Hello and welcome to this country fun facts bonus video.
I still had so many more interesting facts that I wanted to share, and there were a few
countries that some people were disappointed that didn’t make it into the original videos.
But you all know I’m not a fan of long intros, so let’s just get started.
The border between Afghanistan and China is the largest time zone jump of any land border between
two countries. Crossing the border would mean moving the clock forward 3 and a half hours.
The microstate of Andorra is a principality, which is ruled by two princes.
One of which is the President of France. The reason for this
goes back more than 400 years, through the inheritance of a noble title by Henry IV.
The first ever person born on Antarctica was an Argentine boy called Emilio Palma. He was
born at the Esperanza Base in 1978. Since then, 10 more babies have been born on the continent,
7 of which were also of Argentine parents. This was all part of an
effort by Argentina to strengthen their territorial claim to the icy land.
Despite Australia having a reputation for being full of animals that can kill you…
statistically, the most dangerous animals in the country are actually… horses, cows, and dogs.
For some countries I’m doing more than 1 fact. So...
The longest highway in the world is Australia’s Highway 1 which circumnavigates the entire
country, connecting all major cities and covers a total distance of 14,500 km.
Vienna Zoo, located within the grounds of the Schönbrunn Palace,
is the world's oldest zoo. Founded way back in 1752.
San Salvador island in the Bahamas is believed to be the first land of the New World set foot
on by Christopher Columbus in 1492. Of course, he thought he was in East Asia at the time…
The Bahrain World Trade Center was the first skyscraper to incorporate wind
turbines into its design. The turbines are on the sky bridges that connect the two towers,
and can generate up to 15% of the towers’ total energy consumption.
Belgium is home to Europe's first ever skyscraper. The KBC Tower in Antwerp, standing at 96 m tall,
was constructed from 1929 to 1932. Given how much the world of architecture has changed since then,
however, by today’s standard the KBC Tower would probably not even be classed as a
“skyscraper”. It is currently the 23rd tallest building in Belgium.
The government of Bhutan does not measure its own success based on any kind of monetary value,
such as GDP. But instead, has its own index: Gross Domestic
Happiness, which measures the collective happiness and well-being of its population.
Botswana’s border with Zambia, which very narrowly prevents what would be the world’s
only quadripoint, is the shortest total border between two countries, at just 150m.
Construction of a bridge across the Zambezi river was completed in 2021.
The northernmost point of Brazil is closer to Canada than it is to its own southernmost point.
And speaking of Canada... nearly 90% of Canadians live within 100 miles of the US border.
Chile has the driest, non-polar desert in the world.
The Atacama Desert, which has an annual rainfall of just 15mm per year,
and certain parts have gone up to 4 years without any rainfall. In 2015, after an usually wet year,
the desert exploded with colour as it was covered by pink flowers.
All pandas on earth are owned by the People’s Republic of China.
Every panda in a zoo around the world has been loaned to the government of that country
by China… for a fee of a million dollars per year, often on a 10-year agreement. Any cubs
born during that time are also Chinese, as per the agreement. China often uses
these cuddly animals as part of their foreign policy, in what is known as “Panda diplomacy”.
The capital city of Costa Rica is called San Jose, which is possibly the most common place
name in the world. The most well-known other San Jose is in California, but there are also
San Joses all across Latin America, Spain, the Philippines, and elsewhere in the US as well.
The Ivory Coast is the world’s largest exporter of cocoa beans.
Making up more than 38% of the world’s supply.
Much of the filming for Game of Thrones was done in Croatia,
with the two main locations being the cities of Dubrovnik and Split.
There are even guided Game of Thrones tours visiting the various locations.
About 25km north of the Ecuadorian capital of Quito,
there’s a monument called “la mitad del mundo”, which marks the location of the equator. It’s a
tourist attraction where people can take pictures of themselves in both hemispheres at once.
Problem is, the location is based on data from 1935, and as you can imagine it’s not quite as
accurate as the GPS technology we have today… the actual equator is about 240m north of the line.
In 2021, El Salvador became the first country in the world to officially classify
Bitcoin as legal tender. The public response has been mostly negative,
with protests against the use of the cryptocurrency in the country.
There’s an annual event in Gloucestershire, England, in which participants race down a
grassy hill, chasing after a round of cheese that is rolled down. The winner takes home the cheese,
and the honour that goes along with it. The event attracts participants from all over the world,
and has been occurring since as early as 1826, and perhaps even earlier.
Eswatini is the only remaining absolute monarchy in Africa.
Due to Ethiopia's resistance to European colonisation, the colours of their flag (green,
yellow and red) were adopted by many African countries upon independence to pay homage.
Finland drinks more coffee than any other country in the world.
