San Marino

The constitution of San Marino, enacted in 1600, is the world's oldest constitution still in effect.

Great Britain(3rd) and Hispaniola(10th)

The most populous are Java(Indonesia) and Honshu(Japan).

The Eiffel Tower

More than 200,000,000 people have visited the tower since its construction in 1889.

The Delmarva peninsula

It is a portmanteau word formed from the names of the states that occupy it: Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia (abbreviated VA).

China

South Ossetia

The Republic of South Ossetia declared its independence from Georgia in 1990. The Georgian government responded by abolishing South Ossetia's autonomy and trying to retake the region by force. This led to the 1991–1992 South Ossetia War. Georgian fighting against those controlling South Ossetia occurred on two other occasions, in 2004 and 2008. The last conflict led to the 2008 South Ossetia war, during which Ossetian separatists and Russian troops gained full, de-facto, control of the territory of the former South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast. Georgia does not recognize South Ossetia's existence as a political entity.

Nelson's column in Trafalgar Square

Djibouti and Yemen

Laos

Since its initial establishment suggested to be in the 3rd century, the stupa has undergone several reconstructions until the 1930s due to foreign invasions to the area.

Nauru

The Icelandic volcano whose 2010 eruption caused the ash cloud over Europe

National Park of American Samoa

Avignon

Swahili

The other five are Arabic, English, French, Spanish and Portuguese.

The Gambia

Its borders roughly correspond to the path of the Gambia River, the nation's namesake, which flows through the country's center and empties into the Atlantic Ocean.

The Tunguska event

Although the cause of the explosion is the subject of debate, it is commonly believed to have been caused by the air burst of a large meteoroid or comet fragment at an altitude of 5–10 kilometres (3.1–6.2 mi) above the Earth's surface.

Saint Martin

The southern Dutch half comprises the Island Territory of St. Martin and is part of the Netherlands Antilles. The northern French half comprises the Collectivity of St. Martin and is an overseas collectivity of France. Collectively, the two territories are known as "St-Martin/St Maarten". Sometimes SXM, the IATA identifier for Princess Juliana International Airport (the island's main airport), is used to refer to the island.

Casablanca

It is considered the economic and business center of Morocco, while the political capital city of Morocco is Rabat. (Thanks to Matt Budhiarta for sending in a correction.)

Patagonia (from Patagon)

The Peloponnesian peninsula and the Greek mainland

It saves the 400 kilometres long journey around the Peloponnesus for smaller ships, but since it is only 21 metres wide it is too narrow for modern ocean freighters. The Roman Emperor Nero (r. 54–68 A.D.) launched an excavation, personally breaking the ground with a pickaxe and removing the first basket-load of soil, but the project was abandoned when he died shortly afterwards.

Bantustan

The term was first used in the late 1940s, and was coined from 'Bantu' (meaning 'people' in some of the Bantu languages) and '-stan' (a suffix meaning 'land of' in Persian). The word 'bantustan', today, is often used in a pejorative sense when describing a country or region that lacks any real legitimacy or power, consists of several unconnected enclaves, and/or emerges from national or international gerrymandering.

Kilimanjaro

It is in north-eastern Tanzania and is the highest peak in Africa at 5,895 metres.

The Isle of Man

The island is not part of the United Kingdom but foreign relations, defence, and ultimate good governance of the Isle of Man are the responsibility of the government of the United Kingdom.

Paris

The Haussmann Renovations was a work commissioned by Napoléon III between 1852 and 1870, though work continued well after the Second Empire's demise in 1870. The project encompassed all aspects of urban planning, both in the centre of Paris and in the surrounding districts: streets and boulevards, regulations imposed on facades of buildings, public parks, sewers and water works, city facilities and public monuments.

Australia

Port Royal

The disaster caused two thirds of the city to sink into the Caribbean Sea.

South Africa

Córdoba

Today a moderately-sized modern city, the old town contains many impressive architectural reminders of when it was the thriving capital of the Caliphate of Córdoba, and when it governed almost all of the Iberian peninsula.

China and North Korea

The Mackenzie

It originates in Great Slave Lake, in the Northwest Territories, and flows north into the Arctic Ocean. It is the longest river in Canada at 1,738 kilometres (1,080 mi).

