50 World Geography Facts That Are Fake (But You Believed Them)

00:33:38
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_tf-YwkyqY

摘要

TLDRThe video explores 50 common misconceptions about geography, highlighting inaccuracies in widely accepted facts. It clarifies that Antarctica and the South Pole are not the same, that there are multiple South Poles, and that the Great Wall of China cannot be seen from space. It discusses the true sizes of continents, the longest rivers, and the complexities of geographical definitions, such as the number of continents and the classification of deserts. The video aims to educate viewers on these misconceptions and provide a clearer understanding of global geography.

心得

  • 🌍 Antarctica and the South Pole are not the same.
  • 🔍 There are actually four South Poles.
  • 🚫 You cannot see the Great Wall of China from space.
  • 📏 Greenland is much smaller than Africa.
  • 🌍 Africa is much bigger than you think.
  • 🇫🇮 Finland is not part of Scandinavia.
  • 🏞️ The Nile may not be the longest river in the world.
  • 🏔️ Europe's tallest peak is Mount Elbrus, not Montblanc.
  • 🌐 There is no agreed line between Europe and Asia.
  • 🇪🇬 Egypt is not completely in Africa.

时间轴

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    The video introduces misconceptions about geography, starting with the fact that Antarctica and the South Pole are not the same, with Antarctica being a continent and the South Pole being a specific point within it. It also mentions that there are actually four South Poles, each defined by different geographical criteria.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:10:00

    The Great Wall of China is commonly believed to be visible from space, but this is false; no manmade structure can be seen with the naked eye from space. The video explains how the Mercator projection distorts the size of Greenland, making it appear larger than it actually is compared to Africa, which is much bigger than most people realize.

  • 00:10:00 - 00:15:00

    The video continues by clarifying that Finland is not part of Scandinavia, and discusses the debate over whether the Nile or the Amazon is the longest river in the world, with recent evidence suggesting the Amazon may hold that title.

  • 00:15:00 - 00:20:00

    It highlights that Europe's tallest peak is Mount Elbrus, not Montblanc or the Matterhorn, and discusses the ambiguity surrounding the geographical boundary between Europe and Asia, as well as Egypt's geographical position straddling Africa and Asia.

  • 00:20:00 - 00:25:00

    The video also points out that Kazakhstan has parts in Europe, and that Russia is considered a Eurasian country due to its vast landmass spanning both continents. It challenges the notion of seven continents, explaining that different cultures have varying definitions of what constitutes a continent.

  • 00:25:00 - 00:33:38

    Finally, it addresses common misconceptions about various geographical facts, such as the capital cities of Nigeria and Switzerland, the size of Antarctica, and the true nature of deserts, concluding with a discussion on the Earth's shape and the number of recognized countries.

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思维导图

视频问答

  • Is Hawaii part of North America?

    No, Hawaii is part of Polynesia in Oceania.

  • Can you see the Great Wall of China from space?

    No, the Great Wall is not visible from space with the naked eye.

  • What is the longest river in the world?

    The Amazon River is now considered the longest, surpassing the Nile.

  • Is Greenland larger than Africa?

    No, Greenland is much smaller than Africa.

  • What is the capital of Nigeria?

    The capital of Nigeria is Abuja, not Lagos.

  • Is Antarctica the largest desert?

    Yes, Antarctica is the largest desert in the world.

  • How many continents are there?

    The number of continents varies by model; some say 5, 6, or 7.

  • Is Egypt entirely in Africa?

    No, part of Egypt, the Sinai Peninsula, is in Asia.

  • What is the capital of Switzerland?

    The capital of Switzerland is Bern, not Geneva.

  • Is the Sahara the driest desert?

    No, the Atacama Desert in Chile is the driest desert.

