22 Of The Most Extreme Places On Earth

Go big or go home!

1. The coldest place in the world: Vostok Station, Antarctica.

en.wikipedia.org

The coldest temperature ever recorded on Earth was -128.5°F (-89.2°C) on July 21, 1983, at this old Soviet Union outpost in the middle of Antarctica.

2. The hottest place in the world: Death Valley, California.

David Mcnew / Getty Images

According to the World Meteorological Organization, the hottest temperature ever recorded occurred in Death Valley in 1913, clocking in at a scorching 134°F (56.6°C)!

3. The wettest place in the world: Mawsynram, India.

Roberto Schmidt / AFP / Getty Images

Mawsynram receives annual rainfall of about 467 inches!

4. The driest place in the world: Atacama Desert, Chile.

Insights / Getty Images

In over 37 years, it's only rained here four times. The landscape of Quillagua, Chile, is so dry that NASA decided that it would be the perfect location to test its Mars rover.

5. The place with the longest name in the world: Taumatawhakatangi­hangakoauauotamatea­turipukakapikimaunga­horonukupokaiwhen­uakitanatahu, New Zealand.

en.wikipedia.org

That's a record 85 letters, which in Māori means "The summit where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, the climber of mountains, the land-swallower who travelled about, played his nose flute to his loved one.”

6. The windiest place in the world: Commonwealth Bay, Antarctica.

Torsten Blackwood / AFP / Getty Images

During winter months at Commonwealth Bay, a concentrated flow of freezing air, known as katabatic wind, is responsible for wind gusts up to 150 mph.

7. The world's most active volcano: Mt. Kilauea, Hawaii.

Theartist312 / Getty Images

In 1983, Mt. Kilauea erupted on the southern part of the island of Hawaii and hasn't stopped since! It's destroyed over 200 homes, but created over 544 acres of new land.

8. The snowiest place in the world: Paradise, Washington.

Dean J. Koepfler / AP

Don't let the name fool you — according to the National Park Service, Paradise has a max annual snowfall of approximately 93.5 feet.

9. The flattest place in the world: Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia.

upload.wikimedia.org

The Salar de Uyuni salt flat covers about 4,000 square miles and contains about 10 billion tons of salt.

10. The most populated place in the world: Tokyo.

AFP / Getty Images

In 2015, Tokyo's population grew to a staggering 37.8 million residents, the largest population of people ever recorded in a single city.

11. The safest place in the world: Tokyo.

Kitchakron / Getty Images

Despite being the world's most populated city, the Economist Intelligence Unit rated Tokyo as the world's safest place in 2015, with extra-high scores for cybersecurity.

12. The smallest island in the world: Bishop Rock, England.

Flickr: hornbeam

Bishop rock is around 46 x 16 meters long and located about 28 miles off the southwestern coast of the Cornish peninsula in England. In the Middle Ages, criminals were dropped off with days' worth of bread and left to fend off the elements.

13. The most remote island in the world: Tristan da Cunha, Saint Helena.

Digitalglobe / Getty Images

The city nearest to Tristan da Cunha is Cape Town, located nearly 1,743 miles away in South Africa.

14. The coldest inhabited place in the world: Oymyakon, Russia.

AFP / Getty Images

Winter temperatures in Oymyakon can drop as low as -58°F (-50°C), while the lowest recorded temperature for the town was -96.16°F (-71.2°C), in 1924.

15. The highest elevation in the world: Mount Everest, China–Nepal border.

AFP / Getty Images

At 29,028 feet tall, Mount Everest is considered to have the highest elevation in the world. The mountain was named after the surveyor-general of India from 1830 to1843 — Col. Sir George Everest. Ironically, Everest actually pronounced his name "Eve-rest".

16. The farthest point from the Earth's center: Chimborazo, Ecuador.

Kseniya Ragozina / Getty Images

While Mount Everest is the tallest point measured from sea level, the Earth isn't a perfect sphere. If we calculate the farthest point from the Earth's center, the winner would be Chimborazo, Ecuador.

17. The lowest elevation in the world: Dead Sea.

Nir Elias / Reuters

The Dead Sea is approximately 1,360 feet below sea level and is one of the world's saltiest bodies of water.

18. The deepest cave in the world: Krubera Cave, Abkhazia, Georgia.

Abdesign / Getty Images

Since its initial exploration in 1956, Krubera Cave has been mapped at 7,208 feet deep and 8 miles long.

19. The highest waterfall in the world: Angel Falls, Venezuela.

AFP / Getty Images

At 3,212 feet tall, Angel Falls is known the tallest waterfall on planet Earth.

20. The most expensive place in the world: Singapore.

Ademarrangel / Getty Images

According to the Economist Intelligence Unit's 2016 Worldwide Cost of Living survey, this city has held this spot for the last three years.

21. The happiest place in the world: Denmark.

Swisshippo / Getty Images

According to the 2016 United Nation's World Happiness Report, Denmark takes the crown as place with the happiest people living there!

22. The most-visited place in the world: London.

Nevenmn / Getty Images

London beats out second-place Bangkok as the world's most-visited location, with around 18.82 million international visitors each year.