The St. Lawrence Seaway

The flooding was expected and planned for. In the weeks and months leading up to the inundation, families and businesses in the affected communities were moved to the new planned communities of Long Sault and Ingleside. These negotiations were controversial, however, as many residents of the communities felt that market value compensation was insufficient since the Seaway plan had already depressed property values in the region.

A meridian

The same Latin stem gives rise to the terms A.M. (Ante Meridian) and P.M. (Post Meridian) used to disambiguate hours of the day when using the 12-hour clock.

The Gulf of Mexico

The Sigsbee Deep is a trough that extends more than 300 miles and is often called the "Grand Canyon under the sea."Its closest point to the American coast is 200 miles southeast of Brownsville, Texas.

Somalia

Punta Arenas

It is the most prominent settlement on the Strait of Magellan.

New Caledonia

It is located in the region of Melanesia in the southwest Pacific. It comprises a main island (Grande Terre), the Loyalty Islands, and several smaller islands. It is approximately half the size of Taiwan and the capital and largest city of the territory is Nouméa.

Kiribati

It is also the only country in the world through which both the Equator and the International Date Line passes.

Hiroshima-Honshu, Nagasaki-Kyushu

The French Riviera

It is the Mediterranean coastline of the south eastern corner of France, extending from Menton near the Italian border in the east to either Hyères or Cassis in the west. ts largest city is Nice, which is home to Nice Côte d'Azur Airport, France's second-busiest airport (after Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport).

Lubeck

The Tongass National Forest

Brunei

Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv was founded in 1909 on the outskirts of the ancient port city of Jaffa. The growth of Tel Aviv soon outpaced Jaffa, which was largely Arab at the time. Tel Aviv and Jaffa were merged into a single municipality in 1950, two years after the establishment of the State of Israel. Tel Aviv's White City, designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003, comprises the world's largest concentration of Modernist-style buildings.

Antarctica

Located on the southern tip of Ross Island on the shore of McMurdo Sound, 2,200 miles (3,500 km) due south of New Zealand, it is operated by the United States through the United States Antarctic Program, a branch of the National Science Foundation. It is also featured in many popular sci-fi novels and movies.

Bab-el-Mandeb

The strait derives its name from the dangers attending its navigation, or, according to an Arab legend, from the numbers who were drowned by the earthquake which separated Asia and Africa.

The Loreley (also written as Lorelei)

The name comes from the old German words "lureln" (Rhine dialect for "murmuring") and the Celtic term "ley" (rock). Loreley is also the name of one of the beautiful Rhine Maidens who lured navigators of this river to their dooms with their alluring singing, much as the ancient Greek Sirens did.

Indonesia

Comprising 17,508 islands, it is the world's largest archipelagic state.

Réunion

It is located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, about 200 km (130 miles) south west of Mauritius, the nearest island. Administratively, Réunion is one of the overseas départements of France.

Kansas

The Skeleton Coast

More than a thousand vessels of various sizes and areas litter the coast. The Bushmen of the Namibian interior called the region "The Land God Made in Anger", while Portuguese sailors once referred to it as "The Gates of Hell".

Tierra del Fuego

It is separated from the southernmost tip of the South American mainland by the Strait of Magellan. Cape Horn is the most southerly of the great capes, and marks the northern boundary of the Drake Passage; for many years it was a major milestone on the clipper route, by which sailing ships carried trade around the world. The need for ships to round the horn was greatly reduced by the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914.

Monaco

Monaco is a Constitutional Monarchy and Principality with Prince Albert II as head of state. The Grimaldi family has ruled over Monaco since 1292 and the state's sovereignty was officially recognized by the Franco-Monegasque Treaty of 1861. Despite being independent, Monaco’s defense is still the responsibility of France. To the east it is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea.

The Altai range

Denmark

Borneo

Indonesia's region of Borneo is called "Kalimantan" (although Indonesians use the term for the whole island), while Malaysia's region of Borneo is called East Malaysia or Malaysian Borneo. The independent nation of Brunei occupies the remainder of the island.

The Prime/Greenwich Meridian

The Prime Meridian and the opposite 180th meridian (at 180° longitude), which the International Date Line generally follows, form a great circle that divides the Earth into he Eastern and Western Hemispheres.

