6 geographical facts you're not going to believe

6 geographical facts you’re not going to believe

Mon, Feb 22, 2010

Post filled in: Feature Post, Great Pics

Canada has more lakes than the rest of the world combined

canada-lake

Canada is the second largest country on the face of the Earth, but USA’s northern neighbor has a lot to brag about. Out of all the natural lakes in the world, more than 50 percent are situated in Canada.

canada-lake-2

According to wikipedia, More than 60 percent of the world’s lakes are in Canada. I wasn’t able to find the total number, but considering that only Finland has 187 888 lakes (thanks Arttu), the number must be huge.

canada-lake-3

After Warsaw, Chicago has the largest Polish population in the world

Warsaw

Warsaw is Poland’s capital, having under 3 million inhabitants, out of which 95% are have Polish origins. However, out of the almost 40 million inhabitants Poland has, there isn’t a single city with a larger population than the one in Chicago.

Polish market in Chicago

Chicago is the third largest city in the US, with 7.5 million people living in the metropolitan area. Due to the huge Polish population, the architecture and culture of the city greatly resembles that of Poland, and you can find Polish theaters, markets, even a newspaper.

chicago2

I wasn’t able to find just how big the population is, but considering the city with the second largest population in Poland, Lodz, has 750.000 inhabitants, it’s safe to say that we’re talking about a number between 1.000.000 and 3.000.000. That’s probably around a quarter of the whole population.

chicago3

The largest city in the world is Hulunbuir, at 263,953 km2

Just so you can make an idea, this city in inner Mongolia (China) is about as half as big as France, and it’s just a city !

city1

However, the urban agglomeration is just a small fraction of the city, with the area population density being otherwise really small. All accross the megacity you can see large landscapes of grassland, and industrialization is only existant in the center.

82_avjmx

The driest place on Earth is near Ross Island; it hasn’t rained there for millions of years

In some parts of the Atacama desert there hasn't been any rain for 400 years, but this is still not the driest place on Eart

Yes, Antarctica is the driest place on the Earth, with the Atacama desert being 2nd, and Sahara third.

The deepest hole dug by man is over 12 km deep

geolsection

The Kola Superdeep Borehole has a depth of 12,261 meters, thats once and a half the size of Everest, or deeper than the Mariana trench.

Edited* Previous picture was indeed, not of the Superdeep Borehole

The borehole also led to some interesting discoveries, including a massive amount of hydrogen, so massive that the mud was actually “boiling” with it.

In New York, there are more Italians than in Rome, more Irish than in Dublin and more Jews than in Tel Aviv

The big apple stands out anytime, no matter who you are or what you’re interested in. But still, I was really shocked to see this. I mean, with Rome having more than 3.5 million people, Dublin at 1 million and Tel Aviv at more than 3, that’s almost 8 million people !

new_york_skyline3

Not to mention the other nationalities (which are quite abundent), one can only wonder how many Americans are living in New York.

Now c’mon people, hit me with your best geographical fact !

Picture sources: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Andrei is no scientist, but from an early age, he has been fascinated by science; that's why he went to college, and signed up for Geophysics. Feeling that there's a huge gap between science and average people, he rallied TP, started ZME Science, and gave it a green twist too.

Andrei has published 1495 posts on ZME Science .

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http://www.kaktus.cc Arttu Manninen

Hmm. 31 752 lakes in Canada sounds like a drop in the sea compared to 187 888 lakes in Finland. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lakes_in_Finland]. And Canada is roughly 30 times larger than Finland. You do the math. :)
http://www.kaktus.cc Arttu Manninen

Of course the issue is what is being counted. If it’s the sheer number of lakes, Finland tops Canada, but if it’s the fresh water lake surface area or water volume, the story is different. Then again, if we proportionate any of these, probably the scale would turn again.

What is definitely true is that the title is false. Just adding the Finnish and Swedish lakes together we get some 283 000 lakes. It’s already roughly 10 times more than Canadian lakes, which was claimed to be more than the rest of the world combined.
http://yahoo.com J. Codec

Chicago is a tremendously ethnically diverse city. While the “largest Polish population outside of Poland” is well-known, Chicago is also home to the largest Serbian population outside of Serbia, the largest Bulgarian population outside of Bulgaria, the second-largest Czech population outside of the Czech Republic (behind Vienna), as well as sizable populations of African, Irish, German, Italian, Mexican, English, Greek, Chinese, Lithuanian, Romanian, Swedish, Ukrainian, Dutch and Puerto Rican descent.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Chicago
http://www.zmescience.com Mihai Andrei

@Artu : Mea culpa about the number of lakes in Canada, I quote wikipedia here: “More than 60 percent of the world’s lakes are in Canada; this is because of the deranged drainage system that dominates the country”. I’m guessing that makes for a whole bigger number of lakes, or perhaps the difference comes from how you define a lake (minimum size). I honestly don’t know. Anyway, thanks a lot for pointing this out !

