# Geographic features of your Country



## null (Dec 11, 2002)

*China*












From north to south, the territory of China spans over 49 latitudes, stretching from the center of the Heilongjiang River north of the town of Mohe to the Zengmu Reef at the southernmost tip of the Nansha. From east to west, the nation extends from the confluence of the Heilongjiang and Wusuli rivers to the Pamirs. 


China's coastline measures approximately 32,000 kilometers, with a flat topography, and many excellent docks and harbors, most of which are ice-free all year round. The Chinese mainland is flanked to the east and south by the Bohai, Yellow, East China and South China seas, with a total maritime area of 4.73 million square kilometers. The Bohai Sea is China's continental sea, while the Yellow, East China and South China seas are marginal seas of the Pacific Ocean. 


A total of 5,400 islands dot China's territorial seas. The largest of these, with an area of about 36,000 square kilometers, is Taiwan, followed by Hainan with an area of 34,000 square kilometers. The Diaoyu and Chiwei islands, located to the northeast of Taiwan Island, are China's easternmost islands. 


China has many mountains, with mountainous areas (traditionally consisting of mountains, hills and rugged plateaus) making up 65% of its total land area. The proportion of various landforms is as follows: Mountains, 33%; plateaus, 26%; basins, 19%; plains, 12%; and hills, 10%. 


China has a terraced terrain, which gradually descends from the west to the east step by step. The first, or the highest, terrace is the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, with an average elevation of more than 4,000 meters and known as "the roof of the world". The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is composed of rows of snow-capped peaks and glaciers. The major mountain ranges are the Kunlun, Gangdise and Himalayas. 


The second step consists of the Inner Mongolia, Loess and Yunnan-Guizhou plateaus, and the Tarim, Junggar and Sichuan basins, on an altitude of 1,000-2,000 meters. 


The third step, about 500-1,000 meters in elevation, begins at the line from the Greater Hinggan, Taihang, Wushan and Xuefeng mountain ranges eastward to the seacoast. Here, running from north to south are the Northeast Plain, the North China Plain, and the Middle-Lower Yangtze Plain. Interspersed amongst the plains are hills and foothills. 


To the east of the third step the shallow waters of the continental shelf, an extension of the land into the ocean, form the fourth step. The depth of the water here is less than 200 meters. Great quantities of mud and sand have been carried here by the rivers on the mainland


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## Xusein (Sep 27, 2005)

Somalia has the longest coastline in Africa, it is also the eastern-most country on the continent. It faces the Gulf of Aden to the northern coast, onward to Yemen and the Middle East. On the eastern border, it faces the Indian Ocean, with South Asia at a far distance.

Although popularly seen as either desert or semi-arid steppe, Somalia's geography is suprisingly diverse. Although those two features do make a majority of the land in Somalia.

It has mountain ranges in the North, where the temperatures could go down to freezing, and it may snow in the winter. The highlands also have the famed Frankincense and Myrrh forests, which are famous in the Christian Bible. The tallest mountain, Shimbiris, is 2450m.

Further South, there are our two rivers, the Juba and Shebelle. They make irrigation possible to bring vast farmland. There were regions of rain forest in the extreme south, but they are a shadow of themselves due to cutting.


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## algonquin (Sep 24, 2004)

Too many to mention.

A few interesting things though, other than being the second largest country on earth, Canada has more coastline than Russia, U.S.A, China and Australia combined, we have largest percentage of freshwater and # of lakes (2 million +). We share the greatest inland lake/river system in the world with the USA. That's a good start.


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## Küsel (Sep 16, 2004)

The avarage altitude of Switzerland is some 1200m above sea level. 60% are Alps, 10% Jura mountains. It also has a part of the Rhine and Po flatlands - means four landscape types on 41'000km2.

The climate is also very diverse from mediterranian Ticino to boreal pre-alps, arctic high mountains to a moderated humid Antlantic-influenced climate. 

If you would "flatten" the country it would be as big as Hungary. The highest point is Monte Rosa with 4'634m. The lowest is Lago Maggiore with 193m - but that lake is made by a glacier and the deepest point is 170m BELOW sea level! These two extreme points are only some 60km apart from each other.

There are 4 official languages spoken by the 7.5mio people - English as a fifth tongue is widly known as well. 

Switzerland has 2726 municipality on 26 cantons - the same amount as Brazil! The smallest town is Corippo with 17 inhabitants. Zurich is the biggest with 369'627. The smallest in area is Ponte Tresa, a Lugano suburb with 28ha, the biggest Bagnes, VS with 282 km2.

There are 1484 lakes - many of them artificial for water power is important in the country. 

44 peaks are above 4000m.

The train tracks have a total length of 5'035km which makes it the country with the highest density in trains - Only topped by Japan it is the nation with the second most frequent train travels in the world. In big cities a big amount of people don't have a car anymore (of all my friends only 3 - and us neither) for the pt is very dense and fast and also cheaper. The u/c NEAT Gotthard Base Tunnel across the Alps will be the longest tunnel in the world with 52km length.

The population density is 175,4/km2, but 2/3 of the population live in the Midlands between Geneva and St.Gallen - (Stadt Mittelland), which is makes it one of the dense multinuclear urban areas of Europe as Manchester-Liverpool or Rhein-Ruhr, but modelled after WWII after the model of the Randstadt - only not with a Green Heart but two green belts on both sides. Since the 1960s suburbanization and urban sprawl destroyed this concept.

Switzerland takes part of 4 big international Metropolitan Areas - Zurich (1.7mio, parts are in Baden Württemberg), Milano (The agglomeration Ticino is the northern part of it), Leman (1.2mio with parts in Savoy) and Basel (1mio with parts in Baden Württemberg and Alsace).


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