World Landmarks Flashcards by Daniel P

Warm current that flows into North Atlantic
Mentioned in “The Old Man & the Sea” & Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land”

GULF STREAM

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Arm of the Mediterranean
Between Greece & Turkey
Named for Theseus’ father

AEGEAN SEA

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Gulf off the Ionian Sea
Between Italy’s heel & sole

GULF OF TARANTO

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Flows through Dublin
Crossed by the Ha’Penny bridge

RIVER LIFFEY

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Longest river in Ireland & the British Isles
From Cuilcagh mountains to Limerick on the west coast

RIVER SHANNON

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Bay on which Philippines’ capital is located

MANILA BAY

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Gulf on the Adriatic
Shares name with Italian city within it

GULF OF VENICE

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Croatia’s Adriatic coast
Includes Split & Dubrovnik
Named a dog, dead language, pelican, & molly (fish)

DALMATIA(N)

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Between Taiwan & the island with which it shares a name

LUZON STRAIT

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Between Italy & Balkans (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia again, Montenegro, & Albania)
Named for Italian port
Brindisi, Venice, Po River, Dalmatia, & Split are located on it
One end of the Iron Curtain (Trieste)
A kind of fig

ADRIATIC SEA
(from ADRIA)

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Between Italy & Albania
Between Adriatic & Ionian

STRAIT OF OTRANTO

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Greek island chain in the Aegean including Paros
“Encircle” Delos

CYCLADES

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Greek island
Apollo’s birthplace

DELOS

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One of the Cyclades
An armless statue of Venus was found there

MELOS
(Venus de Milo)

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Largest of the Cyclades
Where Theseus abandoned Ariadne

NAXOS

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One of the Cyclades
Gay-friendly, tourism-focused

MYKONOS

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Island in the Agean
Named for Daedalus’ son

IKARIA

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Largest island of the Philippines
Location of:
Manila & Manila Bay
Quezon City
Bataan Peninsula
Mount Pinatubo

LUZON

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Largest & most populous of Greek islands (5th largest in Mediterranean)
Ruled by Minos from palace at Knossos
Southern bound of the Aegean Sea
Heraklion is its capital & largest city
Birthplace of El Greco (painter) & N. Kazantzakis (writer)

CRETE

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Chain of 12 Greek islands in the Aegean
Rhodes is the largest

DODECANESE ISLANDS

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Aegean island on which a headless statue was found
Called the “Nike of…” or “Winged Victory of…” this island (it is now at the Louvre)

SAMOTHRACE

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Volcanic Aegean island in the Cyclades
Name of a Yanni song

SANTORINI

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Northernmost of Greece’s Ionian Islands
Birthplace of Philip

CORFU

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Capital served by Schiphol Airport

AMSTERDAM (AMS)

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Capital served by Haneda (older) & Narita (newer) airports

TOKYO

Tokyo, Japan's newer of 2 busiest airports

NARITA

Volcano on Luzon in the Philippines Erupted in 1991

MOUNT PINATUBO

Highest Alp Between France & Italy Near Chamonix Tunnel through it opened 1965 Name of a pen company & a Shelley poem

MONT BLANC

"Monte Cervino" in Italian Between Switzerland & Italy Near Zermatt In 1865, Whymper's expedition scaled it but lost 4/7 members Subject of fascination for Disney, replicated at Disneyland

MATTERHORN

Monte Rosa is one of the highest peaks in this range

THE ALPS

Volcano near Mexico City Aztec name, means "Smoking"

POPOCATEPETL

Volcanic island in Indonesia's Sunda Straight 1883 eruption was one of the biggest in human history

KRAKATOA KRAKATAU

Southernmost active volcano Antarctica Discovered by James Clark Ross, sits on Ross Island Named for a ship Name means "darkness" In 1979 a plane crashed into it

MOUNT EREBUS

Volcano "Mongibello" in Sicilian Mythic site of Hephaestus' (or Vulcan's) forge

MOUNT ETNA

Volcano near Naples, Italy Lies within "Monte Somma" Camped upon by Spartacus Erupted in 79 CE, destroying Pompeii & Herculaneum Killed Pliny the Elder; the Younger described the event in letters A 1906 eruption caused the 1908 Olympics to be moved from Rome to London Last eruption was 1944

