Erebus

Fact library / Trivia

Geography facts

112 geography facts, each paired with a strange little scene and a hook for the hard word.

The volcano at the bottom of the world

Earth's southernmost active volcano is Mount Erebus, on Ross Island in Antarctica.

Picture it

Imagine a giant penguin standing on a frozen Antarctic island. A giant named Ross is sitting on the island with his feet in the sea. Suddenly a volcano erupts, and a huge AIR BUS flies out of the smoke.

Memory hooks

  • Erebus: "AIR-bus" bursting out of the crater (sound-alike)
  • Ross Island: a giant named Ross sitting on the island (visual association)

Say it: Erebus (AIR·eh·bus)

The deepest bike ride

Lake Baikal in Siberia is the world's deepest lake, at over 1,600 m.

Picture it

Someone rides a BIKE off a frozen cliff in Siberia and keeps falling ALL the way down, over a mile and a half, through crystal-clear water until they hit the bottom of the deepest lake on Earth.

Memory hooks

  • Baikal: "bike-ALL": a bike falling all the way down (sound-alike)
  • Siberia: a frozen cliff above crystal water (visual association)

Deeper than Everest is tall

The deepest known point in the ocean is the Challenger Deep, in the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific, nearly 11 km down.

Picture it

A tiny submarine sinks into a crescent-shaped gash in the western Pacific floor: the MARIANA Trench, where a woman named MARIANA waves from the bottom. At its deepest point, the CHALLENGER DEEP, you could drop Everest in and still have water over its peak.

Memory hooks

  • Challenger Deep: Everest could sink in it without breaking the surface (visual association)
  • Mariana Trench: Mariana waving from the bottom (narrative)

The waterfall named after a pilot

Angel Falls in Venezuela is the world's tallest uninterrupted waterfall, named after the aviator Jimmie Angel.

Picture it

A bush pilot named Jimmie ANGEL crash-lands his little plane on top of a flat mountain in the jungle, and looks over the edge at a waterfall so high its water turns to mist before it hits the ground. It's in VENEZUELA: "VENI, VIDI, waterfall-a."

Memory hooks

  • Angel Falls: a pilot named Angel crash-landing on top (narrative)
  • Venezuela: "Veni, vidi, waterfall-a" (sound-alike)

Where it hasn't rained in years

The Atacama Desert in northern Chile is the driest non-polar desert on Earth.

Picture it

In northern CHILE, a weather station has waited years for a single drop of rain. NASA tests Mars rovers here because it looks just like Mars. A cactus whispers "AT A CAMA" ("at a bed"), hoping for a nap in the shade: the ATACAMA.

Memory hooks

  • Atacama: a cactus whispering "at a cama" (sound-alike)
  • Chile: the long, thin country, dry at the top (visual association)

Advertisement

The lowest beach on Earth

The shore of the Dead Sea, fed mainly by the Jordan River, is the lowest point on land on Earth.

Picture it

Swimmers float like corks reading newspapers on water so salty nothing can live in it: the DEAD SEA. It's fed by the JORDAN River, where a man named JORDAN pours in a bucket of water from the north.

Memory hooks

  • Dead Sea: swimmers floating like corks (visual association)
  • Jordan River: Jordan pouring in a bucket from the north (narrative)

A lake called a sea

The Caspian Sea is the world's largest lake by area and is bordered by five countries.

Picture it

A huge body of water, bigger than Germany, sits landlocked between Europe and Asia. It calls itself a sea, but it's actually the world's largest lake. A CASPER-the-ghost-shaped ("CASP-ian") seahorse counts the five countries that share its shores, one on each finger.

Memory hooks

  • Caspian Sea: a Casper-shaped seahorse (sound-alike)
  • five: one country on each finger (number hook)

The river with the most passports

The Danube flows through ten countries, more than any other river in the world.

Picture it

A river sets off from Germany's Black Forest carrying a passport, and by the time it reaches the Black Sea it's collected ten stamps, more than any other river on Earth. It hums a waltz: "The Blue DANUBE."

Memory hooks

  • Danube: a river humming a waltz (visual association)
  • ten: ten passport stamps (number hook)

Green in name only

Greenland is the world's largest island and an autonomous territory of Denmark.

Picture it

A Viking named Erik the Red finds a gigantic, icy island and calls it GREEN-land to trick settlers into moving there. It's the biggest island on Earth. Today a flag of DENMARK flutters over it, because it's part of the Danish kingdom.

Memory hooks

  • Greenland: Erik the Red's marketing trick (narrative)
  • Denmark: a Danish flag over the ice (visual association)

The loneliest spot in the ocean

Point Nemo, in the South Pacific, is the place in the ocean farthest from any land.

Picture it

A sailor floats in the middle of the South PACIFIC, as far from land as it's possible to be. The nearest humans are often the astronauts passing overhead. Captain NEMO ("nobody" in Latin) surfaces in his submarine and waves.

Memory hooks

  • Point Nemo: Captain Nemo ("nobody") surfacing (narrative)
  • Pacific: the middle of the South Pacific (visual association)

Fourteen kilometres between continents

The Strait of Gibraltar, which separates Europe from Africa, is only about 14 km wide at its narrowest.

Picture it

A swimmer stands on a rock in Spain and stares across at the mountains of Morocco: Europe and Africa, almost touching. The gap is only about 14 kilometres: a GIBBERING ape ("GIB-raltar") could nearly shout across it.

