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Here's to a New Year's Resolution of learning about our amazing planet!
1) Which of the following is not a city in ROMANIA?
A — Bucharest (București)
B — Timișoara
C — Belgrade (Beograd)
2) Which state in the UNITED STATES has exactly 100 counties? Some of these counties include Durham, Mecklenburg, Orange, Pitt, Wake, and Watauga.
A — Vermont
B — North Carolina
C — New Mexico
3) BANGLADESH is mostly bordered by INDIA but also shares a border in the southeast with _____________.
A — MYANMAR
B — NEPAL
C — PHILIPPINES
ANSWERS
Question 1:
C . . . . . Belgrade (Beograd) which is the capital of Serbia (↗)
Question 2:
B . . . . . North Carolina (↗)
Question 3:
A . . . . . Myanmar (↗)
1) The Congo Pedicle is a foot-like panhandle region in the southeastern corner of the DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO and situated near ZAMBIA. The pedicle area features a national park known as Demalisques de Leshwe, possibly named after the genus (damaliscus) of which animal?
A — sloth
B — aardvark
C — antelope
D — penguin
2) True or false: There is an island named Komodo in INDONESIA.
3) The third highest mountain the world is Kangchenjunga, a Himalayan peak standing over 8,500 meters and 28,000 feet tall. Kangchenjunga is situated on the border between INDIA and what mountainous country flying a double pennant shaped flag?
A — ARGENTINA
B — BANGLADESH
C — SWITZERLAND
D — NEPAL
ANSWERS
Question 1:
C . . . . . antelope
Question 2:
True . . . . . it is home to the world-renown Komodo dragon!
Question 3:
D . . . . . Nepal
There is a city in Southeast Asia featuring multiple Buddhist temples along or not straying very far from the Chao Phraya river. These temples include Wat Arun (the Temple of Dawn, which contains over one million colorful ceramic tiles), Wat Khrua Wan Worawihan, Wat Molilokkayaram Ratchaworawihan, Wat Nak Klang, Wat Phitchaya Yatikaram Worawihan, Wat Phra Chetuphon, Wat Phraya Tham, and Wat Prayurawongsawat Worawihan. What in the World is the city containing these magnificent sites? Choose an option and find out below!
A — Yangon, MYANMAR
B — Bangkok, THAILAND
C — Kolkata, INDIA
Answer:
B . . . . . Bangkok, Thailand
The Amazing Race’s penultimate eleventh episode of Season 32 aired on Wednesday, December 9th and was set in the capital city of Manila, located on Luzon island in the PHILIPPINES. Filmed about a year or so before the coronavirus’ worldwide wrath, this episode featured a sprint and an exploration of the city through multiple clues but also lacked a Detour and Roadblock.
● Episode 11 info on CBS — In the first city sprint, the final four teams race through Manila, the capital of the Philippines.
● Once arriving in Manila, teams rode a colorful jeepney to Rizal Park and met Phil Keoghan there.
● Phil informed the four remaining teams that, instead of typical Amazing Race events such as Detours and Roadblocks, they will compete in a City Sprint. Outside a large mall near the Manila Bay in Bay City, Philippines, team members had to trot in high heels for 500 meters (0.31 miles)! At first, the guys understandably struggled to walk while wearing the unfamiliar footwear, but they eventually figured out how to do it with poise!
● After searching for and finding the Binondo Arch of Goodwill in Manila’s Chinatown, teams looked for a clue in the mouth of a colorfully costumed lion dancing in the pedestrian walkways. This clue told teams to arrive by foot to the Central Post Office for another clue.
● “Hay Day”: in a plaza outside the Central Post Office, teams found a kalesa (horse-drawn carriage) and searched the area for necessary ingredients to mix up a bucketful of horse food. Dried grass and the bucket’s mixture were fed to a team’s respective horse, and a clue to Mehan Garden was subsequently given to the team.
● For this episode’s last task, teams arrived at Mehan Garden where a band produced some melodies and rockin’ good tunes for the residents of Manila. The band continuously played four musical compositions featured in previous Amazing Race episodes. A bunch of cases for guitars and other instruments were strewn about, and each case displayed a country’s flag. Teams were tasked to find cases with four flags corresponding to the songs’ national origin; teams organized these cases in chronological order based on when the songs were played in Season 32.
