10 Amazing Pinoy Trivia

That Will Blow Your

Mind
1. Juan Luna killed his wife and mother-in-law. He
was later acquitted of his “crime of passion.”

In 1892, Juan Luna, famous Filipino painter of 400

masterpieces, was involved in abloody murder at their
Paris home. The victims? His wife, Maria de la Paz Pardo
de Tavera, and his mother-in-law. It is said that extreme
jealousy forced Luna to pull the trigger. He was later
acquitted in February 1893 after the court categorized
the murder as a “crime of passion”.

2. Cory Aquino’s favorite color was RED, not

YELLOW.
 The late President Corazon Aquino as well as the
EDSA People Power Revolution are best remembered
through the iconic ‘yellow ribbon’. However, she once
admitted that RED was actually her first favorite. The
yellow color only came after some friends suggested the
song “Tie A Yellow Ribbon” for Ninoy’s homecoming.
Cory continued to use her yellow trademark after her
husband’s death.

3. In 1992, Pepsi offered 1 million pesos to anyone

who had a bottle cap with “349” printed on
it. Turns out, half a million bottle caps got the
winning number.
Dubbed as the “Number Fever”, the promo was offered
by Pepsi-Cola Products Philippines. On May 25, 1992,
the winning numbers (i.e. 349) were finally released.
Thousands claimed the prizes but Pepsi officials revealed
that there was a technical glitch. In the end, the
company spent more than 200 million pesos to pay up to
500, 000 disappointed claimants. The case of the
infamous “Pepsi 349″ fiasco was finally closed in 2006.

4. Major Archibald Butt, former military captain in

the Philippines, died in the sinking of Titanic in
1912.
A former journalist, Butt was a well-known military aide
and adviser to US presidents William Howard Taft
and Theodore Roosevelt. He joined the army who fought
during the Spanish-American War.

After the war ended, he was assigned to the Philippines

as a volunteer and later promoted as Assistant
Quartermaster with the rank of Captain. He stayed in
Manila until July 1903.
In 1912, after a short trip to Europe, Butt
embarked Titanic to return to the US. Sadly, he was
one of the victims who perished when the ship sank. His
body was never recovered.

5. Jaz Cola, a beverage produced by The Coca Cola

Company, was specifically made for the people in
the Visayan Islands.
Jaz Cola is a cola-flavored drink and just one of the many
custom beverages made by Coca-Cola for the Philippine
market. Originally created for consumers living in the
Visayan region, Jaz Cola has reportedly “fueled Visayan
pride among its teen consumers.”

6. Aluling Bridge in Ilocos Sur took 35 years to

complete.

After 35 years and 6 presidents, the Aluling Bridge was

finally completed on March 25 of this year. It’s
construction first started in 1978 but due to a host of
factors such as unpredictable weather and difficulty of
navigating the river, the completion was delayed for more
than 3 decades. Aluling Bridge connects the provinces of
Ilocos Sur and Mountain Province.

7. Gollum suluensis is a shark named after Gollum of

the movie “Lord of the Rings” and Philippines’ very
own Sulu Sea.

Discovered in Sulu, this New Zealand shark is one of the

species of the genus Gollum. Compared to it’s cousin
(G. attenuatus), this shark has a “darker, plainer and less
contrasted coloration, softer body, shorter and broader
snout, smaller spiracle, larger pectoral fin, wider head, as
well as larger proportions of the nostril, mouth and
interorbital space.”
8. The first same-sex marriage in the Philippines was
between two NPA members.
In February 2005, Ka Andres and Ka Jose, two members
of the NPA (New People’s Army), exchanged vows in a
symbolic ceremony held in the Compostela Valley
province in Mindanao.

In addition to a choir which serenaded the two with

revolutionary love songs, the event was also participated
by their comrades and few closed friends. During the
wedding, the two held each other’s hand while keeping a
bullet in the other to represent theircommitment to the
armed struggle.

9. A dog named “Serging” (alias “Avante”) received

numerous awards in 1957 for his heroic act during
the Magsaysay plane crash.

Originally known as “Serging”, the dog was later

renamed “Avante” to avoid offending Sergio Osmeña Jr.
who was a Cebu mayor at that time. “Avante”, along with
his owner Marcelino Nuya, helped save Nestor Mata, the
only survivor of the plane crash that killed the late
President Ramon Magsaysay.
For their heroic roles in the tragedy, the two received gold
medals from the Philippine Constabulary (PC) and
various government officials. Avante also received
recognition from an animal rights group.

