Geographic Superlatives

Well, it's about time for some more lists. This time I'm talking about geographic superlatives of the world - the highest, lowest, wettest, driest, longest, shortest, biggest, smallest, etc. of Earth's physical features. This is the type of information you will traditionally find in an Almanac. So, here we go:

Hottest, Coldest, Wettest, and Driest:
-Hottest Place: Dalol, Denakil Depression, Ethiopia, annual average temperature (93.2°F, 34°C).
-Coldest Place: Plateau Station, Antarctica, annual average temperature (-56.7°C).
-Wettest Place: Mawsynram, Assam, India, annual average rainfall (11,873 mm, 467.4"); Mt. Waialeale on Hawaii's Kauai Island is also a contender with an estimated 472" of rainfall in a year.
-Driest Place: Atacama Desert, Chile, imperceptible rainfall on a yearly basis.

Highest points on each continent:
-Mount Everest 8850m (29035ft) Asia
-Aconcagua 6959m (22831ft) S. America
-Mount McKinley 6194m (20320ft) N. America
-Mount Kilimanjaro 5963m (19563ft) Africa
-Mount Elbrus 5633m (18481ft) Europe
-Puncak Jaya 4884m (16023ft) Oceania
-Vinson Massif 4897m (16066ft) Antarctica

Lowest points on each continent (below sea level):
-Dead Sea, Asia -409 meters
-Lake Assal, Africa -156 meters
-Death Valley, North America -86 meters
-Valdés Peninsula, South America -40 meters
-Caspian Sea, Europe -28 meters
-Lake Eyre, Australia -16 meters
-Antarctica (ice covered) -2,538 meters

Deepest ocean depths:
-Mariana Trench, Pacific Ocean 35,827 ft
-Puerto Rico Trench, Atlantic Ocean 30,246 ft
-Java Trench, Indian Ocean 24,460 ft
-Arctic Basin, Arctic Ocean 18,456 ft

Deepest lakes:
-Baikal, Russian Fed. (5,315 ft)
-Tanganyika, Africa (4,800 ft)
-Caspian Sea, Asia-Europe (3,363 ft)
-Malawi or Nyasa, Africa (2,317 ft)
-Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan (2,303 ft)

Driest inhabited places (rainfall in inches per year):
-Aswan, Egypt 0.02"
-Luxor, Egypt 0.03"
-Arica Desert, Chile 0.04"
-Ica, Peru 0.1"
-Antofagasta, Chile 0.2"
-El Minya, Egypt 0.2"
-Asyut, Egypt 0.2"

Wettest inhabited places (rainfall in inches per year):
-Buenaventira, Colombia 267"
-Monrovia, Liberia 202"
-Pago Pago, American Samoa 198"
-Moulein, Burma (Myanmar 192"
-Lae, Papua New Guinea 183"
-Baguio, Philippines180"
-Sylhet, Bangladesh 178"

Largest deserts of the world:
(Subtropical):
Sahara, North Africa 3,500,000 sq. miles
Arabian, Middle East 1,000,000 sq. miles
Great Victoria, Australia 250,000 sq. miles
Rub'al Khali, Middle East 250,000 sq. miles
Kalahari, Southern Africa 225,000 sq. miles
Syrian, Middle East 200,000 sq. miles
Chihuahuan, Mexico 175,000 sq. miles
Thar, India/Pakistan175,000 sq. miles
Great Sandy, Australia 150,000 sq. miles
Gibson, Australia 120,000 sq. miles
Sonoran, S.W. USA 120,000 sq. miles
Mohave, S,W, USA 54,000 sq. miles
(Cool Coastal):
Atacama, Chile SA 54,000 sq. miles
Namib, S.W. Africa 13,000 sq. miles
(Cold Winter):
Gobi, China 500,000 sq. miles
Patagonian, Argentina 260,000 sq. miles
Great Basin, S.W. USA 190,000 sq. miles
Kara-Kum, West Asia 135,000 sq. miles
Colorado, Western USA 130,000 sq. miles
(also called the Painted Desert)
Taklamakan, China 105,000 sq. miles
Iranian, Iran 100,000 sq. miles

States, Provinces, Capitals, and Countries

Brushing up on your knowledge of capital cities, states, provinces, and countries is always a good idea to maintain your geographic literacy and knowledge of geography facts. With that in mind, here are a few links to some articles about states, provinces, capitals, and countries, of various regions of the world:

