Top 135 Amazing and Interesting Unknown Country Facts

Hello friends, welcome to our new post Top 135 Amazing and Interesting Unknown Country Facts. In this post, we will know about the fun and interesting facts of different countries of the world, which you hardly know about.

You will get to learn something new from this post of ours and it will give a new twist to your knowledge. In this post, you will get to know interesting facts about different countries of the world, about which hardly anyone knows. So let’s know Top 135 Amazing and Interesting Unknown Country Facts

Top 135 Amazing and Interesting Unknown Country Facts

1. No other country in Europe has as many volcanoes as Italy. This is because the Italian peninsula stands on a fault line. Three major volcanoes (Etna, Stromboli, and Vesuvius) have erupted in the last hundred years.
2. Mexico City has the highest elevation and is the oldest city in North America. It is also one of the largest cities in the world.
3. Central Eastern Africa is believed by most scientists to be the origin place of both humans and great apes. The earliest remains of the modern human species Homo sapiens have been found in Ethiopia and dated to roughly 200,000 years ago.
4. China executes the death penalty more than 4 times as the rest of the world combined.
5. India has the world’s lowest meat consumption per person.
6. The first known species of Homo erectus, the Peking Man, was found in China and lived between 300,000-550,000 years ago. It is thought that he knew how to manipulate fire.
7. Iraqi families are usually large and family relationships are close. Most families live in one house, which is expanded when the family grows.
8. Major cities in Iraq include its capital, Baghdad (5.751 million), Mosul (1.447 million), Erbil (1.009 million), Basra (923,000), and As Sulaymaniyah (836,000)
9. In Iran, females over the age of nine must wear a hijab in public. Additionally, religious rules do not allow women to wear bathing suits when men are present.
10. The month of December is the most popular month for weddings in the Philippines.
11. Dueling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are registered blood donors.
12. India has more mobile phones than toilets.
13. The average life expectancy of North Koreans is 61 years for males and 66 years for females.
14. The fertile region between the two famous rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates, allowed early stable populations in Iraq as far back as the 7th century B.C. This area has had many names throughout history, including Al-Jazira (“the island”) in Arabic and Mesopotamia (“the land between two rivers”) in Greek.
15. By 2020, China could have between 30 million and 40 million men who cannot find wives.
16. Top 100+ Amazing Interesting Facts
17. More than a million Indians are millionaires, yet most Indians live on less than two dollars a day. An estimated 35% of India’s population lives below the poverty line.
18. The Persian Gulf holds 60% of the world’s oil reserves. Iran alone has reserves of 125 billion barrels of oil or 10% of the world’s total reserves. Iran pumps nearly 4 million barrels of oil each day.
19. Creoles are descendants of the Spanish people who first arrived in Mexico. Now they are the name of Mexico’s small population: Caucasian Europeans, Americans, and Canadians.
20. The Viaduc de Millau, designed by British Architect Sir Norman Foster, carried a massive 4.43 million vehicles in 2005, its first year of operation. Rising to 1,125 feet (343 m) above the valley bottom, it ranks among the tallest road bridges in the world.
21. For more than 3,000 years, Carpenter ants have been used to close wounds in India, Asia and South America.
22. The largest wildcat in North America is the jaguar, which can be found in Mexico’s southern jungles.
23. The official name of India is the Republic of India. The name “India” derives from the River Indus, which most likely is derived from the Sanskrit Sindhu, meaning “river.” The official Sanskrit name of India is Bharat, after the legendary king in the epic Mahabharata.
24. China is the world’s largest exporter and second-largest importer of goods.
25. Iran’s capital and largest city, Tehran, has some of the worst air pollution in the world. An estimated 27 people die a day from air pollution-related diseases.
26. North Korea measures the passage of years with the juche calendar. In this calendar, year 1 is 1912, the year Kim Il-sung was born. The year 2010 is juche year 99 and would be written as Juche 99 (2010) or Juche 99, 2010
27. Cows can be found freely wandering the streets of India’s cities. They are considered sacred and will often wear a tilak, a Hindu symbol of good fortune. Cows are considered one of humankind’s seven mothers because they offer milk as does one’s natural mother.
28. Cryptozoologists claim that Canada is the home of several cryptids, including Sasquatch, a giant sloth-like creature known as the beaver-eater, a cannibalistic wildman named Windigo, and a number of lake monsters, such as Ogopogo in Lake Okanagan, British Columbia.