10. In the 1970s, a 22.6-foot reticulated phyton

terrorized Luzon and swallowed an Agta Negrito.

The 22.6-foot reticulated python, shot by Kekek Aduanan

on June 9, 1970. (Image source: www.mattsoniak.com)
Agta Negritos are indigenous people in Luzon who, in the
1970s, competed with areticulated phyton for
their main sources of food namely Philippine deer,
Philippine warty pigs and long-tailed macaques.
Thomas N. Headland, an anthropologist who lived with
and studied the group, later found out that 15 of 58
men and 1 of 62 women were attacked by the giant
snake. Worse, 6 of them were killed, one of whom was
discovered within the snake’s belly after butchering.

7 Amazing Pinoy Trivia Guaranteed To

Make You Say ‘WOW!’
1. The Bagobo tribe in Mindanao file and blacken their teeth for
‘aesthetic’ purposes.
The Bagobo, one of the largest indigenous groups in the country,
require their members who have reached the age of puberty to have
their teeth filed and blackened. It is a beautifying procedure they
consider as an ultimate rite of passage for every young Bagobo. To
file the teeth, the candidate must place his head against the
operator and grip a stick of wood between his teeth. Each tooth is
then filed, leaving only the stump. After the teeth sharpening,
what is left is blackened using either a deposit formed through a
smoke coming from a charring bamboo or a powder known as tapEl
produced by the lamod tree. During the entire duration of the
treatment, the candidate is not allowed to drink water, eat sour
food, or attend a funeral to avoid having teeth with poor color.
2. Fe Del Mundo was admitted in Harvard Medical School because
she was extremely smart…and because they didn’t realize she was a
woman.

Fe del Mundo was a woman of many firsts. She founded the first
pediatric hospital in the Philippines and also invented an
improvised incubator, a cloth-suspended scale, and a radiant
warmer made of bamboos that were widely used in rural areas. And
yes, she was also the first woman admitted in Harvard Medical
School which only allowed female students almost nine years after
she got in. In 1936, Fe Del Mundo earned a post-graduate
scholarship offer to enter Harvard University Medical School.
However, she was already in a men’s dorm in Boston when
Harvard — which would only open its gates to women in 1949 —
realized they allowed a female to be part of their all-male school.
Thanks to her impressive scholastic credentials, Fe del Mundo was
finally allowed to stay in Harvard and became its first and only
female student at that time.
3. The Baclayon Church in Bohol was built using coral stones and
egg white!

Completed in 1727, the Baclayon Church in Bohol is considered to

be one of the oldest churches in the country.
Baclayon was the first choice of the Spanish Jesuit missionaries to
be their seat, but fear of Moro marauders forced them to move to
Loboc. It was only in 1717 that Baclayon became a parish, leading
to the construction of the church.
The church was built by a total of 200 native laborers who took
coral stones from the sea, cut them into blocks, and lifted them
using bamboo. To cement the blocks together, they used the white
of about 2 million eggs. The church was completed in 1727 and
obtained a large bell in 1835.
Unfortunately, the Baclayon Church is one of the heritage sites in
Bohol that was destroyed by a 7.2 magnitude earthquake that hit
the province last year.
4. President Ferdinand Marcos created a safari park in the
Philippines where you can see African animals such as giraffes,
zebras, and antelopes.

Located in Busuanga in Palawan, the Calauit Island was declared

as a game preserve and wildlife sanctuary by the Presidential
Proclamation No. 1578 under the Marcos administration.
The sanctuary, which is also the only known savanna in the
country, was created by the late dictator as a response to an appeal
by the International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to
save endangered animals in Kenya, Africa.
With an area of 3, 700 hectares, the Calauit Island Wildlife
Sanctuary is where both African wildlife and endemic Philippine
animals live in their natural state with minimum human
interference.
It is home to many species of African animals such as zebras,
giraffes, waterbucks, gazelles, and impalas as well as Philippine
animals like Calamian deer, bearcat, sea turtle, and Palawan
peacock pheasant among others.

5. There’s a prison in Palawan where inmates are allowed to work

in rice fields and act as tour guides without the need of walls or
hundreds of prison guards.
The Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm in Puerto Princesa, Palawan
started during the American Occupation. Governor Luke Wright
was the one who authorized its establishment on November 16,
1904. During its first few years, it faced several instances of
attempted escapes, but when Col. John R. White became its
superintendent in 1906, the colony started to become a huge
success.
Today, inmates are allowed to act as tour guides, manufacture
souvenirs, and take various vocational activities such as farming,
forestry, and carpentry.
Asked why the prison has no walls and hundreds of guards,
the warden explains, “they have nowhere to go, they will only be beset
my mosquitoes and fall ill of malaria in the jungle” should they try to
escape.

