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PAGE CONTENTS:
The Bermuda Triangle
Some Stuff About Oceans
Other Stuff
Africa
Antarctica
Asia
Australia
Central America
Europe
Middle East
North America
South America
The Bermuda Triangle
The Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil's Triangle, is an area
of the north Atlantic Ocean where it is popularly believed a significant number of ships and aircraft have disappeared under
highly unusual circumstances. It has become popular through its representation by mass media as an area of paranormal activity
where the known laws of physics are violated. It has even been suggested that extraterrestrial beings are responsible for
some of the disappearances.
As its name suggests, the Bermuda Triangle is approximately triangular
in shape, with three corners roughly defined by Bermuda, Puerto Rico, and Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Its size is nearly half
a million square miles. The Triangle marks a corridor of the north Atlantic stretching northward from the West Indies along
the North American seaboard as far as the Carolinas. The Gulf Stream, an area of volatile weather, also passes through the
Triangle as it leaves the West Indies.
The area achieved its current fame largely through the efforts of Charles
Berlitz in his 1974 book The Bermuda Triangle and its subsequent film adaptation. The book recounts a long series of
mysterious disappearances of ships and aircraft, in particular the December 1945 loss of five U.S. Navy Avenger torpedo bombers
in the infamous Flight 19 incident. The book was a bestseller and included several theories about the cause of the disappearances,
including accidents due to high traffic volumes; natural storms; "temporal holes"; the lost empire of Atlantis; transportation
by extraterrestrial technology; and other natural or supernatural causes.
One of the best known, and probably the most famous Bermuda Triangle
incidents concerns the loss of Flight 19, a squadron of five U.S. Navy TBM Avenger torpedo bombers on a training flight out
of Fort Lauderdale, Florida on December 5, 1945. According to Berlitz, the flight consisted of expert naval aviators who,
after reporting a number of odd visual effects, simply disappeared. However, a more likely scenario indicate that the flight
commander became confused and disoriented, ultimately leading his flight out to sea where they ran out of gas and ditched
in stormy night time waters. And, although his student-pilots believed he was mistaken as to their location, he was the Flight
Leader, and he was in command. By the time he took one of the trainee pilots advice to fly west, they were too far out to
ever make landfall.
The marine insurer Lloyd's of London has determined the "triangle" to
be no more dangerous than any other area of ocean, and does not charge unusual rates for passage through the region. Coast
Guard records confirm their conclusion. In fact, the number of supposed disappearances is relatively insignificant considering
the number of ships and aircraft which pass through on a regular basis. Additionally, in an area frequented by tropical storms,
the number of disappearances that occur are mostly neither disproportionate, unlikely, nor mysterious.
Copyright © 2006 ArcaMax Publishing, Inc. and its licensors.
Some Stuff About Oceans:
An area of the Atlantic Ocean floor, known as the mid-ocean rift, is
full of cracks, sometimes 2,400 meters deep. As a result, water seeps through the earth's crust down to its molten core. This
heats the water, causing it to rise back up to the ocean. When it hits the cold ocean water, a cloud is formed. These hot-springs,
called hydrothermal vents, can reach 371 degrees Celsius.
Due to continental drift. the Atlantic Ocean is now 120 ft wider than
it was at the time of Columbus's first voyage. (Source: The People's Almanac 3)
The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and the shallowest.
The Pacific is larger than all the land in the world put together, covering
about 70 million square miles--more than one-third of the Earth's surface.
If all the oceans were to evaporate, the salt left behind would cover the entire planet with a layer of salt that was
50 meters (half a soccer field) thick.
The world's biggest canyons are submerged beneath our oceans.
If all the Antartic ice melted, the ocean level would rise nearly 250
feet, and 25 percent of the world's land surface would be flooded.
Other Stuff:
250 million years ago, all the continents were joined into one huge land
mass called Pangaea. The part that is now Antarctica was much closer to the equator, and it had tropical jungles. The Hawaiian
and Reunion Islands, as well as Yellowstone and Iceland, are examples of hot spots that have remained in the same place for
much of the Earth's history. The reason being that they are rooted solid in the Earth's deep mantle and cannot move.
