What country is this statue in?

You need to study geography if you think…

The Balkans are an alien people on Star Trek ….

The Gaza Strip is a Middle Eastern folk dance….

The Tropic of Cancer is a sunscreen lotion….

(geographyabout.com)

It never fails that when I travel to any place south of the United States, someone will ask me how my trip was to Mexico. I must admit it’s a pet peeve. Whether I have traveled to Guatemala, Honduras or Ecuador, for some reason there are people that have lumped these countries into Mexico, as if Mexico was a continent. People from these other countries find it offensive if you call them “Mexican”. It’s not just “common folks” that make such mistakes. Sarah Palin made a notorious remark about Africa being a country instead of a continent. Her unfortunate mistake was highly publicized through her campaign and left her in a position to be mocked.

Well, I recognize that there are many that do not take the time to learn geography. Is this ethnocentric or just lazy?

To me it’s important to understand the world and teach my kids about other cultures. I don’t want them to think that America is the end all and there is no need to look beyond. After all, there are a lot of great things that other countries have that we do not have here in America. I am not saying that America isn’t great, but I am cautious to think we have it all right.

So to help you out…here are some interesting geography facts to make geography fun!

 • Brazil got its name from the nut. Not the other way around.

 • Canada has more lakes than the entire world combined.

 • Venezuela – Angel Falls is the World’s highest waterfalls. It drops 3,212 feet. This is 15 times higher than Niagara Falls.

• Antarctica is the only land in the world not owned by a country.

• At the closest point, Russia and United States are only 2 miles apart.

 • The earth is slightly the shape of a pear. Seriously…the North Pole radius is 44mm longer than the South Pole radius.

 • In Denmark there are twice as many pigs as people.

• Malaysians bath their babies in beer to protect them from disease.

 • Tasmania is said to have the cleanest air in the world.

 (weird-facts.info)