6. There was a plan to establish the first ever dwarf-only colony in

the Philippines.
Alejandro Doron Jr. (left) with his family. Photo credit: Kate
Hodal
To escape the harassment and discrimination that are part of
having a diminutive size, Alejandro Doron Jr. along with 30 other
Filipino dwarves announced their plan to establish the country’s
first colony for little people.
In an article published in The Guardian in 2011, Doron said that
there was already an investor who donated 16, 000 sq m of land
near Manila, although additional funding is still needed to clear the
fields and build the houses.
Doron, a 35-year-old bartender who works at The Hobbit House, the
country’s only restaurant run entirely by little people, hopes that
politicians will help them build their dream colony and even turn it
into a tourist spot in the future.

7. Texas, U.S.A. was once referred to as “Nuevas Filipinas” or

“New Philippines”.
 Texas (1904)
According to Texas State Historical Association, both Nueva
Filipinas and Nuevo Reino de Filipinas were secondary names
assigned to an area of Texas located above the Medina River.
Antonio Margil de Jesús first used Nueva Filipinas in a letter to the
viceroy dated July 20, 1716. It was also used by missionaries in the
area with hopes of gaining royal patronage which the Spain gave to
the Philippines a century and a half earlier.
The name regularly appeared on documents during the next forty
years, but eventually disappeared towards the end of the 18th
century in favor of ‘Texas’.
 8 Amazing Facts From Philippine
History You Never Learned in School

8. There were three other martyr priests aside from “Gomburza.”

Gomburza (left) and the other three martyr priests from Bicol
(right). Source: “Kasaysayan: The Story of the Filipino People”
and Presidential Communications Development and Strategic
Planning Office (PCDSPO).
Mention the words “martyr priests” and most Filipinos will
remember “Gomburza,” the three Filipino priests who were
executed for their alleged involvement in the 1872 Cavite Mutiny.
But several years after their deaths, another three martyr priests
would again shed their blood in Bagumbayan. Their names are
much more obscure though, mainly because they were part of a
group of Bicolano martyrs collectively known as Los Quince
Martires.
After the discovery of Katipunan in September, 1896, the Spanish
government immediately ordered mass arrests of those who were
connected to the secret organization. The wrath of Spaniards
eventually reached Bicol and arrests were made between September
and October in 1896.
A total of 15 men were arrested, tortured, and sentenced to death.
Out of these 15, three were secular priests from Nueva Caceres (now
Naga City), namely: Fr. Severino Diaz, Fr. Inocencio Herrera, and
Fr. Gabriel Prieto.
Fr. Severino Diaz y Lanuza was the first secular priest to head the
Cathedral of Nueva Caceres. Fr. Innocencio Herrera, on the other
hand, was actually a native of Pateros in Rizal. He moved to Bicol
and later became a secular priest and choir master at the Cathedral
under Diaz. Both priests were arrested on September 19, 1896 and
suffered grave torture thereafter.
The third priest, Fr. Gabriel Prieto y Antonio, was implicated when
his brother, Tomas, was forced to give up names under severe
torture. He was arrested at the parish house in Malinao, Albay on
September 22, 1896 under the orders of then Albay Civil Governor
Angel Bascaran. Like the other two priests, he also suffered verbal
and physical torture after his arrest.
Bound in ropes and chains, the three priests together with other
prisoners were transferred to Manila aboard the steamships Ysarog
and Montañes. They were temporarily imprisoned in the convento of
San Agustin in Intramuros before being transferred to the Bilibid
Prison where they would stay until their execution by firing squad
on January 4, 1897.
 7. The first American hero of World War II was killed in combat in
the Philippines.