The first letter of every continent’s name is the same as the last
letter: America, Africa, Europe, Australia, Asia, Antarctica
The art of map making is older than the art of writing.
Was there really an official seven wonders of the world?
What are they?
There certainly were, although most of them are gone, lost to the mists of history. Although most
people know that a list exists, few can name them. The list of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World was originally compiled
around the second century B.C. These "wonders" rivaled those created by nature in their size, majesty, and beauty. Six of
the seven wonders no longer stand, having been destroyed by natural disaster or by humans. In chronological order, the Seven
Wonders were:
1) The Great Pyramid of Giza - A gigantic stone structure near the ancient
city of Memphis, serving as a tomb for the Egyptian Pharaoh Khufu. The only Wonder which does not require a description by
early historians and poets as it is the only one still standing. The pyramid still stands at the city of Giza, a necropolis
of ancient Memphis, and today part of Greater Cairo.
2) The Hanging Gardens of Babylon - A palace with legendary gardens built
on the banks of the Euphrates river by King Nebuchadnezzar II. Supposedly located on the east bank of the River Euphrates,
about 50 km south of Baghdad, Iraq, its possible they may have only existed only in the minds of Greek poets and scholars.
But, as described by scholar Diodorus Siculus, they sounded grand indeed: "The approach to the Garden sloped like a hillside
and the several parts of the structure rose from one another tier on tier... On all this, the earth had been piled... and
was thickly planted with trees of every kind that, by their great size and other charm, gave pleasure to the beholder... The
water machines [raised] the water in great abundance from the river, although no one outside could see it."
3) The statue of Zeus at Olympia - An enormous statue of the Greek father
of gods (in whose honor the Ancient Olympic games were held), carved by the great sculptor Pheidias, . It was located on the
land that gave its very name to the Olympics. At the time of the games, wars stopped, and athletes came from Asia Minor, Egypt,
and Sicily to celebrate the Olympics and to worship their king of gods: Zeus.
4) The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus - A beautiful temple in Asia Minor
erected in honor of the Greek goddess of hunting and wild nature. To those who visited it, the Ephesusian temple was more
then merely that - it was the most beautiful structure on earth. Built in honor of the Greek goddess Artemis (or Diana), the
temple housed many works of art, including four ancient bronze statues of Amazons sculpted by the finest artists at the time.
When St. Paul visited the city, the temple was adorned with golden pillars and silver statuettes, and was decorated with paintings.
5) The Mausoleum at Halicanassus - A fascinating tomb constructed for
King Maussollos, Persian satrap of Caria. It's said that the beauty of the Mausoleum was not only in the structure itself,
but in the decorations and statues that adorned the outside at different levels on the podium and the roof. These were tens
of life-size as well as under and over life-size free-standing statues of people, lions, horses, and other animals. The statues
were carved by four Greek sculptors: Bryaxis, Leochares, Scopas, and Timotheus, each responsible for one side. Because the
statues were of people and animals, the Mausoleum holds a special place in history as it was not dedicated to the gods of
Ancient Greece.
6) The Colossus of Rhodes - An enormous statue of Helios the sun-god,
erected by the Greeks near the harbor of a Mediterranean Island. The construction of the Colossus took 12 years and was finished
in 282 BC. For years, the statue stood at the harbor entrance, until a strong earthquake hit Rhodes about 226 BC. The city
was badly damaged, and the Colossus was broken at its weakest point, the knee. The Rhodians received an immediate offer from
Ptolemy III Eurgetes of Egypt to cover all restoration costs for the toppled monument. However, an oracle was consulted and
forbade the re-erection. For almost a millennium, the statue lay broken in ruins. In AD 654, the Arabs invaded Rhodes. They
disassembled the remains of the broken Colossus and sold them to a Jew from Syria. It is said that the fragments had to be
transported to Syria on the backs of 900 camels.