Memory hooks

  • Strait of Gibraltar: a gibbering ape shouting across (sound-alike)
  • 14: fourteen kilometres between continents (number hook)

Snow on the equator

Kilimanjaro, a dormant volcano in Tanzania, is the highest mountain in Africa.

Picture it

Near the equator, a giant snow-capped volcano rises straight up out of the flat savanna, the roof of Africa. A KILLER with a MANGO in a JAR ("KILI-MAN-JARO") climbs it in shorts and comes down in a parka. It stands in TANZANIA.

Memory hooks

  • Kilimanjaro: a killer with a mango in a jar (chunking)
  • Tanzania: rising out of the savanna (visual association)

The river that pours the most

The Amazon carries more water than any other river, about a fifth of all river water reaching the oceans.

Picture it

A river so wide you can't see the far bank pours brown water into the Atlantic, enough to fill an Olympic pool every split second. Fierce warrior women, the Amazons, row along it.

Memory hooks

  • Amazon: warrior women rowing a river you can't see across (visual association)

Two Niles meet

The White Nile and the Blue Nile meet at Khartoum in Sudan; the Blue Nile flows from Lake Tana in Ethiopia.

Picture it

In Khartoum, a clear White river and a muddy Blue one twist together like two ropes. The Blue comes down from Lake Tana in Ethiopia; the White from Lake Victoria.

Memory hooks

  • Blue Nile: a white rope and a blue rope twisting together (visual association)

The longest river in Asia

The Yangtze is the longest river in Asia, and the Three Gorges Dam on it is the world's largest power station by capacity.

Picture it

A giant yanks a sea of water across China, so long it's the third longest river on Earth. Halfway along, a colossal concrete wall, the Three Gorges Dam, holds it back.

Memory hooks

  • Yangtze: yanking a sea across China (sound-alike)

Europe's longest river

The Volga is the longest river in Europe and flows into the Caspian Sea.

Picture it

Barge haulers heave on ropes along a mighty Russian river that winds 3,500 km before draining into the Caspian Sea. A Volkswagen golfs along the bank: Volga.

Memory hooks

  • Volga: a VW Golf driving along the bank (sound-alike)

The deepest river

The Congo is the world's deepest river, over 200 metres deep in places, and crosses the equator twice.

Picture it

A diver drops into a dark African river and keeps sinking, past 200 metres, deeper than any other river. It's also the only major river that crosses the equator twice.

Memory hooks

  • Congo: a diver who just keeps sinking (visual association)

The smoke that thunders

Victoria Falls, on the Zambezi river between Zambia and Zimbabwe, is locally called Mosi-oa-Tunya, "the smoke that thunders".

Picture it

A wall of water a mile wide plunges into a gorge, throwing up a spray cloud you can see 30 km away. Locals call it Mosi-oa-Tunya, "the smoke that thunders". The river is the Zambezi.

Memory hooks

  • Mosi-oa-Tunya: "the smoke that thunders" (narrative)

Three falls, two countries

Niagara Falls is made up of three waterfalls; the biggest, Horseshoe Falls, is mostly in Canada.

Picture it

A huge horseshoe of falling water thunders on the Canadian side, while two smaller falls, the American and the Bridal Veil, pour on the US side. Barrels with daredevils bob in the mist.

Memory hooks

  • Horseshoe Falls: a horseshoe of water on the Canadian side (visual association)

Poor Niagara

Iguazu Falls, on the border of Argentina and Brazil, is a system of about 275 waterfalls; its largest drop is the Devil's Throat.

Picture it

Eleanor Roosevelt gazes at 275 waterfalls crashing through rainforest on the Argentina–Brazil border and sighs: "Poor Niagara!" The biggest drop is called the Devil's Throat.

Memory hooks

  • Iguazu: "Poor Niagara!" (narrative)

Advertisement

The mountain named after a surveyor

Mount Everest, named after surveyor George Everest, is called Sagarmatha in Nepali and Chomolungma in Tibetan.

Picture it

A Welsh surveyor who never even saw the mountain gets his name on the world's highest peak. Locals have far older names: Sagarmatha in Nepal and Chomolungma in Tibet.

Memory hooks

  • George Everest: a surveyor who never saw it (narrative)

The savage mountain

K2, the world's second-highest mountain, is in the Karakoram range; its name comes from a survey label.

Picture it

A surveyor in 1856 labels peaks in the Karakoram range K1, K2, K3... The second one turns out to be the world's second highest, so remote it never got a local name. Climbers call it the savage mountain.

Memory hooks

  • K2: Karakoram peak number 2 (chunking)

Europe's highest peak

Mount Elbrus in the Caucasus of Russia, at 5,642 m, is usually counted as Europe's highest mountain.

Picture it

Not Mont Blanc! In the Caucasus, a twin-domed dormant volcano rises to 5,642 m. An elbow pokes out of its snowy bruise: Elbrus.

Memory hooks

  • Elbrus: an elbow poking out of a bruise (sound-alike)

The highest peak outside Asia

Aconcagua in Argentina is the highest mountain outside Asia and in the Andes.

Picture it

In the Argentine Andes, a giant acorn sits on a canoe atop a 6,961-metre peak, the highest in the Americas and the highest anywhere outside Asia.