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  • 00:00:00
    Did you know that Hawaii’s not in  North America? Or that you’ve been
  • 00:00:04
    lied to about what you can and can’t  see from space? What if we told you,
  • 00:00:10
    you may be wrong about how many  continents exist in the world?
  • 00:00:13
    Today, we’ll dive deep into  misinformation and flat out
  • 00:00:17
    wrong facts about geography that have  been floating around for a long time.
  • 00:00:22
    Here’s 50 Fake Geography Facts That  Everyone Believes. Let’s start with…
  • 00:00:27
    Fact 50 - Antarctica and the  South Pole are not the same thing
  • 00:00:31
    Many people use the names “Antarctica”  and “South Pole” almost interchangeably;
  • 00:00:36
    however, they’re not the same thing.
  • 00:00:38
    Antarctica is one of the seven  - well…maybe not actually seven,
  • 00:00:42
    as you’ll soon see - continents in the world,
  • 00:00:45
    located at the bottom of the planet. And seven  countries lay claim to territory within it.
  • 00:00:51
    The South Pole is within Antarctica,  but it is not the entire landmass. It
  • 00:00:55
    is the southernmost point of the Earth, the  magnetic pole around which the Earth spins.
  • 00:01:00
    Fact 49 - There are actually four South Poles
  • 00:01:04
    Scratch that; apparently, a lot  of what we know about the South
  • 00:01:08
    Pole is incorrect. Including the  fact that there’s not just one.
  • 00:01:12
    There’s the Geographic South Pole - the  point where the Earth’s axis meets the crust;
  • 00:01:16
    the Geomagnetic South Pole - where the  Earth’s geomagnetic field intersects
  • 00:01:20
    the Earth’s surface, which is  not the same place as the axis;
  • 00:01:23
    the Magnetic South Pole - where the  magnetic field intersects the crust;
  • 00:01:28
    and the Inaccessible South Pole - the furthest  place on Antarctica from the shoreline.
  • 00:01:33
    Fact 48 - You cannot see the  Great Wall of China from space
  • 00:01:38
    Everyone knows there is only one manmade structure
  • 00:01:40
    you can see from space - the Great  Wall of China. Except you can’t.
  • 00:01:45
    In fact, you can’t see any man  made structure from space with
  • 00:01:48
    the naked eye. So how did this rumor get started?
  • 00:01:52
    Most likely because the International Space  Station - ISS - shared images of the Great
  • 00:01:57
    Wall of China taken from space. However, those  images were taken with a powerful zoom lens;
  • 00:02:03
    the astronauts could not see the wall otherwise.
  • 00:02:06
    Even using the zoom lens, structures  like the Houston Airport are visible
  • 00:02:10
    way before the Great Wall, since the  wall is very long, but very thin,
  • 00:02:14
    and also blends into the surrounding  area due to its color and texture.
  • 00:02:18
    Fact 47 - Greenland is much smaller than Africa
  • 00:02:23
    Most people get this fact wrong, and for that, you  can thank the Mercator projection most maps use.
  • 00:02:29
    Not only is Greenland, at around 836,000 square  miles (2,165,230 sq km), nowhere near Africa in
  • 00:02:34
    size; it’s even smaller than Africa’s biggest  country - the Democratic Republic of the Congo,
  • 00:02:40
    at almost 906,000 square miles (2,346,529 sq  km). Because of the way the projection works,
  • 00:02:45
    the DRC looks much smaller than it is, while  Greenland looks giant - you’ll soon see why.
  • 00:02:51
    In reality, the northern island is  one eighth the size of South America,
  • 00:02:56
    and fourteen times smaller than Africa.
  • 00:02:59
    And on that note…
  • 00:03:00
    Fact 46 - Africa is much bigger than you think
  • 00:03:05
    To understand this, we have to talk  more about how Mercator maps work.
  • 00:03:09
    They essentially flatten out the globe,  and were originally used by navigators
  • 00:03:13
    to plot their course, as it made lines of  latitude and longitude exactly parallel.
  • 00:03:18
    But they fall short when trying to get an  accurate idea of landmass size. Land near
  • 00:03:24
    the poles appears much larger than land near the  equator. That becomes obvious when you learn that
  • 00:03:30
    Africa is 11.7 million square miles (30.3 million  square kilometers), meaning it can fully fit both
  • 00:03:35
    Russia and Canada, with room left to cram  in Iceland, the UK, and all of Scandinavia.
  • 00:03:42
    Fact 45 - Finland is not part of Scandinavia
  • 00:03:46
    Most people look at northern continental  Europe as being Scandinavia. But Finland
  • 00:03:51
    isn’t actually part of this region  - though it is part of the Nordics.
  • 00:03:54
    That’s because even though Finland borders Sweden,
  • 00:03:57
    and has some cultural similarities, it’s  linguistically and ethnically different
  • 00:04:01
    from its Scandinavian neighbors,  Sweden, Denmark, and Norway.
  • 00:04:05
    Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish all come from  similar Germanic roots; while Finnish comes
  • 00:04:10
    from a completely separate, less comprehensible  language family known as Uralic. Which is why,
  • 00:04:15
    when you ask Finns to teach you a word  in Finnish, most will reply… “why?”
  • 00:04:21
    Fact 44 - The Nile may not be  the longest river in the world
  • 00:04:25
    The Nile, which runs through eleven African  countries, is usually considered the longest
  • 00:04:31
    river in the world. But many scientists and  geographers are now disputing this claim.
  • 00:04:36
    Turns out mapping a river is harder than you  might think. But after a 14-day expedition