29. In contrast to South Korea’s per capita GDP of $18,000, North Korea’s GDP is $1,000
30. The national sport of Japan is sumo wrestling.
31. Venice, Italy, is one of the world’s most beautiful and unusual cities. It was founded over 1,400 years ago on a collection of muddy islands in a wide and shallow lagoon. It has been sinking into the mud for centuries and is plagued by floods.
32. Though the people of North and South Korea share one language, one history, and one cultural base that reaches back at least 5,000 years, 10 million Koreans remain separated from family members since 1948 because of the 38th Parallel.
33. Each year, around six million foreign tourists visit Thailand. Thailand has also attracted many expatriates from developed countries.
34. A long-standing dispute between Britain and Greece centers around the Elgin Marbles (the Greeks prefer to call them the Parthenon Marbles), which are housed in a London’s British Museum. The British government believes that it acquired them fairly through its purchase from Lord Elgin, while the Greeks claim the purchase was illegal.
35. “Pyramid Power” or “pyramidology” refers to the belief that pyramids possess supernatural powers. For example, in 1959, Czech Radio engineer Karel Drbal patented the idea that pyramids could sharpen blunt razor blades. Late actress Gloria Swanson slept with a miniature pyramid under her pillow because it “made every cell in her body tingle.’
36. The phoenix is the most important bird in Chinese legend and represents the feminine power of the empress. The graceful crane, which is a symbol of long life, is the second most important bird in Chinese legend. Ducks are also important symbols and represent happiness and marital faithfulness.
37. Denmark is reported to be the happiest country in the world.
38. Most Indians rinse their hands, legs, and face before eating a meal. It is considered polite to eat with the right hand, and women eat after everyone is finished. Wasting food is considered a sin.
39. India has won all 5 men’s Kabaddi World Cups held till now and have been undefeated throughout these tournaments. The Indian women’s team has also won all Kabaddi World Cups held till date.
40. Introduced by the British, cricket is India’s most popular sport. Hockey is considered the national sport, and the Indian field hockey team proudly won Olympic gold in 1928
41. The population of Thailand is 67,091,089, ranked 20th in the world. The ranking takes into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS.
42. Among the Mappurondo on the Indonesian island of Borneo, they still practice headhunting in the ritual of pangngae; however, they use coconuts instead of real heads during their simulated “hunts.”
43. French President Charles de Gaulle is included in the Guinness Book of World Records as surviving more assassination attempts—32—than anyone in the world.
44. The first great civilization in Mexico were the Olmecs (1400-300 B.C.) who established many cities along the eastern coast of Mexico, sculpted the famous Colossal Heads, and worshipped a mysterious, unnamed god that was part human and part jaguar.
45. Greece has more archaeological museums than any other country in the world.
46. In A.D. 762, Baghdad became the capital of a vast Islamic empire ruled by the Abbasid dynasty. It was built in a perfect circle on Babylonian ruins and became the world’s centre for culture and education, ushering in the “Golden Islamic Age.” During their rule, the Abbasids built the “House of Wisdom” as well as beautiful buildings and fountains. Reflecting the high value they placed on knowledge, they stressed that “the ink of the scholar is more holy than the blood of a martyr.’.
47. Spanish explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo (1499-1543) discovered California.
48. While Africa is the second largest of the earth’s seven continents, it has the shortest coastline, due to very few jutting edges and bays in its landscape.
49. In Canada, the $1 and $2 come in the form of coins. The $1 is nicknamed a “loonie” because it contains a loon on it and the $2 is nicknamed the “twonie” because it is the equivalent of two “loonies.”
50. With the exception of two world-war induced intervals, the Tour de France has never missed a year. The 1998 Tour de France was known as the “tour of shame,” fewer than 100 riders crossed the finish line after several teams were disqualified for doping.
51. Throughout history, Greeks have loved the sea. With more than 1,800 merchant ships in service, Greece has one of the largest fleets in the world. Aristotle Onassis and Stavros Niarchos (“The Golden Greek”) are some of the better-known Greek shipping businessmen.
52. Ancient Egyptians needed to predict when the Nile would flood, which led to the development of the world’s first calendar.
53. Near Tuna el-Gebel on the edge of Egypt’s Western Desert, scientists have unearthed more than four million mummies of a stork-like bird called an ibis.
54. Ramses II was publicly unwrapped in June 1886 in just 15 minutes. His body became contaminated by fungi and bacteria, which literally ate him little by little. In 1975, scientists used gamma rays to sterilize his body. He is now stored in an antibacterial case.
