year the tallest point within the netherlands proper is only 322 meters or 1058 feet however the tallest point in the kingdom of the netherlands is 887 meters or 2910 feet and is located in the caribbean reno nevada is farther west than los angeles california colorado doesn't have four sides but 697 meaning it's not a rectangle but a i'm not even going to try to pronounce this the name idaho is a made-up word it was first suggested to congress by a man named george willing willing claimed that the name was derived from a shoshone term meaning the sun comes from the mountains or gem of the mountains but it was revealed later that there was no such term and willing claimed that he had been inspired to coin the name when he met a little girl named ida since the name appeared to be fabricated the u.s congress ultimately decided to name the area colorado territory but it was too late by the time this decision was made the name was being used throughout the region kaskaska illinois the state's first capital is the only known town in illinois west of the mississippi river but it didn't used to be changes in the river's direction and depth destroyed the town with floods what was left was cut off from the mainland illinois in 1818 over 7 000 people lived in kaskaskia by 2000 it was nine brazil shares the iguazu falls the largest waterfall system in the world with argentina there are 275 waterfalls in this waterfall system new york city is home to multiple former tallest buildings in the world the empire state building being one of them it stands at 443 meters tall it includes 102 floors and 73 elevators and it was constructed in 1930 it lost its status as the tallest building in the world in 1971 when the world trade center was built landmines pose a major threat in cambodia especially in rural areas the nearly three decades of war that raged in the country in the 60s through the 80s left vast parts of the nation riddled with millions of these landmines and other explosives yet to be removed producing 24 percent of the world's total in 2019 vietnam is the world's largest exporter of pepper thailand is home to the largest gold buddhist statue in the world the statue is three meters tall and weighs five and a half thousand kilograms the chenab bridge located in india is the highest rail bridge in the world expanding 1178 feet above the water also located in india is the world's wettest place on earth meghalaya with about 11 873 milliliters of rain annually there are over 20 000 islands in southeast asia which includes an archipelago of three small islands in indonesia called the gili islands which is a misnomer because gilly by itself simply means small island in the local language sasak the micro nation the republic of malacia declared independence from the united states in 1999 its currency is tied to the value of pillsbury cookie dough and it is currently at war with east germany it is also generous enough to provide foreign aid to the united states though the united states claims this aid is actually just taxes and they refused to recognize the republic of malaysia as sovereign maps between the 15th and 18th century would often show a hypothetical continent in the southern hemisphere called terra australis though not surveyed it was still assumed that the north and southern hemispheres were equal in land the city of dubai has the biggest picture frame on the planet however is also controversial as the biggest stolen building of all time the designers wanted competition by the government of dubai after the competition the government allegedly built the structure using the winner's design without permission and then denied the design credit and compensation the canal of the pharaohs also called the ancient suez canal is the forerunner of the suez canal constructed in ancient times and kept in use with intermissions until being closed for good in 767 a.d for strategic reasons during a rebellion you enjoyed this video please hit the like button and subscribe for more geography videos thank you for watching [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Geography Geek

Views: 1,925,727

Keywords: iMovie

Id: DShjR0pSc_U

Length: 10min 32sec (632 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 30 2021