7) The Lighthouse of Alexandria - A lighthouse built by the Ptolemies
on the island of Pharos off the coast of their capital city. Of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, it's the only one
which had a practical use in addition to its architectural elegance. For architects, it meant even more: it was the tallest
building on Earth. And for scientists, it was the mysterious mirror that fascinated them most, the reflection of which could
be seen more than 35 miles off-shore. Legend says the mirror was also used to detect and burn enemy ships before they could
reach the shore.
First World Map
The first map of all the known
lands was probably drawn by the Greek philosopher Anaximander of Miletus (610- ca.546 BC). He may have been the first person
to attempt such a map, although in several places there were people who could draw local maps.
Anaximander collected information from voyagers stopping at Miletus,
and tried to construct a full picture of the entire world, as it was known at the time. He drew the Mediterranean Sea surrounded
by land, with a larger ocean around the land.
He conceived of the Earth as a cylinder, suspended in empty space,
with the sphere of the heavens rotating around it once each day. He said that the curvature of the cylinder explained the
variation in the angle of the sun with latitude.
AFRICA
In living memory, it was not until February 18, 1979 that snow fell on
the Sahara. A half-hour storm in southern Algeria stopped traffic. But within a few hours, all the snow had melted.
The Namib is the world's oldest desert, and the only desert inhabited by
elephant, rhino, giraffe, and lion.
Madagascar is the fourth-largest island in the world. It is approximately
the same size as the state of Texas.
Largest Desert
Earth's largest unbroken desert
is currently the Sahara Desert, which covers most of northern Africa. Stretching from coast to coast, the Sahara is about
4,800 kilometers across (3,000 miles), for a total land mass of about 3,565,565 square miles, approximately the
size of the contiguous United States, or all of Europe..
4000 years ago the Sahara was a land of grassy prairies with buffalo, elephants,
lions, and antelopes. Then the climate shifted quite suddenly and the Sahara dried up, forcing massive changes in the human
societies of the region. No one knows why the climate shifted, but there are several theories.
Before the Sahara dried up the largest desert would have been the Australian
central desert, which is about 3400 kilometers across (2100 miles). There are deserts across a very broad stretch of central
Asia but they are broken by mountains with forests.
Longest river in the world
Measuring 4,132 miles
(6,650 km), Africa's Nile River is the world's longest. It runs from two main sources, one in the Ethiopian highlands (the
Blue Nile) and the other from Lake Victoria (the White Nile) north across the Eastern Sahara Desert, emptying into the Mediterranean
Sea. The most distant source is the Kagera River in Burundi.
The Nile played a vital role in the earliest history of humanity. It was
one of the first rivers whose banks and flood plains were cultivated, and its annual floods were important to ancient Egyptian
civilization.
One of the Nile's unusual features is that it is in flood phase when the
northern desert is in its hottest, driest season. Fed by torrential rains in the southern mountains, these summer floods were
a mystery to European explorers.
The Nile River is so long that had it been formed in the United States,
it could have stretched from New York to Los Angeles.
ANTARCTICA
Although covered with ice (all but 0.4% of it, i.e.), Antarctica is the
driest place on the planet, with an absolute humidity lower than the Gobi desert.
Antarctica is the only continent where corn is not grown.
Antarctica is 98% ice, 2% barren rock. The average thickness of the ice
sheet is 7,200 feet; this amounts to 90% of all the ice and 70% of all the fresh water in the world. If the ice cap were to
melt, the sea level would rise by an average of 230 feet.
There is no land beneath the North Pole.
(Source: NY Daily News)
Driest Continent
Antarctica is the driest continent
on Earth! It receives about 2 inches (5 cm) of precipitation (rainfall or snow) per year, far less than many deserts.
Despite its lack of precipitation, Antarctica is also covered by a huge ice cap, which is the world's largest body of ice
and the world's largest body of fresh water -- almost 70% of the Earth's total! Antarctica is also the windiest
continent, the coldest continent, and the least populated continent on Earth.
What's the world's biggest desert?
