December 2012 Current Affairs magazine

Current-Affairs-Magazines-Current-Affairs-Magazine-December-2012-1

Important Lines and Boundaries

Durand Line is the line demarcating the boundaries of India and Afghanistan. It was drawn up in 1896 by Sir Mortimer Durand.

Hindenburg Line is the boundary dividing Germany and Poland. The Germans retreated to this line in 1917 during World War I.

Mason-Dixon Line is a line of demarcation between four states in the United States.

Marginal Line was the 320 km line of fortification built by France along its border with Germany before World War II, to protect its boundary from German attack.

Mannerheim Line is the line of fortification on the Russia-Finland border. Drawn up by General Mannerheim.

MacMahon Line was drawn up by Sir. Henry MacMahon, demarcating the frontier of India and China. China did not recognize the MacMahon line and crossed it in 1962.

Medicine Line is the border between Canada and the United States.

Order-Neisse Line is the border between Poland and Germany, running along the Order and Neisse rivers, adopted at the Poland Conference (Aug 1945) after World War II.

Radcliffe Line was drawn up by Sir Cyril Radcliffe, demarcating the boundary between India and Pakistan. Siegfried Line is the line of fortification drawn up by Germany on its border with France.

17th Parallel defined the boundary between North Vietnam and South Vietnam before the two were united.

Large Islands of the World

Island Location and Political Affiliation Area sq. mi. sq. km Greenland North Atlantic (Danish) 839,999 2,175,597 New Guinea Southwest Pacific (West Papua [Irian Jaya], Indonesia, western part; Papua New Guinea, eastern part) 309,000 800,311 Borneo West mid-Pacific (Indonesian, south part; Brunei and Malaysian, north part) 287,300 744,108 Madagascar Indian Ocean (Malagasy Republic) 227,000 587,931 Baffin North Atlantic (Canadian) 195,926 507,451 Sumatra Northeast Indian Ocean (Indonesian) 182,859 473,605 Honshu Sea of Japan–Pacific (Japanese) 89,176 230,966 Great Britain Off coast of NW Europe (England, Scotland, and Wales) 88,795 229,979 Victoria Arctic Ocean (Canadian) 83,896 217,291 Ellesmere Arctic Ocean (Canadian) 75,767 196,236 Sulawesi (Celebes) West mid-Pacific (Indonesian) 73,057 189,218 South Island South Pacific (New Zealand) 58,384 151,215 Java Indian Ocean (Indonesian) 51,038 132,189 North Island South Pacific (New Zealand) 44,702 115,778 Cuba Caribbean Sea (republic) 42,803 110,860 Newfoundland North Atlantic (Canadian) 42,031 108,860 Luzon West mid-Pacific (Philippines) 40,420 104,688 Iceland North Atlantic (republic) 39,800 103,082 Mindanao West mid-Pacific (Philippines) 36,537 94,631 Ireland West of Great Britain (republic, south part; United Kingdom, north part) 32,597 84,426 Hokkaido Sea of Japan–Pacific (Japanese) 32,245 83,515 Sakhalin (Karafuto) North of Japan (Russian) 29,500 76,405 Hispaniola Caribbean Sea (Dominican Republic, east part; Haiti, west part) 29,300 75,887 Banks Arctic Ocean (Canadian) 27,038 70,028 Tasmania South of Australia (Australian) 26,200 67,858 Sri Lanka (Ceylon) Indian Ocean (republic) 24,900 64,491 Devon Arctic Ocean (Canadian) 21,331 55,247 Tierra del Fuego Southern tip of South America (Argentinian, east part; Chilean, west part) 18,605 48,187 Axel Heiberg Arctic Ocean (Canadian) 16,671 43,178 Melville Arctic Ocean (Canadian) 16,274 42,149 Kyushu Sea of Japan–Pacific (Japanese) 16,223 42,018 Southampton Hudson Bay (Canadian) 15,913 41,214

NOTE: Australia is not included in this list because it is defined as a continent rather than an island.

Biggest Countries (In Population)