Capt. Colin P. Kelly Jr. Photo Credit: Aces of World War II.
A graduate of West Point, 25-year-old Capt. Colin P. Kelly Jr.
became the first American hero of World War II when he bombed a
Japanese cruiser three days after the attacks in Pearl Harbor.
On December 10, 1941, Kelly and his crew were ordered to fly out
of Clark Air Field and attack targets on Formosa (now Taiwan). He
was forced to take off the B-17 with only three 600-pound bombs
on board and with the plane partly fueled.
On the way to Formosa, they saw a huge Japanese landing party
with accompanying destroyers. Kelly ordered the attack on the
Japanese fleet despite receiving no clear permission from base to
engage the enemy.
The crew dropped the bombs from 20, 000 feet. One bomb directly
hit the target while the other two impacted the flank. With no
bombs left, Kelly maneuvered the plane to go back to Clark Air
Field.
Unfortunately, the plane was almost back to its home airfield when
two enemy planes attacked it. Kelly ordered his crew of six to bail
out while he remained in the plane until it exploded.
After his death, it was discovered that Kelly’s bomber had actually
hit a light Japanese cruiser named Ashiraga, not the
battleship Haruna as what earlier reports had suggested. For this
reason, Gen. Douglas MacArthur lowered the recommendation to
the Distinguished Service Cross.
To honor his heroism, a post office and a highway in his hometown
in Florida were named after him.

6. Philippines’ leper colony had their own “Leper Money. “

 Source: JSTOR Digital Library
Leprosy is a communicable bacterial disease characterized by skin
lesions and numbness. In 1633, it is said that a Japanese
Emperor sent a ship loaded with lepers to the Spanish missionaries
based in the Philippines. He also instructed the ship’s captain to
drown the lepers in case no one would receive them.
Fortunately, the missionaries kindly welcomed the patients with
open arms and even established the San Lazaro Hospital to take
care of them. At that time, people had very little knowledge about
the disease so it didn’t take long before leprosy started to afflict the
Filipino populace.
In 1906, Dr. Heiser, Director of Health for the Philippines, opened
a leper colony in Culion, an island located north of Palawan. Lest
they might continue spreading the disease, a unique monetary
system separate from the rest of the country was established. These
leper coins were only allowed within the colony and those who
would leave the place had to convert the leper money into
“government money.”

One of the earliest issues of one-peso leper coin. “Culion Leper

Colony” was inscribed at the top, and “Philippine Islands” below.
Source: Collectors Society
Leper money was strictly regulated, and those who violated the law
would pay a fine, stay in the prison for up to 1 month, or both.
The first few issues of the leper coins were made from aluminum,
but it was later replaced by copper-nickel as those made from
aluminum were easily damaged by chemicals used to disinfect the
coins.
5. Before martial law, there was the Colgante Bridge Tragedy.

On September 16, 1972, a few days before the declaration of

martial law, the Colgante bridge in Naga City collapsed, killing 114
Roman Catholic pilgrims who were celebrating the feast of their
patroness, Nuestra Señora de Peñafrancia.
Most of the victims were either drowned or crushed to death on
boats beneath. The tragic incident happened when 1,000 faithfuls
rushed to the 15-year-old bailey bridge to watch with excitement
the fluvial procession that would bring the image of their patroness
from Naga Metropolitan Cathedral to her shrine.
A number of broadcast journalists covering the event also perished
in the tragedy. One of them is Miss Mila Obia who was announcing
the approach of the religious image using her local dialect when the
bridge suddenly collapsed.
Incidentally, this was the second time that the bridge claimed
many lives during a fluvial procession. In 1948, the old Colgante
bridge–which was only a suspension-type back then–fell into the
river and left 30 people dead.

4. President Elpidio Quirino helped save the lives of almost 6,000

“White Russians.”

If President Quezon was the savior of the Holocaust Jews,

President Quirino should be the unsung hero of “White Russians.”
In 1948, China was on the brink of a total invasion by the
Communists led by Mao-Tse-Tung. For this reason, Russian
emigrants living in Peking, Hankow, Tiensin, and other nearby
cities in northern China were forced to evacuate to Shanghai.
However, they were aware that the Communist army would
eventually take over the rest of China, so they had to move
somewhere else or they would end up dying in Russian labor
camps.
This is when the International Refugee Organization (IRO) came
to the rescue. They knew the danger that might ensue so they
asked help from other countries to provide temporary shelter for
the “White Russians.”
These “White Russians” were named after the color of the tsarist
court and the Russian soldiers’ uniforms. If you can recall your
world history, the “White Russians” were opposed to the
Communist regime (i.e. the “Red Russians”) who went against the
Tsar during the 1917 Bolshevic revolution. The conflict resulted to
a civil war, forcing the White Russians to transfer to other
countries including China.
Going back to IRO, no country had responded to their plea for fear
of China. They were about to lose hope when the Philippines under
President Elpidio Quirino agreed to convert the small island of
Tubahao in Eastern Samar as a Russian refugee camp. In 1949,
about 5, 000 to 6, 000 White Russians finally arrived in the country
and settled in Tubahao for about 27 months.
The Russian Refugee Camp was divided into 14 districts and the
White Russians who stayed there had their own hospital,
electricity, churches, as well as a cemetery. After more than 2 years
in the island, most of the refugees were eventually admitted in
other countries like France, Australia, and the United States.
To honor Quirino’s kind act, a Russian sculptor made a bronze
artwork featuring the late Philippine president being blessed by St.
John of Shanghai and San Francisco. It was unveiled in 2011 at the
lobby of the Philippine Trade Training Center in Pasay City.

