Extreme Earth
The hottest air temperature ever reliably recorded on Earth, about 56.7°C, was measured in 1913 in this California valley.
Death Valley
Known as "the Big Apple," this US metropolis picked up the nickname from 1920s horse-racing slang popularised by a sports columnist.
New York City
I'm the longest river in the world by most measures, snaking some 6,650 km through northeastern Africa before emptying into the Mediterranean.
The Nile
Split by the Bosphorus, this metropolis was a national capital for centuries but lost that role in 1923 to a city in Anatolia's interior.
Istanbul
Russia borders 14 countries, but this is the only US state from which you can see Russia on a clear day.
Alaska
This Chilean desert is the driest nonpolar place on Earth, with some weather stations never having recorded a single drop of rain.
Atacama Desert
Long called "the Land of the Rising Sun," this island nation's own name for itself, Nippon, carries the same meaning.
Japan
I'm the largest country on Earth by land area, spanning 11 time zones across two continents.
Russia
Once called Christiania, this Scandinavian capital sits at the head of a fjord that shares its name.
Oslo
This African country is home to more pyramids than Egypt — around 200 of them.
Sudan
Reaching depths of nearly 11,000 meters, this Pacific trench is the deepest known point in any ocean.
Mariana Trench
Dubbed "the Pearl of the Orient," this former British colony and global financial hub returned to Chinese control in 1997.
Hongkong
I'm the largest hot desert on Earth, covering much of North Africa across some ten countries, and my name simply means 'desert' in Arabic.
Sahara
At roughly 2,350 meters in the Andes, this is one of the highest capital cities in the world and shares its country's administrative duties with Sucre.
La Paz
Mount Everest is the tallest above sea level, but measured from base to peak, this Hawaiian volcano is actually taller.
Mauna Kea
At over 6,768 meters, this Argentine-Chilean peak is the highest active volcano in the world.
Ojos del Salado
Nicknamed "the Eternal City," this European capital earned the title from ancient writers who believed it would last forever.
Rome
I'm a tiny country entirely surrounded by South Africa, perched so high that I'm sometimes called the Kingdom in the Sky.
Lesotho
This West African capital, the only one named after a US president, was founded by freed American slaves in the 19th century.
Monrovia (named afterJames Monroe, capital of Liberia)
This is the only continent without an active volcano... actually a trick — every continent has one, but this is the only one with no native reptiles or snakes at all.
Antarctica
This African lake is so alkaline and caustic that it can calcify the bodies of animals that die in it, earning a grim reputation among photographers.
Lake Natron
Called "the Venice of the North" for its canals and islands, this Scandinavian capital is built across 14 islands linked by some 50 bridges.
Stockholm
I'm the deepest and oldest freshwater lake on Earth, holding about a fifth of the world's unfrozen fresh water in a Siberian rift.
Lake Baikal
This Central Asian was once called Nur-Sultan, before reverting to its earlier name in 2022.
Astana
This sea has no land borders, defined instead by ocean currents, and is famous for its floating sargassum seaweed.
Saragossa Sea (off the coast of Florida)