MOUNT VESUVIUS

Chinese desert On Gobi's western side

TAKLAMAKAN

Desert region of southern Israel Irrigated by the Sea of Galilee (Lake Tiberias) Location of Beersheba & Ben-Gurion University

NEGEV

Budapest, Hungary has an airport named for this musician

FRANZ LISZT

Cotopaxi is a volcano in this country

ECUADOR

Volcano/island north of Sicily Where the heroes emerge in Verne's "Journey to the Center of the Earth" Also a rolled pizza dish & villain in Disney's Pinocchio (1940)

STROMBOLI

Alberta national park just north of Banff Name is like a gem

JASPER

Yemen island famed for its Dragon's blood trees

SOCOTRA

Antarctica's longest river Named like a mineral

ONYX RIVER

Italy's longest river Flows from Alps in northern Italy to the Adriatic Sea Turin is on it Byron wrote "stanzas to" it

River of Myanmar/Burma Flows into Bay of Bengal

IRRAWADDY

Subject of Johann Struass' "Tales from the..." Forest in Austria

WIENERWALD VIENNA WOODS

Sea bounded by Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, & Corsica(France) Tiber river flows into it

TYRRHENIAN SEA

Between Sicily & Italy From Ionian to Tyrrhenian seas Site of Scylla & Charybdis

STRAIT OF MESSINA

Between Italy & Greece Adriatic to the North Deepest part of Mediterranean Supposedly named for a 2-letter nymp

IONIAN SEA (from IO)

Thai river A famous "bridge" novel/film

KWAI

Greek islands to the west Also called "Heptanese" (for the 7 main ones) Include Corfu & Ithaca

IONIAN ISLANDS

Greek island in Aegean sea Home of poet Sappho

LESBOS

Located in Batoka Gorge, between Zambia & Zimbabwe on the Zambezi River Named by Livingstone in 1855 Known as "Smoke That Thunders"

VICTORIA FALLS

"Great River" Rises in Zambia, dips into Angola, forms Zambia/Zimbabwe border Africa's 4th largest river Includes Victoria Falls Biggest river to flow into Indian Ocean (Mozambique Channel)

ZAMBEZI

Channel between Madagascar and the mainland Part of the Indian Ocean Zambezi River empties into it Habitat for coelecanths

MOZAMBIQUE CHANNEL

Gulf bordering Djibouti and Somalia Leads from Arabian Sea to strait of Bab El Mandeb (to the Red Sea) Shares name with Yemeni city

GULF OF ADEN

Bay bordering Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar Where the Ganges flows into the Indian Ocean Also the mouth of the Krishna & Brahmaputra World's largest "Bay"

BAY OF BENGAL

Bay between New Brunswick & Nova Scotia Largest tide range in the world Site of Campobello Island

BAY OF FUNDY

New Brunswick island in the Bay of Fundy Connected to Maine via FDR Bridge

CAMPOBELLO ISLAND

Longest river entirely within Spain 2nd longest river of Iberian peninsula (after the Tagus) Flows into Mediterranean Etymology from "Iberus"

EBRO

Highest flow of any river on the Iberian peninsula Flows from Spain through Portugal to the Atlantic at Porto Located north of the Tagus Also a valley that produces port wine

DOURO

France's longest river Flows west through Orleans, Tours, & Nantes into the Bay of Biscay Also a valley with famed Chateaux

LOIRE

River flowing from Czechia through Germany to the North Sea Goes through Hamburg & Dresden Formed part of East/West border

ELBE (LABE in Czech)

Longest Iberian river Flows from Spain through Portgual to the Atlantic through Lisbon Crossed by Da Gama Bridge

TAGUS

English river Between Birkenhead and Liverpool Ends in the Irish Sea Home of a "beat" Song "Ferry Cross" it

MERSEY

B.C.'s Fraser River is known for producing this fish

SALMON

Rises in Spanish Pyrenees Flows through Toulouse & Bordeaux Ends in Bay of Biscay

GARONNE

Chang Jiang, "Long River" China's longest 3rd longest in world Rises in Tibet Tributaries Wu and Xiang Three Gorges Dam Meets Han at Wuhan Flows into East China Sea at Shanghai Alligators