Memory hooks

  • Aconcagua: an acorn in a canoe on the summit (sound-alike)

The high one

Denali in Alaska is North America's highest mountain; its official US name has also been Mount McKinley.

Picture it

In Alaska, a massive peak rises from near sea level to over 6,000 m. Its Koyukon name, Denali, means "the high one". US maps have also called it Mount McKinley, after a president.

Memory hooks

  • Denali: "the high one" in Koyukon (narrative)

Taller than Everest, from the bottom

Measured from its base on the ocean floor, Mauna Kea in Hawaii is over 10,000 metres tall, taller than Everest.

Picture it

Measure a Hawaiian volcano from its base on the sea floor and it's over 10,000 metres tall, taller than Everest. On top, telescopes peer at the stars. Snow on its cap gives it its name: Mauna Kea, "white mountain".

Memory hooks

  • Mauna Kea: "white mountain", mostly hidden underwater (narrative)

The Toblerone mountain

The Matterhorn, a pyramid-shaped peak above Zermatt on the Swiss–Italian border, was first climbed in 1865.

Picture it

A near-perfect rock pyramid towers over the Swiss town of Zermatt. Its first climbers reach the top in 1865, but four die on the way down when a rope snaps.

Memory hooks

  • Matterhorn: the shape on a Toblerone wrapper (visual association)

The white mountain of the Alps

Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in the Alps, sits on the border of France and Italy.

Picture it

On the border of France and Italy, a snowy summit as white as a blanc-mange tops the Alps at about 4,800 m. A road tunnel burrows right under it.

Memory hooks

  • Mont Blanc: a white blanc-mange summit (visual association)

Japan's sacred volcano

Mount Fuji, Japan's highest mountain, is an active volcano that last erupted in 1707.

Picture it

A perfect snow-capped cone rises above Tokyo on a clear day. It last erupted in 1707. Hokusai painted it 36 times.

Memory hooks

  • 1707: seventeen-oh-seven, ash fell like heaven (number hook)

The tablecloth

Table Mountain, a flat-topped mountain above Cape Town, is often draped in cloud known as the "tablecloth".

Picture it

Above Cape Town, a flat-topped mountain gets covered with a sheet of white cloud that pours over the edge. Locals call it the tablecloth.

Memory hooks

  • Table Mountain: a white tablecloth of cloud (visual association)

The longest mountain range

The Andes is the longest continental mountain range in the world, about 7,000 km long.

Picture it

A stone spine runs down the whole west side of South America, about 7,000 km through seven countries. Llamas walk the length of it with and-shaped ease: the Andes.

Memory hooks

  • 7,000: seven thousand km through seven countries (number hook)

The abode of snow

The name Himalaya comes from Sanskrit for "abode of snow".

Picture it

A Sanskrit scholar points at a wall of white peaks and says hima (snow) alaya (home). The world's highest mountains are the home of snow.

Memory hooks

  • Himalaya: hima (snow) + alaya (home) (chunking)

Europe ends here

The Ural Mountains in Russia are usually taken as part of the boundary between Europe and Asia.

Picture it

In Russia, a low, worn-down range of hills runs north to south. A signpost stands on a pass: Europe on one side, Asia on the other. You're all in two continents at once: the Urals.

Memory hooks

  • Ural: "you're all" in two continents (sound-alike)

Europe's busiest volcano

Mount Etna in Sicily is the highest and one of the most active volcanoes in Europe.

Picture it

On Sicily, a smoking giant sends lava down its slopes almost every year. Farmers grow pistachios and grapes in its rich soil anyway. It's eternally naughty: Etna.

Memory hooks

  • Etna: eternally naughty (sound-alike)

Britain's highest

Ben Nevis, near Fort William in Scotland, is the highest mountain in the British Isles.

Picture it

Above Fort William in Scotland, a bulky mountain is hidden in cloud most days. A man called Ben keeps never seeing the top: Ben Nevis, 1,345 m.

Memory hooks

  • Ben Nevis: Ben never sees the top (sound-alike)

Advertisement

The biggest hot desert

The Sahara is the largest hot desert; the largest desert of all is Antarctica, which gets almost no precipitation.

Picture it

A camel caravan crosses sand dunes the size of the United States. In Arabic, the desert's name just means "desert": Sahara. But Antarctica, a cold desert, is even bigger.

Memory hooks

  • Antarctica: a cold desert, bigger than the Sahara (narrative)

The desert of dinosaur eggs

The Gobi Desert spans southern Mongolia and northern China; the first scientifically recognised dinosaur eggs were found there in 1923.

Picture it

In 1923, explorers in a cold, windswept desert in Mongolia and China dig up the first scientifically recognised dinosaur eggs. A go-bee buzzes over them: Gobi.

Memory hooks

  • Gobi: a bee buzzing over dinosaur eggs (sound-alike)

The oldest desert

The Namib, along the Atlantic coast of Namibia, is thought to be the world's oldest desert.

Picture it

Huge red dunes meet the cold Atlantic along a coast littered with shipwrecks: the Skeleton Coast. This desert has been dry for over 55 million years. You nab a nib of sand: Namib.

Memory hooks

  • Namib: red dunes meeting a shipwreck coast (visual association)

The Empty Quarter

The Rub' al Khali, or Empty Quarter, on the Arabian Peninsula is the largest continuous sand desert in the world.