55. There are more recreational golfers per capita in Canada than any other country in the world.
56. Stanislaw Leszczynski, King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth 1704–1709 and 1733–1736, was the father-in-law of Louis XV of France. Leszczynski became the last Duke of Lorraine after losing the throne of Poland. He gave his name to a World Heritage City square in Nancy, then the capital of the Duchy of Lorraine.
57. Brazil became the first South American country to accept women into its armed forces, in the 1980s.
58. Ancient Egyptian tomb builders had their own guarded villages. They were well fed and looked after because their work was so important.
59. Brazil’s official birthday as a country occurred on September 7, 1822, when Prince Pedro refused to return to Portugal. He announced the Grito de Ipiranga by throwing down his sword and shouting, “Independence or death!” Although free of Portugal’s hold, Brazil remained a monarchy until its declaration of independence as a republic in 1889
60. One of Thailand’s most curious creatures is the mudskipper, which is a fish that is capable of walking on land and climbing trees. It uses its fins to “walk” and can absorb oxygen through its skin and lining in its mouth. It spends most of its time out of the water, eating the algae in tidal pools.
61. Table tennis is China’s national sport.
62. Indonesia is the world’s leading exporter of frog legs. During the last decade, Europe alone imported 4,600 tons annually, with France, Belgium, and the Netherlands being the main importers.
63. Persia changed its name to Iran in 1935.
64. Soccer is Denmark’s favorite and national sport. The Danish football team became known worldwide through a gutsy performance in the 1986 World Cup and they followed it up when they became 1992 European champions.
65. Approximately 90% of all cases of malaria worldwide occur in Africa, and 3,000 African children die each day from its effects.
66. Vatican City is the smallest country in the world, with a population of 1000 and a size 108.7 acres.
67. France’s formal name is La République Française (French Republic)
68. Traditionally, marriages in Iraq are arranged, though more and more Iraqis are choosing their own spouses, especially in larger cities.
69. The North Korean government pays for all health care, though recently it has suffered a severe shortage of medicine and medical equipment. In some hospitals, cutting-edge equipment remains unused because the doctors and nurses don’t know how to use it.
70. Deserts of Tunisia housed the original Star Wars movie set for the film’s planet Tatooine. More than 30 years after the premiere of the first movie in the series, the sets are still very well preserved and visitors to Tunisia can even stay in Luke Skywalker’s home.
71. Pedro Álvares Cabral was sailing for India when he landed on the Brazilian coast on April 22, 1500, claiming Brazil for the Portuguese Empire.
72. The Brazilian national championship soccer tournament takes six months to play and has up to 44 competing teams.
73. Scholars believe the Egyptian symbol called the ankh is the origin of the much later Christian cross. It also looks like a key—for ancient Egyptians, the key to eternal life.
74. Canadians have made many important inventions, including Kerosene, the electron microscope, the electronic organ, insulin, the IMAX film system, the snowmobile, and the electric cooking range.
75. India has more mosques (300,000 mosques) than any other nation in the world.
76. Only 53% of Haitians can read and write.
77. The world’s biggest family lives together in India: a man with 39 wives and 94 children.
78. In 1603, Spanish sailor Gabriel de Castilla (1577-1620) became the first man ever to see Antarctica.
79. During the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, some women protestors were not only forced to take virginity tests, but they were also threatened with prostitution charges.
80. Thousands of Haitians were ruined when pyramid investment schemes collapsed. While Haitians lost about $200 million investing in these scams, the co-op founders acquired millions on the proceeds.
81. Half of all the world’s pigs live in China.
82. American author Leon Uris wrote the bestselling novel Mila 18, based on the tale of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1843. Mila 18 was the Warsaw address of the Jewish Resistance militia’s headquarters.
83. Natzweiler-Struthof, located 31 miles (50 km) southwest of Strasbourg, was the only concentration camp established by the Nazis on French soil.
84. The first Greek philosopher is considered to be Thales of Miletus (c. 624-546 B.C.). He was the first to give a natural explanation of the origin of the world rather than a mythological one.
85. According to the Arab American Institute, there are approximately 140,000 Iraqi Americans living in the U.S.
86. The Spanish often use gestures with, or to substitute for, words. Flicking the teeth with the thumbnail, wiggling fingers from the nose, and grabbing the left arm with the right while making a left-handed fist are all thought to be offensive. Tapping the left elbow with the right hand is a sign that someone is a penny pincher. Pulling down the lower eyelid while someone is talking means that the listener doubts what the speaker is saying. Holding up both the little one and index fingers with the knuckles facing outward in front of a man signals that his wife or girlfriend is being unfaithful.