YANGTZE

Flows from Tibet to India to Bangladesh before meeting the Ganges

BRAHMAPUTRA

Subject of Hillary's "Ocean to Sky" expedition Setting of Jean Renoir's 1951 film "The River" Site for Jerry Garcia's ashes (along with Golden Gate Bridge)

GANGES

Padma in Bangladesh Rises in Himalayas, flows to Bay of Bengal Cities include Patna & Allahabad Personified as Ganga, daughter of Himavat

GANGES

Water rights shared between India & Bangladesh Largest river delta in the world Brahmaputra, Jumna, & Hooghly join it

GANGES

Bay in the Atlantic between France & Spain Aka Gascony/Gascogne Mouth of Loire & Garonne rivers Bordeaux, Bayonne, Biarritz, & Bilbao are on it Basque country

BAY OF BISCAY

Dutch waterway Joins with IJ at Amsterdam Also a beer

AMSTEL

Strait between Queensland and New Guinea

TORRES STRAIT

Japanese bay on Honshu Home to Kobe, and shares name with one of Japan's largest cities

OSAKA BAY

Plaza in Cairo Arabic, "Liberation" aka "Martyr Square" Heart of anti-Mubarak protests in 2011 Subject of 2013 documentary "The Square"

TAHRIR SQUARE

Northern Ireland formation Coastal basalt columns Big guy's legendary bridge

GIANT'S CAUSEWAY

Lake in Banff, Alberta Named for daughter of Queen Victoria "Emerald" green glacial lake

LAKE LOUISE

River in Tuscany Crossed by Florence's Ponte Vecchio ("Old Bridge") Flooded in 1966, harming much art Flows into Ligurian Sea near Pisa Mentioned in "A Room With a View"

ARNO RIVER

Museum and gallery in Florence Built as an office

UFFIZI

Desert of northern Chile ("Norte Grande") Between Pacific Ocean & Andes Mountains One of the driest in the world Mining area, especially copper

ATACAMA

From Arabic, "desert" World's biggest at about 3.3 million square miles, 3500 miles across Between Maghreb to the north and Sahel to the south Home of the Tuareg people and Fennec foxes

SAHARA

Desert on a peninsula Includes the Empty Quarter, Rub Al-Khali

ARABIAN DESERT

The Arabian Desert's "Rub Al-Khali" is known as this

THE EMPTY QUARTER

Fossil-rich mountains of France & Switzerland Namesake of geologic period

JURA

Mountain in the Caucasus Highest in Russia & highest in Europe

MT. ELBRUS

White marble campanile (freestanding bell tower) Construction began in 1174 In 1990s, restoration brought it back to 3.97 degrees off the vertical Site of some experiments by Galileo

LEANING TOWER OF PISA TORRE PENDENTE DE PISA

Italy's 3rd longest river Flows through Tuscany & Umbria, with its mouth at Ostia (Tyrrhenian Sea) Romulus & Remus set adrift on it In 6th century BCE Horatius destroyed its Pons Sublicius to prevent Etruscan invasion

TIBER RIVER

River of Rome Vatican is on its west bank Ponte Sant'angelo and Castel Sant'angelo, built by Hadrian in 2nd century, overlook it

TIBER RIVER

Tower in Milan, Italy named for a tire company

PIRELLI TOWER

Highest mountain in Turkey Extinct volcano National symbol for Armenia Supposed site of Noah's Ark landing

ARARAT

Overlooks Cape Town, South Africa Sometimes covered in a cloudy "cloth"

TABLE MOUNTAIN

Connects Pakistan to Afghanistan near Kabul and the Peshawar Valley Strategically important gap in the Spin Ghar mountains

KHYBER PASS

National Park & resort in Alberta Canada's 1st national park, 1887 (originally called "Rocky Mountains") North of Jasper Site of Lake Louise & Bow Lake

BANFF

Peninsula of Denmark (makes up ~70% of its non-Greenland land) Borders Germany's Schleswig-Holstein Site of a 1916 WWI battle Also a horse breed

JUTLAND

Greek mountain Delphi is on its slope

MOUNT PARNASSUS

Paris hill where St. Denis was beheaded Known for its mills, especially Moulin Rouge Toulouse-Lautrec & Utrillo worked there Site of the Sacre-Coeur basilica