Picture it

In the south of the Arabian Peninsula lies the largest continuous sand desert on Earth, so empty its Arabic name, Rub' al Khali, means "the Empty Quarter".

Memory hooks

  • Empty Quarter: a quarter of Arabia with nothing in it (narrative)

The lowest point in North America

Badwater Basin in Death Valley, California, is the lowest point in North America, 86 metres below sea level.

Picture it

A surveyor's mule refuses to drink from a salty pool in a scorching Californian valley, so he marks it "bad water". It's 86 metres below sea level, the lowest point in North America.

Memory hooks

  • Badwater Basin: a mule that refused to drink (narrative)

The biggest freshwater lake by area

Lake Superior, on the US–Canada border, is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area.

Picture it

A lake so big it has storms that sink ore ships, like the Edmund Fitzgerald. It's simply superior to all other freshwater lakes in surface area.

Memory hooks

  • Superior: simply superior to every other lake (narrative)

The lake in the sky

Lake Titicaca, on the border of Peru and Bolivia, is often called the highest navigable lake in the world, at about 3,800 m.

Picture it

High in the Andes, at 3,800 metres, people live on floating islands woven from reeds. The lake sits on the border of Peru and Bolivia: Titicaca.

Memory hooks

  • Titicaca: floating islands woven from reeds (visual association)

Africa's biggest lake

Lake Victoria, shared by Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, is Africa's largest lake and a main source of the Nile.

Picture it

A British explorer stands on a shore in 1858 and declares he's found the source of the Nile. The lake, shared by three countries, he names after his queen.

Memory hooks

  • Lake Victoria: named after the queen by an explorer (narrative)

The longest lake

Lake Tanganyika in East Africa is the world's longest freshwater lake and the second deepest.

Picture it

A long, deep crack in Africa fills with water: 660 km long and nearly 1.5 km deep. Four countries share its shore. A tango dancer tangles in the knee-deep waves: Tanganyika.

Memory hooks

  • Tanganyika: a tango dancer tangled in the waves (sound-alike)

More water than all of England's lakes

Loch Ness holds more fresh water than all the lakes in England and Wales combined.

Picture it

A monster watcher stares into a dark peaty loch in the Scottish Highlands. It holds more fresh water than all the lakes in England and Wales put together. Nessie hides in the depths.

Memory hooks

  • Loch Ness: Nessie hiding in all that water (visual association)

The peaceful ocean

The Pacific Ocean, the largest ocean, was named "peaceful" by Magellan; it is bigger than all Earth's land combined.

Picture it

After a terrifying passage through stormy straits, Magellan's ships glide into calm water. He names it Mar Pacífico, the peaceful sea. It turns out to be the biggest ocean, larger than all the land on Earth.

Memory hooks

  • Pacific: calm water after the storm (narrative)

The sea with no coast

The Sargasso Sea in the North Atlantic is the only sea with no coastline; it is named after its floating sargassum seaweed.

Picture it

In the middle of the Atlantic, ships drift through golden mats of floating seaweed. Eels from European rivers swim thousands of miles here to breed. It's the only sea with no shoreline: the Sargasso.

Memory hooks

  • Sargasso Sea: golden mats of seaweed with no shore in sight (visual association)

The sea in the middle of the land

The name Mediterranean comes from Latin for "in the middle of the land".

Picture it

A Roman sailor looks around at shores on every side: Europe, Africa, Asia. "We're in the middle of the land!" In Latin: medi + terra.

Memory hooks

  • Mediterranean: medius (middle) + terra (land) (chunking)

One city, two continents

The Bosporus strait divides Istanbul between Europe and Asia and links the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara.

Picture it

In Greek myth, a cow (Io) swims across a narrow strait, giving it the name "ox-ford": Bosporus. Today it splits Istanbul between Europe and Asia.

Memory hooks

  • Bosporus: bous (ox) + poros (ford): an ox-ford (chunking)

The sailors' graveyard

Cape Horn, at the tip of South America, was named after the Dutch town of Hoorn; the Drake Passage lies between it and Antarctica.

Picture it

At the southern tip of South America, sailors round a rocky cape named after the Dutch town of Hoorn. South of it, the roughest sea passage on Earth bears an English pirate's name: the Drake Passage.

Memory hooks

  • Cape Horn: a Dutch horn blowing at the tip of a continent (visual association)

From storms to good hope

Bartolomeu Dias first sailed round the Cape of Good Hope in 1488, calling it the Cape of Storms.

Picture it

In 1488, a Portuguese captain is blown round the tip of Africa by a storm and calls it the Cape of Storms. His king renames it something more cheerful: the Cape of Good Hope, because it opens the way to India.

Memory hooks

  • Cape of Storms: the king rebranding it as good hope (narrative)

The highest tides

The Bay of Fundy in Canada has the highest tides in the world, up to about 16 metres.

Picture it

In a Canadian bay, the sea rises up to 16 metres, the height of a five-storey building, twice a day. Fishing boats sit on mud at low tide like toys. It's fun-day at the beach: Fundy.

Memory hooks

  • Fundy: fun-day at a beach that vanishes (sound-alike)

Visible from space

The Great Barrier Reef, off Queensland in Australia, is the world's largest coral reef system.