Commonwealths

This designation, which has no constitutional impact, emphasizes that they have a "government based on the common consent of the people" as opposed to one legitimized through their earlier Royal Colony status that was derived from the King of Great Britain. The word commonwealth is of English derivation and refers to the common "wealth" or welfare of the public. In common parlance, people do not make the distinction between state or commonwealth. Two U.S. territories — Puerto Rico and the Northern Marianas — are also referred to as commonwealths, and do have a legal status different from the states (both are unincorporated territories).

New Zealand

This is because the US flies its resupply missions ("Operation Deep Freeze") out of Christchurch, New Zealand. Given the continuing and constant US presence in Antarctica since 1955-56, "Operation Deep Freeze" has come to be used as a general term for US operations in that continent, and in particular for the regular missions to resupply US Antarctic bases, coordinated by the US military.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Pole)

A Katabatic wind

The buildup of high density cold air over the ice sheets and the elevation of the ice sheets brings into play enormous gravitational energy, propelling the winds well over hurricane force. In Greenland these winds are called Pitaraq and are most intense whenever a low pressure area approaches the coast. Not all downslope winds are katabatic. For instance, winds such as the Föhn, Chinook or Bergwind, are rain shadow winds where air driven upslope on the windward side of a mountain range drops its moisture and descends leeward drier and warmer.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katabatic)

Macaronesia (not to be confused with Micronesia in Oceania)

Macaronesia consists of five archipelagos: (1) Azores (Portugal) (2) Madeira (Portugal) (3) Savage Islands (Portugal) (4) Canary Islands (Spain) and (5) Cape Verde (Cape Verde) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macaronesia)

The Kaliningrad oblast

It has no land connection to the rest of Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Borderless travel to the main part of Russia is only possible by sea or air. Its largest city and the administrative center is Kaliningrad, which has historical significance as both a major city of Prussia and the capital of the former German province East Prussia, of which the region remains the northern core remnant. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaliningrad_Oblast)

The Yangtze

It is the longest river in Asia and the third longest in the world, after the Nile in Africa, and the Amazon in South America. The river is about 6,300 km long and flows from its source in Qinghai Province, eastwards into the East China Sea at Shanghai. It has traditionally been considered a dividing line between North and South China.

A billabong

The word is derived from two Indigenous Australian words: "billa" meaning "creek" and "bong" meaning "dead". Billabongs appear relatively often in Australian literature. One of the most well-known references is in the opening line of Banjo Paterson's famous poem "Waltzing Matilda".

Russia

The Bering Strait separates eastern Russia from Alaska at a distance of approximately 90 kilometers. The next closest country is Bahamas, with Grand Bahama Island resting approximately 100 kilometers off the east coast of Florida.

The Sea of Galilee

One of Jesus' famous teaching episodes, the Sermon on the Mount, was given on a hill overlooking the lake whilst many of his miracles were also recorded to occur here including his walking on water, calming a storm, and his feeding five thousand people (in Tabgha). In the time of the Byzantine Empire, the lake's significance in Jesus' life made it a major destination for Christian pilgrims.

The Maghreb

In older Arabic usage, the word pertained only to the area of the three countries between the high ranges of the Atlas Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea. Historically some writers also included Spain — especially during its period of Muslim domination — in the definition. The region was united as a single political entity only during the first years of Arab rule (early 8th century), and again for several decades under the Almohads (1159–1229). The Arab states of North Africa established the Arab Maghreb Union in 1989 to promote cooperation and economic integration. Its members are Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Mauritania.

Tuva

In the 1920s and 1930s, postage stamps from Tuva were issued. Many philatelists, including famous physicist Richard Feynman, have been fascinated with the far-away and obscure land of Tuva because of these stamps.

The Philippines

Luzon is the largest and most economically and politically important island.

Chimborazo

It is also Ecuador's highest summit. The summit measures 20,946,232 ft (6,384,412 m) from the Earth's core. The summit of Mount Everest reaches a higher elevation above sea level, but the summit of Chimborazo is widely reported to be the farthest point from Earth's center, despite a possible challenge from Huascarán (in Peru). Chimborazo is just one degree south of the equator and the earth's diameter at the equator is greater than at Everest's latitude, with sea level also being elevated. So, despite being 2,581 m (8,568 ft) lower in elevation above sea level, it is 6,384.4 km (3,968 mi) from the Earth's center, 2.1 km farther than the summit of Everest.