While most of the flags represented countries the teams visited — including Colombia, France, Germany, India, Kazakhstan, Paraguay, and Trinidad and Tobago — I also spotted an “extra” flag of a country that teams did not step foot in: Mozambique. If you noticed any other flags in this episode, please feel free to comment below! In any case (pun intended), these are the correct flags on the instrument cases in earlier to later order: Trinidad and Tobago, Colombia, Paraguay, and France. Maddison and Riley completed this task first, so they quickly proceeded to the nearby Pit Stop.
● Pit Stop: Lapu Lapu Monument (Statue of the Sentinel of Freedom) — Rizal Park, Ermita District in Manila
● Season 32’s finale (episode 12) will take place in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. A glimpse of the millionaire-making Pit Stop reveals that teams will end their Amazing Race journeys at the New Orleans Saints’ home turf: Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
Season 32, Episode 11 Pit Stop Results
The 1st through 4th place results are the same as episode 10.
1st — Maddison and Riley
1st place prize — no prize given in this episode
2nd — James and Will
3rd — Chee and Hung
4th — DeAngelo and Gary
Eliminated from the competition? Yes
People all across INDIA celebrated their country's Independence Day on Saturday, August 15th. India achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1947. Happy belated Independence Day!
The author of GeoFact of the Day would like to thank government leaders and personnel around the world for at least trying to learn more about the world around them. However, one such head of state allegedly mispronounced the names of BHUTAN and NEPAL in an intelligence briefing — but also said something that leaves geography nerds (like me) and international-relations wonks pulling their hair out! According to Politico (↗) based on two sources "with knowledge of the meeting," the U.S. President mispronounced Bhutan as something like "button," while Nepal was pronounced something like "nipple." Unfortunately, no recording of the incident is publicly available as far as I know. This leader also mispronounced NAMIBIA as "Nambia." I get it, sometimes countries have interesting names. When speaking, there is probably at least one countries' name that I am mispronouncing. However, the mispronunciation of Bhutan and Nepal as mentioned above is a far stretch in my opinion, and especially for a leader!
...But there's more (dun dun dun...)! According to John Wolcott's Time report (↗), the U.S. President thought that Bhutan and Nepal were entities within INDIA, rather than the separate and sovereign countries that they really are. OH THE HORROR!!! I have much respect for India, but as a proud geography whiz, hearing that a "world leader" thought Bhutan and Nepal were a part of another country rather than as their own is absolutely heart-wrenching! Nowadays, geographic information is thankfully at the fingertips for everyone with Internet and library access.
We make mistakes, so hopefully he can learn from these geographic mistakes and try better at learning more about other countries. Maybe GeoFact of the Day would be a great place for him to start (hint hint, wink wink), so at least he can sound smarter at his intelligence briefings! It feels strange knowing something that a world leader did not at the time, so maybe I will run for President one day!
Bhutan post (↗) ● Nepal post (↗) ● India post (↗) ● Namibia post (↗)
The following items are major exports of INDIA: automobiles, bauxite, consumer goods, chemicals, clothing and textiles, coal, construction materials, cotton, electronics and tech-related components, gemstones, iron and steel, jute, lentils, limestone, machinery, oilseeds, onions, petroleum, pharmaceuticals, potatoes, processed food, rare earth elements, rice, seafood (increasing), software, sugarcane, tea, titanium ore, transportation equipment, and wheat. According to the International Monetary Fund (data.imf.org), countries and territories buying and importing most of those exports (February 2017 statistics) include the United States (top importer), the United Arab Emirates, China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, the United Kingdom, Bangladesh, Germany, Vietnam, Belgium, Nepal, Italy, South Korea, France, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the Netherlands, Sri Lanka, and Japan.
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ for INDIA in South Asia lists 6 extinct and 2 extinct-in-the-wild species since the beginning of IUCN recordkeeping, 149 critically endangered species, and 375 endangered species.
Some of India's many critically endangered species include the Forest Owlet, Indian Vulture, Namdapha Flying Squirrel, Nicobar Shrew, Rameshwaram Parachute Spider, Siberian Crane, Sumatran Rhinoceros, and White-bellied Heron. Endangered species include the Alpine Musk Deer, Hairy-nosed Otter, Longheaded Eagle Ray, Perrotet's Vine Snake, and Waterwheel plants, Wild Water Buffalo, and Zebra Loach fish.
