Here are a few world facts that are interesting as can be!

A) Antarctica is the only land on our planet that is not owned by any country. Ninety percent of the world’s ice covers Antarctica. This ice also represents seventy percent of all the fresh water in the world. As strange as it sounds, however, Antarctica is essentially a desert; The average yearly total precipitation is about two inches. Although covered with ice (all but 0.4% of it) making Antarctica the driest place on the planet, With an absolute humidity lower than the Gobi Desert.

B) The term ‘The Big Apple’ was coined by touring jazz musicians of the 1930s who used the slang expression “apple” for any town or city. Therefore, to play New York City is to play the big time – The Big Apple.

C) Canada has more lakes than the rest of the world combined. Canada is an Indian word meaning ‘ Big Village’.

D) Damascus, Syria, was flourishing a couple of thousand years before Rome was founded in 753 BC making it the oldest continuously inhabited city in existence.

E) The Eyjafjallajökull eruption of 2010 in Iceland threw so much volcanic ash into the air that it stopped air travel across Europe for days.

F) Until 2002 there was an agreement between France and Monaco that if the principality doesn’t have a male heir, Monaco would lose its independence.

G) In Greece The Greek national anthem consists of 158 verses. It is not known if there is a Greek who can sing them all by heart.

H) The Himalaya Mountains are getting higher 0.6 inch/1,5 cm every year. With Kangchenjunga and Mount Everest to boast about, the Himalayas have the most number of highest peaks in the world and 19 of the world’s 25 highest peaks

I) Istanbul, Turkey, is the only city in the world located on two continents. Separated by the Bosphorus Strait, which acts as a natural border between the two continents, one part of Istanbul lies in Europe while the other one lies in Asia.

J) The capital of Jordan is Amman and used to be called Philadelphia.

K) Greenland’s Kaffeklubben Island is closer to the North Pole and considered the world’s most northern land.

L) Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyll llantysiliogogogochis the longest village name in the world It is located in Wales, and yes there are four l’s in a row!

M) The actual smallest sovereign entity in the world is the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (S.M.O.M). It is located in the city of Rome, Italy and has an area of two tennis courts. As of 2011, has a population of 80– 20 less people than the Vatican. It is a sovereign entity under international law, just as the Vatican is.

N) New York City has more Irish people living there than in Dublin, Ireland, more Italians in New York City than in Rome, Italy and … more Jews in New York City than in Tel Aviv, Israel.

O) There are no natural lakes in the state of Ohio … everyone is man-made.

P) The smallest island with country status is Pitcairn in Polynesia, at just 1.75 sq. miles.

Q) Qatar is the only country in the world that starts with the letter Q.

R) The first city to reach a population of 1 million people was Rome, Italy (in 133 B.C.) There is a city called Rome on every continent.

S) St. Paul , Minnesota , was originally called Pig’s Eye after a man named Pierre “Pig’s Eye” Parrant who set up the first business there.

T) Tidikelt, Algeria (located in the Sahara Desert) did not receive a drop of rain for ten years. Technically, though, the driest place on Earth is in the valleys of the Antarctic near Ross Island … there has been no rainfall there for two million years.

U) In the USA the chances that a road is unpaved is 1% … in Canada 75%! The Eisenhower interstate system requires that one mile in every five must be straight. These straight sections are usable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies.

V) The water of Angel Falls (the world’s highest) in Venezuela drops 3,212 feet (979 meters.) They are 15 times higher than Niagara Falls.

W) According to a 2016 census estimate Wyoming has the fewest residents of any state in the USA, with just below 586,000, ranking it No. 50 in state populations. Vermont comes after that with about 625,000, while Alaska is 48th, having nearly 742,000 residents.

X) There are 29 cities in the world that start with the letter X and all but four are located in China. There are two in Mexico, one in Mozambique and one in Uzbekistan.

Y) Yeman is the only country in the world that starts with the letter Y.

Z) There are two countries in the world that start with the letter Z … Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Z) Here’s an extra Z … The buildings in Manhattan are so monumental that they warranted their own zip codes … there are about 43 buildings with their very own zip codes.