People Break Down The Most Useless Geography Facts They Know

Bodies Of Water

The following factoids tend to sink beneath the surface.

In De-Nile

"The Nile River flows North."

– llcucf80

Lava Land

"There was an island originated by volcanic eruption below southern Italy. Different countries argued about which one should have been its rightful owner, but some time later there was another eruption and the island disappeared."

– HumanDrone

"Posiden's Island."

– aibaron

Land O' Lakes

"Canada has the more lakes than every other country combined."

– Potensh

"The United States has more land area than canada, but not if you count the lakes."

– RevolutionaryKnee683

"The United States has more land area than Canada even if you include all the lakes. Because the land area of a lake is zero."

– protostar777

Deepest Lake

"Lake Baikal contains approximately 20% of the world's surface freshwater."

– DinoGuy2000

"Holy crap, it would take over three years for the Amazon River (discharge of 6500 cu km/yr) to fill Lake Baikal (volume of 23615 cu km)!"

"And the Amazon River is f'king huge, more discharge than the next seven rivers combined."

– -Captain-Planet-

Head Scratchers

Don't think too hard. You might break your brain from these statistics involving size, direction, and borders.

Same Destination

"If someone were to travel in any of the four cardinal directions from anywhere in Los Algodones, Mexico (due north, due east, due south, or due west), they would cross a U.S. border."

– CharlieChile

French Border

"France shares its longest border with Brazil."

– maple_dip

"Yup. People forget that French Guiana and also the island of Reunion (Indian Ocean) are not mere overseas territories... they are actually France on the same basis that Paris and Bordeaux are France."

– Driver_67

The Biggest State

"Alaska, the largest state in the US, is almost 3 times larger than the second largest state in the US which is Texas."

– Mad_Chemist_

Beyond Our Borders

Were you aware about these interesting tidbits from abroad?

Word

"not exactly a geography fact but some cool wordplay."

"the first three letters of Sweden and Denmark spell Sweden while the remaining letters spell Denmark!"

– soba_todoroki

Thing About Switzerland

"Switzerland is a third world country. Third world simply means not a NATO aligned country (first world) and not a Warsaw pact aligned country (second world). Other neutral countries are also third world - Finland, Austria and Ireland being capitalist examples and Yugoslavia being a communist example."

– mordenty

Barely Exists

"Because Finland is .2% of the global population, and the number of people in the world is always at +/- .2% of the number, there is a chance that Finland doesn't exist."

– teb_22

Size Contest

"Australia is wider than the moon."

– pepeman931

Reversing River

"The St. Johns river in New Brunswick reverses flow depending on the tides."

"There is a section called the reversing rapids. This is due to huge tides in the Bay of Fundy, the largest in the world which can be over 15m (50ft) difference."

- Dakens2021

French Revolution

"France is the only country in the world which has territory in all the five continents."

"They have a tiny territory they control in Israel."

- 1_789

Why In July?

"You can stand on a mountain in California and see both the lowest point (Badwater Basin, Death Valley National Park) in the contiguous United States and the highest (Mount Whitney)."

"An annual marathon runs from one to the other...in July."

- NoahtheRed

Nobody Claims Bir Tawil

"Bir Tawil is a small stretch of landlocked desert that is a terra nullius because neither Egypt nor Sudan want it."

"It seems to be the only terra nullius that is theoretically habitable (though I haven't been able to find out if anyone actually lives there)."

"Both Egypt and Sudan want the far larger and more profitable Halaib Triangle."

"The Halaib Triangle was within the borders of Egypt according to the straight 1899 political border drawn between the two countries along the 22nd parallel; but within the borders of Sudan according to the uneven 1902 administrative border that was meant to reflect the actual tribal use of the land."

"As a result, Bir Tawil, which is an adjoining stretch of land south of the 1899 border but north of the 1902 border, is not claimed by either country."

- [Reddit]

Building Borders

"The border between the states of New York/Vermont and Ontario/Quebec is not straight, because of the limitations of surveying at the time they were surveyed."

"As a result, there are some buildings that are bifurcated by the international border, most famously the Haskell Free Library and Opera House between Derby Line, VT and Rock Island, QC."

- drsameagle

Fun With Words!

"An exonym is what a country is referred to as in other languages, and and endonym is what a country and its landmarks are called in the country's own language."

"For example, in their own languages, Ireland is Eire, Scotland is Alba, Egypt is Misr, Bhutan is Druk Yul, India is Bharot, and Japan is Nipon."

- reallygoodbee

While these alleged "useless" geography facts will not increase your chances of getting a high-paying job, your now increased awareness will make you the talk of the town.

So the next time you're at a dinner party and you don't know how to start a conversation, try saying: "did you know Alaska is three times larger than Texas?"

Either you'll be frowned upon as a crazy person giving unsolicited information OR you could bring life to that party. It's worth a try, right?