Crazy Facts About Countries

Interesting and Crazy Facts About Countries

• Canada has no president. Canada's govenment is a Parliamentary democracy (federal constitutional monarchy) whose Monarch is Queen Elizabeth II. Canada has a Prime Minister.
• The smallest country is Nauru with 21,2 square km.
• In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts. So in old England, when customers got unruly, the bartender used to yell at themto mind their own pints and quarts and settle down. From where we get "mind your own P's and Q's".
• China banned the pigtail in 1911 as it was seen as a symbol of feudalism.
• In Britain 70% mothers go to work.
• Angel Falls in Venezuela is the worlds highest waterfall, The water of Falls drops 3,212 feet (979 meters).
• California has issued at least 6 drivers licenses to people named Jesus Christ.
• In India the number of motorized vehicles have increased from 0.2 million in 1947 to 36.3 million in 1997.
• India never invaded any country in her last 10000 years of history.
• Singapore is one of two cities in the world with a tropical rainforest.
• Burma is the only country where the cars are right hand-driven and driven on the right side of the road.
• Laos is the most bombed country in the world.
• Norway is the world's third largest oil exporter.
• The Mini Moke used to be the official transport for the police in Macau.
• England's first great industry was wool. Its export had become the nation's largest source of income by the late Middle Ages.
• The Republic of San Marino is the world's smallest republic (24 sq. miles) and possibly the oldest state in Europe (founded 4th century AD, according to tradition.)
• In Eastern Africa you can buy banana beer. This beer is brewed from bananas.
• Colorado is one of only two states in the United States in which ALL the water the state has FLOWS OUT of the state; NONE Flows in! (the other is Hawaii).
• In England up until the 1950s attempted suicide was a capital offense.
• Tokyo has had 24 recorded instances of people either killed or receiving serious skull fractures while bowing to each other with the traditional Japanese greeting.
• Less than one per cent of the 500 Chinese cities have clean air, respiratory disease is China's leading cause of death.
• State with the highest percentage of people who walk to work: Alaska.
• City with the most Rolls Royces per capita: Hong Kong.
• The principality of Monaco consists of 370 acres.
• Florida's beaches lose 20 million cubic yards of sand annually.
• Russia has the most movie theaters in the world.
• The state of California raises the most turkeys out of all of the states.
• France has the highest per capita consumption of cheese.
• Japan is the largest exporter of frog's legs.
• New Jersey has a spoon museum with over 5,400 spoons from almost all the states.
• Maine is the toothpick capital of the world.
• Tourists visiting Iceland should know that tipping at a restaurant is not considered an insult! Despite the expensive food, tipping is welcome as in any other country.
• Washington State has the longest single beach in the United States.Long Beach, WA
• The age limit for marriage in France was, until recently, 15 for girls, but 18 for boys. The age for girls was raised to 18 in 2006.
• In Bhutan government policy is based on Gross National Happiness; thus most street advertising is banned, as are tobacco and plastic bags.
• Britain is still paying off debts that predate the Napoleonic wars because it's cheaper to do so than buy back the bonds on which they are based.
• Until 1965, driving was done on the left-hand side on roads in Sweden. The conversion to right-hand was done on a weekday at 5pm. All traffic stopped as people switched sides. This time and day were chosen to prevent accidents where drivers would have gotten up in the morning and been too sleepy to realize that this was the day of the changeover.
• Until 1796, there was a state in the United States called Franklin. Today it is known as Tennessee.
• There is a town in Newfoundland, Canada called Dildo.
• The United States Government keeps its supply of silver at the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York.
• The state of Florida is bigger than England.
• The national anthem of Greece has 158 verses. No one in Greece has memorized all 158 verses.
• The highest point in Pennsylvania is lower than the lowest point in Colorado.
• The Eisenhower interstate system requires that one mile in every five must be straight. These straight sections are usable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies.
• Texas is also the only state that is allowed to fly its state flag at the same height as the U.S. flag.
• Montpelier, VT is the only U.S. state capital without a McDonalds.
• In Tokyo, they sell toupees for dogs.
• In the great fire of London in 1666 half of London was burnt down but only 6 people were injured.
• In Los Angeles, there are fewer people than there are automobiles.
• In Kentucky, 50 percent of the people who get married for the first time are teenagers.
• In Bangladesh, kids as young as 15 can be jailed for cheating on their finals.
• In 1980, there was only one country in the world with no telephones - Bhutan.
• In 1980, a Las Vegas hospital suspended workers for betting on when patients would die.
• If you bring a raccoon's head to the Henniker, New Hampshire town hall, you are entitled to receive $.10 from the town.
• Hypnotism is banned by public schools in San Diego.
• Dueling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are registered blood donors.
• Columbia University is the second largest landowner in New York City, after the Catholic Church.
• Bird droppings are the chief export of Nauru, an island nation in the Western Pacific.
• Ancient Egyptians slept on pillows made of stone.
• A company in Taiwan makes dinnerware out of wheat, so you can eat your plate.
• 160 cars can drive side by side on the Monumental Axis in Brazil, the world's widest road.