Rank	Country	Population
1.	China	1,321,851,888
2.	India	1,129,866,154
3.	United States	301,139,947
4.	Indonesia	234,693,997
5.	Brazil	190,010,647
6.	Pakistan	169,270,617
7.	Bangladesh	150,448,339
8.	Russia	141,377,752
9.	Nigeria	135,031,164
10.	Japan	127,467,972
11.	Mexico	108,700,891
12.	Philippines	91,077,287
13.	Vietnam	85,262,356
14.	Germany	82,400,996
15.	Egypt	80,264,543
16.	Ethiopia	76,511,887
17.	Turkey	71,158,647
18.	Iran	65,397,521
19.	Thailand	65,068,149
20.	Congo, Dem. Rep.	64,606,759
21.	France	61,083,916
22.	United Kingdom	60,776,238
23.	Italy	58,147,733
24.	Korea, South	49,044,790
25.	Myanmar  (Burma)	47,373,958
26.	Ukraine	46,299,862
27.	Colombia	44,227,550
28.	South Africa	43,997,828
29.	Sudan	42,292,929
30.	Spain	40,448,191
31.	Argentina	40,301,927
32.	Poland	38,518,241
33.	Tanzania	38,139,640
34.	Kenya	36,913,721
35.	Morocco	33,757,175
36.	Canada	33,390,141
37.	Algeria	33,333,216
38.	Afghanistan	31,889,923
39.	Uganda	30,262,610
40.	Nepal	28,901,790
41.	Peru	28,674,757
42.	Uzbekistan	27,780,059
43.	Saudi Arabia	27,601,038
44.	Iraq	27,499,638
45.	Venezuela	26,084,662
46.	Malaysia	24,821,286
47.	Korea, North	23,301,725
48.	Taiwan	23,174,294
49.	Ghana	22,931,299
50.	Romania	22,276,056

Biggest Countries (In Area)

No.	Countries	Area
		sq. km	sq. mi
1	Russia	17,075,200	6,591,027
2	Canada	9,984,670	3,854,082
3	United States	9,631,418	3,717,727
4	China	9,596,960	3,704,426
5	Brazil	8,511,965	3,285,618
6	Australia	7,686,850	2,967,124
7	India	3,287,590	1,269,009
8	Argentina	2,766,890	1,068,019
9	Kazakhstan	2,717,300	1,048,877
10	Sudan	2,505,810	967,243
11	Algeria	2,381,740	919,352
12	Congo, Democratic Republic of the	2,345,410	905,328
13	Mexico	1,972,550	761,404
14	Saudi Arabia	1,960,582	756,785
15	Indonesia	1,919,440	740,904
16	Libya	1,759,540	679,182
17	Iran	1,648,000	636,128
18	Mongolia	1,564,116	603,749
19	Peru	1,285,220	496,095
20	Chad	1,284,000	495,624

Complete Listing of World Wonders

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

• The Great Pyramid of Giza • The Hanging Gardens of Babylon • The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus • The Statue of Zeus at Olympia • The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus • The Colossus of Rhodes • The Pharos of Alexandria

The Seven Wonders of the Medieval Mind

• Stonehenge • The Colosseum • The Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa • The Great Wall of China • The Porcelain Tower of Nanjing • The Hagia Sophia • The Leaning Tower of Pisa

The Seven Natural Wonders of the World

• Mount Everest • The Great Barrier Reef • The Grand Canyon • Victoria Falls • The Harbor of Rio de Janeiro • Paricutin Volcano • The Northern Lights

The Seven Underwater Wonders of the World

• Palau • The Belize Barrier Reef • The Galapagos Islands • The Northern Red Sea • Lake Baikal • The Great Barrier Reef • The Deep Sea Vents

The Seven Wonders of the Modern World

• The Empire State Building • The Itaipú Dam • The CN Tower • The Panama Canal • The Channel Tunnel • The North Sea Protection Works • The Golden Gate Bridge

The Seven Forgotten Natural Wonders of the World

• Angel Falls • The Bay of Fundy • Iguaçú Falls • Krakatoa Island • Mount Fuji • Mount Kilimanjaro • Niagara Falls

The Seven Forgotten Modern Wonders of the World

• The Clock Tower (Big Ben) • Eiffel Tower • The Gateway Arch • The Aswan High Dam • Hoover Dam • Mount Rushmore National Memorial • The Petronas Towers

The Seven Forgotten Wonders of the Medeival Mind

• Abu Simbel Temple • Angkor Wat • Taj Mahal • Mont Saint-Michel • The Moai Statues • The Parthenon • The Shwedagon Pagoda

The Forgotten Wonders

• The Aztec Temple • The Banaue Rice Terraces • The Borobudur Temple • The Inca City • The Statue of Liberty • The Mayan Temples • The Temple of the Inscriptions • The Throne Hall of Persepolis • Petra • The Suez Canal • The Sydney Opera House • The Red Fort in India

