Extreme points of the World

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This is a list of lists of extreme points of the World, the points that are farther north, south, east or west than any other locations on the landmasses, continents or countries.

Contents 1 The World 1.1 Latitude and longitude 1.2 Altitude 1.2.1 Highest attainable by transportation 1.2.2 Highest geographical features 1.3 Remoteness 1.4 Centre 2 The Americas 3 Antarctica 4 The Arctic 5 Australasia 6 Afro-Eurasia 7 See also 8 References

[edit] The World

[edit] Latitude and longitude

• The northernmost point of the World is the geographic North Pole, in the Arctic Ocean.
• The northernmost point on land is Kaffeklubben Island, north of Greenland (83°40′N, 29°50′W), which lies slightly north of Cape Morris Jesup, Greenland (83°38′N, 32°40′W). Various shifting gravel bars lie further north, the most famous being Oodaaq. It is possible that Schmitt's Island, which lies just north of Kaffeklubben, is a permanent island. The term Ultima Thule was given by medieval cartographers for the northernmost point of land.
• The southernmost point of the World and the southernmost point on land is the geographic South Pole, which is on the continent of Antarctica.
• The westernmost and easternmost points of the World, based on the normal practice of using longitude, can be found anywhere along the 180th meridian in Siberian Russia (including Wrangel Island), Antarctica, or the three islands of Fiji through which the 180th meridian passes (Vanua Levu's eastern peninsula, the middle of Taveuni, and the western part of Rabi.)
• The westernmost point on land, according to the path of the International Date Line, would be Attu Island, Alaska.
• The easternmost point on land, according to the path of the International Date Line, would be Caroline Island, Kiribati.¹

¹A 1995 realignment of the International Date Line ([2]) moved all of Kiribati to the Asian side of the Date Line, causing Caroline Island to be the easternmost. However, if the original Date Line were followed, the easternmost point would be Tafahi Niuatoputapu, in the Tonga Islands chain.

[edit] Altitude

• The highest point measured from sea level is the summit of Mount Everest. While measurements of its height vary slightly, the elevation of its peak is usually given as 8,848 m (29,028 feet) above sea level.
• The lowest point is Challenger Deep, at the bottom of the Mariana Trench: 10,911 m (35,797 feet) below sea level [3].
• The lowest point on dry land is the shore of the Dead Sea, 418 m below sea level. See List of places on land with elevations below sea level
• The lowest point on land not covered by liquid water is the floor of the Bentley Subglacial Trench: 2,555 m below sea level. See the Extremes on Earth page. See List of places on land with elevations below sea level
• The point farthest from the Earth's centre is widely reported to be the summit of Chimborazo (due to the Earth not being a perfect sphere), at 6384.4 km. (Everest's summit is at 6382.3 km.) However, Huascarán is a very close contender, within the 2 m measured error, if each mountain's reported height is correct.
• The point closest to the Earth's centre (~6353 km) is probably somewhere at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean (depth ~4 km) near the Geographic North Pole (the bottom of the Mariana Trench is 6366.4 km from the centre of the Earth).

[edit] Highest attainable by transportation

• Road (dead end): Aucanquilcha, Chile, 6,176 metres (20,262 ft), mining road to summit of volcano, once usable by 20-ton mining trucks^[1] The road is no longer usable.
• Road (mountain pass): Possibly Semo La, Tibet, 5,565 m (18,258 ft), or Marsimik La, India, depending on definition of "attainable by transportation". There may be higher motorable passes in Tibet, in areas affected by lack of information and restricted access. See Khardung La, 5,359 m for more information.
• Train: Tanggula Mountain Pass, in the Tanggula Mountains, Tibet, 5,072 m (16,640 ft)
• Airport: Qamdo Bangda Airport, Tibet, 4,334 metres (14,219 ft)^[2]
• Helipad: Sonam, Siachen Glacier, India at a height of 6,400 metres (20,997 ft) feet above the sea level.^[3]
• Boat: Lake Titicaca (the highest navigable lake), on the border of Peru and Bolivia in the Andes, 3,812 m (12,507 ft)

[edit] Highest geographical features

• Lake: There is an unnamed crater lake on Ojos del Salado (which itself is the world's highest volcano) at 6,390 metres (20,965 ft)^[4], on the Argentina-Chile border. Another candidate is Lhagba Pool on the northeast slopes of Mount Everest, Tibet, China, at an altitude of 6,368 metres (20,892 ft)^[5].
• Glacier: The Khumbu Glacier on the southwest slopes of Mount Everest in Nepal is the world's highest glacier, beginning at an altitude of 7,600 metres (24,934 ft) to 8,000 m (26,247 ft).
• River: One candidate from among many possibilities is the Ating Ho (Ho meaning river), which flows into the Aong Tso (Hagung Tso), a large lake in Tibet, China and is about 6,100 metres (20,013 ft) at its source at 32°49′30″N 81°03′45″E / 32.825, 81.0625. A very large high river is the Yarlung Tsangpo or upper Brahmaputra River in Tibet, China, whose main stem, the Maquan He has its source at about 6,020 metres (19,751 ft) above sea level at 30°48′59″N 82°42′45″E / 30.81639, 82.7125 ^[6].
• Island: There are a number of islands in the Orba Co lake, which is located at an altitude of 5,209 metres (17,090 ft) in Tibet^[7].

