50 Fun Facts About Eastern Hemisphere

Which European country is the smallest in the world by both area and population?

Vatican City is the smallest country on Earth by both area and population, with fewer than a thousand residents.

Which African mammal, the tallest land animal on Earth, has only seven neck bones, the same number as humans?

The giraffe has a long neck because each of its seven neck vertebrae is stretched to more than 28 centimetres, not because it has extra bones.

Which island country off the southeast coast of Africa is the only place where lemurs are native?

Madagascar is the lemurs' only natural home, and 17 lemur species have vanished there since humans arrived about 2,000 years ago.

Which salt lake between Israel and Jordan has shores that are the lowest land elevation on Earth?

The Dead Sea is nearly ten times as salty as the ocean, which makes its water so dense that swimmers float without effort.

Which Turkish city straddles the Bosphorus strait, leaving part of it in Europe and part in Asia?

Istanbul sits on both banks of the Bosphorus, and under its earlier name Constantinople it served as the capital of four empires.

Which egg-laying mammal of eastern Australia has a duck-like bill and venomous spurs on the male's hind feet?

The platypus looked so odd that the first specimens baffled European naturalists, and the male's venom is strong enough to cause people severe pain.

Which island city-state at the tip of the Malay Peninsula has banned the sale of chewing gum since 1992?

Singapore outlawed gum sales after used gum was found jamming the door sensors of its subway trains, lock cylinders and lift buttons.

Which Asian country spans five geographical time zones but officially keeps just one standard time?

China sets every clock to the time in Beijing, so its far western regions run well out of step with their local solar time.

Which country's flag, made of two stacked pennants, is the only national flag that is not a rectangle?

The flag of Nepal joins two pennants once flown by rival branches of the ruling dynasty, and its sun and moon had human faces until 1962.

Which country was the first where all women could vote in national elections?

New Zealand passed the law in 1893 after years of campaigning led by Kate Sheppard, and women first voted that November.

Which Himalayan peak, first climbed in 1953 by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, is the highest on Earth?

Mount Everest reaches the greatest height above sea level, though Hawaii's Mauna Kea is taller when measured from its base on the ocean floor.

Which natural wonder off the coast of Queensland is the largest single structure built by living organisms?

The Great Barrier Reef is made up of more than 2,900 individual reefs and stretches for over 2,300 kilometres through the Coral Sea.

Which desert, stretching across much of North Africa, is the largest hot desert in the world?

The Sahara has swung between desert and grassy savanna in a cycle of roughly 20,000 years, driven by a slow wobble in Earth's axis.

Which river, the longest in Africa, flows north through Sudan and Egypt to empty into the Mediterranean Sea?

The Nile was the foundation of ancient Egyptian civilisation, which relied on the river for nearly every part of life in a desert land.

Which white marble mausoleum in Agra did the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan build to house the tomb of his wife?

The Taj Mahal employed more than 20,000 workers and artisans, and Shah Jahan himself was later entombed there beside his wife.

Which Egyptian monument is the only one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still largely intact?

The Great Pyramid, built as the tomb of the pharaoh Khufu, stood as the tallest human-made structure on Earth for more than 3,700 years.

Which European capital city hosted the first Olympic Games of the modern era in 1896?

Athens was chosen at an 1894 congress in Paris organised by Pierre de Coubertin, where the International Olympic Committee was also created.

Which bear, found wild only in a few mountain ranges around Sichuan, eats almost nothing but bamboo?

The giant panda has a thumb on its forepaw that helps it hold bamboo in place while it feeds.

Which country of thousands of islands, including Java and Sumatra, is the world's largest archipelagic state?

Indonesia has so many islands that the total depends on how they are counted, with published figures running from about 13,000 to more than 17,500.

Which London district, home to the Royal Observatory, gives its name to the meridian at 0° longitude?

Greenwich was picked for Charles II's Royal Observatory partly because its royal palace grounds came with a useful hill.

Which boundary in the Pacific, roughly following the 180th meridian, separates one calendar day from the next?

The International Date Line has shifted over time: the Philippines spent 323 years a day behind its Asian neighbours before switching sides in 1844.

Which ocean, the warmest in the world, is the only one that lies entirely within the Eastern Hemisphere?

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the five oceans, and the exact centre of the Eastern Hemisphere lies in its waters.

Which country, the largest in the world, spans eleven time zones and shares land borders with fourteen countries?

Russia reaches so far east that it crosses the 180th meridian, which puts its farthest tip in the Western Hemisphere.

Which body of water, bordered by five countries including Iran and Kazakhstan, is the world's largest lake?

The Caspian Sea covers more area than Germany and holds over 40 percent of all the lake water in the world.

Which Siberian lake, the deepest in the world, holds more water than all of North America's Great Lakes combined?

Lake Baikal is also the oldest lake on Earth, at 25 to 30 million years, and holds around a fifth of the planet's unfrozen fresh surface water.

Which crescent-shaped chasm in the western Pacific seabed holds the Challenger Deep, the oceans' deepest known point?

The Mariana Trench was first reached by people in 1960, when Don Walsh and Jacques Piccard rode the bathyscaphe Trieste to the bottom.

