The world is an enormous and beautiful place. There's so much to learn and know about!
For example, did you know that Canada and the United States share the longest land border in the world? Additionally, Canada is home to more than half of all the natural lakes in the world. Incredible.
After Redditor storm1902 asked the online community, "What geography fact blows your mind?" people shared some of their favorites.
"In Canada..."
Palm trees grow in Ireland, at 53 degrees north. In Canada at 55 degrees north there are polar bears.
"The distance between..."
The distance between New Zealand and Australia is roughly the same as the distance between The Netherlands and Libya.
"When I worked for FedEx..."
When I worked for FedEx back in the 90's one of the reasons why they chose Anchorage as a global hub (apart from the fact that aircraft use less fuel due to it being cooler) was that it is one of the only places in the world that is within 10 hours of the three biggest global markets; North America, Europe and Asia!
Who would have thought that a place considered in the middle of nowhere is actually the centre of the world.
Okay that last one was fascinating.
Who'd have thought?
Let's continue.
"Texas is large enough..."
Texas is large enough that I could fit Copenhagen, Brussels, Zagreb, and Warsaw with their real-life distances from each other inside the State lines.
"The Great Lakes..."
The Great Lakes contain enough fresh water to flood an area the size of Great Britain in over 100 meters of water.
"It's estimated..."
Canada has the longest coastline in the world at approximately 243,042 kilometers. It's estimated that it would take more than 30 years to walk Canada's coastline at the rate of 19 kilometers a day.
"I believe it."
Anyone in the mood for a road trip? Or walking trip, shall we say? Anyone?
"There is actually..."
There is actually a tiny strip of New Mexico that is directly north of the Texas panhandle, contrary to the level of detail that many maps can show.
"The Appalaican Mountain range..."
The Appalachian mountain range formed before the North American continent broke away from Europe, so there's a little chunk of the Appalachians in France.
"The Australian tectonic plate..."
The Australian tectonic plate is drifting north at a rapid rate relative to other plates. The whole continent is moving north and slightly clockwise at around 2.7 inches a year, which is fast enough that GPS systems have had to compensate for it to stay accurate. In a few hundred million years, Australia will probably collide with Asia, creating a mountain range even taller than the Himalayas when it does.
"I always pictured Europe..."
How far north Europe is. I always pictured Europe as roughly parallel to the US, so northern Europe would be the same latitude as Minnesota and southern Europe as Florida. Not even close. The UK is almost entirely north of the lower 48 states and Rome is further north than New York City.
"In Iceland..."
In Iceland, you can see where the North American tectonic plate and the Eurasia tectonic plate are moving away from each other.
Another place that is similar, but not as intense, is Point Reyes National Seashore in California. It is separated by the San Andreas Fault, where the North American and Pacific plates come together.
The world is an amazing place.
Personally, I don't think I'll ever get tired of learning about it.
Have some interesting geography facts to share with the rest of us? Feel free to sound off in the comments below!
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