[edit] Remoteness

• The Eurasian pole of inaccessibility, the point on land farthest from any ocean, is located approximately 320 km (200 mi) from the city of Urumqi, in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region of China, at 46°16.8′N, 86°40.2′E (in the Dzoosotoyn Elisen Desert). This position is at a distance of approximately 2648 km (1645 mi) from the nearest coastline.
• The Pacific pole of inaccessibility (also called Point Nemo), the point in the ocean farthest from any land, lies in the South Pacific Ocean at 48°52.6′S, 123°23.6′W, which is approximately 2688 km (1670 mi) from the nearest land (equidistant from Ducie Island in the Pitcairn Islands to the north, Maher Island off Siple Island near Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica to the south and Motu Nui off Rapa Nui in the north east). It is in the middle of an area of 22,405,411 km² (8,650,778 sq mi) of ocean, larger than the entire former Soviet Union.
• The most remote island is Bouvet Island, an uninhabited and small Norwegian island in the South Atlantic Ocean. It lies at coordinates 54°26′S, 3°24′E. The nearest land is the uninhabited Queen Maud Land, Antarctica, over 1600 km away to the south. The nearest inhabited land are Tristan da Cunha, 2260 km away and South Africa, 2580 km away.
• The most remote archipelago is Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic Ocean, 2816 km (1750 miles) from South Africa and 3360 km (2088 miles) from South America. The islands are part of the British crown colony of Saint Helena. With a population of c. 270, the main island of Tristan da Cunha is also the remotest inhabited island in the world.
• The most remote, major inhabited city is either Honolulu, Hawaii or Perth in western Australia, depending upon one's definition of "remote" and "major." There are no settlements within 3800 km of Honolulu or within 2200 km of Perth larger than the 30,000 to 50,000 population range (Hilo, Hawaii and Geraldton and Kalgoorlie, Australia).
• The most remote airport in the World is Mataveri International Airport (IPC) in Easter Island, which has a single runway for military and public use. It is located 3,759 kilometres (2,336 mi) from Santiago, Chile (SCL) which has scheduled flights to it, and 2,603 kilometres (1,617 mi) from Mangareva (GMR) in the Gambier Islands, French Polynesia, which does not have scheduled flights to it.^[8] In comparison to this, the airport at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station (NZSP) is not very remote at all, being located only 1,355 kilometres (842 mi) from Williams Field (NZWD) near Ross Island.^[9]
• The most remote capital city of the world is Wellington, New Zealand. Wellington is the capital of a sovereign country which is furthest away from the nearest other country capital, that is Canberra, Australia which lies 2330 km (1448 miles) away.

[edit] Centre

Since the Earth is a near-sphere, its centre (the core) is thousands of kilometres beneath its crust. However, one could perhaps consider the intersection of the Equator and Prime Meridian, located at the coordinates of zero degrees by zero, to be the "centre" of the standard geographic model (as viewed on a map), though the selection of longitude meridians are largely culturally and historically dependent, rather than based on geological or geographic reasons. This point, (0°, 0°) is located in the Atlantic Ocean approximately 614 km south of Accra, Ghana, in the Gulf of Guinea.

[edit] The Americas

• Extreme points of the Americas
  • Extreme points of North America
    • Extreme points of Canada
      • Extreme points of Canadian provinces
      • Extreme communities of Canada
    • Extreme points of Greenland
    • Extreme points of Mexico
      • Extreme points of Mexican states
    • Extreme points of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon
    • Extreme points of the United States
      • Extreme points of U.S. states
        • Extreme points of New England
  • Extreme points of Central America
  • Extreme points of South America
    • Extreme points of Argentina
    • Extreme points of Brazil
    • Extreme points of Chile
    • Extreme points of Peru
    • Extreme points of Venezuela

[edit] Antarctica

• Extreme points of Antarctica
• Extreme points of the Antarctic

[edit] The Arctic

• Extreme points of the Arctic

[edit] Australasia

• Extreme points of Australia
• Extreme points of New Zealand
• Extreme points of Papua New Guinea

[edit] Afro-Eurasia

• Extreme points of Afro-Eurasia
  • Extreme points of Africa
    • Extreme points of Algeria
    • Extreme points of Madagascar
    • Extreme points of South Africa
  • Extreme points of Eurasia
    • Extreme points of Asia
      • Extreme points of China
      • Extreme points of India
      • Extreme points of Indonesia
      • Extreme points of Japan
      • Extreme points of Russia
    • Extreme points of Europe
      • Extreme points of the European Union
      • Extreme points of Austria
      • Extreme points of Belgium
      • Extreme points of Bulgaria
      • Extreme points of Finland
      • Extreme points of France
      • Extreme points of Germany
      • Extreme points of Greece
      • Extreme points of Iceland
      • Extreme points of Ireland
      • Extreme points of Italy
      • Extreme points of the Netherlands
      • Extreme points of Norway
      • Extreme points of Poland
      • Extreme points of Portugal
      • Extreme points of Russia
      • Extreme points of Spain
      • Extreme points of Sweden
      • Extreme points of Switzerland
      • Extreme points of the United Kingdom

[edit] See also

• The World's most northern city, capital, island etc.
• The World's most southern city, capital, island etc.
• Extremes on Earth
• List of countries by northernmost point
• List of countries by southernmost point
• Several cultures have marked points as Land's End or the End of the World

[edit] References

de:Die Erde in Daten und Zahlen

es:Puntos extremos del mundo fr:Liste de points extrêmes du monde id:Fakta geografi dunia hu:Különleges földrajzi pontok listája no:Verdens ytterpunkter pl:Skrajne punkty na kuli ziemskiej fi:Maapallon äärimmäiset paikat