Geographic oddities that sound made up
Everything filed here is verifiable and none of it sounds it. These are the facts that get corrected by people who are confident and wrong, which is exactly what makes them worth having a source attached to.
Which major city sits on two continents?
Istanbul
The Bosporus divides Istanbul between Europe and Asia, and commuter ferries cross between continents all day. Cairo, Athens and Jakarta each sit wholly within one.
Source: Standard Europe-Asia boundary along the Turkish Straits
At Point Nemo, the most remote spot in the ocean, who are often the nearest humans?
The crew of the ISS
Point Nemo is about 2,700 km from the nearest land in every direction. The ISS orbits at about 400 km, so whenever it passes overhead its crew is several times closer than anyone on land.
Source: Oceanic pole of inaccessibility, calculated by Hrvoje Lukatela 1992
Vulcan Point in the Philippines was famous for being what?
An island in a lake on an island in a lake on an island
Vulcan Point sat in Crater Lake, on Volcano Island, in Lake Taal, on Luzon. The 2020 Taal eruption substantially altered the crater lake.
Source: Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology
How many countries are entirely surrounded by a single other country?
Three
Lesotho sits inside South Africa; San Marino and the Vatican both sit inside Italy. There are no others.
Source: National boundary records
Is any part of Africa further north than the southernmost part of Europe?
Yes, much of it
Tunisia's northern tip is at about 37.3 N, north of Crete's south coast and roughly level with southern Sicily. The continents overlap in latitude by hundreds of kilometres.
Source: Coordinates of Cape Angela, Tunisia and Gavdos, Greece
Which is further west, Reno or Los Angeles?
Reno
California's coast bends sharply east below Point Conception, so Reno in Nevada sits about a degree west of Los Angeles.
Source: USGS coordinates
From Detroit, in which direction do you travel to reach Canada?
South
Windsor, Ontario lies south of Detroit across the river. It is the only place where you head south from the United States into Canada.
Source: USGS and Natural Resources Canada coordinates
Is any part of South America east of Florida?
Yes, most of it
Brazil's eastern tip is at about 34.8 W, while Miami is about 80 W. Almost all of South America lies east of the entire eastern United States.
Source: National coordinate data
Which is the largest country in Africa by area?
Algeria
Algeria is about 2.38 million km2, having become the largest when Sudan split in 2011. Roughly 80 percent of it is Sahara.
Source: CIA World Factbook
Which is older, Stonehenge or the Great Pyramid of Giza?
Stonehenge began earlier
Work at Stonehenge began around 3000 BC; the Great Pyramid dates to about 2560 BC. Both are older than the woolly mammoths still alive on Wrangel Island at the time.
Source: English Heritage; Egyptian radiocarbon chronologies
Cleopatra lived closer in time to which of these?
The Moon landing
Cleopatra died in 30 BC. The Great Pyramid was already about 2,500 years old; the Moon landing was about 2,000 years later. She is closer to us than to the pyramids.
Source: Standard chronologies
Oxford University was already teaching when which empire was founded?
The Aztec Empire
Teaching at Oxford is recorded from about 1096. Tenochtitlan was founded around 1325 and the Aztec Triple Alliance in 1428, well over two centuries later.
Source: University of Oxford records; Mesoamerican chronologies
Which country lies in all four hemispheres: north, south, east and west?
Kiribati
Kiribati straddles both the equator and the 180th meridian, so its islands fall in every quadrant of the globe. No other country manages all four.
Source: Republic of Kiribati geographic coordinates
Why is Christmas a summer holiday in Australia?
The seasons are reversed
The Earth's axial tilt means that when the northern hemisphere leans away from the Sun, the southern leans towards it. Australian Christmas is midsummer.
Source: Standard astronomy