True or False Geography Facts

Explore true or false facts about countries, cities, rivers, mountains, borders and maps. Read a statement, then open its answer and explanation

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People float in the Dead Sea because its water is far saltier than the ocean
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True
The Dead Sea is about 9.6 times as salty as the ocean, and its dense water holds swimmers up
Source: en.wikipedia.org
The Pacific Ocean covers more area than all of Earth's land combined
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True
The Pacific spans about 165 million km², while all the land on Earth adds up to roughly 149 million km²
Source: en.wikipedia.org
On a true-scale globe, Greenland is about as large as Africa
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False
Africa is about 14 times larger than Greenland, and the Mercator map stretches areas near the poles
Source: education.nationalgeographic.org
Mount Everest stands entirely within the borders of Nepal
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False
Everest's summit marks part of the border between Nepal and the Tibet region of China
Source: en.wikipedia.org
The hottest air temperatures ever recorded were measured right on the Equator
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False
Record highs come from deserts far from the Equator, such as Death Valley in California
Source: en.wikipedia.org
The Gambia is surrounded by Senegal on all sides except the Atlantic coast
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True
Senegal borders The Gambia on three sides, and the country is a narrow strip along the Gambia River with 80 km of coast
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Nepal has the only national flag that is neither a rectangle nor a square
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True
Nepal's flag is two stacked pennants, and it is also the only national flag taller than it is wide
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Mexico City is built on the bed of a former lake
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True
The city rests on the clay of the old Lake Texcoco and keeps sinking as groundwater is pumped out
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Mainland Spain sits in Britain's natural time zone but runs an hour ahead of it
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True
Spain moved to Central European Time in 1940 and kept it, so mainland Spain is one hour ahead of the UK all year
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Glaciers cover most of the land on the North Atlantic island of Iceland
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False
Glaciers cover only about a tenth of Iceland, while an ice sheet covers most of the land in Greenland
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Brazil has a land border with every other country in South America
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False
Brazil borders nine of the eleven other South American countries, with Chile and Ecuador the two exceptions
Source: en.wikipedia.org
India is so wide from east to west that it uses two official time zones
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False
India uses one time zone, UTC+5:30, even though it geographically spans about two
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Chimborazo's summit is farther from Earth's center than Everest's
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True
Earth bulges at the Equator, so Chimborazo is over 2,000 m farther from the center, though Everest is higher above sea level
Source: oceanservice.noaa.gov
The Pacific end of the Panama Canal lies east of its Atlantic end
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True
The isthmus bends, so the canal runs from northwest to southeast and the Pacific entrance sits east of Colón
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Two Bering Strait islands just 4 km apart keep clocks almost a full day apart
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True
Big Diomede (Russia) is 21 hours ahead of Little Diomede (USA), or 20 in summer, with the Date Line between them
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Brunei is split into two separate parts by Malaysian territory
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True
The Limbang district of Malaysia's Sarawak state cuts Brunei in two, and Malaysia surrounds it on all land sides
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Most of the Sahara desert is covered by giant rolling sand dunes
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False
Dune seas called ergs cover only 15 to 20% of the Sahara, and most of it is bare rocky plateau and gravel plain
Source: geology.utah.gov
Russia is the largest country and has more time zones than any other
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False
France has 12, or 13 for part of the year, because of its overseas territories, while Russia and the USA have 11 each
Source: guinnessworldrecords.com
The Pan-American Highway runs without a break from Alaska to Argentina
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False
The Darién Gap, about 100 km of roadless jungle between Panama and Colombia, interrupts the highway
Source: en.wikipedia.org
The Cape of Good Hope in South Africa marks Africa's southernmost point
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False
Africa's southern tip is Cape Agulhas, about 55 km farther south than the Cape of Good Hope
Source: en.wikipedia.org

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