3. In 1942, almost 16 million pieces of silver coins were dumped

near Corregidor. Some of it remains unretrieved.
A diver coming up after searching the bottom of Caballo Bay for
treasure (1945). Photo credit: Carl Mydans, LIFE Magazine.
After the Fall of Manila in 1942, Filipino and American officials
were thinking of ways to keep the Philippine National Treasury out
of the enemy’s hands. At that time, the treasury was brimming
with 70 million pesos in paper bills, 269 pieces of gold bars, and 16,
422, 000 pesos in silver coins.
They’re running out of time so they had to move fast. After
recording the serial numbers, a total of 20 million in 500-peso bills
was burned from January 19 to 20, 1942. When the submarine
U.S.S. Trout arrived in Corregidor in February 3, workers loaded it
with 2 million dollars in gold bars and $360, 000 in silver which
were eventually shipped to San Francisco.
With no more time left, high court government officials decided to
just dump the remaining 15, 792, 000 pesos in silver coins to
Caballo Bay, a deep and rough location just off Corregidor.
For some reason, the Japanese learned about the sunken treasure
right after the fall of Corregidor. Soon, they sought the help of
Filipino divers–some of whom died due to drowning–to salvage the
boxes of silver coins. In the end, they only recovered $54, 000 or
100, 000 pesos.
But the Japanese wouldn’t settle for less, so they handpicked more
experienced divers from a group of American prisoners. From June
20 to September 28, 1942, the American divers were able to retrieve
150, 000 pesos. Of course, it was a very dangerous work and they
thought of only one way to retaliate, and that is by outsmarting
the Japanese.
Indeed, they were able to steal 30, 000 to 60, 000 pesos without the
Japanese knowing it. Their Filipino friends were able to
find Chinese money-changers in Manila to exchange Japanese
paper currency for Philippine silver coins. Some of the coins were
also passed off to other prisoners of war who would later use the
money to bribe Japanese soldiers.
Eventually, the recovery program was cancelled, much to the joy
of American prisoners. In 1945, the U.S. Navy was able to salvage
5, 380, 000 pesos which they turned over to the Philippine
government.
Although 75% of the sunken treasure was already recovered, no
one knows exactly how much of it still remains at the bottom or if
they can still be retrieved in the first place.

2. A Belgian king almost bought the Philippines from Spain.

King Leopold II of Belgium was passionate about geography and
everything that had something to do with maps. He also loved to
travel, and it was during one of his trips when he realized that he
could turn Belgium into one of the world’s richest countries.
To make this possible, he first need a colony. His focus then shifted
to Asia, specifically the islands considered to be the gateway to
other nearby countries: the Philippines.
According to historian Ambeth Ocampo, most of the details of
King Leopold’s quest to make Philippines a Belgian colony can be
found in the 1962 book entitled A La Recherde d’un Etat
Independent: Leopold II et les Philippines 1869-1875.
In 1866, a year after his accession to the throne, King Leopold II
asked his ambassador in Madrid to negotiate with the Queen of
Spain about the possibility of ceding the Philippines to Belgium.
But here’s the catch: It was a common knowledge at that time that
Leopold’s government was against his imperialistic plans. They
believed that the idea of colonization “entails naval vessels and an
army to protect interests halfway across the world,” and Belgium was
not yet ready to take that risk.
As expected, his first attempt failed. And so was the second when
he even attempted to get personal loans from English banks, which
ended in rejection.
He also devised a scheme that would first turn the Philippines into
a independent country, and later into a colony under the Belgian
monarch. Unfortunately, this, too, failed miserably.
In the end, his dream of having a colony finally came true when he
proclaimed his sovereignty over Congo, a country in Africa.