  • 00:04:41
    by Brazilian scientists in 2007, the  director of science at the Brazilian
  • 00:04:46
    Institute of Geography and Statistics,  Guido Gelli, says the case is closed.
  • 00:04:51
    The Amazon is the longest river - even though  it wins by only around 60 miles (96.5 km). It’s
  • 00:04:56
    4,225 miles (6,799 km) long compared  to the Nile’s 4,160 miles (6,695 km).
  • 00:05:03
    While other scientists dispute this claim,
  • 00:05:06
    one thing is clear: the Nile is still  not the undisputed champion of rivers.
  • 00:05:11
    Fact 43 - Europe’s tallest peak  is not Montblanc or the Matterhorn
  • 00:05:16
    The tallest mountain in Europe must  be one of the most famous ones;
  • 00:05:20
    perhaps Montblanc, or the Matterhorn,  both of which are located in the Alps.
  • 00:05:25
    However, neither of those are the tallest;
  • 00:05:27
    not by a long shot. Montblanc is just  under 15,800 feet (4,815 meters) tall,
  • 00:05:33
    and the Matterhorn is around 14,700 feet  (4,480.5 meters) tall. The big boy of Europe
  • 00:05:38
    is Mount Elbrus, located in Russia, reaching up  to nearly 18,500 feet (5639 meters) in altitude.
  • 00:05:45
    Many people don’t know it, partly because  of confusion surrounding where Russia itself
  • 00:05:50
    actually is - Europe or Asia. But Mount Elbrus  is fully in Russia’s European side. Speaking of…
  • 00:05:57
    Fact 42 - There is no agreed  upon line between Europe and Asia
  • 00:06:02
    If you ask geographers if the countries  of the Caucasus - Georgia, Armenia,
  • 00:06:06
    and Azerbaijan - sit in Europe or Asia,  they will likely answer…yes. It turns out,
  • 00:06:12
    there is a lot of confusion on what line divides  Europe or Asia, as they share the same landmass.
  • 00:06:18
    Many cartographers make the Ural Mountains in  Russia the eastern border of Europe and Asia,
  • 00:06:23
    then follow the Emba River in Kazakhstan  down to the Caspian Sea. Some cartographers
  • 00:06:28
    put the line on the border of Kazakhstan  instead. Others put it on the Ural River.
  • 00:06:33
    Then it continues either through  the Sea of Azov to the Kerch Strait,
  • 00:06:37
    or south to the port of Baku and across the  Caucasus Mountains and over to Kerch again.
  • 00:06:42
    In sum - the distinction between  Europe and Asia isn’t so clear cut.
  • 00:06:47
    Fact 41 - Egypt is not completely in Africa
  • 00:06:52
    Though most people identify Egypt as a country in  Africa, it’s not fully within the continent. The
  • 00:06:58
    Suez Canal separates Asia and Africa, and  though Egypt is located mostly in Africa,
  • 00:07:03
    its famous Sinai Peninsula is on the other side  of the canal - and therefore located in Asia.
  • 00:07:10
    It’s far from the only country to  be straddling two continents though…
  • 00:07:14
    Fact 40 - Part of Kazakhstan is in Europe
  • 00:07:17
    That leads us to another interesting tidbit  you might get wrong - according to most, even
  • 00:07:22
    if not all, cartographers, the part of Kazakhstan  west of the Emba River is not actually in Asia.
  • 00:07:28
    Most famous as the home of Borat,  Kazakhstan is widely considered an
  • 00:07:32
    Asian country. But a lot of geographers  would put the westernmost regions of it,
  • 00:07:37
    including large parts of West  Kazakhstan and Atyrau, in Europe.
  • 00:07:41
    And speaking of Europe/Asia confusion…
  • 00:07:44
    Fact 39 - Russia is not European. Or Asian.
  • 00:07:49
    Depending on where you went to school,
  • 00:07:51
    you may have learned that Russia is a  European country…or an Asian country.
  • 00:07:55
    But the fact is, Russia is not totally  European or Asian. Many experts say that
  • 00:08:01
    its culture and history make it more European,  but most of its landmass still lies in Asia.
  • 00:08:06
    Russia spreads across eleven time zones  - yet doesn’t have the most in the world,
  • 00:08:10
    as you’ll soon see - across both continents. So  most geographers consider it a “Eurasian” country.
  • 00:08:17
    Fact 38 - The world doesn’t  (necessarily) have seven continents
  • 00:08:22
    If you grew up going to school  in an English-speaking country,
  • 00:08:25
    or most of Europe and Asia, you probably learned  that the world has seven continents. Though this
  • 00:08:31
    is the most widely accepted model of thinking  about world geography, it’s not the only one.
  • 00:08:36
    Depending on where you learned geography,  you may think the world only has five, or
  • 00:08:41
    even just four continents - and those are totally  legitimate models as well. Some European countries
  • 00:08:47
    have a six continent model - Africa, America,  Antarctica, Asia, Australia/Oceania, and Europe.
  • 00:08:54
    Other countries teach five continents - Africa,  Europe, Asia, America, and Oceania/Australia,
  • 00:09:00
    excluding Antarctica altogether. And  yet other people argue that only land
  • 00:09:05
    masses separated by water should count  as continents, meaning there’s just four:
  • 00:09:10
    AfroEurasia, America, Antarctica, and Australia.
  • 00:09:14
    Fact 37 - “Holland” is not just  another name for the Netherlands
  • 00:09:19
    Many people call the Netherlands, “Holland”,  believing it’s just an older name, or perhaps
  • 00:09:24
    an alternate name for the northwestern European  country. But while that might be the case in a
  • 00:09:29
    few other languages, in English, Holland is  actually a region within the Netherlands.
  • 00:09:34
    Two of the Netherlands’ twelve  provinces are called North-Holland and
