Oddities of geography

Doubles up as more of a history fact than a geography fact but...

Portugal is the only European colonial power to move its capital outside of Europe; during a time of anarchy and Napoleonic revolution, the Royal Court and therefore the capital of Portugal was moved to and located in Rio de Janeiro from 1808 until 1821.

It's an extremely rare case of a colony ruling the empire instead of the other way around.
 
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p78
You only need to cross one country when going from Norway to North Korea.
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Chile is the only country where you can set off from the east cost on a bearing due east and - without changing your bearing - make first landfall on the west coast (and vice versa).

And you can do it from two different places.

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And yes, there many, many, many several countries where you can set off due east or west and land in the same country (the UK being one), but we don't consider west-facing and east-facing shores as coasts unless they are also coasts.
 
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Because of its closer location to the equator, Mt Chimborazo (20,564ft / 6,263m) is closer to the moon than Mt Everest (29,031ft / 8,848m) and is in fact the closest point on earth to the moon.

Sudan has more ancient pyramids than Egypt.

Point Nemo in the South Pacific is the oceanic pole of inaccessability; it is so remote that the closest human beings to it are astronaunts on the ISS when it passes overhead.
 
Liquid
it is so remote that the closest human beings to it are astronaunts on the ISS when it passes overhead.
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The ISS is at about 250 miles altitude. That statement covers a huge portion of the ocean.
 
Australia and New Zealand are closer to the north of Norway than the south of Norway.
 
Liquid
Australia and New Zealand are closer to the north of Norway than the south of Norway.
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as in they are closer to N. Norway than they are to S. Norway. Not that they are closer to N. Norway than S. Norway is.
 
Where'e the eye-roll smilie? Ooh, here it is! :rolleyes:

Easier "correction" for clarification: Australia and New Zealand are closer to the north of Norway than to the south of Norway.

Everybody got the point, I think. :lol:
 
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The Easternmost point of Brazil is closer to Africa than it is to the Westernmost point of Brazil.

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The Northernmost point of Brazil is closer to Canada than it is to the Southernmost point of Brazil.

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The most direct route between Russia's Eastern tip in Kaliningrad and it's Western most tip on the Bering straight doesn't cross any Russian land.
 
So i read an article that Africa is splitting in two.
The East African Rift System seems to be causing it.
 
Barra333
Yeah, but not in any time frame we need to be concerned with.
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Same with the Point Reyes peninsula in California. Also, we will be lucky if we have to be concerned with it based on how humanity is going.
 

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