• How to Know the U.S. States and Capitals
• How to Know Canada's Provinces and Provincial Capitals
• How to Know China's Provinces and Provincial Capitals
• How to Know the Subdivisions of the United Kingdom and Their Capitals
• How to Know Mexico's States and Capitals
• How to Know South America's Countries and Capitals
• How to Know Central America's Countries and Capitals
• How to Know the Caribbean's Countries, Territories, and Capitals

Longest Rivers in the World

Well, here's another list - this time related to the natural environment. This is a list of the longest rivers in the world. However, you'll quickly note that rivers aren't only important to the natural environment. They may be viewed as the arteries and lifelines of continents. Rivers not only drain large areas of land, but they also allow for human use by allowing transportation and the movement of people, resources, and goods across continents. Rivers also grant shipping access to and from the world's oceans. As you can see, rivers are an important environmental feature for many reasons. In this listing, I list the River name, length in miles and kilometers, and the body of water for the river's outflow. So, here is the list of the world's longest and most important rivers.

The River Nile at Aswan, Egypt

1. Nile, 4135 mi, 6650 km, Mediterranean Sea
2. Amazon, 3980 mi, 6400 km, Atlantic Ocean
3. Yangtze (Chiang Jiang), 3917 mi, 6300 km, East China Sea
4. Mississippi/Missouri, 3902 mi, 6275 km, Gulf of Mexico
5. Yenisei/Angara/Selenga, 3445 mi, 5539 km, Kara Sea
6. Yellow (Huang He), 3398 mi, 5464 km, Bohai Sea
7. Ob/Irtysh, 3364 mi, 5410 km, Gulf of Ob
8. Congo/Chambeshi, 2922 mi, 4700 km, Atlantic Ocean
9. Amur/Argun, 2763 mi, 4444 km, Sea of Okhotsk
10. Lena, 2736 mi, 4400 km, Laptev Sea
11. Mekong, 2705 mi, 4350 km, South China Sea
12. Mackenzie/Peace/Finlay, 2637 mi, 4241 km, Beaufort Sea
13. Niger, 2611 mi, 4200 km, Gulf of Guinea
14. Parana (Rio de la Plata), 2486 mi, 3998 km, Atlantic Ocean
15. Volga, 2266 mi, 3645 km, Caspian Sea

Amazon River Landscape, South America

Yangtze River (Chang Jiang), People's Republic of China

For a much longer and more detailed listing of the longest rivers in the world, see this article:
List of Rivers by Length

World's Busiest International Airports

Airports are a place of exciting fascination for many geographers. They are places representing many ideas of geography all in one: the wonders of aviation and air travel, international and domestic travel, globalization, global interconnectedness, transportation and tourism geography, and they are also interesting to geographers who study human impact on the landscape. Airports are somewhat like mini-cities. At any rate, here is a list of the top thirty busiest airports in the world in 2007 by passenger traffic. For each entry, I list the name of the airport, the city, state, and country, the number of passengers passing through the airport in 2007, and the airline that operates a major hub at that particular airport:

Hartsfield-Jackson-Atlanta International Airport (ATL), Atlanta, Georgia, USA

1. Hartsfield-Jackson-Atlanta International Airport (ATL), Atlanta, Georgia, USA - 89,379,287 - Delta Airlines, Air Tran Airways
2. O'Hare International Airport (ORD), Chicago, Illinois, USA - 76,159,324 - United Airlines, American Airlines
3. London Heathrow Airport (LHR), London, England, UK - 68,068,554 - British Airways, BMI, Virgin Atlantic
4. Tokyo-Haneda International Airport (HND), Tokyo, Japan - 66,671,435 - Japan Air Lines, All Nippon Airways
5. Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), Los Angeles, California, USA - 61,895,548 - Delta Airlines, United Airlines
6. Charles de Gaulle International Airport (CDG), near Paris, France - 59,919,383 - Air France
7. Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, USA - 59,784,876 - American Airlines
8. Frankfurt Airport (FRA), Frankfurt am Main, Germany - 54,161,856 - Lufthansa
9. Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK), Chaoyang, Beijing, People's Republic of China - 53,736,923 - Air China, China Southern Airlines
10. Madrid Barajas International Airport (MAD), Barajas, Madrid, Spain - 52,122,214 - Iberia
11. Denver International Airport (DEN), Denver, Colorado, USA - 49,863,389 - United Airlines, Frontier Airlines
12. John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), Queens, New York City, USA - 47,810,630 - Delta Airlines, Jet Blue Airways, American Airlines
13. Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS), The Netherlands - 47,793,602 - KLM/Royal Dutch Airlines, Northwest Airlines
14. McCarran International Airport (LAS), Las Vegas, Nevada, USA - 47,595,140 - U.S. Airways, Southwest Airlines
15. Hong Kong International Airport (HKG), Hong Kong SAR, People's Republic of China - 46,995,000 - Cathay Pacific, Dragon Air
16. George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), Houston, Texas, USA - 42,978,617 - Continental Airlines
17. Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX), Phoenix, Arizona, USA - 42,197,080 - U.S. Airways, Southwest Airlines
18. Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK), Bangkok, Thailand - 41,210,081 - Thai Airways International, Bangkok Airways, Orient Thai Airlines
19. Singapore Changi Airport (SIN), Changi, Singapore - 36,701,556 - Singapore Airlines
20. Orlando International Airport (MCO), Orlando, Florida, USA - 36,480,416 - Southwest Airlines, Delta Airlines
21. Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), Newark, New Jersey, USA - 36,391,911 - Continental Airlines
22. Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW), Romulus, Michigan, USA - 36,126,555 - Northwest Airlines
23. San Francisco International Airport (SFO), San Mateo County, California, USA - 35,793,117 - United Airlines
24. Tokyo-Narita International Airport (NRT), Narita, Chiba, Japan - 35,530,035 - Japan Air Lines, All Nippon Airways, Northwest Airlines
25. London Gatwick Airport (LGW), Crawley, England, UK - 35,218,399 - British Airways
26. Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP), Fort Snelling, Minnesota, USA - 35,160,505 - Northwest Airlines
27. Dubai International Airport (DXB), Dubai, United Arab Emirates - 34,348,110 - Emirates
28. Munich-Franz Josef Strauss Airport (MUN), Munich, Bavaria, Germany - 33,959,422 - Lufthansa
29. Miami International Airport (MIA), Miami, Florida, USA - 33,740,416 - American Airlines
30. Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT), Charlotte, North Carolina, USA - 33,383,812 - U.S. Airways

Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), Dallas, Texas, USA

Largest Cities in the World

One thing I would like to do in this blog is to occasionally post and comment on themed lists of various items related to world geography. So, to start things off in this post, the first of a series of "list" posts, I would like to list and discuss the largest cities in the world. But, when forming such a list, particularly pertaining to a geographic feature such as a city, one must ask what criteria will we take into account when classifying cities on the list. Do we just count the city itself (the city proper), the urbanized area, or the metropolitan area? Or perhaps we should form a separate list for each of those items. Various cities would most likely then appear at different points on the list. But for this post, I will list the twenty largest metropolitan areas by population (I also may come back to the post and add more lists based on different criteria as well). So, without further adieu, here we go:

Tokyo, Japan, with Mt. Fuji

Earth's twenty largest metropolitan areas by population (based on 2003 population data):
1. Tokyo, Japan - 32,450,000
2. Seoul, South Korea - 20,550,000
3. Mexico City, Mexico - 20,450,000
4. New York City, United States - 19,750,000
5. Mumbai (Bombay), India - 19,200,000
6. Jakarta, Indonesia - 18,900,000
7. Sao Paulo, Brazil - 18,850,000
8. Delhi, India - 18,600,000
9. Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto, Japan - 17,375,000
10. Shanghai, China - 16,650,000
11. Metro Manila, Philippines - 16,300,000
12. Hong Kong/Shenzhen, China - 15,800,000
13. Los Angeles, United States - 15,250,000
14. Kolkata (Calcutta), India - 15,100,000
15. Moscow, Russia - 15,000,000
16. Cairo, Egypt - 14,450,000
17. Buenos Aires, Argentina - 13,170,000
18. London, United Kingdom - 12,875,000
19. Beijing, China - 12,500,000
20. Karachi, Pakistan - 11,800,000

Sao Paulo, Brazil