  • 00:09:37
    South-Holland - Nord-Holland and Zuid-Holland.  So why did the name of just two regions become
  • 00:09:43
    interchangeable with the country as a whole? Well,  probably because the country’s most populated
  • 00:09:48
    and famous cities - Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and The  Hague - are all located within these two regions.
  • 00:09:55
    Fact 36 - Great Britain and the  United Kingdom are not the same
  • 00:09:59
    Does someone have an English accent or a British  accent? Many Americans and other outsiders use
  • 00:10:05
    terms that apply to this island interchangeably,  but they’re not the same thing - just for fun,
  • 00:10:10
    try calling a Scotsman English and  see how it goes. In the same vein,
  • 00:10:15
    Great Britain and the United Kingdom  do not refer to the same landmass.
  • 00:10:19
    The United Kingdom is a country made up of  four separate regions: England, Scotland,
  • 00:10:24
    Wales, and Northern Ireland. Great Britain, on  the other hand, refers only to the island that
  • 00:10:29
    includes England, Scotland, and Wales,  leaving out the Emerald Isle entirely.
  • 00:10:35
    Fact 35 - Iceland is not icy
  • 00:10:38
    This mistake is understandable to make - after  all, “ice” is right there in the name! But
  • 00:10:43
    this false reputation is actually the result  of one man’s staggering lack of curiosity.
  • 00:10:50
    In the 9th century, a Norseman by the  name of Hrafna-Floki landed on the island,
  • 00:10:55
    went up a mountain in the Westfjords,  and saw ice in the fjord itself. He then
  • 00:10:59
    decided the land shall be named  “Iceland”, and called it a day.
  • 00:11:03
    However, the coasts of  Iceland are pretty ice-free,
  • 00:11:06
    and even though there are glaciers on  the island, most of the country is green.
  • 00:11:11
    Fact 34 - Lagos is not the capital of Nigeria
  • 00:11:15
    Even geography nerds get this  one wrong. The actual capital
  • 00:11:18
    of Nigeria is Abuja. So why do  many people think it’s Lagos?
  • 00:11:22
    First off, it used to be the capital. So  there’s that. Second, Lagos continues to
  • 00:11:27
    be the biggest city in Nigeria by far - and  one of the biggest in the world - with an
  • 00:11:32
    estimated population of 15.5 to 21 million  people, compared to Abuja’s 4.2 million.
  • 00:11:39
    However, the capital was moved to Abuja in  1991, partly because Abuja was closer to the
  • 00:11:44
    center of the country than coastal Lagos,  and also because of… an amusement park.
  • 00:11:50
    That’s right, Abuja is near Magicland Abuja,  formerly known as Wonderland - the first
  • 00:11:55
    amusement park ever built in Nigeria, and  officials wanted the capital to be near it.
  • 00:12:01
    Fact 33 - The Sahara is not  the world’s largest desert
  • 00:12:06
    The largest desert in the world is in a  place you might not expect… Antarctica.
  • 00:12:11
    In fact, it is Antarctica itself, as  the Antarctic Polar Desert spans 5.5
  • 00:12:17
    million square miles (14.2 million square  kilometers) over the entire continent.
  • 00:12:20
    Most people imagine deserts to be  hot, dry places devoid of plant
  • 00:12:24
    life. But that definition is only partly  true; heat has nothing to do with naming
  • 00:12:30
    some place a desert. According to Webster’s  Dictionary, a desert is classified as “arid
  • 00:12:35
    land with usually sparse vegetation”.  So Antarctica absolutely qualifies.
  • 00:12:41
    Fact 32 - The Sahara is also  not the world’s driest desert
  • 00:12:46
    Maybe the Sahara isn’t as impressive as  we’ve all been led to believe. Turns out,
  • 00:12:51
    it’s not the world’s largest desert - and, believe  it or not, it’s not even that dry! At least,
  • 00:12:56
    it’s not compared to the Atacama Desert in Chile.  Outside of the poles, the Atacama Desert is the
  • 00:13:02
    driest place on earth, receiving less than  0.04 inches (1mm) of precipitation per year.
  • 00:13:10
    Some parts of the desert haven’t seen water  in over 500 years. That means the last time
  • 00:13:16
    it rained was a few years after Columbus  landed in the New World - a man who has
  • 00:13:21
    one of the craziest fake geography facts  associated with him, as you’ll soon see.
  • 00:13:26
    In comparison, the Sahara Desert gets  an average of 3 inches (76 mm) a year,
  • 00:13:30
    a positive deluge compared to the Atacama.
  • 00:13:33
    Fact 31 - Deserts aren’t necessarily sandy
  • 00:13:37
    We’ve already established that deserts can  be icy, large land masses like Antarctica.
  • 00:13:42
    But even deserts with hot climates  aren’t necessarily full of sand and
  • 00:13:46
    dunes. People just think so because most  photos of deserts feature miles of endless,
  • 00:13:51
    photogenic dunes - rocky scrubland is rarely as  pretty to photograph and share with the world.
  • 00:13:57
    But some - like the Atacama we just  mentioned - have mostly rocky or
  • 00:14:02
    stony terrain. Deserts around the  world can also feature salt flats
  • 00:14:06
    and other non-sandy landscapes. As long  as they’re arid, they’re still deserts.
  • 00:14:11
    Fact 30 - Everest is not the  tallest mountain in the world
  • 00:14:14
    Turns out some geography facts aren’t  straightforward. Depending on how you
  • 00:14:19
    measure it, Everest is not the  tallest mountain in the world.
  • 00:14:23
    Though it is the tallest when measuring the  height difference from sea level - around
  • 00:14:26