Honduras and Nicaragua

The Mosquito Coast was incorporated into Nicaragua in 1894, however, in 1960 the northern part was granted to Honduras by the International Court of Justice. It is so called from its principal inhabitants, the Miskito Indians, whose name was corrupted into Mosquito by European settlers.

Belize

Asia and Africa

It seperates Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula and Djibouti, north of Somalia on the Horn of Africa and connects the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean (Gulf of Aden). It is sometimes called the Mandab Strait in English.

Ukraine

The Andean range

The Andes mountain range is the highest mountain range outside Asia, with the highest peak, Aconcagua, rising to 6,962 m (22,841 ft) above sea level. The summit of Mount Chimborazo in the Ecuadorean Andes is the point on the Earth's surface most distant from its center, because of the equatorial bulge. The Andes cannot match the Himalayas in height but do so in width and are more than twice as long. It is over 7,000 km (4,400 miles) long, 500 km (300 miles) wide in some parts and of an average height of about 4,000 m (13,000 ft).

Basra

The city is located along the Shatt al-Arab waterway near the Persian Gulf, 55 kilometers (34 mi) from the Persian Gulf and 545 kilometers (339 mi) from Baghdad. A network of canals flowed through the city, giving it the nickname "The Venice of the Middle East" at least at high tide.

The Nullarbor Plain

It is the world's largest single piece of limestone, and occupies an area of about 200,000 km² (77,200 sq miles). The Nullarbor Plain is thought to be a former seabed. About 20-25 million years ago, the whole area was uplifted by crustal movements, and since then, erosion by wind and rain has smoothed out most topographic features, resulting in the extremely flat terrain across the plain today.(Thanks to George A for clarifying the meaning of Nullarbor.)

Djibouti

The Patagonian desert

It is the 5th largest desert in the world by area, occupying 260,000 square miles (673,000 km²). It is located primarily in Argentina with small parts in Chile and is bounded by the Andes, to its west, and the Atlantic Ocean to its east, in the region of Patagonia, southern Argentina.

Chile

Easter Island was annexed by Chile on September 9, 1888 by Policarpo Toro, by means of the "Treaty of Annexation of the island" (Tratado de Anexión de la isla), that the government of Chile signed with the native people of the island.

The Ituri

New Zealand

It consists of three tropical coral atolls in the South Pacific Ocean. The UN maintains a list of territories that do not govern themselves. The list was initially prepared in 1946 pursuant to Article XI of the United Nations Charter, and has been updated since then by the General Assembly on recommendation of the Special Committee on Decolonization and its predecessors. Only permanently inhabited territories are considered for inclusion in this list.

Bangladesh

Bangladesh has at least 58 major rivers that enter that nation from India or Myanmar. The hydrologic and political effects of rivers that cross significant boundaries are enormous. Rivers have positive effects in that they carry a significant amount of sediment which aids in building land in estuarine regions. However this sediment raises the h eighth of riverbed thereby causing flooding. International conventions governing water sharing lead to complex political disputes.

The Bronx

If all five boroughs were independent cities, the Bronx would rank as the ninth most populous city in the United States.

Kathmandu, Nepal

It is the sole international airport in Nepal. Austrian Airlines is the only European airline to serve the airport, although it is only a seasonal service to cater for the tourist season.

Andorra, Liechtenstein, Malta, Monaco, San Marino and Vatican City

Owing to their small size, which limits their natural resources and population, most of the microstates have adopted special economic measures in order to prosper — usually by lowering taxes and encouraging financial investment. Many of the microstates have also entered into a Customs Union with their larger neighbours to improve their economic situation (Vatican City and San Marino with Italy, Liechtenstein with Switzerland, and Monaco with France). The microstates also have particular relations with the European Union, of which Malta is a full member.

Volgograd

It was formerly called Tsaritsyn (1598–1925) and is today the administrative center of Volgograd Oblast, Russia. It is situated on the west bank of the Volga River.