A whopping 12 kg of coffee per person per year. The top of the list is dominated by Scandinavia,
and Canada is the only non-European country to make the top 10.
France shares a land border with 10 different countries.
If you had to guess the country’s longest shared border, you would likely assume Spain,
or maybe Germany. But it is, in fact… Brazil.
This is because French Guinana is considered an integral part of the French Republic.
One more France fact is that the country is home to the world’s tallest bridge,
the Millau Viaduct. At 336m at its highest point, it’s actually taller than the Eiffel Tower!
The national animal of Greece is the dolphin.
Voodoo is an officially recognised religion in Haiti.
The Rubik’s Cube was invented in Hungary. The self-named
puzzle was invented by Ernő Rubik in 1974.
The biggest ever climatic disruption to air travel in history with 100,000 flights being cancelled
was due to the eruption of a volcano in Iceland, that I will definitely not be trying to pronounce.
The world’s tallest statue is in the Indian state of Gujarat. The
Statue of Unity which depicts Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, stands at 182m tall.
To truly appreciate its massiveness, here is the Statue of Liberty in comparison!
Although Islam is generally associated with the Middle East,
the country that makes up the largest percentage of Muslims, is actually Indonesia.
The country has 229 million followers of the faith, or 13% of all Muslims worldwide.
And while we’re on the subject of Islam, the flag of Iran has the phrase “Allahu Akbar”
written on it 22 times. “Allahu Akbar” is Arabic for “God is the greatest”.
Iraq has the world’s largest cemetery. Wadi-al-Salaam, meaning “Valley of Peace”,
covers a staggering 1,400 acres, or 6 square kilometres, and is thought to contain
tens of millions of bodies. Okay, I know that’s not a fun fact, but it’s certainly interesting.
Italy has 58 UNESCO World Heritage sites, more than any other country in the world.
In Jamaica, it's forbidden for a couple to get married after 6 pm.
Japan has the most punctual trains in the world. If a train ever runs more than 5 minutes late,
passengers are issued a “late certificate” they can show to their boss. One time a
train left the platform 25 seconds early, and a formal apology was made by the rail company.
Kazakhstan is in the process of transitioning from the Cyrillic alphabet to the Latin alphabet.
The change is viewed as a way for the country to distance itself from Russian influence.
In the 2018 winter Olympics, held in Pyeongchang,
North and South Korea agreed to participate under one flag, as a unified Korea.
Kosovo is one of only two countries in the world to feature the outline of the country in its flag.
The other one is Cyprus. Coincidentally, both countries are subject to territorial disputes.
So if you were to ask Serbia and Turkey, the two flags might look just a bit different…
Lesotho is the only country which exists entirely above 1,000m. In fact,
its lowest point is actually 1,400m, which is the highest lowest point of any country…
if that makes sense. The country thus has the nickname ‘Kingdom of the Sky’.
Until 2011, the flag of Libya was entirely green. Just one solid colour and nothing else.
The national motto of Luxembourg is "We want to stay what we are".
Luxembourg has a long history of being ruled by the French, the Dutch,
and the Germans. So basically their motto is saying “leave is the hell alone”.
The Maldives once held an underwater cabinet meeting as a publicity stunt
to raise awareness to the effects of climate change.
Mauritius is the only country in Africa that has a population that is majority Hindu.
Moldova is home to the world’s largest wine cellar.
Covering a whopping 230km, the cellar has more than 1.5 million bottles of wine.
Monaco may be world-famous for its casinos,
but by law, citizens of Monaco are not actually allowed to gamble.
Around 30% of Mongolia’s population is nomadic or semi-nomadic.
The border between Morocco and the Spanish exclave of Peñón de Vélez de
la Gomera is the shortest international border in the world – at just 85m long.
Graça Machel, a politician from Mozambique,
is the only woman in history who has served as First Lady of two different countries.
Mozambique first, and then later South Africa, after she married Nelson Mandela in 1998.
While most countries have their time zone to the nearest hour,
Nepal has the incredibly awkward time zone of UTC+5:45.
King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands flew as a commercial airline pilot for KLM for 20 years,
without ever telling his passengers that “hey, by the way, I’m also your king”.
For New Zealand, I had several different facts, so I’ll just give me a few of my favourites:
New Zealand was the first nation to allow women to vote (which was in 1893);
There are 9 times as many sheep the country as there are people;
And, the first ever person to climb Mt Everest was from New Zealand.
Northern Ireland is the only constituent country of the UK that does not have its
own official flag. The two most common flags are the Ulster Banner and the St Patrick’s saltire.
But since both flags make political statements, neither is used in any official capacity.
The youngest ever Nobel laureate is Malala Yousafzai from Pakistan,
who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, at 17 years of age. Malala has been an activist
fighting for young girls’ rights to education since she was just 11 years
old... and when she was 16, she survived an assassination attempt by the Taliban.
