World geography essentials

Where

The Himalaya, on the border of Nepal and China (Tibet)

When

First climbed on 29 May 1953

Who

First climbed by Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary

The highest point on Earth above sea level. Nepal and China measured it together and announced a height of 8,848.86 metres in December 2020. The British-run Survey of India named it after George Everest, a former head of the survey, in the 19th century.

Where

North of the Himalaya, mostly in Tibet and Qinghai in China

A plateau is a wide, raised area of fairly flat land. This is the highest and largest one on Earth, with an average height of more than 4,500 metres. Several of Asia's great rivers begin here, including the Indus, the Brahmaputra (called the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet), the Yangtze and the Mekong.

Where

North-east Africa, flowing north through Sudan and Egypt to the Mediterranean Sea

It has two main branches. The White Nile starts near Lake Victoria and the Blue Nile starts at Lake Tana in Ethiopia; they meet at Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. Ancient Egypt grew up along its banks, because the river's floods left rich soil in the middle of a desert.

Where

South America; rises in the Andes of Peru and flows east across Brazil to the Atlantic

The largest river in the world by the amount of water it carries: about a fifth of all the river water that flows into the oceans. Its basin holds the largest tropical rainforest on Earth.

Where

Around the South Pole

The largest desert on Earth, about 14 million square km, because very little new snow falls on most of it each year. It is also the coldest and windiest continent. No country owns it: the Antarctic Treaty of 1959 keeps it for peace and science, and India runs two research stations there, Maitri and Bharati.

Where

Across North Africa, from the Atlantic coast to the Red Sea

The largest hot desert in the world, about 9 million square km, nearly the size of China or the United States. Only part of it is sand dunes; much of it is bare rock and gravel.

Where

Between Europe and Asia; its shores belong to Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran and Azerbaijan

The largest lake in the world, about 371,000 square km, roughly the size of Japan. It's called a sea because it is big and its water is slightly salty, about a third as salty as the ocean. It has no outlet to the ocean.

Where

Southern Siberia, Russia

The deepest lake in the world, about 1,642 metres at its deepest, and also the oldest, at 25 to 30 million years. Because it is so deep, it holds more fresh water than any other lake: more than all five North American Great Lakes together.

Where

Egypt, joining the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea

When

Opened on 17 November 1869

Who

Built by a French company led by Ferdinand de Lesseps

A canal about 193 km long, at sea level, so it needs no locks. It lets ships sail between Europe and Asia without going all the way round Africa. Egypt's president Gamal Abdel Nasser took control of it in 1956, which led to the Suez Crisis.

Where

Panama, in Central America, joining the Atlantic (through the Caribbean Sea) and the Pacific

When

Opened on 15 August 1914; a wider set of locks opened in 2016

Who

Built by the United States after a French attempt failed; handed over to Panama at the end of 1999

A canal about 82 km long across the narrowest part of the Americas. Unlike Suez, it uses locks: chambers that fill with water to lift ships about 26 metres up to a man-made lake in the middle, then lower them on the other side.

Where

Between Spain in Europe and Morocco in Africa

The narrow gateway between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, only about 13 to 14 km wide at its narrowest. The ancient Greeks called the rocks on either side the Pillars of Hercules.

Where

Central Brazil, on a high plateau far from the coast

When

Inaugurated on 21 April 1960

Who

City plan by Lúcio Costa; main buildings by the architect Oscar Niemeyer; built under President Juscelino Kubitschek

Style

Modernist planned capital

Brazil moved its capital from Rio de Janeiro to a brand-new city built in about four years, to draw people and money inland. Costa's plan is often compared to an aeroplane or a bird, with government buildings along the body and homes in the wings. It became a World Heritage Site in 1987.

Where

Greenwich, London, England

When

The observatory was founded in 1675; its line was chosen as 0 degrees longitude in 1884

At a conference in Washington, DC in 1884, countries agreed to count longitude, and so world time, from the line through this observatory. Every other place is so many degrees east or west of it.

Where

Inside Rome, Italy

When

An independent state since the Lateran Treaty of 1929

Who

Ruled by the Pope, the head of the Catholic Church

The smallest country in the world, both by area (less than half a square km) and by number of people (under a thousand). Much of it is taken up by St Peter's Basilica, its square and the Vatican gardens and museums. The Sistine Chapel, with Michelangelo's ceiling, is here.