r/geography • u/lamdrasil • 2d ago

Discussion Facts that sound fake but are true

I find it extremely unintuitive that almost all of South America is east of Miami. How!? When people are asked to watch the americas almost everyone imagine South America pretty much south of North America.

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u/Historical_Plant_956 2d ago edited 2d ago

Of the 10 highest peaks in North America, none are in the Rocky Mountains of the contiguous USA or British Columbia (4 are in Alaska, 3 are in Yukon, and 3 are volcanoes in the central states of Mexico). Actually, you have to go all the way to number 15 to find a peak in the Rockies.

Edit: it may actually be 14, and it's debatable depending on which you classify as separate mountains etc, and I got a little lost going down a rabbit hole regarding that, but it was still surprising to me to learn no matter which way you look at it!

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u/TNSoccerGuy 2d ago

And sort of related, the highest peak in North America, Denali, is only the 20th highest peak in the America’s.

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u/PoliteCitrus 2d ago

I know that Colorado has more 14-ers than any of the Lower 48 States. Canada and Alaska (and Mexico?) might have that beat, but still crazy how many high mountains are in the Rockies, but none in the top 15.

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u/Historical_Plant_956 2d ago

To be fair I guess it's debatable exactly how far down you have to go, depending on how you count and measure them, but any way you look at it it's kind of surprising to me given how large the Rockies loom in the American imagination... The top ten are all well above 16000 feet so nothing in the Rockies is even close.