Travel the World: World Geography

The term Pangea (Greek for "all earth") was coined in the early 20th century by geologist Alfred Wegener to describe the contiguous land mass of Earth's continents 200 million years ago.

Iceland is famous for the geothermal energy used to heat inhabitants' homes from hot water piped in from hot springs and geysers.

Zimbabwe was formerly known as Rhodesia before it gained independence from Great Britain in 1980.

Noah's Ark is said to have landed somewhere on Mt. Ararat in Turkey. Searches of the mountain haven't turned up definitive evidence of the ark, though.

Argentina took the Falkland Islands, located off the country's coast, in April 1982. British forces invaded the following June and reclaimed the islands as a British territory.

The Mariana Trench, located in the Pacific Ocean near Guam, is Earth's lowest point at about 36,000 feet (10, 900 m) below sea level.

The sun doesn't set for the entire day of Dec. 22 in the Antarctic, the summer solstice in the southern hemisphere.

The Greeks named Asia, possibly after the Trojan ruler Asios. The Greeks also named Egypt, which was referred to by its ancient inhabitants as Kemet.

The Bikini Atoll is known for having served as a nuclear weapons testing site for the United States from 1946 to 1958.

The Po River flows through Italy.

Alaska wins the contest, but Michigan comes in a surprising second with its freshwater coastline.

Yellowstone is almost entirely in Wyoming, but 3 percent of it is in Montana and a 1 percent sliver is in Idaho.

Russia's Lake Baikal is 5,000 feet deep, with a four-mile-thick layer of sediment at the bottom.

While 70 percent of Australia is considered arid or semi-arid, more than a third of it (35 percent) is classified as actual desert.

The gigantic sandstone rock is nearly 6 miles round.

While there are four main islands in Japan, there are actually thousands of smaller ones surrounding them.

Only about 15 percent of Japan's land can be used for farming.

The Indus and Gagnes rivers deltas make up the Indo-Gangetic Plain of Northern India.

The Canadian Rockies (including Mount Fraser) stretch nearly 900 miles between BC and Alberta.

Ptolemy's "Guide to Geography" was written in the 2nd century CE.

10 percent of the Earth is covered with glaciers, ice sheets and ice caps.

Washington state has the most glaciers in the lower 48.

While Greenland is farther west that Iceland, it's actually considered part of the North American continent.

Ready? Azerbaijan, Belarus, China, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Kazakhstan, North Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Mongolia, Norway, Poland and Ukraine make 14 countries that border Russia.

With a 73 mile (118 km) border, Andorra takes up a teeny spot in Europe.

On Jan. 1, 1993, Slovakia and the Czech Republic became independent nations.

At 109 acres, the Holy See is the smallest nation.

Since Australia and New Zealand-associated territories are counted separately, Great Britain has 14 overseas territories.

There are 53 members of the Commonwealth, and each can voluntarily withdraw at any time.

At roughly 3.3 million sq miles (8.5 km), the Sahara is roughly the size of South America's largest country.