@J. Codec: yes, Chicago does seem to be a fascinating city, with an extremely large cultural diversity. Definitely on my “to go” places
Fishsticks

Ok I guess I’ll be the jackass. This was very poorly written.
http://ass Agreeing with Fishsticks

If you want to be taken seriously at least learn how to spell!
http://ass.com Agreeing with Fishsticks

Learn to spell jackass!
Rob

How do you mean “Polish”? Surely these people are not “Polish” but American? How many of them speak Polish or come from Poland? Or have ever been to Poland?

It’s a strange phenomenom in America that people born in the country can claim to be from another.
Dave

That picture of the Kola superdeep borehole isn’t the Kola superdeep borehole. It’s the Mirny diamond mine in Eastern Siberia. It’s not over 12,000m deep. It’s 800m deep. Which is pretty deep, but sure as hell ain’t 12,000m deep. Also it wasn’t ‘dug’, it was drilled.
Wow

Wow! Epic fail. This was a horribly written article riddled with falsities. WIKIPEDIA SUCKS. Learn to accept this fact.
(edited: removed swearing)
Landen

Not to nitpick but Rome having 3.5 million, Dublin having 1 million and Tel Aviv having 3 million this is not almost 9 million that is 7.5 million almost 8 million
Volodya

Great facts except just because your great grandpa is Italian does not mean you’re Italian. I’m sure that applies to a large number of New Yorkers.
losers

cut the guy some slack. people quote wikipedia all the time, and yes it has falsities, but it’s accurate 99% of the time. and as far as i know they are called polish and italian communities even if they’ve never been to poland or italy. agreeing about the borehole pic tho, google played a trick on you
Giorgia

Mongolia is an independent country since 1911 and therefore is not part of China as you suggest. Even though , ” Inner Mongolia ” ( with capital I ) , is a chinese region.
FirstAmongNerds

I am unsure about the veracity of the claims on the number of lakes in Canada relative to the world total, but there are definitely a lot. There are so many that a portion of Canada is known as the experimental lakes region, where the lakes have numerical designations rather than names and are used for long-term limnological, ecological, and environmental research. Pretty ridiculous when you think about it.
the legion

fake fake fake fake fake, rubbish rubbish rubbish rubbish rubbish rubbish rubbish rubbish
wrong photos for Kola
the info is crude and misrepresented
bah prefecture-city is not a city
Antarctica is not dry!!!!! there is water everywhere, you teenager, go learn some math or something
joey

hey legion,

Antarctica IS a desert. Look up the definition of a desert in the dictionary, you teenager, and learn some geography, too.
Travis

Ahh.. yeah… “6 geographical facts you’re not going to believe!” Probably because most of them are not true. The pic of the mine is from some open pit deal in Russia, “only” about 1200 meters deep. Moron.
Real American

“It’s a strange phenomenom in America that people born in the country can claim to be from another.”

Actually, you have it the other way around – its a strange phenomenon in America (that includes both North and South America) that people can claim to be American even if their ancestors were from somewhere else!

Even today a person born in the Czech Republic to French parents would have a hard time being accepted as truly “Czech.”
http://snewz11com.blogspot.com tom

Antartica is the driest desert on the planet
http://snewz11com.blogspot.com tom

When scientist refer to a place as dry ,they are refering to the relative humidity.
Australian

Melbourne, Australia has a population that has descended from Greece larger than the Greek capital, Athens!
Bump

I once picked a scab that could write better than this.
Shan

“Canada has at least 3 million lakes” in fact there is at over 100 000 lake in Saskatchewan alone.
juliana

im guessing if you were born AND lived your entire life in that country you can call yourself american…now if you were born there and left, then it’s just a place you were born at.
but then again there are about tons of people in america that dont call themselves american because their family (not them) are from somewhere else…who cares anywyas?
juliana

oh that was for mr real american btw.
Steve

Alaska also has over 3 million lakes (http://dnr.alaska.gov/mlw/water/hydro/), and that’s just 1 US state!
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H. Murphy

There are at least as many as two million lakes of all sizes covering, in total, 8.9 per cent of the country. Also, Canada has 563 lakes with a surface area greater than 100 square kilometres. Or at least so says the “Atlas of Canada” at
http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/maps/environment/hydrology/watershed1/1
Jillian

Um. If you’re going to write an article about astonishing facts that we’re not going to believe, then tell us you can’t find exact numbers, nobody’s going to freaking believe it.