USA and Canada

The terrestrial boundary (including small portions of maritime boundaries on the Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic coasts as well as the Great Lakes) is 8,891 kilometres (5,522 mi) long, including 2,477 kilometres (1,539 mi) shared with Alaska. Officially known as the International Boundary, it is generally unmilitarized.

South America

San Pedro in Chile is the highest at 20,161 feet or 6145 metres.

The Golden Crescent

Botany Bay

In modern times the Bay is chiefly notable for being the site of Kingsford Smith International Airport, Australia's largest.

China

The Decade Volcanoes

A volcano may be designated a Decade Volcano if it exhibits more than one volcanic hazard; shows recent geological activity; is located in a populated area (eruptions at any of the Decade Volcanoes may threaten tens or hundreds of thousands of people, and therefore mitigating eruption hazards at these volcanoes is crucial); is politically and physically accessible for study; and there is local support for the work.

New Zealand

It lies between the North and South Islands of New Zealand. On its north side stands the city of Wellington; on the south side lie the Marlborough Sounds and Cloudy Bay. The strait takes its name from Captain James Cook, the first European commander to sail through it, in January - February 1770. In Mâori it has the name Raukawa or Raukawa Moana. Raukawa may mean "bitter leaves".

Luxor

It was called Thebes in ancient times. Luxor today represents an excellent base for touring Upper Egypt, and is a popular holiday destination, both in its own right and as a starting or finishing point for Nile cruises.

Crete

Crete is a popular tourist destination; its attractions include the Minoan sites of Knossos and Phaistos, the classical site of Gortys, the Venetian castle in Rethymno, and the Samaria Gorge, as well as many other natural sites, monuments, and beaches.

A watershed from which there is no outflow of water

Any rain (or other precipitation) that falls inside an endorheic basin may only leave the system by evaporation. Although endorheic basins can occur in any climate, in practice they are most commonly found in hot desert locations.

Sicily

It is an autonomous region of Italy.

None!

The canal has no locks because the terrain through which it passes is flat, and the minor difference in sea level at the ends is easily coped with through the length of the canal.

The Yangtze river

It is the longest river in Asia and the third longest in the world, after the Nile in Africa, and the Amazon in South America.

In the Bamyan valley (they were called 'Buddhas of Bamyan')

Built during the 6th century, the statues represented the classic blended style of Greco-Buddhist art.

Ecuador and Chile

Brazil borders Venezuela, Suriname, Guyana and the department of French Guiana to the north, Uruguay to the south, Argentina and Paraguay to the southwest, Bolivia and Peru to the west, and Colombia to the northwest.

Tikal

Now part of Guatemala's Tikal National Park, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a popular tourist spot. Tikal was one of the major cultural and population centers of the Maya civilization. Though monumental architecture at the site dates to the 4th century BC, Tikal reached its apogee during the Classic Period, ca. 200 AD to 850 AD, during which time the site dominated the Maya region politically, economically, and militarily while interacting with areas throughout Mesoamerica, such as central Mexican center of Teotihuacan.

Lombard street

The crooked section of the street is reserved for one-way traffic traveling east (downhill), and is paved with bricks. The section was built in 1923 to accommodate the steepness of the slope.

New Guinea, the second largest island in the world

Almost all of the smaller islands of the Pacific lie between 30°N and 30°S, extending from South-east Asia to Easter Island; the rest of the Pacific Basin is almost entirely submerged.

About 46% (about 32% of earth's total surface area)

At 169.2 million square kilometres (65.3 million square miles) in area, it is larger than all of the Earth's land area combined. The equator subdivides it into the North Pacific Ocean and South Pacific Ocean.

The Okavango

The area was once part of Lake Makgadikgadi, an ancient lake that dried up some 10,000 years ago. Today, the Okavango River has no outlet to the sea and it empties onto the sands of the Kalahari Desert, irrigating 15,000 km² of the desert.

The Arctic Ocean

It is also the smallest.

7

The seven countries that were once part of Yugoslavia are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia and Kosovo.

Yemen

In the sixteenth century and again in the nineteenth century, north Yemen was part of the Ottoman Empire, and in some periods its Imams exerted control over south Yemen. North Yemen became independent of the Ottoman Empire in 1918 and became a republic in 1962. In 1839, the British occupied the port of Aden and established it as a colony in September of that year. They also set up a zone of loose alliances (known as protectorates) around Aden to act as a protective buffer. In 1967, the British withdrew and gave back Aden to Yemen due to extreme pressure of battles with the North and Egyptian allies. After the British withdrawal, this area became known as South Yemen.