Picture it

Off the coast of Queensland, a living wall of coral stretches over 2,300 km, made by tiny animals. Astronauts can see it from orbit.

Memory hooks

  • Great Barrier Reef: a living wall seen from space (visual association)

The flattest country

The Maldives is the world's lowest-lying country, with an average height of about 1.5 metres above sea level.

Picture it

Over a thousand coral islands form rings in the Indian Ocean. The highest natural point is only about 2.4 metres above the sea, less than a double-decker bus.

Memory hooks

  • Maldives: a whole country shorter than a bus (visual association)

The island of lemurs

Madagascar, off Africa's east coast, is home to lemurs, which are found wild nowhere else.

Picture it

Lemurs leap sideways across the sand on an island that split from Africa and India millions of years ago. Nearly all its mammals live nowhere else. The mad gas car races past baobabs.

Memory hooks

  • Madagascar: a mad gas car racing past baobabs (sound-alike)

One island, three countries

Borneo is the only island divided among three countries: Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.

Picture it

An orangutan swings through a rainforest on one island that belongs to three countries: Indonesia, Malaysia and the tiny oil-rich sultanate of Brunei.

Memory hooks

  • three: an orangutan with three passports (number hook)

The second-largest island

New Guinea is the world's second-largest island, after Greenland.

Picture it

North of Australia, a huge island of mountains and jungle is split down the middle by a straight line: Indonesia on one side, Papua New Guinea on the other. Only Greenland is bigger.

Memory hooks

  • New Guinea: a straight line down the middle (visual association)

The most crowded island

Java, in Indonesia, is the world's most populous island.

Picture it

A cup of java coffee steams on a volcanic island packed with over 150 million people, more than any other island on Earth.

Memory hooks

  • Java: a steaming cup of coffee on a crowded island (visual association)

The ball at the toe of the boot

Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.

Picture it

Italy's boot is kicking a triangular football into the sea. The ball is the biggest island in the Mediterranean: Sicily.

Memory hooks

  • Sicily: the football kicked by Italy's boot (shape)

The giant stone heads

Easter Island, or Rapa Nui, a remote territory of Chile, is famous for its giant stone statues called moai.

Picture it

A Dutch ship lands on a remote Pacific island on Easter Sunday, 1722, and finds nearly a thousand giant stone statues with heavy brows. Islanders call them moai and the island Rapa Nui.

Memory hooks

  • moai: found on Easter Sunday (narrative)

Carved by a river

The Grand Canyon in Arizona was carved by the Colorado River.

Picture it

A ribbon of reddish water at the bottom of a mile-deep gorge in Arizona has spent millions of years sawing through rock layers like a slow knife. The river is the Colorado: Spanish for "reddish".

Memory hooks

  • Colorado: "coloured red": a reddish knife through rock (sound-alike)

The red rock

Uluru, also called Ayers Rock, is a huge sandstone monolith sacred to the Anangu people of central Australia.

Picture it

In the middle of Australia's red centre, a giant sandstone rock glows orange at sunset. The Anangu people call it Uluru; settlers named it Ayers Rock after a South Australian premier.

Memory hooks

  • Uluru: a rock glowing orange at sunset (visual association)

A giant's stepping stones

The Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland is made of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns formed by ancient lava.

Picture it

On the coast of Northern Ireland, about 40,000 hexagonal stone columns step down into the sea. Legend says the giant Finn McCool built them to fight a Scottish giant.

Memory hooks

  • Giant's Causeway: Finn McCool's stepping stones to Scotland (narrative)

Where the dragon descended

Ha Long Bay in Vietnam, famous for its limestone islands, gets its name from "descending dragon".

Picture it

In northern Vietnam, a dragon dives into the sea, and its thrashing tail carves out nearly 2,000 limestone islands. Its name means "descending dragon": Ha Long.

Memory hooks

  • Ha Long Bay: a dragon diving into the sea (narrative)

The rose-red city

Petra in Jordan, the "rose-red city" carved into cliffs, was the capital of the Nabataeans.

Picture it

You walk through a narrow canyon in Jordan and the rock opens onto a grand temple front carved straight into pink cliff. The Nabataeans built this city of tombs 2,000 years ago.

Memory hooks

  • Petra: petra is Greek for rock: a pink rock city (visual association)

The largest religious monument

Angkor Wat in Cambodia is the largest religious monument in the world and appears on the country's flag.

Picture it

In the Cambodian jungle, five lotus-bud towers rise from a temple so large it's on the national flag. Built for the Hindu god Vishnu, it later became Buddhist.

Memory hooks

  • Angkor Wat: five towers on a national flag (visual association)

Arms open over Rio

The Christ the Redeemer statue stands on Corcovado mountain above Rio de Janeiro.

Picture it

A 30-metre statue stands with arms wide over Rio de Janeiro on a steep hill shaped like a hunchback, the Corcovado. Lightning hits it several times a year.

Memory hooks

  • Corcovado: a hunchbacked hill (corcovado) (visual association)

A gift from France

The Statue of Liberty was a gift from France; its iron framework was designed by Gustave Eiffel.

Picture it

In 1885 a ship arrives in New York carrying 350 pieces of copper in 214 crates. Assembled, it's a woman with a torch, designed by Bartholdi with an iron frame by Eiffel. A gift from France.