MONTMARTRE

Basilica overlooking Montmartre, Paris

SACRE-COEUR

Arm of the Mediterranean Mediterranean on the southwest, Tyrrhenian on the southeast Touches Italian Riviera, Corsica, and a small bit of France Genoa is on it

LIGURIAN SEA

One end of the Champs-Elysees Paris's largest square Where Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, & Robespierre were beheaded - also called "Place de la Revolution" Site of Obelisk of Luxor

PLACE DE LA CONCORDE

Mountain east of, and overlooking, Jerusalem Associated with the life of Jesus Gethsemane is at its foot Supposedly where Jesus ascended Important Jewish cemetery - location of M. Begin's grave

MOUNT OF OLIVES

Israel's unicameral legislature Includes art by Marc Chagall

KNESSET

Atlantic coastal desert that gives its name to a country Also extends into parts of Angola & South Africa, touches the Kalahari Includes a section called the "Skeleton Coast"

NAMIB

Desert savanna of Botswana, Namibia, & South Africa Name from Tswana, "Waterless place" or "Great thirst" Africa's 2nd-largest desert Crossed by the Dorsland Trek (1870s) Home to the San (also called Bushmen) and to meerkats

KALAHARI

Australia's largest desert, located in the south Named for a queen

GREAT VICTORIA DESERT

Australian desert between the Great Victoria & Great Sandy Named for a man who got lost and died there in 1874

GIBSON DESERT

Australian desert in the northwest Includes parts of Canning Basin Apt name

GREAT SANDY DESERT

Mongolian for "desert" 500,000 square miles Located in the rain shadow of the Himalayas between Inner Mongolia (China) and Mongolia Home to Bactrian camels

GOBI DESERT

Africa's tallest mountain (>20,000 ft.) Located in Tanzania, near Kenyan border & the equator Composed of 3 volcanoes, 2 extinct (Mawenzi & Shira) & 1 dormant (Kibo) Highest peak is Uhuru on Kibo, formerly called "Wilhelm-Spitze" Scaled by Marangu Route "Snows of " it are mentioned in a Hemingway short story title

KILIMANJARO

2nd tallest mountain in Africa Shares name with its country

MOUNT KENYA

Afghanistan's longest river Also a province west of Kandahar

HELMAND

Cave complex in Afghanistan's Spin Ghar mountains Site of a 201 siege by U.S. against Al-Qaeda & Osama bin Laden Rhymes

TORA BORA

Plateau near Sea of Galilee Previously part of Syria Occupied by Israel in Six Day War (1967) and annexed in 1981

GOLAN HEIGHTS

Japan's largest lake Located on Honshu Pearl growing area

LAKE BIWA

Alpine range in Italy Named for a mineral of limestone & magnesium

DOLOMITES

"Backbone of Italy" Highest is Corno Grande Mountains of Umbria & San Marino

APPENINES

Second highest mountain in the world (>28,000 ft.) Located in Kashmir, Pakistan Named for its range (Karakoram) Also known as "Godwin-Austen" or "Dapsang"

Mountain range between Pakistan & China Location of K2 Its "highway" is the highest international highway in the world

KARAKORAM

Australia's highest point Located in the Snowy Mountains of the Australian Alps Named for Polish hero of the American Revolution

MOUNT KOSCIUSKO

Antarctica's highest point (~16,000 ft.) Overlooks Ronne Shelf Named for Georgia congressman

VINSON MASSIF

Name of a Scottish river (and a firth and a dale) Runs through Glasgow Source of a horse breed

RIVER CLYDE

Vatican City building Begun 300s 1506 Pope Julius II lays new cornerstone Rebuilt by Bramante, Bernini, Michelangelo (Pieta) Capacity ~60,000

ST. PETER'S BASILICA

Venice building Previously Doge's chapel Named for gospel writer whose remains it supposedly contains

ST. MARK'S BASILICA

Canadian river Runs from Labrador to the Atlantic Previously called "Hamilton River" Named for a British P.M.

CHURCHILL RIVER

Canadian river Runs from prairies into Hudson Bay Named for a governor of Hudson's Bay Company

CHURCHILL RIVER

Strait between Baffin Island & Quebec mainland

HUDSON STRAIT

Bay off of Hudson Named for explorer Thomas

JAMES BAY