Two administrative regions belonging to INDIA and PAKISTAN lie south of disputed territories in the northern portions of both countries. These administrative regions share the name PUNJAB, previously a larger province in British India which occupied territory in what is now India and Pakistan.
Pakistan's Punjab
Punjab in Pakistan is a province where most Pakistanis live. Punjab is barely south of Pakistan's capital, Islāmābād (Islamabad), but several of the province's cities are larger in population and geographic size. With well over 7 million residents in the metropolitan area, Lahore is found in northeastern Punjab and is the capital. Other large cities with over a million residents include Faisalābad, Gujrānwāla, Multān, and Rāwalpindi. These cities and others are supported by the sustenance from the Indus River and its fertile valleys. Tributaries of the Indus which fork their way eastward across Punjab include Chenāb, Rāvi, Panjnad, and Sutlej. However, fertile valleys are juxtaposed against the non-fertile Thal Desert located to the east of the Indus and west of Chenāb River and the Thar Desert in southeast Punjab. Salty deposits and creations are found in and on the aptly-named Salt Range in northern Punjab.
India's Punjab
Punjab in India is smaller than the Punjab province of Pakistan and is an Indian state. Even though Ludhiāna has the highest population with well over 1 million residents, Chandīgarh at the eastern edge of India's Punjab is the capital. In fact, Chandīgarh is a union territory and capital belonging to Punjab as well as the Haryana State. Interestingly, Chandīgarh is at the extreme northern tip of Haryana; geographically, many other towns would serve as better capitals for Haryana than Chandīgarh! Back to talking about Punjab, other cities beside Chandīgarh and Ludhiāna include Amritsar - where a shiny Golden Temple named Harmandir Sahib is located - as well as Jalandhar and Patiāla. A few rivers flow through this state, such as Beas and Ghaggar. Like Pakistan's Punjab, the Sutlej River flows through India's Punjab. There are no large desert areas, although the Great Indian Desert is very close by to the south.
MADHYA PRADESH (मध्य प्रदेश) is a landlocked state in INDIA. States are usually countries, like India is a state for example. However, Madhya Pradesh and other states within India are considered federated states, similar to states in the United States. The state is less than 200 miles and less than 300 kilometers south of New Delhi, the national capital of India. Situated in the center of Madhya Pradesh, the state's capital is Bhopal. Other cities include Damoh, Gwalior, Hoshangabad, Indore, Jabalpur, Katni, Sagar, Satna, and Ujjian. The Vindhya Range of hills and mountains crosses horizontally over the central part of Madhya Pradesh, and many cities like Bhopal and Indore are located on and nearby this feature. Satpura Range is in the southern part of the state and the northern part of Maharashtra state.
Here are the 10 largest countries in area:
1) Russia
2) Canada
3 or 4) * United States of America
3 or 4) * China
5) Brazil
6) Australia
7) India
8) Argentina
9) Kazakhstan
10) Algeria — was formerly Sudan until South Sudan separated from Sudan
*** Visit this wikipedia page for the whole list of countries by area.
* The areas of the USA and China may vary depending on what is included and excluded from the total area; both total areas are similar.
Especially known as one of the world's most-populated countries, INDIA is located in South Asia on the Indian subcontinent. India borders a total of six countries. Bangladesh is east of a vast majority of India and south of the Indian panhandle area. East of India is Myanmar (Burma), west of India is Pakistan, and Bhutan, China, and Nepal are situated northeast of India. The aptly-named Indian Ocean is south of India. Part of the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea is west of India, while the Bay of Bengal is east. A teardrop-shaped island country, Sri Lanka, is south of India. The capital of India is New Delhi, which has about 318,000 residents. Despite being the capital, New Delhi is definitely not one of India's most-populated cities; the city is ranked about 128th in terms of population. Cities with well over 1 million residents include Ahmedabad (over 3.7 million), Bengaluru (over 4.9 million), Chennai (over 4.6 million), Delhi (over 10.9 million), Hyderabad (3.6 million), Kolkata (Calcutta; over 4.6 million), Mumbai (over 12.7 million), and Pune (almost 3 million). Population statistics were updated on January 22nd, 2016. Hindi (हिन्दी) is India's official language, while English is also spoken especially among government officials — a leftover legacy from British colonization. Other major languages spoken in India include Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, and Oriya. Regarding the country's currency, Indians use the Indian Rupee. The Rupee's ISO 4217 currency code is INR.
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