    29,000 feet (8,839meters), two other  mountains beat it by other measurements.
  • 00:14:31
    The first is Mauna Kea, which is taller than  Everest measured from base to tip, though a
  • 00:14:36
    lot of it is underwater. The other, which fewer  people know about, is Mount Chimborazo in Ecuador.
  • 00:14:43
    Despite Chimborazo being nearly 8,500  feet (2,590 meters) lower than Everest,
  • 00:14:48
    its location on the equatorial bulge means its  summit sits almost 4,000 miles (6,437 km) from
  • 00:14:54
    the Earth’s center. That’s 1.3 miles (2.1) more  than Everest - making Chimborazo closer to space.
  • 00:15:01
    Fact 29 - The Earth is not a sphere
  • 00:15:04
    Globes usually depict the Earth  as a perfect sphere. However,
  • 00:15:08
    that’s not actually our planet’s shape.
  • 00:15:10
    The Earth is an oblate spheroid or ellipsoid,
  • 00:15:14
    meaning it’s slightly flatter at the poles. That  happens mostly because of the planet’s rotation;
  • 00:15:18
    the force of it causes the ends  near its axis to flatten. Actually,
  • 00:15:23
    the shape is continuing to slowly change  over time, but not in any drastic way.
  • 00:15:28
    However, most globes are still perfectly round,
  • 00:15:31
    because it’s just easier to depict the  Earth that way for educational purposes.
  • 00:15:36
    Fact 28 - Toronto is not the capital of Canada
  • 00:15:38
    Most of Canada’s population  lives near its southern border,
  • 00:15:41
    which is why several major Canadian cities -  Vancouver, Winnipeg, Montreal, and of course,
  • 00:15:47
    Toronto - are within 100 miles (161  km) of the U.S.-Canadian border.
  • 00:15:51
    Though Toronto is Canada’s most populated  and well-known city, it isn’t actually the
  • 00:15:56
    capital of Canada. That would be Ottawa. The  reason Queen Victoria made it the country’s
  • 00:16:02
    capital in 1857 is because it was in a location  that could be easily defended between Quebec
  • 00:16:07
    and Ontario. And at the time, those were  the Canadian colony’s only two provinces.
  • 00:16:13
    Fact 27 - Geneva is not the Swiss capital
  • 00:16:17
    Though it's famous for things like chocolate,  watches, and conventions on human rights,
  • 00:16:22
    Geneva is not actually the Swiss capital. In  1848, the Swiss Parliament voted to make Bern
  • 00:16:28
    the capital to avoid giving too much power  to the country’s economic powerhouse Zurich.
  • 00:16:33
    So if Bern is the capital and Zurich is  the moneymaker, why do so many people
  • 00:16:37
    think Geneva is the capital? That’s  probably because many international
  • 00:16:42
    bodies - like the UN and the Red Cross -  have their European headquarters in Geneva,
  • 00:16:47
    making it the Swiss city most  referenced in news and media.
  • 00:16:50
    Fact 26 - Antarctica is not as big as you think
  • 00:16:54
    Though Antarctica may look massive on a map,  it’s smaller than most people think. In fact,
  • 00:17:00
    you can only fit the U.S. and Mexico  inside it before you run out of room.
  • 00:17:04
    But since the Mercator map disproportionately  distorts countries by the poles,
  • 00:17:09
    it makes sense that it would distort  the one continent on a pole the most.
  • 00:17:14
    Fact 25 - The Mississippi is not  the longest river in the U.S.
  • 00:17:19
    Though the Mississippi River  is one of the US’ most,
  • 00:17:21
    if not the most important commercial  waterway, as it flows through almost
  • 00:17:25
    the entire country from North to South, it’s  actually not the longest river in the U.S.
  • 00:17:30
    That would be the Missouri River, which  is a tributary of the Mississippi,
  • 00:17:34
    and yet 200 miles (322 km) longer.  The U.S. Geological Survey lists the
  • 00:17:38
    Missouri as 2,540 miles (4,087 km) long, and the  Mississippi River as 2,340 miles (3,766 km)long.
  • 00:17:46
    Fact 24 - South Africa actually has three  capitals; and none of them are Johannesburg
  • 00:17:53
    We can’t blame people for making this  particular mistake, as South Africa’s
  • 00:17:57
    capital situation is pretty unique.  Since Johannesburg has the biggest
  • 00:18:01
    urban population in South Africa,  many people think it’s the capital.
  • 00:18:05
    But in fact, South Africa has three capitals  divided between the legislative capital in Cape
  • 00:18:11
    Town, the judicial capital in Bloemfontein,  and the executive capital in Pretoria.
  • 00:18:16
    The country divided the capitals in  1910, when the Union of South Africa
  • 00:18:20
    was formed. Pretoria and Bloemfontein had  both already been capitals of the previous
  • 00:18:25
    Boer provinces - the Orange Free State and  Transvaal. And a parliament had existed in
  • 00:18:29
    Cape Town since colonial times, so it just  made sense to make it a legislative capital.
  • 00:18:35
    Fact 23 - Maine is not the U.S.’ easternmost state
  • 00:18:40
    Looking at a map of the  U.S., this fact seems insane;
  • 00:18:44
    how can Maine not be the easternmost  state? It’s east of everything else! But
  • 00:18:49
    due to the weird division of the Eastern  and Western Hemispheres, the westernmost
  • 00:18:54
    edge of Alaska is actually located in  the Eastern Hemisphere, next to Russia.
  • 00:18:59
    It’s called Semisopochnoi, and you  will find it 10 miles (16 km) west
  • 00:19:03
    of the 180th Meridian, making  it the U.S.’ easternmost state.
  • 00:19:08
    Fact 22 - Hawaii is not in North America
  • 00:19:12
    Even though Hawaii is part of the United States,
  • 00:19:14
