Quick Facts
About the Seven Natural Wonders
Mount Everest, Nepal 10
- named after Sir George Everest, the British surveyor-general of India
- highest mountain on Earth
- elevation of 29,035 feet (8,850 meters) determined using GPS satellite equipment in 1999
- part of the Himalaya range along the border of Nepal and Tibet
- first climbed on May 29, 1953 by Edmund Percival Hillary of New Zealand & Tenzing Norgay Sherpa of Nepal
Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe/Zambia 11
- locally referred to as Mosi-oa-Tunya, meaning ‘the Smoke that Thunders’
- located on the Zambezi River bordering Zambia and Zimbabwe
- largest waterfall in the world in both width and height
- 1708 meters wide and a 90 meter to 107 meter drop
- 550,000 cubic meters of water run over the falls every minute
The Grand Canyon, USA 12
- created by the Colorado River in the state of Arizona in the United States
- 277 miles long
- 6000 feet deep from rim to river at its deepest point
- 18 miles wide at its widest point
- not the deepest or widest canyon in the world but recognized as a natural wonder for its overall size and colorful landscape
The Great Barrier Reef, Australia 13
- located off the north-east coast of Australia
- only living thing on earth visible from space
- stretches over 1800 miles
- made up of over 3000 individual reefs
- contains world’s largest collection of coral (more than 400 different types) and over 1500 species of tropical fish
The Northern Lights, Northern Hemisphere 14
- also called Aurora Borealis
- bright, colorful, dancing lights that result from collisions between gaseous particles from the Earth’s atmosphere and electrically charged particles from the sun’s atmosphere
- appear over the magnetic north pole
- can occur in many different shades (red, yellow, green, blue, violet) but pale green and pink are the most frequent
- variations in color are determined by the types of gas particles that are colliding
Paricutin Volcano, Mexico 15
- 1391 foot high cinder cone volcano located in the state of Michoacan in central Mexico
- began as a fissure in farmer Dionisio Pulido’s cornfield on February 20, 1943
- designated as one of the seven natural wonders because it is the only volcano on the planet born in modern times and witnessed by humans
- buried nearby villages of Paricutin and San Juan Parangaricutiro, forcing residents to relocate
- dormant since 1952 and not expected to erupt again
The Harbor of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 16
- Portuguese sailors chose the name Rio de Janeiro (‘River of January’) because in January 1502 they reached what they thought to be the mouth of a great river
- the Harbor of Rio de Janeiro is actually not on a river but on Guanabara Bay off the south-east coast of Brazil
- created by erosion by the Atlantic Ocean
- surrounded by stunning mountains and formations including Sugar Loaf Mountain, Corcovado Peak and the hills of Tijuca
- The Statue of Christ the Redeemer stands upon the Corcovado Peak and is one of the Seven Manmade Wonders of the World.
This project was created for educational purposes, and is in no way intended for commercial gain, or as a source of public information.