First some general trivia about our planet
... otherwise known as statistics!
Average distance from the Sun
149.6 million kilometres, (orbit's not quite circular.)
Surface area
510 million sq.km (of which only 30% is land).
Highest point
Mt Everest, 8848m above mean sea level.
Lowest land
Shores of the Dead Sea 400m below msl.
Greatest depth in the oceans
Mariana Trench in the Pacific, 11022m
Largest inland water
....Caspian Sea 393890 sq.km
Longest river
Nile ...in Africa, 6669km
Biggest outflow to the sea
The Amazon River, in S.America
Highest Waterfall
Angel Falls, S.America 980m
Biggest City
Mexico City, population now about 30 million
Dominant Species
Homo Sapiens, (that's us!) about 6 billion at the moment.There was another sentient species here, The Neanderthal, but we didn't like the competition for mammoth resources, so we exterminated the last of them about 10,000 years ago ... then we exterminated the mammoths!
We're still pretty good at getting rid of other species, there's a lot less of them cluttering up the planet than there were 200 years ago!
When you visit the United Nations HeadQuarters Building, you are physically in NEW YORK, but legally not!
GO TO USA? Enjoy your tour!
The U.N. building enjoys extra-territorial status in a similar way to embassies around the world.
Membership of the U.N. is open to all sovereign nations of the world, of which there are currently 192. 191 are members, Switzerland values its 300 year record of neutrality too much to want to get involved in the politicking that goes on there.