Memory hooks

  • Eiffel: the tower man built her skeleton (narrative)

A city on 118 islands

Venice is built on 118 small islands in a lagoon, and its main waterway is the Grand Canal.

Picture it

A city is built on wooden piles driven into a lagoon, across 118 small islands linked by over 400 bridges. Instead of buses, there are boats. Its main waterway curves like an S: the Grand Canal.

Memory hooks

  • Grand Canal: an S-shaped water street (visual association)

The smallest country

Vatican City, inside Rome, is the world's smallest country; it is guarded by the Swiss Guard.

Picture it

You could walk around the whole country in under an hour. It has its own post office, guards in striped uniforms from Switzerland, and a population of under 1,000.

Memory hooks

  • Swiss Guard: striped uniforms guarding the smallest country (visual association)

Eleven time zones

Russia, the world's largest country, spans eleven time zones.

Picture it

In Russia, someone in Kaliningrad is eating breakfast while someone in Kamchatka is eating dinner. The country stretches across eleven time zones.

Memory hooks

  • eleven: breakfast at one end, dinner at the other (number hook)

The longest coastline

Canada has the longest coastline of any country, over 200,000 km.

Picture it

If you walked every bay and island of one country's shore, from the Atlantic to the Arctic to the Pacific, you'd walk over 200,000 km, five times round the Earth.

Memory hooks

  • Canada: three oceans of shoreline (visual association)

The kingdom in the sky

Lesotho is completely surrounded by South Africa, and all of it lies above 1,000 metres.

Picture it

A mountain kingdom sits completely inside another country, like the hole in a doughnut. Every bit of it is over 1,000 metres high. Its neighbour on all sides is South Africa.

Memory hooks

  • Lesotho: the hole in a doughnut, high in the sky (visual association)

The oldest republic

San Marino, surrounded by Italy, claims to be the world's oldest surviving republic, founded in AD 301.

Picture it

A stonemason called Marinus flees persecution in AD 301 and builds a chapel on a mountaintop. The tiny state that grew around it, surrounded by Italy, claims to be the oldest republic on Earth.

Memory hooks

  • San Marino: Saint Marinus the stonemason (narrative)

The country named after a line

Ecuador is named after the equator, which passes through it.

Picture it

A painted yellow line runs across a monument near Quito. Tourists stand with one foot in each hemisphere. The whole country is named after the line in Spanish.

Memory hooks

  • Ecuador: Spanish for equator (sound-alike)

Zero degrees

The Prime Meridian, 0° longitude, runs through the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, London, chosen in 1884.

Picture it

In 1884, delegates in Washington choose a brass line in a London observatory as zero longitude for the whole world. Tourists now straddle the Prime Meridian at Greenwich.

Memory hooks

  • Greenwich: a brass line in the floor (visual association)

A horseshoe of volcanoes

The Ring of Fire is a horseshoe of volcanoes and earthquake zones around the Pacific Ocean.

Picture it

Around the edges of the biggest ocean, volcanoes light up one after another like candles on a cake: Japan, Alaska, the Andes, New Zealand. Three-quarters of the world's volcanoes sit on this Ring of Fire.

Memory hooks

  • Ring of Fire: candles round the rim of the Pacific (visual association)

The first national park

Yellowstone, established in 1872, was the world's first national park; it is home to the Old Faithful geyser.

Picture it

In 1872, President Grant signs a law protecting a land of bubbling mud, rainbow hot springs and a geyser that erupts like clockwork, Old Faithful. The world's first national park: Yellowstone.

Memory hooks

  • Old Faithful: a geyser erupting like clockwork (visual association)

The great migration

Each year over a million wildebeest migrate around the Serengeti in Tanzania and Kenya's Maasai Mara.

Picture it

Over a million wildebeest thunder across the grassy plains of Tanzania in a vast loop, chasing the rain and crossing crocodile-filled rivers. The Maasai name means "endless plains": Serengeti.

Memory hooks

  • Serengeti: "endless plains" in Maasai (narrative)

The river that never reaches the sea

The Okavango Delta in Botswana is an inland delta where the river spreads out and evaporates instead of reaching the sea.

Picture it

In Botswana, a river spreads out into a huge fan of channels and lagoons in the middle of the desert and simply evaporates. Elephants wade through it. It's the Okavango Delta.

Memory hooks

  • Okavango: a river fanning out and vanishing in the desert (visual association)

The coldest village

Oymyakon in Siberia is often called the coldest permanently inhabited place, having recorded about −67.7°C.

Picture it

In a Siberian village, cars run all day so their engines don't freeze, and pens freeze mid-sentence. It once hit −67.7°C. Children only stay home from school below −52°C.

Memory hooks

  • Oymyakon: "oy, my, a con!": it's colder than they said (sound-alike)

Norway's longest fjord

Sognefjord is the longest and deepest fjord in Norway.

Picture it

A glacier gouged a deep valley that filled with sea, over 200 km long and a kilometre deep. A Viking sings a song as his boat glides in: Sognefjord.

Memory hooks

  • Sognefjord: a Viking singing a song down the fjord (sound-alike)

The world's biggest mirror

The Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia is the world's largest salt flat.

Picture it

In Bolivia, a dried-up lake leaves a white salt crust over 10,000 square km. After rain it turns into a giant mirror, and tourists seem to walk on the sky.