It's the continent
of Antarctica. Never mind sand and the Sahara. The dictionary defines a desert as a vast, wild, barren, uncultivated area,
incapable of supporting a considerable population Source: WEBSTER'S THIRD NEW INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY
Coldest place on Earth
The coldest natural outdoor
temperature ever recorded (as of January, 2000) was at Russia's Vostock Station in Antarctica. In 1997 the temperature there
fell to -91 degrees Celsius (-132 degrees F). At this temperature, steel becomes so brittle it shatters easily.
Vostok Station is located in the middle of a vast expanse of uninterrupted
ice, on a high plateau about 780 miles (1260 km) from the South Pole. The ice at Vostok is about 3700 meters thick (12,100
feet) and the surface elevation is 3488 meters (11,444 feet).
Vostok Station is not only the coldest place on Earth, it is also one
of the driest. Because the air is so cold, it can hold very little moisture. The air's absolute humidity at Vostok is lower
than that of the Sahara Desert.
ASIA
BANGLADESH
The most crowded country larger than a city is Bangladesh, at 2,200 people
per square mile (850/sq km). About the size of Wisconsin, this poor agricultural country has a population of more than 125
million that is still growing at more than 2% per year.
Although Bangladesh is blessed by rich soils and a warm climate, the
country is periodically devastated by floods, storms, and other natural disasters. Most of the population are farmers, mainly
growing rice and jute. In recent years wheat, tea, and cotton have become more important crops.
CEYLON
Ceylon became a republic in 1972 and changed
its name to Sri Lanka.
CHINA
China produces about 70 percent of the world's
silk supply.
- China is the most populous country in the world with approximately
1.2 billion people. Most people live in eastern China on the coastal plains, the highlands or in the fertile valleys. About
20% of the population is concentrated in the towns and cities. Western China is sparsely populated.
- Chinese civilization dates back 3,500 years making it one of the oldest
in the world, comparable to the Roman empire in size during the Han dynasty era. China went through Mongol rule in the 13th
century and later on, Manchu rule from 1644 to 1912. At this time too, China became a republic. After WWII, a civil war ensued
between the nationalists and the Communists, who emerged triumphant in 1949, thus making way for the People's Republic of
China. After Mao Tse-tung's death in 1976, reforms took place with the introduction of private enterprise and foreign investment
policies, thus opening China up to the rest of the world.
- 93% of China's population is Han Chinese while 7% consists of ethnic
minorities (including Zhuang, Uygur, Hui, Yi, Tibetan, Miao, Manchu, Mongol, Buyi and Korean).
- The monsoon, the huge land mass and considerable differences in altitude
are all contributing factors to the climatic differences in China. The most pleasant months are May (spring) and September
to October (autumn). South-eastern and central China tend to be warm and humid while the north and north-east are generally
dry.
- The north-east has hot, dry summers and long, cold winters. In central
China, summer is hot and humid with heavy rainfall in late summer. There are occasional sandstorms around Xi'an, Beijing and
Zhengzhou. Southern China experiences long hot summers, short cool winters and abundant rainfall. The rainy season between
July and September causes typhoon conditions in south-east China.
- China is the third largest country in the world, with mountain ranges,
high plateaus, basin regions, hills and plains.
- The official language of China, Putonghua (Mandarin), is based on the
Beijing dialect. Other dialects include Yue (Cantonese), Wu (Shanghainese), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minnan (Hokkien Taiwanese), Xiang,
Gan, Hakka amongst others.
- The main religions in China are Buddhism, Taoism, Islam and Christianity.
INDIA
India is the only country that has a Bill of
Rights for cows.
JAPAN
In the southern part of Japan, it rarely snows
to any great amount except for the mountains, but the northern part usually has plenty of snow in the winter. Autumn is by
far the best time to visit Japan, as far as the weather goes.
Does it snow in Japan?
In the southern part of Japan,
it rarely snows to any great amount except for the mountains, but the northern part usually has plenty of snow in the winter.
Autumn is by far the best time to visit Japan, as far as the weather goes.
SIBERIA
In Siberia, it can get so cold that the moisture
in a person’s breath freezes instead of forming vapor. It can actually be heard when it falls to earth as ice crystals.