Lake Titicaca

These islands have become a major tourist attraction for Peru, drawing excursions from the lakeside city of Puno. Their original purpose was defensive, and they could be moved if a threat arose. One of the islands retains a watchtower largely constructed of reeds.

An eon

Eon > Era > Period > Epoch. We are currently in the Phanerozoic Eon, the Cenozoic Era, the Quaternary Period, and the Holocene epoch. Formerly, only one eon existed besides the Phanerozoic: the Precambrian. More recently, the Hadean, Archean, and Proterozoic "eras" of Precambrian time have been considered eons.

Utah

With Arches, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, Canyonlands and Zion.

Northeast Greenland National Park

It is also the only national park in Greenland. The park encompasses the entire northeastern coastline and interior sections of Greenland.

St Basil's Cathedral

The misconception has inadvertently been reinforced by Western television journalists, who have often stood in front of St. Basil's during their reports.

Guyana

Guyana achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1966 and became a republic in 1970, remaining a member of the Commonwealth.

The Eastern Mediterranean at large but can also denote a large area in Western Asia

The term Levant is first attested in English in 1497, originally used in the wider sense of "Mediterranean lands east of Venetia". Today "Levant" is typically used by archaeologists and historians with reference to the prehistory and the ancient and medieval history of the region, as when discussing the Crusades. The term is also occasionally employed to refer to modern or contemporary events, peoples, states, or parts of states in the same region, namely Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the Palestinian territories.

The Perfect Storm

The waters of the Flemish Cap are noted as excellent fishing waters. Halibut, swordfish, shrimp, scallop and other marine species may be found in abundance there.

The Gulf of Saint Lawrence

It is the outlet of North America's Great Lakes via the Saint Lawrence River into the Atlantic Ocean.

Barbed wire

The first patent in the United States for barbed wire was issued in 1867 to Lucien B. Smith of Kent, Ohio, who is regarded as the inventor. Joseph F. Glidden of DeKalb, Illinois, received a patent for the modern invention in 1874 after he made his own modifications to previous versions.

Nunavat

Nunavut means 'our land' in Inuktitut, the language of the Inuit. If Nunavut were a sovereign nation, it would be the least densely populated in the world: Nearby Greenland, for example, has almost the same area and twice the population.

It is the largest subnational governing body in the world by area

Sakha became the largest country subdivision in the world, when Nunavut separated from Canada's Northwest Territories in 1999.

Tajikistan

The glacier is long and narrow, currently extending for 77 km (47 miles) and covering over 700 km² (270 mi²).

The Strait of Malacca

The Strait forms the main ship passageway between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, linking three of the world's most populous nations: India, Indonesia and China. At Phillips Channel near Singapore, the Strait narrows to 2.8 km (1.5 nautical miles) wide, creating one of the world's most significant traffic bottlenecks.

Liechtenstein

It is in Western-Central Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Uzbekistan in Central Asia (if the Caspian Sea is considered as a lake) is the only other 'double-landlocked' country in the world.

Kazakhstan

It is the 9th largest country in the world.

Mount Kilimanjaro

Furtwängler Glacier is a small remnant of an enormous icecap which once crowned the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. This icecap has retreated significantly over the past century and between 1912 and the 2000, 82 percent of the glacial ice on the mountain has disappeared. The retreat of glacial ice on the summit is expected to continue and by the year 2020, all the glaciers on top of the mountain may be gone.

4 (Lincoln-Nebraska, Jackson-Mississippi, Madison-Wisconsin and Jefferson City-Missouri).

Anatolia, also known as Asia Minor

The name comes from the Greek for "east". The Byzantine theme of "Anatolikon" ("eastern one") signified the lands to the east of Europe and Constantinople.

The Klondike

Gold was discovered in tributaries of the Klondike River in 1896 and is still being mined today. Its name comes from the Hän word Tr'ondëk meaning "hammerstone", which were used to hammer down stakes used to set salmon nets.