Angkor Wat, the largest religious monument in the world, appears on the national flag of which Southeast Asian country?

Cambodia is home to Angkor Wat, built in the 12th century as a Hindu temple to Vishnu and later adapted for Buddhist worship.

Which sandstone monolith in Australia's Northern Territory was named Ayers Rock by a surveyor in 1873?

Uluru is sacred to the local Pitjantjatjara people, and most of the rock's bulk lies hidden underground.

Which East African island sultanate lost history's shortest recorded war, beaten by Britain in under an hour in 1896?

Zanzibar gave in after 38 to 45 minutes of fighting, in a war sparked by a disputed succession when its pro-British sultan died.

Which landlocked country, whose capital is Ulaanbaatar, is the most sparsely populated sovereign state in the world?

Mongolia packs roughly half its people into the capital, while about 30 percent of the population is nomadic or semi-nomadic.

Which mountain range runs about 2,500 kilometres from the Arctic coast towards Kazakhstan, dividing Europe from Asia?

The Urals do not stop at the coast: the islands of Vaygach and Novaya Zemlya continue the chain north into the Arctic Ocean.

Which river flows through four national capitals, including Vienna and Budapest, more than any other in the world?

The Danube rises in Germany's Black Forest and passes through or borders ten countries on its way to the Black Sea.

Which vast Asian plateau, averaging more than 4,500 metres in elevation, is often called the Roof of the World?

The Tibetan Plateau is also nicknamed the Third Pole, because its ice fields hold the largest store of fresh water outside the polar regions.

Which volcano in the Sunda Strait erupted in 1883 with an explosion heard about 4,800 kilometres away?

Krakatoa produced the loudest sound ever measured, heard as far off as the island of Rodrigues near Mauritius.

Which island nation of coral atolls southwest of Sri Lanka is the lowest-lying country in the world?

The Maldives rises no more than 2.4 metres above the sea at its highest natural point, with an average ground level of about 1.5 metres.

Which waterfall on the Zambezi River, between Zambia and Zimbabwe, has a local name meaning 'the smoke that thunders'?

Victoria Falls was named by the missionary David Livingstone for his queen in 1855, and it forms the largest sheet of falling water in the world.

Which ancient city in Jordan, carved into sandstone cliffs by the Nabataeans, is nicknamed the Rose City?

Petra grew rich because the Nabataeans turned it into a major trading hub close to the incense routes.

Which Asian kingdom measures national progress by Gross National Happiness, an idea invented by its fourth king?

Bhutan wrote the pursuit of Gross National Happiness into its constitution, enacted in 2008, as a goal the state must promote.

Which country just north of Australia has about 840 known languages, more than any other nation on Earth?

Papua New Guinea has so many small cultural and language groups that English and Tok Pisin serve as common languages between them.

Which Pacific island nation straddles both the Equator and the 180th meridian, placing it in all four hemispheres?

Kiribati spreads 32 atolls and one solitary island, Banaba, across a stretch of ocean that reaches into every hemisphere.

Which South Pacific island nation is crossed by the 180th meridian on its island of Taveuni?

Fiji is one of only two countries where a road crosses the 180th meridian, the far edge of the Eastern Hemisphere.

What nickname is given to the point in the Atlantic where the Equator meets the prime meridian?

Null Island is open water rather than land, about 600 kilometres off West Africa, where a weather buoy named Soul was once moored.

Which West African country, whose capital is Accra, is the closest land to the point at 0° latitude, 0° longitude?

Ghana has the nearest mainland, at Achowa Point, yet the spot itself lies in open water roughly 600 kilometres offshore.

Which capital city hosted the 1884 conference that fixed the world's prime meridian at an observatory in London?

Washington hosted the vote, which passed 22 to 1 with France and Brazil abstaining and San Domingo voting against.

Which mountain kingdom, completely surrounded by South Africa, has the highest lowest point of any country in the world?

Lesotho never dips below 1,400 metres, and it is the largest of the three countries that sit wholly inside another nation.

Which East African country uses a calendar of thirteen months that runs seven or eight years behind the Gregorian one?

Ethiopia counts twelve months of thirty days each, then adds a short thirteenth month of just five or six days.

Which Central Asian country is one of only two doubly landlocked nations, ringed entirely by other landlocked states?

Uzbekistan shares the distinction with tiny Liechtenstein in Europe: from either one, reaching an ocean coast means crossing at least two borders.

Which dormant twin-peaked volcano in the Caucasus is usually counted as the highest mountain in Europe?

Mount Elbrus rises 5,642 metres, which also makes it the highest volcano in Eurasia, and both of its summits are dormant volcanic domes.

Which Antarctic research station recorded −89.2 °C in 1983, the lowest natural temperature reliably measured on Earth?

Vostok was founded by the Soviet Union in 1957 and sits in the larger part of the frozen continent that falls in the Eastern Hemisphere.

Which Egyptian waterway, opened in 1869, lets ships pass between the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea?

The Suez Canal cuts roughly 8,900 kilometres off the voyage from the Arabian Sea to London by sparing ships the trip around Africa.