Area and Population of Countries

Country Capital Area sq. mi Population Afghanistan Kabul 250,000 31,056,997 Albania Tiranë 11,100 3,581,655 Algeria Algiers 919,590 32,930,091 Andorra Andorra la Vella 181 71,201 Angola Luanda 481,351 12,127,071 Antigua and Barbuda St. John's 171 69,108 Argentina Buenos Aires 1,068,296 39,921,833 Armenia Yerevan 11,506 2,976,372 Australia Canberra 2,967,893 20,264,082 Austria Vienna 32,382 8,192,880 Azerbaijan Baku 33,436 7,961,619 Bahamas Nassau 5,382 303,770 Bahrain Al-Manámah 257 698,585 Bangladesh Dhaka 55,598 147,365,352 Barbados Bridgetown 166 279,912 Belarus Mensk (Minsk) 80,154 10,293,011 Belgium Brussels 11,787 10,379,067 Belize Belmopan 8,867 287,730 Benin Porto-Novo 43,483 7,862,944 Bhutan Thimphu 18,147 2,279,723 Bolivia La Paz 424,162 8,989,046 Bosnia and Herzegovina Sarajevo 19,741 4,498,976 Botswana Gaborone 231,803 1,639,833 Brazil Brasília 3,286,470 188,078,227 Brunei Bandar Seri Begawan 2,228 379,444 Bulgaria Sofia 42,822 7,385,367 Burkina Faso Ouagadougou 105,869 13,902,972 Burundi Bujumbura 10,745 8,090,068 Cambodia Phnom Penh 69,900 13,881,427 Cameroon Yaoundé 183,567 17,340,702 Canada Ottawa 3,855,081 33,098,932 Cape Verde Praia 1,557 420,979 Central African Republic Bangui 240,534 4,303,356 Chad N'Djamena 495,752 9,944,201 Chile Santiago 292,258 16,134,219 China Beijing 3,705,386 1,313,973,713 Colombia Bogotá 439,733 43,593,035 Comoros Moroni 838 690,948 Congo, Republic of Brazzaville 132,046 3,702,314 Congo, Democratic Republic of the Kinshasa 905,563 62,660,551 Costa Rica San José 19,730 4,075,261 Côte d'Ivoire Yamoussoukro 124,502 17,654,843 Croatia Zagreb 21,831 4,494,749 Cuba Havana 42,803 11,382,820 Cyprus Nicosia 3,571 784,301 Czech Republic Prague 30,450 10,235,455 Denmark Copenhagen 16,639 5,450,661 Djibouti Djibouti 8,880 486,530 Dominica Roseau 291 68,910 Dominican Republic Santo Domingo 18,815 9,183,984 East Timor Dili 5,794 1,062,777 Ecuador Quito 109,483 13,547,510 Egypt Cairo 386,660 78,887,007 El Salvador San Salvador 8,124 6,822,378 Equatorial Guinea Malabo 10,830 540,109 Eritrea Asmara 46,842 4,786,994 Estonia Tallinn 17,462 1,324,333 Ethiopia Addis Ababa 435,184 74,777,981 Fiji Suva 7,054 905,949 Finland Helsinki 130,558 5,231,372 France Paris 211,208 60,876,136 Gabon Libreville 103,346 1,424,906 Gambia Banjul 4,363 1,641,564 Georgia Tbilisi 26,911 4,661,473 Germany Berlin 137,846 82,422,299 Ghana Accra 92,456 22,409,572 Greece Athens 50,942 10,688,058 Grenada St. George's 133 89,703 Guatemala Guatemala City 42,042 12,293,545 Guinea Conakry 94,925 9,690,222 Guinea-Bissau Bissau 13,946 1,442,029 Guyana Georgetown 83,000 767,245 Haiti Port-au-Prince 10,714 8,308,504 Honduras Tegucigalpa 43,278 7,326,496 Hungary Budapest 35,919 9,981,334 Iceland Reykjavik 39,768 299,388 India New Delhi 1,269,338 1,095,351,995 Indonesia Jakarta 741,096 245,452,739 Iran Tehran 636,293 68,688,433 Iraq Baghdad 168,753 26,783,383 Ireland Dublin 27,135 4,062,235 Israel Jerusalem 8,019 6,352,117 Italy Rome 116,305 58,133,509 Jamaica Kingston 4,244 2,758,124 Japan Tokyo 145,882 127,463,611 Jordan Amman 35,637 5,906,760 Kazakhstan Astana 1,049,150 15,233,244 Kenya Nairobi 224,961 34,707,817 Kiribati Tarawa 313 105,432 Korea, North Pyongyang 46,540 23,113,019 Korea, South Seoul 38,023 48,846,823 Kuwait Kuwait City 6,880 2,418,393 Kyrgyzstan Bishkek 76,641 5,213,898 Laos Vientiane 91,428 6,368,481 Latvia Riga 24,938 2,274,735 Lebanon Beirut 4,015 3,874,050 Lesotho Maseru 11,720 2,022,331 Liberia Monrovia 43,000 3,042,004 