16 curious geographic facts that will surprise you

We have collected very interesting facts that you could hardly have heard about in geography lessons and decided to share them with you. We bet that some of them will surprise you, or at least force you to pick up an atlas in order to find the countries in question on it.

16 PHOTOS

1. Mount Fuji is the tallest mountain in Japan, which is considered a sacred, and also an active volcano, although the last eruption took place a very long time ago, in 1707. (Photo: skyseeker / Flickr.com).

2. Has it ever snowed over the hot Sahara? Yes, the last time it happened was on February 18, 1979. (Photo: Jon Rawlinson / Flickr.com).

3. Almost until the end of the 1980s, there was not a single telephone in the country of Bhutan. (Photo: Christopher Michel / Flickr.com).

4. The settlement with the shortest name is the Norwegian village A (pronounced “O”). In short, it doesn't happen anymore. Interestingly, a road sign with the name of the village is regularly stolen ... (Photo: Sveter / Wikipedia Commons).

5. Several skyscrapers in Manhattan have their own zip codes. (Photo: Ahmed ElHusseiny / Flickr.com).

6. In Thailand it is still considered impolite to eat with a fork. Cutlery can only be used to put food on your plate. (Photo: J Aaron Farr / Flickr.com).

7. Unlike most African countries, Ethiopia has never been a European colony. (Photo: Alfred Weidinger / Flickr.com).

8. In Saudi Arabia there are no rivers at all. (Photo: Al Jazeera English / Flickr.com).

9. To say that the Philippines is an island nation is to say nothing. This country has ... 7107 islands. (Photo: Beyond Neon / Flickr.com).

10. The largest pyramid in the world ... is not at all in Egypt, but in Mexico, in the city of Cholula. Its dimensions are 54 meters in height and a volume of 3.3 million cubic meters (while the volume of the Cheops pyramid at Giza is 2.4 million cubic meters). (Photo: Russ Bowling / Flickr.com).

11. In Togo, a man who compliments a woman must marry her. (Photo: Shutterstock).

12. There are 18 countries in the world that have only one neighboring state. These are Brunei, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Gambia, Haiti, Ireland, Lesotho, Monaco, Papua New Guinea, Portugal, Qatar, San Marino, South Korea, East Timor, Great Britain, and the Vatican. (Photo: N i c o l a / Flickr.com).

13. Along the entire Trans-Siberian Railway - the longest railway in the world - there are ... 3901 bridges. (Photo: Boccaccio1 / Flickr.com).

14. The phrase "Allahu Akbar", meaning the exaltation of Allah, is written on the Iranian flag 22 times. (Photo: Blondinrikard Fröberg / Flickr.com).

15. The seven largest countries in the world (Russia, Canada, USA, China, Australia, Brazil, and Argentina) occupy a total of half of all land on our planet. (Photo: Martin Fisch / Flickr.com).

16. Of the 25 highest mountain peaks in the world, 19 are in the Himalayas. (Photo: Maria Ly / Flickr.com).