    it is also the only state that’s not  actually located in North America. Instead,
  • 00:19:20
    Hawaii is part of the subregion of  Polynesia, which is located in Oceania.
  • 00:19:24
    Oceania includes, among other areas,  Micronesia, Melanesia, Australia,
  • 00:19:29
    and New Zealand. Hawaii is related to other  Pacific Islands not only geographically,
  • 00:19:34
    but culturally and linguistically  as well. The Hawaiian language’s
  • 00:19:38
    closest relatives are the Tahitian,  Tongan, Samoan, and Maori languages.
  • 00:19:44
    Fact 21 - Europe is not exactly east of the U.S.
  • 00:19:48
    There’s a misconception that Europe is pretty  much due east of the U.S. People believe that
  • 00:19:53
    for two reasons: one, because our mental maps  are rarely accurate, and two, because even in
  • 00:20:00
    central and northern Europe, the weather isn’t  that extreme. Therefore, people think that the
  • 00:20:05
    northern European countries roughly correspond  to the northern U.S. states in latitude.
  • 00:20:10
    However, London is at 51.5 degrees north latitude,
  • 00:20:14
    making it further north than the  entire contiguous United States,
  • 00:20:18
    even though it doesn’t get nearly as cold there as  in Maine or Minnesota in the winter. And a warm,
  • 00:20:24
    sunny destination like Athens is at almost  the same latitude as Louisville, Kentucky.
  • 00:20:29
    You may think you know the reason the  weather in Europe is much milder than
  • 00:20:33
    in North America overall, but it turns  out…that’s also a fake geography fact.
  • 00:20:39
    Fact 20 - Europe is not warmer than  North America because of the Gulf Stream
  • 00:20:40
    All the way back in 1855, M.F. Maury wrote a  book called “The physical geography of the sea”,
  • 00:20:46
    which popularized the idea that the  Gulf Stream warms up Europe. Since then,
  • 00:20:51
    it’s been confidently repeated in conversations  and printed in articles…and yet, it’s wrong.
  • 00:20:57
    The much bigger temperature difference has  to do with the interaction of atmospheric
  • 00:21:01
    circulation and the Atlantic  Ocean’s seasonal storage and
  • 00:21:05
    release of heat - not the Gulf Stream  itself, which plays a minor part.
  • 00:21:10
    Fact 19 - The world actually has five oceans
  • 00:21:14
    When most people are asked to name the  world’s oceans, they list the Atlantic,
  • 00:21:19
    the Pacific, the Indian, and Arctic Oceans.  However, there’s another ocean out there that
  • 00:21:24
    most people forget - partly because it’s the  newest one on the list: the Southern Ocean.
  • 00:21:30
    It’s not a small one either; it covers 10-15% of
  • 00:21:33
    the world’s ocean mass. It surrounds  Antarctica below 60 degrees latitude.
  • 00:21:38
    The National Oceanic and Atmospheric  Administration - NOAA - established
  • 00:21:43
    the existence of the Southern Ocean in 1999, and  it was used in official documentation. However,
  • 00:21:48
    the National Geographic Society didn’t officially  recognize the Southern Ocean until June of 2021.
  • 00:21:56
    Fact 18 - Australia is not  the world’s biggest island
  • 00:22:00
    Though it’s sometimes called  the “island continent”,
  • 00:22:03
    Australia isn’t considered an island by  most geographers, who think of continents
  • 00:22:08
    and islands as separate things. According to  Britannica, the definition of an island is a
  • 00:22:13
    landmass “entirely surrounded by water”  and yet also “smaller than a continent”.
  • 00:22:19
    Therefore, most geographers  consider Greenland to be the
  • 00:22:22
    biggest island in the world. Oh and speaking of…
  • 00:22:25
    Fact 17 - Greenland is not its own country
  • 00:22:29
    Though according to most polls, Greenlanders  would like it to be independent, Greenland is not,
  • 00:22:34
    in fact, its own country. It’s  part of the Kingdom of Denmark,
  • 00:22:38
    even though Greenland is about twenty  times the size of Denmark. However,
  • 00:22:41
    it only has a population of 57,000,  compared to Denmark’s 5.95 million.
  • 00:22:48
    But over the years, Greenland has  acquired a lot of autonomy from Denmark,
  • 00:22:52
    increasingly taking the lead in its own  issues - especially domestic policy. However,
  • 00:22:57
    Denmark still controls Greenland’s  defense, security, and foreign policy.
  • 00:23:02
    Fact 16 - Most of Africa is  actually above the equator
  • 00:23:07
    As we said earlier, people generally don’t have  the best mental maps of the world. Which is why
  • 00:23:13
    one of the biggest geography mistakes  people make is thinking that most of
  • 00:23:17
    Africa lies in the Southern Hemisphere,  when the truth is exactly the opposite.
  • 00:23:22
    Only 33% of African land is located below  the equator. However, more people in Africa
  • 00:23:28
    live in the Southern rather than the Northern  hemisphere, partly because the Sahara covers a
  • 00:23:33
    lot of the continent north of the equator,  and it’s a very sparsely populated place.
  • 00:23:38
    Fact 15 - Lakes are not the  biggest source of freshwater
  • 00:23:42
    We assume lakes hold most of our  freshwater, but it turns out,
  • 00:23:46
    around three quarters of all our freshwater  is locked in ice caps and glaciers.
  • 00:23:52
    Although a tiny percentage of the Earth’s  water is fresh to begin with - 97.2%
  • 00:23:57
    is found in oceans and seas - 2.1% of  the world’s total water is in glaciers,
  • 00:24:02
    while less than 1% is in lakes and rivers  combined. That means glaciers are not only
  • 00:24:08