Memory hooks

  • Salar de Uyuni: walking on a mirror of sky (visual association)

The land of fire

Tierra del Fuego, "land of fire", at the southern tip of South America, was named by Magellan's crew after the fires they saw on shore.

Picture it

In 1520, Magellan's sailors see dozens of campfires flickering on the shore of a cold southern island. They name it "land of fire": Tierra del Fuego.

Memory hooks

  • Tierra del Fuego: campfires flickering on a cold shore (visual association)

The cotton castle

Pamukkale in Turkey, whose name means "cotton castle", is famous for its white mineral terraces formed by hot springs.

Picture it

In Turkey, hot spring water flows down a hillside and leaves brilliant white terraces of mineral, like a castle made of cotton. In Turkish, Pamukkale means exactly that.

Memory hooks

  • Pamukkale: pamuk (cotton) + kale (castle) (chunking)

Fairy chimneys and balloons

Cappadocia in central Turkey is famous for its "fairy chimney" rock towers and underground cities.

Picture it

At dawn, a hundred hot-air balloons float over cone-shaped rock towers in central Turkey. People carved homes, churches and whole underground cities into the soft volcanic stone.

Memory hooks

  • Cappadocia: balloons over fairy chimneys (visual association)

Britain's longest river

The Severn, rising in Wales, is the longest river in Great Britain; surfers ride its tidal bore.

Picture it

Not the Thames! A river rises in the Welsh mountains and loops through Shrewsbury and Gloucester for about 350 km. Surfers ride a tidal wave up it, the Severn Bore. Seven swans ride with them.

Memory hooks

  • Severn: seven swans surfing the bore (sound-alike)

Mother of waters

The Mekong flows from Tibet through six countries and ends in a huge delta in Vietnam.

Picture it

A river starts on the Tibetan Plateau and flows through six countries, past floating markets, before splitting into nine mouths in Vietnam called the Nine Dragons. Its Thai/Lao name means "mother of waters".

Memory hooks

  • Mekong: nine dragon mouths in the delta (visual association)

The holy river

The Ganges is sacred to Hindus, and Varanasi on its banks is one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities.

Picture it

At dawn in Varanasi, pilgrims step down stone ghats into the river to bathe, while funeral pyres burn nearby. Hindus revere it as the goddess Ganga.

Memory hooks

  • Varanasi: pilgrims bathing at dawn on the ghats (visual association)

The land between the rivers

Mesopotamia, Greek for "between rivers", lay between the Tigris and Euphrates in modern Iraq.

Picture it

Two rivers, a tiger and a you-fret-ease, run side by side through Iraq. Between them, the first cities grow. The Greeks call the land Mesopotamia: "between rivers".

Memory hooks

  • Mesopotamia: meso (middle) + potamos (river) (chunking)
  • Tigris: a tiger running beside the river (sound-alike)

The boomerang river

The Niger river rises near the Atlantic, flows inland past Timbuktu, then curves back to reach the sea in Nigeria.

Picture it

A West African river starts just 240 km from the Atlantic but flows the wrong way, inland, into the Sahara past Timbuktu, then bends back like a boomerang to the sea in Nigeria.

Memory hooks

  • Niger: a boomerang through the desert (shape)

Australia's longest river

The Murray is Australia's longest river.

Picture it

Paddle steamers chug along a brown river that winds from the Snowy Mountains to South Australia, over 2,500 km. A man named Murray steers with his feet.

Memory hooks

  • Murray: Murray steering the paddle steamer (visual association)

Australia's disappearing lake

Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre is Australia's largest lake and lowest point; it is usually a dry salt pan.

Picture it

In the South Australian outback lies a vast white salt pan, the lowest point in Australia, 15 m below sea level. Only in rare wet years does it fill with water and pelicans.

Memory hooks

  • Lake Eyre: pelicans arriving in a rare wet year (narrative)

Between two continents

The Bering Strait separates Russia from Alaska; it is named after the Danish explorer Vitus Bering.

Picture it

In winter, you could almost walk from Russia to Alaska across the ice: they're only about 82 km apart. A Danish explorer bearing north for the Russian tsar gives his name to the gap.

Memory hooks

  • Bering: an explorer bearing north (sound-alike)

The sleeve

The French call the English Channel La Manche, meaning "the sleeve".

Picture it

On a French map, the strip of sea between England and France looks like an arm's sleeve, so the French call it La Manche. The English call it the English Channel.

Memory hooks

  • La Manche: a sea shaped like a sleeve (shape)

The ocean's central heating

The Gulf Stream, a warm Atlantic current from the Gulf of Mexico, helps keep north-west Europe mild.

Picture it

A warm current flows out of the Gulf of Mexico and crosses the Atlantic like a giant radiator pipe. It's why palm trees can grow on the west coast of Scotland.

Memory hooks

  • Gulf Stream: palm trees in Scotland (visual association)

The largest bay

The Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean is the largest bay in the world.

Picture it

A Bengal tiger swims out into a triangle of sea bordered by India, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Sri Lanka, the largest bay in the world.

Memory hooks

  • Bay of Bengal: a Bengal tiger swimming out to sea (visual association)

Where today becomes tomorrow

The International Date Line runs roughly along 180° longitude in the Pacific; crossing it westward skips a day.

Picture it

A ship crosses an invisible zigzag line in the middle of the Pacific and the captain tears a whole day off the calendar. It's the International Date Line, roughly along 180° longitude.

