Interesting contemporary geographical facts

Just have a few minutes off and try to imagine how diverse and intriguing is the world we live in. Now please read the facts below: - With a a width of 1,708 metres (5,604 ft) and height of 108 metres (354 ft), the Victoria Falls is the largest in the world. - The Nurek Dam on the Vakhsh River in Tajikistan is considered the tallest dam in the world with a height of 300 m (984 ft). - The island of Taiwan was also known in the past as the Formosa island. - Although the total area of Australia is 25 times bigger then the total area of Norway, the length of these two countries’ coastlines are approximately equal (about 25,000 km or 15,534 mi). - The name of the Black Sea may come from the color “black” which may refer to the direction North in Medieval Turkish, or the dark, sudden storms that would strike and cloud over the skies. - The island of Java represents only 7% of the total area of Indonesia, but it hosts 57% (or 157 million) of this country’s population. Also, Java is the most populated island in the world and it is one of the most densely populated place in the world. - Siberia contains about 40% of the world’s known resources of nickel. - With a length of 120 km (75 mi), the beach in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh is the longest beach in the world. - The surface and shores of the Dead Sea are 423 m (1,388 ft) below sea level thus being the Earth’s lowest elevation on land. - The Great Barrier Reef has a total area of of approximately 344,400 sq km (133,000 sq mi) and can be seen from outer space. - The Khumbu Glacier in Nepal is the world’s highest glacier. - With just 1 millimetre (0.04 in) average rainfall per year , Atacama Desert in South America is the driest place on Earth. - With an annual rainfall of 11,872 millimetres (467.4 in), the village of Mawsynram in north-eastern India is the wettest place in the world. - Standing at 6,390 metres (20,965 ft) in the Andes on the Argentina-Chile border, the crater lake of Ojos del Salado is the highest lake on Earth. - The Norwegian town of Longyearbyen is situated on the western coast of Spitsbergen island in the Svalbard archipelago and it is considered the world's most northerly town. - Mount Fubilan in Papua New Guinea is the site of the Ok Tedi copper and gold mine.