    the largest reservoir of freshwater, but  the second largest reservoir of water.
  • 00:24:14
    Fact 14 - The country that spans  the most time zones isn’t Russia
  • 00:24:19
    Given how endlessly long Russia is, you may think  that it spans the most time zones in the world,
  • 00:24:25
    as the country has eleven time  zones total. But you would be wrong.
  • 00:24:29
    The country that actually spans the most time  zones is France! With a total of twelve zones,
  • 00:24:36
    it beats Russia by one. You may be confused  and looking at a map of Europe right now,
  • 00:24:42
    but you’d have to look beyond that  continent to see all of France,
  • 00:24:46
    including its many overseas  islands and territories.
  • 00:24:49
    They range from Tahiti in UTC-10 time,
  • 00:24:53
    to Wallis & Futuna in UTC+12 time. When Saint  Pierre & Miquelon, off the coast of Canada,
  • 00:24:59
    observe Daylight Saving Time, it actually  increases France’s total time zones to 13.
  • 00:25:05
    Fact 13 - China does not have  the world’s largest population
  • 00:25:10
    Everyone in school learns that China is  the country with the biggest population in
  • 00:25:14
    the world. We all learned that because…well,  it was true. At least for a very long time.
  • 00:25:20
    But if you’re going to school  today, you’ll learn that India
  • 00:25:23
    has officially replaced China as the  most populated country in the world,
  • 00:25:28
    with 1.46 billion people. The change happened  in April of 2023. Even though India has had
  • 00:25:35
    declining birth rates for a while now, China’s  population growth is not only slowing down,
  • 00:25:40
    but actually starting to drop, due mostly  to the effect of China’s one-child policy.
  • 00:25:46
    Fact 12 - Places in Antarctica  do observe different times
  • 00:25:51
    A common geography myth is that Antarctica  doesn’t have time zones. It seems to make
  • 00:25:56
    sense on some level; the continent is all the  way on the southern end of the world - - well,
  • 00:26:00
    maybe not, as you’ll find out soon .  But do time zones even count there?
  • 00:26:05
    While the continent isn’t officially divided  into time zones, the research stations there
  • 00:26:09
    do observe different times. However, they don’t  always make sense geographically. Some research
  • 00:26:15
    stations observe the time of the country they’re  closest to, while others observe the time of the
  • 00:26:20
    country that operates them, to help them follow  their supplier’s or head office’s working hours.
  • 00:26:26
    Fact 11 - The North and South  Pole are artificial constructs
  • 00:26:32
    Hear us out - even though magnetic  poles do naturally exist, which one
  • 00:26:36
    is north and which one is south is an  entirely arbitrary decision that humans
  • 00:26:41
    made. And they didn’t always place the  North and South Poles where we do today.
  • 00:26:46
    Ancient Egypt, for example, had them  reversed. But since the majority of
  • 00:26:50
    the world’s landmass and population  today sits in the Northern Hemisphere,
  • 00:26:54
    we put the Northern Hemisphere on top and  call the pole on top of it the North Pole.
  • 00:26:58
    But this has no basis in anything natural; after  all, the Universe has no cardinal directions,
  • 00:27:05
    so there is nothing to say that the North Pole  is “on top” compared to the rest of our galaxy.
  • 00:27:11
    Fact 10 - New Zealand is not  the closest country to Australia
  • 00:27:16
    Australia and New Zealand are always  shown next to each other on maps,
  • 00:27:20
    far removed from the rest of the world in their  little corner of the globe. However, “next to
  • 00:27:25
    each other” is relative when distances are as  large as they are in that part of the world.
  • 00:27:30
    At its closest distance from Australia, between  New Zealand’s South Island and Tasmania,
  • 00:27:35
    New Zealand is around 930 miles (1497 km)  away from the country. On the other hand,
  • 00:27:40
    the coast of Papua New Guinea is only 93 miles  (150 km) away from Australia’s northern coast.
  • 00:27:46
    However, Australia’s Saibai Island  - located in the Torres Strait - is
  • 00:27:50
    just under 2.5 miles (4 km) from Papua New Guinea.
  • 00:27:53
    Fact 9 - Countries on the  equator aren’t always hot
  • 00:27:57
    People believe any place located on  the equator is automatically hot,
  • 00:28:01
    since that’s where the sun is strongest. However,  this type of thinking fails to take altitude into
  • 00:28:07
    consideration, and it turns out a lot of  places on the equator are pretty high up.
  • 00:28:12
    Quito, Ecuador, which sits just a  hair below the equator at 0°13′12″S,
  • 00:28:19
    is located at 9,350 feet (2,850 meters)  altitude. The city’s average temperature
  • 00:28:24
    is a long-sleeve-shirt-needing  64 degrees Fahrenheit (18 C).
  • 00:28:28
    At the top of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania,  just three degrees below the equator,
  • 00:28:33
    temperatures plummet to below freezing. In the  Andes that run through the equator in Colombia,
  • 00:28:38
    you can actually find a few  glaciers left at the top.
  • 00:28:41
    Fact 8 - Central American countries  are actually part of North America
  • 00:28:46
    Many people group the central American  countries south of Mexico as part of South
  • 00:28:51
    America. Though they are part of Latin America,  bearing some similarities with their South
  • 00:28:55
    American neighbors - mostly Spanish speaking, plus  cultural ties - countries like Panama, Guatemala,
