Chile Is Larger Than Any European Country (Other Than Russia)

But it's so thin!

I just learned this, and I was quite surprised. Chile's area is over 290,000 square miles; Ukraine, the largest country in Europe other than European Russia, has an area of under 235,000 square miles.

Comments

[Tilted]

That is a bit surprising.

Also, it's apparently the southernmost country in the world (i.e. the one with the southernmost point)... if we don't include countries with the word Kingdom in their name.

[loveconstitution1789]

Random.

[Liberaltarian]

Had to make sure that wasn't including something like its Antarctic claim or a 200 mile EEZ. Looks like it doesn't. Just goes to show the power of distorted maps to influence thinking. I blame Risk.

[CarlosT]

Leaving aside Alaska, which is ginormous, Texas is in the "larger than every European country other than Russia" category.

[Noscitur a sociis]

Alaska isn't generally considered a European country.

[MatthewSlyfield]

Neither is Chile.

[MatthewSlyfield]

If you dived Alaska in half, Texas would become the 3rd largest state.

[Eddy]

burn!

[Leo Marvin]

Does that mean that if one doesn't leave aside Alaska, Texas isn't larger than every European country but Russia?

[mydisplayname]

🙂

[arch1]

This would have been less surprising if vertical relief had been factored in (Chile being I believe more mountainous than most of Europe)

[Paloma]

Driest desert as well.

[Caphon]

Margaret Thatcher and Johan van Oldenbarnevelt said size doesn't matter.

[bevis the lumberjack]

You should take a trip down there if you haven't been. It's a beautiful country - pretty much any picture you take outside of Santiago proper could be on a postcard. The people are friendly, the food is good. It's arguably the safest, sanest country in South America.

[Alpheus W Drinkwater]

I second this. One of the greatest places on earth.

[an oaf]

Every school should have a Peters projection world map. We'd have less surprises like this 😛

Not sure if true but someone once told me that Canada has a many lakes as the rest of the world combined.

[Leo Marvin]

Someone once told me that if you lined up all the matter in the universe, from the most massive super-massive black holes at one end, to the least massive sub-atomic particles at the other, you'd be really tired.

[Smooth Like a Rhapsody]

And if all the Tri Delts at last Saturday's party were laid end-to-end, I wouldn't be surprised.

[Stephen Lathrop]

Santiago, Chile's capital, lies east of Boston, MA.

[MatthewSlyfield]

Does it tell the truth west of Boston, MA?

[apedad]

Same as the Atlantic port of the Panama Canal lies west of the Pacific port.

[Gospace]

And if you head south from Detroit, the first foreign country you get to is Canada.

[arch1]

Bah. Geography buffs consider East-West ambiguity child's play. Which is Northernmost: Venice, Italy or Halifax, Nova Scotia?

[jubulent]

Which is furthest from the geometric center of the Earth?

[James Pollock]

Greenland is part of Denmark, and over 800 thousand square miles.

[jubulent]

40% of Europe is in Russia.

If you split Russia into European Russia and Asian Russia, Asian Russia would still be the largest country in the world. European Russia would be the 6th largest country in the world, knocking India down to 7.

Russia is ridiculously large.