1. A Filipino dwarf became a famous figure in 19th-century

Britain.
Don Santiago de los Santos, a Filipino dwarf, became part of a
traveling show in England between the late 1820s and the early
1830s. He was, indeed, a local celebrity in that part of the world.
So, how did he end up in England?
Popular journals from the late Georgian and Victorian eras had
documented his story, although they might have exaggerated some
of the details to sell more copies.
Anyways, the existing documents suggest that Don Santiago de los
Santos was born in 1786 to poor parents. The 1836 edition of
the Mirror of Literature, Amusement and Instruction (Volume 28)
went on to say that he is
“….a native of the Spanish settlement of Manila; in one of the forests
of which, it seems, he was exposed to death in his infancy, on account of
his diminutive size. He, was, however, miraculously saved by the
Viceroy, who, happening to be hunting in that quarter, humanely
ordered him to be taken care of and nursed with the same tenderness as
his own children, with whom the little creature was brought up and
educated, until he attained the age of manhood.”
Sadly, the Viceroy died when he was 20 years old. His foster-
brothers and sisters moved to Spain shortly thereafter, while
Santiago decided to stay because of his “attachment to the land of his
birth.”
That decision proved to be futile. Neglected by his own family,
he “found his way to Madras, and was brought to England by the
captain of a trading vessel.”
The journal also reveals some of Don Santiago’s unique
characteristics. He was described as “stoutly built” with “slight
copper” complexion. He was also fond of “glittering attire, jewellery,
and silver plate.” And just like Jose Rizal, Don Santiago was also
multilingual: He could speak his native tongue as well as
Indian patois, Portuguese, and English.
He later married Anne Hopkins, a 29-year-old dwarf from
Birmingham who was slightly taller than him (she was thirty-eight
inches tall while Don Santiago was only twenty-five inches high).
However, they faced a minor hurdle before they were able to tie the
knot. According to the 1848 edition of The London Lancet,
“..a protestant clergyman hesitated to marry them, on the presumption
that it was contrary to the canon law, as being the means of propagating
a race of dwarfs; but in this he was overruled by the high bailiff of
Birmingham, and some legal opinions.”
They were finally married on July 6, 1834 at two separate churches
in Birmingham (Santiago was a Roman Catholic while his wife was
a Protestant).
Anne Hopkins eventually gave birth to a child, but it was not a
happy ending:
“…the infant, though it came to the world alive, did not survive its birth
above an hour. Its length is thirteen inches and a half; its weight is one
pound four ounces and a half, (avoirdupois;) it is in every respect well
formed; and the likeness of its face to that of the father is very striking.”
 23 Strange And Interesting Bits Of Trivia
About Our World

1. The Sargasso Sea is a region in the middle of

the North Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by
ocean currents, and this is the only sea that
has no coast.

2. Lesotho, Vatican City, and San Marino are

the only countries completely surrounded by
one other country.
3. The largest city in the world – based on surface
area, is Hulunbuir, Inner Mongolia (China) which
is 263 953 km sq (102 000 sq mi).

4. France, Italy and Chile have formally

recognized the existence of UFOs
5. Unlike most African nations, Ethiopia has been
never a European colony.

6. Lebanon is the only state in the Middle East in

which there is no desert.
7. There are no rivers In Saudi Arabia.

8. Montpelier, Vermont is the only US state capital

where there is no McDonald’s.
9. Nauru is the only state in the world that has no
official capital.

10. The Trans-Siberian railway crosses exactly

3901 bridges.
11. The seven largest countries in the world
(Russia, Canada, USA, China, Australia, Brazil
and Argentina) take half of our planet’s
territory.

12. In 1811 and 1812, three earthquakes

measuring around 8 on the richter scale,
caused the Mississippi River to flow backwards.
13. 99% of those glaciers are in the Arctic and
Antarctic.

14. Glaciers store between 70% and 80% of all

the freshwater on the planet.
15. The Andes form the longest exposed
mountain range at 7,000 kilometers.

16. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is the longest

mountain chain on Earth (at 40 thousand
kilometers).
17. Though Mt. Everest lays claim to the highest
altitude, due to the bulge of the Earth at the
equator, Mount Chimborazo in Ecuador is the
closest to the moon.

18. Of the 25 highest peaks of the world, 19 are

in the Himalayas.
19. The Shortest place name is ‘Å’ it is located in
both Sweden and Norway.

20. It is also the only state to enter the eastern

hemisphere
21. Alaska is the most Northern, Eastern, AND
Western state in all of America.

22. Less than 1 percent of the Caribbean islands

are inhabited.
23. Cuba is the only Caribbean island with a
railway