  • 00:29:01
    Honduras, Nicaragua, Belize, El Salvador,  and Costa Rica are still in North America.
  • 00:29:07
    South America - for those who count the Americas
  • 00:29:09
    as two separate continents - doesn’t start  until Colombia. The dividing line between
  • 00:29:14
    Panama and Colombia is widely considered to  be the division between the two continents.
  • 00:29:20
    Fact 7 - Portugal is not a Mediterranean country
  • 00:29:24
    Though Portugal is next to Spain, and on the same  latitude and same region as other Mediterranean
  • 00:29:30
    countries like Italy and Greece, it’s actually  not a Mediterranean country. No part of Portugal
  • 00:29:35
    borders the Mediterranean Sea; instead, it  is entirely surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean.
  • 00:29:40
    The Mediterranean Sea technically  ends at the Strait of Gibraltar,
  • 00:29:44
    which separated Spain from Morocco.  Any water west of that, which includes
  • 00:29:48
    the water south of Portugal, is  considered the Atlantic Ocean.
  • 00:29:52
    Fact 6 - Venice is not the only, or  even the biggest, “city of canals”
  • 00:29:58
    Venice is one of the world’s top tourist  destinations partly thanks to its unique
  • 00:30:03
    design - a city on the water where you get  around via canals rather than roads. However,
  • 00:30:08
    it’s not the world’s only, or  even biggest, “city of canals”.
  • 00:30:12
    Two other European cities have more canals  than Venice. One is Birmingham, which has 35
  • 00:30:18
    miles (56.3 km) of canals, way more than Venice’s  30.7 miles (49.4 km). Though even most Birmingham
  • 00:30:23
    residents would argue that Venice’s canals are  the more romantic of the two. Amsterdam beats
  • 00:30:28
    both cities, with 60 miles (96.5 km) of canals,  making it the “most watery city in the world.”
  • 00:30:34
    Fact 5 - The Statue of Liberty isn’t in New York
  • 00:30:37
    Or is it? Surprisingly, the answer is muddier than
  • 00:30:41
    you might think. Though Lady Liberty has  long been associated with New York City,
  • 00:30:45
    an iconic landmark of the Big Apple,  it’s actually closer to New Jersey.
  • 00:30:50
    Not only that, it’s in New Jersey’s  territorial waters. However,
  • 00:30:54
    the island it’s on - Liberty Island  - is part of New York. And the whole
  • 00:30:58
    thing is administered on federal  land by the National Park Service.
  • 00:31:02
    So both states end up with a reasonable claim.
  • 00:31:05
    Fact 4 - You can see Russia from Alaska
  • 00:31:09
    There are parts of Alaska from which  you can see Russia quite easily.
  • 00:31:13
    There are two islands called Little  Diomedes and Big Diomedes islands,
  • 00:31:16
    which are U.S. and Russian-owned respectively,  that are only separated by a couple of miles.
  • 00:31:22
    But beyond those islands, there are also  inhabited parts of Alaska - namely on Cape
  • 00:31:26
    Prince of Wales - where you can see  Siberia just 50 miles (80.5) away.
  • 00:31:31
    Fact 3 - The U.S. isn’t bordered by two oceans
  • 00:31:35
    In school, particularly in the U.S. itself,  many people learn that one of the reasons the
  • 00:31:40
    U.S. is geographically protected from  many wars and invasions is because it
  • 00:31:45
    finds itself with an ocean on either side  - the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans.
  • 00:31:50
    Many students then walk away thinking the  U.S. only borders two oceans. But actually,
  • 00:31:55
    there are three oceans that border  the U.S. The Pacific to the west,
  • 00:31:59
    the Atlantic to the east….and  the Arctic Ocean north of Alaska.
  • 00:32:03
    Fact 2 - There aren’t exactly  195 countries in the world
  • 00:32:09
    If you’re going by unanimously recognized  UN countries and observer states, then yes,
  • 00:32:15
    there are 195 countries in the world.  But not everyone agrees on this number,
  • 00:32:20
    and for that reason, when you’re taught  how many countries exist in the world,
  • 00:32:24
    the number could vary widely  depending on where you’re learning it.
  • 00:32:27
    There are at least six additional countries  in the world with partial recognition.
  • 00:32:31
    These include mostly recognized ones like Kosovo -  recognized by over 100 countries - and areas that
  • 00:32:38
    almost everyone denies, like the Turkish Republic  of Northern Cyprus, recognized only by Turkiye.
  • 00:32:45
    Fact 1 - People didn’t think the  earth was flat before Columbus
  • 00:32:51
    Many schools actually teach that in Columbus’  time, people thought the world was flat,
  • 00:32:56
    and if he tried to sail around  it, he would fall off the edge.
  • 00:32:59
    But the first person to discover the  Earth was round was Aristotle…who
  • 00:33:03
    lived in the fourth century B.C., almost two  millennia before Columbus set foot on a ship.
  • 00:33:09
    So no one in Columbus’ time thought he  was going to slide off the Earth. They
  • 00:33:14
    just thought he might die from a lack of  supplies before reaching Asia - a much
  • 00:33:18
    more realistic concern - not knowing that  he was going to hit North America first.
  • 00:33:23
    Thanks for joining me today! I hope you  enjoyed the video, and if you want to see
  • 00:33:27
    more videos like this, then please consider  subscribing and turn on notiffications,
  • 00:33:32
    really does make a difference. Thanks again,  and I'll see you next time on Map Pack!
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