Memory hooks

  • International Date Line: tearing a day off the calendar (narrative)

The goat in the south

The Tropic of Capricorn is the southernmost line where the Sun can be directly overhead; its northern equivalent is the Tropic of Cancer.

Picture it

A goat with a fish's tail, Capricorn, stands on a line across the southern hemisphere where the Sun is directly overhead at the December solstice. Its northern twin, a crab, is Cancer.

Memory hooks

  • Tropic of Capricorn: a sea-goat in the south, a crab in the north (visual association)

The fault that splits California

The San Andreas Fault in California marks where the Pacific and North American plates slide past each other.

Picture it

A crack runs over 1,200 km through California, where two plates of Earth's crust grind past each other. A Sandy Andreas sits on the line, one foot sliding north.

Memory hooks

  • San Andreas Fault: one foot sliding north (visual association)

The lost world

Mount Roraima, a flat-topped tepui where Venezuela, Brazil and Guyana meet, inspired Conan Doyle's The Lost World.

Picture it

A flat-topped mountain with sheer 400-metre cliffs rises above the clouds where Venezuela, Brazil and Guyana meet. Arthur Conan Doyle imagined dinosaurs living on top. Locals call such mountains tepuis.

Memory hooks

  • Roraima: dinosaurs imagined on top (narrative)

The floating mountains

The sandstone pillars of Zhangjiajie in China inspired the floating mountains in the film Avatar.

Picture it

Thousands of thin sandstone pillars rise out of the mist in Hunan, China, with trees clinging to their tops. They inspired the floating mountains in the film Avatar.

Memory hooks

  • Zhangjiajie: pillars floating in mist (visual association)

Casinos and racing cars

Monaco, home of Monte Carlo and its casino, is the world's second-smallest country.

Picture it

On a strip of the French Riviera smaller than Central Park, Formula One cars scream past yachts and a famous casino in Monte Carlo. It's the second-smallest country.

Memory hooks

  • Monte Carlo: racing cars past a casino (visual association)

The ribbon country

Chile stretches over 4,000 km from north to south but averages under 180 km wide.

Picture it

A country so thin you could drive across it in an afternoon, but so long that it has desert in the north and glaciers in the south, over 4,000 km apart.

Memory hooks

  • Chile: a chilli pepper stretched along a coast (shape)

Ireland's sea cliffs

The Cliffs of Moher rise over 200 metres above the Atlantic in County Clare, Ireland.

Picture it

On Ireland's west coast, cliffs over 200 metres tall drop straight into the Atlantic, with puffins nesting on the ledges. They starred as the Cliffs of Insanity in The Princess Bride. You want more of them: Moher.

Memory hooks

  • Moher: you always want more (sound-alike)

The highest mountain in Wales

Snowdon, called Yr Wyddfa in Welsh, is the highest mountain in Wales.

Picture it

A little steam train puffs to the summit of the highest mountain in Wales. Legend says a giant is buried under the cairn on top, so in Welsh it's called Yr Wyddfa, "the tomb".

Memory hooks

  • Yr Wyddfa: a giant's tomb under the summit cairn (narrative)

Say it: Yr Wyddfa (ur·OOITH·va)

The teardrop island

Sri Lanka, a teardrop-shaped island off India, was called Ceylon until 1972.

Picture it

A teardrop-shaped island off India's tip is covered in tea plantations. Until 1972 the world called it Ceylon, and its tea still carries that name.

Memory hooks

  • Sri Lanka: a teardrop falling from India (shape)

The doomsday seed vault

The Global Seed Vault, storing backup seeds of the world's crops, is on the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, Norway.

Picture it

Inside a frozen mountain on a Norwegian Arctic island, more than a million packets of seeds are stored in case the world's crops are wiped out. Polar bears roam outside.

Memory hooks

  • Svalbard: a seed vault guarded by polar bears (visual association)

The island off Australia's south

Tasmania, the island state south of mainland Australia, is named after Dutch explorer Abel Tasman.

Picture it

A Dutch captain, Abel Tasman, sights a wild, heart-shaped island south of Australia in 1642. It's later named after him, along with the sea next door.

Memory hooks

  • Tasmania: a heart-shaped island named for Tasman (shape)

The long wall

Most of the Great Wall of China that survives today was built during the Ming dynasty; it is not visible to the naked eye from the Moon.

Picture it

A stone dragon snakes over mountains and deserts across northern China. Most of what tourists walk on today was built by the Ming dynasty. And no, you can't see it from the Moon.

Memory hooks

  • Ming: a Ming vase on every watchtower (visual association)

The great thirst

The Kalahari is a large sandy semi-desert covering much of Botswana.

Picture it

In Botswana, red sand stretches to the horizon, dotted with acacia trees and meerkats standing on guard. The name may come from a word for "great thirst": the Kalahari.

Memory hooks

  • Kalahari: meerkats on guard in red sand (visual association)

Where the Sun rises over the Pacific

In 1513, Vasco Núñez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama and became the first European to see the Pacific from the Americas.

Picture it

On a thin strip of land joining two continents, the land bends so oddly that in Panama City you can watch the sun rise over the Pacific. In 1513, Balboa became the first European to see that ocean from the Americas.

Memory hooks

  • Balboa: first sight of the Pacific from a mountain (narrative)