AUSTRALIA
Australia is the smallest, flattest, and driest inhabited continent
in the world. It is the only country that is also a whole continent - 18.6 million people live here.
The continent of Australia has one of the most unusual collections
of native life forms on the planet. Why are there so many strange forms there?
50 million years ago, Australia was part of a land mass near the South
Pole. It was connected with what are now Antarctica and South America. As the continents slowly shifted, Australia split off
and began a long journey northwards. During that time it was isolated by wide stretches of ocean.
In Australia, evolution continued for about twenty million years without
interference from new forms emerging on other continents. The climate changed radically several times, and whole families
of life forms became extinct while new ones evolved. As a result, Australia developed ecosystems quite different from those
on other continents.
About one fifth of Australia is covered by its eleven deserts.
Arguably the largest state in the world, Western Australia covers one-third of
the Australian continent. It spans over 2.5 million square kilometers (1 million square miles).
Australia is divided into two territories and six states.
Australia is the smallest, flattest, and driest inhabited continent in the World.
It is the only country which is also a whole continent — 18.6 million people live here.
Australia’s Ayers Rock is the largest rock in the world. It rises out of
the middle of the country with a diameter of 5½ miles around its base and a height of 1,000 feet.
Australia’s Great Barrier Reef stretches for 1,242 miles along the coast
of Queensland. It is a chain of small islands and more than 2,500 reefs.
Australia's city of Sydney began as a penal colony in 1788; for the next 60 years,
it received the criminal and persecuted people of British society.
CENTRAL AMERICA
NICARAGUA
Lake Nicaragua, in Nicaragua, once part
of a sea, has the only freshwater sharks in the world.
EUROPE
Europe has no deserts - it is the only continent without one.
BELGIUM
Sometimes land boundaries are not uniform. Belgium and the Netherlands
have an underground boundary that differs from the surface boundary shown on maps. In 1950, the two countries agreed to move
the underground boundary so as not to divide coal mines between the two countries.
ENGLAND
The white cliffs of Dover is a natural landmark located at the southern
coast of England. The distinctive color of the cliffs was actually created by the accumulation of skeletal remains of tiny
organisms deposited over thousands of centuries. Sea level was higher millions of years ago, and after the waters receded,
the whitish residual remains of the creatures were exposed.
FRANCE
France is the largest Western European country. Its area is slightlyless than
twice the size of Colorado.
The 7,000 ton, 112 year old Eiffel Tower was built by Gustave Eiffel in
1889 for the world exhibitions being held in Paris that year for the centennial of the French Revolution. 300 steelworkers
used 18,038 steel pieces and 2,500,000 rivets in its construction. The Eiffel Tower requires a new coat of paint, 50 tons
of it, every seven years.
How tall is that tower in Paris?
Depends on how hot
it is. The height of the 984-foot-tall Eiffel Tower varies by as much as 6 inches, depending on the temperature.
Which is France's second most popular city?
Lourdes
is the second-most visited city in France. Thousands of visitors are Catholic pilgrims drawn to its shrine each year to pray.
Lourdes was a quiet town until a peasant girl saw a holy vision. In 1848, 14-year-old Bernadette Soubirous declared that the
Virgin Mary had appeared to her in a cave next to the river. The Virgin appeared to her again a few weeks later. In all, there
were eighteen visits. Then, near the cave, a spring began to flow. Four years later, a local bishop declared the authenticity
of Bernadette's visions.
GREAT BRITAIN
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ENGLAND,
GREAT BRITAIN, AND THE UNITED KINGDOM?
Great Britain is the island encompassing the political entities of England, Scotland
and Wales. The United Kingdom consists of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The official name of the United Kingdom is the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
GREECE
The land area of the country of Greece is slightly smaller than Alabama.
GREENLAND
At 840,000 square miles, Greenland is the
largest island in the world. It is three times the size of Texas. By comparison, Iceland is only 39,800 square miles.
HOLLAND
Of all the world's most populous countries,
Holland is the most densely populated, with close to a thousand people per square mile.