The Antilles

Geographically, the Antilles are generally considered part of North America. Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico – due to the prevalence of Spanish – are included in Latin America. The Bahamas, though part of the West Indies, are generally not included among the Antillean islands.

Cusco

Romandy

The term Romandy does not formally exist in the political system but is used to distinguish and unify the French-speaking population of Switzerland. About 1.5 million people (or 20% of the Swiss population) live in Romandy.

Brasilia

The city was planned and developed in 1956 with Lúcio Costa as the principal urban planner and Oscar Niemeyer as the principal architect. In 1960, it formally became Brazil's national capital. When seen from above, the main planned part of the city's shape resembles an airplane or a butterfly.

Georgia

Archipelago

In antiquity, the Archipelago was the proper name for the Aegean Sea and, later, usage shifted to refer to the Aegean Islands (since the sea is remarkable for its large number of islands). It is now used to generally refer to any island group or, sometimes, to a sea containing a large number of scattered islands like the Aegean.

The White Nile and the Blue Nile

Blue Nile is the source of most of the Nile's water and fertile soil, but the White Nile is the longer of the two. The White Nile rises in the Great Lakes region of central Africa and flows north from there through Tanzania, Lake Victoria, Uganda and southern Sudan, while the Blue Nile starts at Lake Tana in Ethiopia, flowing into Sudan from the southeast. The two rivers meet near the Sudanese capital Khartoum. The Nile ends in a large delta that empties into the Mediterranean Sea.

The South China Sea

It is a part of the Pacific Ocean, encompassing an area from Singapore to the Strait of Taiwan of around 3,500,000 km². The sea and its mostly uninhabited islands are subject to several competing claims of sovereignty by neighboring nations. These competing claims are also reflected in the variety of names used for the islands and the sea.

Saudi Arabia

Mangroves

The Sundarbans in India and Bangladesh is the largest mangrove forest in the world.

The highest mountains of each of the seven continents

Summiting all of them is regarded as a mountaineering challenge, first postulated as such in the 1980s by Richard Bass.

Meaning 'The Sleeve', it refers to the English channel

It that separates the island of Great Britain from northern France and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about 563 km (350 mi) long and at its widest is 240 km (150 mi). The Strait of Dover is the narrowest part of the channel being only 34 km (21 mi).(Many thanks to Jim Welsh for sending in a correction.)

The Democratic Republic of the Congo

They consists of seven cataracts extending over 100 km on the Lualaba River near Kisangani (formerly Stanleyville). At the bottom of the falls the Lualaba becomes the Congo River.

Angel Falls, the world's highest free-falling waterfall

Although sighted in the early 20th century by the explorer Ernesto Sanchez La Cruz, the waterfall was not known to the Western world until it was visited in 1935 by American aviator James Crawford Angel on a flight while he was searching for a valuable ore bed. In 1936, Angel returned and landed his plane at the top of the waterfall. The falls are currently named after him.

Canada - with Baffin (5th largest), Victoria (9th largest) and Ellesmere (10th largest)

Greenland is the largest island. Australia is widely considered as a continental landmass, not an island, though it is much larger than Greenland.

Fleet street

Even though the last major British news office, Reuters, left in 2005, the street's name continues to be used as a metonymy for the British national press. Fleet Street is now more associated with the Law and its courts and barristers' chambers.

East Timor (Capital: Dili)

Colonized by Portugal in the sixteenth century, East Timor was known as Portuguese Timor for centuries. It was invaded and occupied by Indonesia in 1975 and declared the country's 27th province the following year. Alongside the Philippines, East Timor is one of only two predominantly Roman Catholic countries in Asia, and the only Portuguese-speaking sovereign state in Asia.

Venice

In reality, the days of inquisitions and summary executions were over by the time the bridge was built, and the cells under the palace roof were occupied mostly by small-time criminals. A local legend says that lovers will be assured eternal love if they kiss on a gondola at sunset under the bridge.

Pangea, the supercontinent

It existed during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras before the process of plate tectonics separated each of the component continents into their current configuration.

El Salvador

It is the only Central American country that does not have a Caribbean coastline.

Bolivia and Paraguay

The Netherlands

The Dutch have a long history of reclamation of marshes and fenland, not only within their country but also abroad. About half of all polderland within northwest Europa is located within the Netherlands. The first embankments in Europe were constructed in Roman times. The first polders were constructed in the 11th century. This also leads to the expression used to describe Dutch decision making - the Polder Model.