Libya Tripoli 679,358 5,900,754 Liechtenstein Vaduz 62 33,987 Lithuania Vilnius 25,174 3,585,906 Luxembourg Luxembourg 998 474,413 Macedonia Skopje 9,781 2,050,554 Madagascar Antananarivo 226,656 18,595,469 Malawi Lilongwe 45,745 13,013,926 Malaysia Kuala Lumpur 127,316 24,385,858 Maldives Malé 116 359,008 Mali Bamako 478,764 11,716,829 Malta Valletta 122 400,214 Marshall Islands Majuro 4,577 60,422 Mauritania Nouakchott 397,953 3,177,388 Mauritius Port Louis 788 1,240,827 Mexico Mexico City 761,602 107,449,525 Micronesia Palikir 271 108,004 Moldova Chisinau 13,067 4,466,706 Monaco Monaco 1 32,543 Mongolia Ulan Bator 603,905 2,832,224 Montenegro Cetinje 5,415 630,548 Morocco Rabat 172,413 33,241,259 Mozambique Maputo 309,494 19,686,505 Myanmar (Burma) Rangoon 261,969 47,382,633 Namibia Windhoek 318,694 2,044,147 Nauru Yaren 8 13,287 Nepal Kathmandu 54,363 28,287,147 Netherlands Amsterdam 16,033 16,491,461 New Zealand Wellington 103,737 4,076,140 Nicaragua Managua 49,998 5,570,129 Niger Niamey 489,189 12,525,094 Nigeria Abuja 356,667 131,859,731 Norway Oslo 125,181 4,610,820 Oman Muscat 82,031 3,102,229 Pakistan Islamabad 310,401 165,803,560 Palau Koror 177 20,579 Panama Panama City 30,193 3,191,319 Papua New Guinea Port Moresby 178,703 5,670,544 Paraguay Asunción 157,046 6,506,464 Peru Lima 496,223 28,302,603 Philippines Manila 115,830 89,468,677 Poland Warsaw 120,728 38,536,869 Portugal Lisbon 35,672 10,605,870 Qatar Doha 4,416 885,359 Romania Bucharest 91,699 22,303,552 Russia Moscow 6,592,735 142,893,540 Rwanda Kigali 10,169 8,648,248 St. Kitts and Nevis Basseterre 101 39,129 St. Lucia Castries 238 168,458 St. Vincent and the Grenadines Kingstown 150 117,848 Samoa Apia 1,137 176,908 San Marino San Marino 24 29,251 São Tomé and Príncipe São Tomé 386 193,413 Saudi Arabia Riyadh 756,981 27,019,731 Senegal Dakar 75,749 11,987,121 Serbia Belgrade 34,116 9,396,411 Seychelles Victoria 176 81,541 Sierra Leone Freetown 27,699 6,005,250 Singapore Singapore 267 4,492,150 Slovakia Bratislava 18,859 5,439,448 Slovenia Ljubljana 7,827 2,010,347 Solomon Islands Honiara 10,985 552,438 Somalia Mogadishu 246,199 8,863,338 South Africa Pretoria 471,008 44,187,637 Spain Madrid 194,896 40,397,842 Sri Lanka Colombo 25,332 20,222,240 Sudan Khartoum 967,493 41,236,378 Suriname Paramaribo 63,039 439,117 Swaziland Mbabane 6,704 1,136,334 Sweden Stockholm 173,731 9,016,596 Switzerland Bern 15,942 7,523,934 Syria Damascus 71,498 18,881,361 Taiwan Taipei 13,892 23,036,087 Tajikistan Dushanbe 55,251 7,320,815 Tanzania Dodoma 364,898 37,445,392 Thailand Bangkok 198,455 64,631,595 Togo Lomé 21,925 5,548,702 Tonga Nuku'alofa 289 114,689 Trinidad and Tobago Port-of-Spain 1,980 1,065,842 Tunisia Tunis 63,170 10,175,014 Turkey Ankara 301,382 70,413,958 Turkmenistan Ashgabat 188,455 5,042,920 Tuvalu Funafuti 10 11,810 Uganda Kampala 91,135 28,195,754 Ukraine Kyiv (Kiev) 233,089 46,710,816 United Arab Emirates Abu Dhabi 32,000 2,602,713 United Kingdom London 94,525 60,609,153 United States Washington, D.C. 3,718,691 298,444,215 Uruguay Montevideo 68,039 3,431,932 Uzbekistan Tashkent 172,741 27,307,134 Vanuatu Vila 4,710 208,869 Vatican City   0.17 932 Venezuela Caracas 352,143 25,730,435 Vietnam Hanoi 127,243 84,402,966 Western Sahara   102,703 278,600 Yemen Sanaá 203,849 21,456,188 Zambia Lusaka 290,584 11,502,010 Zimbabwe Harare 150,803 12,236,805

Census Bureau, International Database, and The World Factbook, 2005. Information Please® Database, © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.