MONACO
Of all the world's countries, the most densely
populated is tiny Monaco, a resort destination on the French Riviera, with a population density of 42,000 people per square
mile (16,000 per square kilometer). But its total area is only 0.8 square miles (2 sq km), smaller than most cities.
THE NETHERLANDS
The Netherlands are the lowest country in the world. It is estimatedthat
40 percent of the land is below sea level.
RUSSIA
The Volga River, approximately 2,293 miles
long, and the principal waterway in Russia, is the longest river in Europe.
Where were maps deliberately published with errors?
In
the old Soviet Union, maps were often made with deliberat errors. Towns, rivers, and roads were placed incorrectly, and entire
towns would be missing in some versions. Moscow street maps were especially inaccurate.
The false maps were part of a plan to prevent foreigners and even the
Soviet citizens from knowing the details of the geography of the Soviet Union. It was thought that this would increase security,
but actually it made the whole country less efficient.
The false maps were part of a much broader concept called Maskirovka,
a word that has meanings relating to misdirection, camouflage, misinformation, and diversion. According to some experts, the
Maskirovka philosophy is still very much a part of Russian strategy, and influences many parts of the society.
SWITZERLAND
Politically and socially, Switzerland is one of the most stablenations
in the world. This is remarkable, considering its small sizeand limited supply of primary resources. The country also has
significant ethnic diversity.
MIDDLE EAST
The Dead Sea is so called because of the high salt content of its waters.
That spells instant death for fish that happen to wander in, as they occasionally do from the Jordan River. In fact it kills
most animal and plant life--with the exception of tourists, who love the property of the salt water that makes it so
easy to float on. Bacteria survive in the Dead Sea, though, as do brine shrimp and a class of plants called halophytes
that love salt water.
(Sources: THE HANDY SCIENCE ANSWER BOOK)
The Red Sea got its name from the occasionally extensive blooms of algae
that, upon dying, turn the sea's normally intense blue-green waters to red.
ISRAEL
Israel is one-quarter the size of the state
of Maine.
LEBANON
Lebanon is the only country in the Middle
East that does not have a desert.
SAUDI ARABIA
You might think that the world's largest
airport would be near one of the world's largest cities. Actually, the largest airport in the world (measured by total land
area) is Saudi Arabia's King Khalid International Airport, which covers 87 square miles (225 square km). Located near
Saudi Arabia's capitol, Riyadh, it was opened in 1983 and like Riyadh it is surrounded by hundreds of miles of empty desert.
When it was first opened, King Khalid Airport (air traffic code: RUH)
had the capacity to handle 7.5 million passengers a year. Projections then claimed that by the year 2000 that capacity
would be doubled. It is one of the most modern airports in the Middle East, with a high-tech industrial park nearby that specializes
in the aviation industry.
SYRIA
Damascus is thought to be the oldest city of
the world. The origin of the city is unknown. However its foundation is attributed to Josephus Uz, the son of Aram.
NORTH AMERICA
CANADA
Canada has the longest coastline, because of its many bays, inlets, and
islands.
SOUTH AMERICA
BOLIVIA
La Paz, Bolivia, at 11,900 feet above sea-level,
is the highest large city in the world.
The city of LaPaz, Bolivia is virtually fireproof. At 12,000
feet above sea level, there is barely enough oxygen to support combustion. (Source: AbsoluteTrivia)
The largest salt lake is Salar de Uyuni, a vast expanse of brine and
salt flats in the parched, remote southwestern corner of the South American country of Bolivia.
With an area over 12,000 square kilometers (4600 square miles), Salar
de Uyuni is the remains of what was once a much larger body of water. As the climate changed the lake evaporated, leaving
behind extremely salty water and huge expanses of salt pan.
Other salt lakes and salt pans also dot the high desert of southwest
Bolivia, some of them hosting huge flocks of pink flamingoes. Also found in that region are active volcanoes, steaming fumaroles
and geysers, and the only hotels in the world made entirely of salt.
CHILE
Chile, which is 2,300 miles away, owns Easter
Island, the Polynesian outpost in the Eastern Pacific known for its mysterious 50-ton monolithic sculptures.
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