87. The Greek flag is included nine blue-and-white horizontal stripes, which some scholars say stand for the nine syllables of the Greek motto “Eleftheria i Thanatos” or “Freedom or Death.” Blue represents Greece’s sea and sky, while white stands for the purity of the struggle of freedom. In the upper left-hand corner is the traditional Greek Orthodox cross.
88. North America’s lowest recorded temperature was -81.4 degrees Fahrenheit (-63 C) at Snag, Yukon Territory, on February 3, 1947
89. The largest elections of any country were those beginning on 24 December 1984 for the Indian Lok Sabha with 542 elective seats. The government of Rajiu Gandhi was returned in polls where 379,000,000 electors were eligible to vote. There were 480,000 polling stations for 5,301 candidates manned by 2.5 million staff.
90. The population of Haiti is approximately 9.7 million. It is expected to reach 10.2 million in 2015. Comparable in size to Haiti, Vermont’s population is approximately 621,760. The population of the U.S. is 308,891,000
91. Only about 10% of all Haitian children enrolled in elementary school go on to a high school.
92. In China, every year is represented by one of 12 animals.
93. A group grandly named Congresso das Sumidades (Congress of Worthies) organized Brazil’s first Carnival parade in 1855
94. In Iran, yogurt is referred to as “Persian Milk,” and many Iranians consider yogurt a miracle food. It is used to treat ulcers, relieve sunburn, and even prolong life. Some people use yogurt as a facemask.
95. Spain is divided into 17 regions. Fifteen of the regions are on the mainland of Spain. The other two regions are island groups. The Balearic Islands lie off Spain’s eastern coast. The Canary Islands are off the western coast of Morocco.
96. Francisco de Orellana, a 16th century explorer, became the first European to travel the entire Amazon from Peru through Brazil in 1541. He was fascinated by the Indian women warriors who lived alone and would later be dubbed “Amazons.’
97. Indonesia is very rich in natural resources – its oil reserves alone make it the only South East Asian member of Nato and it is the world’s largest producer of palm oil. But despite being one of the G20 group of leading economies, roughly half of Indonesia’s population lives on less than $2 USD a day.
98. Pizza, or zapiekanka, in Poland does not contain tomato sauce. It is a popular street food served on a baguette with melted cheese, mushrooms, and ketchup.
99. French toast was originally called pain perdu (lost bread), and the first written mention of the dish comes from the court of Henry V of England. The Oxford English Dictionary mentions the first use of the name “French toast” was in 1660 in a book called the Accomplisht Cook.
100. In ancient and medieval India, suttees, in which a recently widowed woman would immolate herself on her husband’s funeral pyre, were common.
101. The ancient Roman Aqueduct of Segovia in Spain was built in the 1st century A.D. and still supplies water to the city.
102. Dancing is one of India’s most highly developed arts and was an integral part of worship in the inner shrines of every temple. It is notable for its expressive hand movements.
103. Among the native population of Africa, there are more physical variations than on any other continent in the world.
104. Ancient Egyptians believed they were made from clay on a potter’s wheel by the river god Khnum.
105. Britons eat over 22,000 tonnes of french fries a week.
106. Shells and stones on the Aztecs’ ritual blades symbolized the faces of the gods for which the sacrificial hearts were intended. They would sacrifice between 10,000 to 50,000 victims per year. Under the rule of Montezuma II, 12,000 victims were sacrificed in one day.
107. Homo sapiens reached the region of Indonesia around 45,000 years ago.
108. About 10% of Greek adults are unemployed. Even with a college education, it’s hard to find a job.
109. Walt Disney visited Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen once and was so inspired that he decided to create something similar in America: Disneyland.”
110. In 1478, the Pope gave the Spanish King, Ferdinand V, power to initiate the Spanish Inquisition, during which people were tortured to prove they were true Christians. Thousands of converts fled Spain as the Inquisition spread fear across Europe. During the first 50 years of the Inquisition, 5,000 people were executed. The Inquisition was finally abolished in 1834
111. The average life expectancy on the African continent ranges from 74 years in the island nation of Mauritius to just under 32 years in sub-Saharan Swaziland.
112. Italians suffer more earthquakes than any other Europeans. In 1693, an estimated 100,000 people died in an earthquake in Sicily. The most deadly recent quake in Italy occurred in Naples in 1980, killing 3,000 people.
113. Poland was the only European country which never officially collaborated with the Nazis at any level, and no Polish units fought alongside the Nazi army. Poland never officially surrendered to Germany, and the Polish Resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II was the largest resistance movement in Europe.
114. After defeating Germany 8-1 in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Major Dhyan Chand, the wizard of hockey, was summoned by Hitler. He was promised German citizenship, a high post in the German military and the chance to play for the German national side. Dhyan Chand however declined the offer.