It’s been estimated that as much as 50% of cultivated land in the Palestinian territories
is taken up by olive trees. These are primarily used to make olive oil,
up to 25,000 tonnes annually, most of which is consumed locally. The olive tree is an
important part of the Palestinian culture, and even a national symbol.
The capital city of the Philippines, Manila, is the most densely populated
city in the world with an incredible 41,500 people per square kilometre.
In fact, 4 of the top 5 most densely populated cities are in the Philippines.
From 1808 to 1821, Rio de Janeiro was the capital of Portugal,
because the Royal Family had to flee Lisbon.
Qatar's flag is the only national flag that has a width that is more than twice its height.
In 2009, Samoa switched from driving on the right side of the road,
to driving on the left, in line with Australia and New Zealand.
Scotland has the shortest commercial flight route in the world. The Loganair
flight in the Orkney Islands flies just 1.7 miles, and lasts a mere 90 seconds.
Oh, and also: the national animal of Scotland is the unicorn.
Although Senegal is a country that is 93%
Muslim, Senegal’s first president after independence was actually Catholic.
South Africa has had four Nobel Peace Prize winners… two of which grew up on the very same
street. Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu both grew up on Vilakazi Street, in Johannesburg.
Pheasant Island in the middle of the Bidasoa river between
Spain and France is a condominium between the two countries.
But this isn’t a normal condominium arrangement, in which both countries have joint sovereignty,
but rather, control of the island switches every 6 months between Spanish and French authority
Despite sharing a 600 km border, there are no roads from Suriname to Brazil. To travel between
the two countries, you’d need to either go by air, or via one of the neighbouring countries.
In Tonga, everything is closed on Sundays. Everything. In fact, with certain expectations
like the police, and doctors and nurses, it is actually illegal to work on a Sunday.
There’s a city in Turkey called ‘Batman’. In 2008, the mayor of the city announced
his intention to file a lawsuit against Warner Brothers and Christopher Nolan over the use of
the name in the Dark Knight movies. No legal action ever happened, probably because the
city has had the name since 1957, whereas the superhero has been around since 1939.
In 2018, the president of Turkmenistan banned
all black cars in the country. The president said he considers them ugly,
which apparently is a good enough reason to ban something. His favourite colour is white.
In the tiny island nation of Tuvalu, the runway of the country’s one and only airport becomes a
playground for kids when it’s not in use. This is because there are so few flights into the airport,
and it’s really the only large, open space on the whole island.
In 2018, Ukraine’s ministry of foreign affairs launched a social
media campaign to raise awareness of the preferred spelling of their capital city,
Kyiv… K-Y-I-V. This is the transliteration from Ukrainian, while “Kiev”, K-I-E-V, is from Russian.
Joe Biden is regarded as the 46th president of the United States. But the US has actually only had 45
different presidents. This is because back at the end of the 19th century, Grover Cleveland was both
the 22nd AND 24th presidents. The only president to serve two non-consecutive terms in office.
In 2013, Uruguay became the first country in the world to legalise recreational cannabis.
There’s a small village in Wales with the absurdly long name of
Llanfair­pwllgwyngyll­gogery­chwyrn­drobwll­llan­tysilio­gogo­goch.
The name was intentionally made long and difficult to say as a publicity stunt way back in 1869.
Translated into English, the name means “The church of St. Mary in the hollow of
the white hazel near the fierce whirlpool and the church of Tysilio by the red cave”.
I hope you enjoyed these additional fun facts. If you’re still looking to learn more about
some of the countries from this video, as well as some ‘behind the scenes’ content,
then I’ve put together a companion video available over on Nebula. It’s sort of a “director’s
commentary” to this video, and it’s not really the kind of video that would work on YouTube.
Because Nebula is a creator owned streaming service,
we don’t have to worry about being punished by the YouTube algorithm for trying something new.
There's also a whole host of Nebula originals, like the Working Titles series about opening
title sequences, which is now on season 2 and up to episode 39! Now looking at video
games instead of TV shows. I’ve even got an episode of my own from a couple years ago.
The best part is, we’ve teamed up with CuriosityStream, and you can access both
through a bundle deal, which is on sale right now for less than $15 for a whole year! This gives you
access to Nebula, as well as the thousands of professionally produced documentaries on
CuriosityStream. Like the incredible original series “Underworld”, following a team of cave
divers mapping underground caves with 3D scanning technology. The 5-part documentary, travelling
from the UK, to Belize, to China, is both super interesting and visually stunning as well.
You can get access by clicking the button on-screen now,
or at curiositystream.com/wonderwhy,
which is also the best way to support this channel, and educational content in general.
Thanks so much for watching, and happy new year.