The Moskstraumen or Maelstrom

The Moskstraumen has featured in many historical accounts, generally exaggerated. It was first described more than 2000 years ago by the Greek historian Pytheas, and later, it was marked on many nautical maps with warnings and dramatic descriptions. Both Poe and Verne both portray it inaccurately as a single massive whirlpool.

The Amazon

Marajo is located at the mouth of the Amazon in Brazil and has a land area of 15,500 sq mi. Although its northeast coastline faces the Atlantic Ocean, the outflow from the Amazon is so great that the sea at the mouth is quite unbriny for some distance from shore. The island sits almost directly on the equator.

Cape Farewell

A sand dune

In physical geography, a dune is a hill of sand built by wind activity. The world's highest dunes are found in Algerian Sahara, where they can reach more than 1.5 kms.

Greenland

It is a self-governed Danish territory.

Northern Ireland

Great Britian = England + Scotland + Wales; United Kingdom = Great Britian + Northern Ireland.

Black Forest

The Black Forest (German Schwarzwald) is a wooded mountain range in southwestern Germany. It was also the setting for many fairy tales popularized by the Brothers Grimm.

Land of lotus-eaters

Djerba is a popular tourist destination, particularly for French, German, Italian and Czech tourists. It is one of the few remaining places in Tunisia where a Berber language is still spoken. Another factor drawing some tourists to Djerba is the 1977 location of the Mos Eisley exterior scenes in the first Star Wars movie, filmed in the town of Ajim.

San Marino and Vatican City, in Italy

Lesotho

The name Lesotho roughly translates into "the land of the people who speak Sotho." The most notable geographic fact about Lesotho, apart from its status as an enclave, is that it is the only independent state in the world that lies entirely above 1,000 meters (3,300 ft) in elevation.

The theory of continental drift

The hypothesis of continental drift became part of the larger theory of plate tectonics.

Russia

Japan also has disputes with South Korea over Dokdo (Takeshima), with China and Taiwan over the Senkaku Islands (Diaoyutai Islands), and with China over the status of Okinotorishima. These disputes are in part about the control of marine and natural resources, such as possible reserves of crude oil and natural gas.

Burkina Faso

It is a landlocked country in West Africa and is surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north, Niger to the east, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Côte d'Ivoire to the southwest.

Namche Bazaar

Mount Everest

The Nepali name is Sagarmatha and the Tibetan name is Chomolungma or Qomolangma. In 1865, the mountain was given its English name by Andrew Waugh, the British surveyor-general of India who surveyed it and he chose to name the mountain after George Everest, the surveyor-general of India from 1830 to 1843, who was largely responsible for completing the section of the Great Trigonometric Survey of India.

Iran and Iraq

Also called Arvandrud, it is a river of some 200 km in length, formed by the confluence of the Euphrates and the Tigris. The the southern end of the river constitutes the border between Iraq and Iran down to the mouth of the river as it discharges into the Persian Gulf. Conflicting territorial claims and disputes over navigation rights between Iran and Iraq were among the main factors for the Iraq-Iran War that lasted from 1980 to 1988, when the pre-1980 status quo was restored.

The Iguazu Falls

The waterfall system consists of about 270 falls along 2.7 kilometres (1.67 miles) of the Iguazu River. Vastly larger than North America's Niagara Falls, Iguazu is rivalled only by Southern Africa's Victoria Falls. The Garganta del Diablo or Devil's Throat is the most impressive of all, and marks the border between Argentina and Brazil.

North Carolina

The Olduvai Gorge

It is one of the most important prehistoric sites in the world and has been instrumental in furthering understanding of early human evolution. Excavation work there was pioneered by Louis Leakey in the 1950s and is continued today by his family.

Samarkand

Present in modern day Uzbekistan, it is one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world, prospering from its location on the Silk Road trade route between China and Europe.

Mt Aconcagua, in the Andes

To comprehend the enormous scale of Himalayan peaks, consider that Aconcagua is at 6,962 m, while the Himalayan system has over 100 separate mountains exceeding 7,200 meters

Monrovia, the capital of Liberia