115. Haiti has been ranked as one of the five most corrupt countries.
116. Iraq first took part in the Olympic Games in 1948 and has only won one medal, a bronze in weightlifting in the 1960 Rome Games. Iraq has never competed in the Winter Games.
117. In the Tang dynasty, anyone with an education was expected to greet as well as say goodbye to another person in poetic verse composed on the spot.
118. Cricket fighting is a popular amusement in China. Many Chinese children keep crickets as pets.
119. In 2002, Iran admitted that for the previous 18 years, it had worked undercover on a nuclear energy program with help from Russia. President Ahmadinejad says its nuclear ambitions are peaceful and that Iran has an “inalienable right” to produce nuclear fuel.
120. Parmesan cheese originated in the area around Parma, Italy. Italians also created many other cheeses, including gorgonzola, mozzarella, provolone, and ricotta. No one knows when the pizza was invented, but the people of Naples made it popular.
121. The Rio Tinto River in Spain is so polluted by toxic pollution from 5,000 years of mining that it contains little to no life.
122. Native Haitians were pre-Columbian Amerindians called Taíno, “the good people.” The Taíno named their land “Ayiti,” meaning “Land of Mountains”—a term that evolved into “Haiti.’
123. The highest bridge in the world is located in the Himalyan mountains. It was built by the Indian Army, in 1982, and is about 5,600 metres above sea level.
124. Haiti and Canada are the only two independent nations in the Americas that have French as an official language. Though approximately 90% of Haitians use Creole as their primary language, Creole wasn’t made an official language alongside French until 1987
125. Only 23% of New Zealand families have more than two children.
126. Marie Curie (Manya Sklodowska) was born in Warsaw (Warszawa), Poland, on November 7, 1867. She moved to Paris in early 1880 and married Frenchman Pierre Curie in 1895. With her husband, she discovered the elements polonium (Po), named after her native Poland, in the summer of 1898 and, soon thereafter, radium (Ra). She is credited for coining the term “radioactivity” and won her first Nobel Prize in Physics with her husband and another colleague, Henri Becquerel, in 1903. Following Pierre’s death in 1906, Marie was appointed to her husband’s professorship and was the first woman to teach at Paris’ Sorbonne University. She won a second Nobel Prize in 1911 for her research in the isolation of pure radium.
127. In ancient China, the lotus was seen as a symbol of purity and was sacred to both the Buddhists and Daoists. The peony (“King of Flowers”) symbolized spring, the chrysanthemum symbolized long life, and the narcissus was thought to bring good luck.
128. French (along with Spanish) women have the highest life expectancy in the whole of the European Union.
129. The total area of Spain is 505,370 sq. km, which makes it the 52nd largest country in the world. It is slightly more than twice the size of Oregon. It is Europe’s third-largest nation.
130. On September 12, 1989, the first freely elected, noncommunist government in a Warsaw Pact state took office, led by Poland’s Nobel Peace Prize-winner Lech Walesa, who was instrumental in organizing the Solidarity movement of the 1980s.
131. North Korea is believed to have enough plutonium to build up to six nuclear weapons and is close to becoming a nuclear-armed state. A fully nuclear North Korea could trigger an East Asian arms race.
132. During radical ex-priest Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s second term as president, the government established Voodoo as a state religion along with Catholicism.
133. The father of India’s missile programme had visited Switzerland back in 2006. Upon his arrival, Switzerland declared May 26th as Science Day.
134. Some people blamed the sinking of the Titanic on a mummified Egyptian priestess the doomed ship was transporting.
135. Popular Danish candy manufacturer Bon Bon is famous among Danish children for marketing its products under names like “gull droppings,” “burping duck,” and “rich swine.”
136. The Iraqi desert is home to the dangerous saw-scale viper. Many scientists consider it the most dangerous snake in the world. The viper is known to strike without provocation and even chase its victims. Its bite often results in death.
137. Crayola is a French word that means “Oily chalk.
138. Toilet paper was invented in China in the late 1300s. It was for emperors only.
139. After the great Indus Civilization collapsed in 2000 B.C., groups of Indo-Europeans called Aryans (“noble ones”) travelled to northwest India and reigned during what is called the Vedic age. The mingling of ideas from the Aryan and Indus Valley religions formed the basis of Hinduism, and the god’s Shiva, Kali, and Brahma all have their roots in Aryan civilization. The Aryans also recorded the Vedas, the first Hindu scriptures, and introduced a caste system based on ethnicity and occupation.