Bad article, unsubstantiated claims.
Qoheleth

Wikipedia + Google Image Tags = no wonder college kids refuse to believe in the possibility of absolute truth.
flashlightGuy

Hey folks, note that the title doesn’t say anything here is true or accurate, just that you are not going to believe…
Omega

As a Canadian, I don’t really appreciate you calling our water system “deranged”. I find it a tactless use of words.. Thanks..
relax ppl

@omega if you really got offended by what some said about your water system, you need to stop be so sensitive
constructive replier?

a lake has a greater range of temperature from top to bottom then from day to night… at least thats what i learned in school
Amberican

Regarding your comment, “Not to mention the other nationalities (which are quite abundant), one can only wonder how many Americans are living in New York”, anyone who is legally living in America and calls America their home is an “American”. Many times Caucasians are classified as “Americans” and that’s simply not true.
yankeedougal

I feel that anyone who considers themselves American is an American, even if they’re living here illegally, were born elsewhere, live elsewhere, whatever their heritage is. I think at least a few other countries are like that. Whether or not they can call themselves Greek, Scottish, Polish, etc. is a debate you’ll never get a full consensus on and I’ll stay out of it except that I think you’re “of” wherever you spent your formative years and you can belong to more than one place.
yankeedougal

the official word on Poles in Chicago is here:

http://www.robparal.com/downloads/Polish%20Community%20in%20Chicago.pdf

about 820,000 Chicagons of Polish ancestry, 70,000 Polish-born. A lot, but not more than in Warsaw by any reckoning. Still, more descendants of Poles than Lodz or Krakow.
yankeedougal

the official word on Poles in Chicago is here:

http://www.robparal.com/downloads/Polish%20Community%20in%20Chicago.pdf

about 820,000 Chicagons of Polish ancestry, 70,000 Polish-born. A lot, but not more than in Warsaw by any reckoning. Still, more descendants of Poles than Krakow or Lodz.
Ray

There are some things wrong, sure. But cut the crass point scoring comments. Go out and be positive and try and create something yourself, instead of berating others. The article was created with the intention of informing and sharing a sense of wonder. Appreciate it.
RazorBarn

Maybe you should try doing some research. You make the rest of us look bad.
http://www.mauritiusresto.com Mauritius Resto

OMG this is really interesting. Great post. Thanks for sharing.
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Adrian

Rather a sloppy group of half researched “facts” if you are going to appear as a SCIENCE column then you should be a bit more meticulous in your research.
Same goes for the “Ten most amazing artifacts” Some of those are doubtful and some have been tottaly debunked s
ine Erich VonDanikans first book included most if not all orf those “facts” That doesnt mean they are not interesting but the subject needs careful handling
dan

hardly facts
mike hunt

For all the people who think that is pointless to recognize what country/culture you were born in…If your an American and you have to move to say: China. Are you going to call yourself a Chinese person? Will you learn the language? Will you discard all of your American culture simply because you are not living in the country in which you were born?
Think about your genes for a second…
felipe

Arttu Mannien if you are not an academic respectfull guy… you should be it!!! Two tombs down to the liar patriots!!
Mexico City.
Dre

Dude, interesting facts. But please learn the grammar. Hard to read your stuff. No flow.
Shastara

@Omega: A deranged water system is refering to the geomorphology of the region, the way the glaciers carved the landscape caused random landscape formations that formed lakes with no pattern, unlike other older geologic formations where the water and tectonic movment have had time to mold the landscape into any of a number of recognizable fuluvial formations
Jacopone

Chicago also has the largest number of Africans outside of Atlanta
http://xn--72c3adabaj0fb2cza4bzd2be8owc1cbf.net/ Thai Travel

The vast majority of Bangkok’s residents speak Thai, and most in the indications are written in Thai script. If you do not converse the language, it truly is recommended to take a local guide with you while travelling or purchase or tourist’s phrasebook to assist you because the variety of fluent English speakers inside town is couple of and asking for directions can show to be somewhat of a challenge. Travellers are suggested to convey maps with them and also a calling card displaying the handle of their hotel, which they can present on the driver of their vehicle.
steww

Why do people get so excited about an article in which there are a few mistakes? It was just an article on the web, mildly diverting never intended to be taken as absolute fact. Some of you are just computer cowards who would never be so rude to a person face to face.
Rick

What a load of cobblers. The ‘largest city’ in the word that is made up mostly of rolling countryside and sheep. Yeah right!

And more Italians, Irish and Jews in NYC than their respective homelands? depite that these groups are 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th…. generation. By that measure there are more Danes in England than in Denmark due to the Viking invasions. These people need to learn to let go.
pie

@arttu Canada dosen’t have only 30,000 lakes, you need to check your facts just like the author of this blog.

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