Lesser known facts about this inhumane punishment
The northernmost point on Earth is the North Pole. Pictured: sea ice at the North Pole.
The northernmost point on land is the northern tip of Kaffeklubben Island, north of Greenland.
The southernmost point on Earth and the southernmost point of land is the South Pole.
The southernmost island in the world is Berkner Island, an Antarctic ice rise.
The southernmost point of open ocean is part of the Ross Sea, at the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf.
The southernmost point of ocean is located on the Gould Coast, a portion of the coast of Antarctica along the eastern margin of the Ross Ice Shelf.
The three islands of Fiji are also bissected by the 180th meridian, which also makes this destination the westernmost and easternmost point on Earth.
The westernmost point of land is Attu Island, Alaska. The island was the site of the only World War II land battle fought in the United States.
The easternmost point on land is Caroline Island in the Pacific Ocean. It's also known for being the first place on Earth to receive sunlight during much of the year.
The highest point on Earth’s surface measured from sea level is the summit of Mount Everest, at 8,848 m (29,029 ft).
The point farthest from the Earth's center is the summit of Chimborazo in Ecuador, at 6,384.4 km (3,967.1 mi) from the Earth's core.
The road to Umling near Demchock in Ladakh, India is claimed to be the world's highest unsurfaced road. At its highest point, the road reaches an elevation of 5,800 m (19,029 ft).
The highest point accessible by train is Tanggula Pass, located in the Tanggula Mountains of Qinghai/Tibet, at 5,072 m (16,640 ft).
The highest point accessible by an oceangoing vessel is a section of the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal between the Hilpoltstein and Bachhausen locks (pictured) in Bavaria, Germany, which raise the surface water level in the canal to 406 m (1,332 ft) above sea level.
At 4,411m (14,472 ft), Daocheng Yading Airport in Sichuan, China is the highest commercial airport in the world.
La Rinconada is situated 5,100 m (16,732 ft) above sea level in the Peruvian Andes, making the town the highest permanent human settlement in the world.
The highest point accessible by land vehicle is an elevation of 6,688 m (21,942 ft) on Ojos del Salado in Chile, currently a high-altitude record for a four-wheeled vehicle.
The highest navigable lake is Lake Titicaca, on the border of Bolivia and Peru, at 3,812 m (12,507 ft).
Khumbu Glacier on the southwest slopes of Mount Everest is the highest glacier, at an elevation of 7,600 to 8,000 m (24,900 to 26,200 ft).
The lowest artificial point underground ever reached was 12,262 m (40, 230 ft) deep at the Kola Superdeep Borehole, drilled during the Soviet era. Pictured is the Kola Superdeep Borehole, commemorated on a 1987 USSR stamp.
The lowest artificial point underground is 3,900 m (12,800 ft) below ground at the TauTona Mine in Carletonville (pictured), South Africa.
The lowest artificial point underwater is the 10,685 m- (35,056 ft-) deep oil and gas well drilled on the Tiber Oil Field in the Gulf of Mexico. The Tiber Oil Field was drilled in 2009 by the oil rig Deepwater Horizon, later destroyed as a result of an explosion.
The lowest (from surface) artificially made point with open sky may be the Bighman canyon open-pit mine in Salt Lake City, which plunges to a depth of 1,200 m (3,900 ft) below surface level.
The lowest point on land not covered by liquid water is the canyon under Denman Glacier at Queen Mary Land in Antarctica, with the bedrock being 3,500 m (11,500 ft) below sea level.
The Dead Sea, shared by Israel, Palestine, and Jordan, is the lowest point on dry land, at 432.65 m (1,419 ft) below sea level. In addition, the lowest points attainable by transportation are any of the roads alongside the Dead Sea in Israel and Jordan.
The lowest point attainable by commercial train transportation is the Seikan Tunnel of Japan railroad, at 240 m (787 ft) below sea level.
Atyrau Airport, near Atyrau, Kazakhstan, is the lowest commercial airport, at 22 m (72 ft) below sea level, in the Caspian Sea basin.
Baku in Azerbaijan sits at 28 m (92 ft) below sea level, making it the lowest-lying national capital in the world.
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Bouvet Island, a small, uninhabited island in the South Atlantic Ocean that is a dependency of Norway, is considered the most remote island in the world. The nearest landmass is Antarctica, over 1,600 km (994 mi) to the south.
The most remote inhabited archipelago is Tristan da Cunha, which lies 2,432 km (1,511 mi) off the coast of South Africa.
Easter Island is considered the most remote inhabited island; the nearest continental point lies in central Chile, 3,512 km (2,182 mi) away.
With an estimated depth of 1,642 m (5,387 ft), Lake Baikal in southern Russia is the world's deepest lake.
Dallol, in Ethiopia, is the world's hottest inhabited place. An average annual temperature of 35°C (95°F) was recorded between 1960 and 1966.
The coldest inhabited place on the planet is considered to be Oymyakon in Russia. It has has the coldest monthly mean, with −46.4 °C (−51.5 °F) the average temperature in January, the coldest month.
A ground temperature of 93.9 °C (201 °F) was recorded in Furnace Creek in California's Death Valley on July 15, 1972; this may be the highest natural ground surface temperature ever recorded.
The southernmost continental point of land outside Antarctica is Cape Froward, located in the Magallanes Region of Chile, along the north shore of the Magellan Strait.
This is the Trango Towers group in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan. The highest point in the group is the summit of Great Trango Tower at 6,286 m (20,623 ft), the east face of which features the world's greatest near-vertical drop.
Located at 378 m (1,240 ft) below mean sea level, Bar Yehuda Airfield, near Masada, in Israel, is the lowest airfield in the world.
Angel Falls in Venezuela is the world's highest uninterrupted waterfall, with a height of 979 m (3,212 ft) and a plunge of 807 m (2,648 ft).
At 120 m (393 ft) below sea level, Beit She'an railway station in Israel is the lowest in the world.
Mount Thor in Auyuittuq National Park on Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada boasts the greatest purely vertical drop. Its summit elevation is 1,675 m (5,495 ft).
The deepest known cave on Earth is Veryovkina Cave in Abkhazia, Georgia, at 2,212 m (7,257 ft) deep.
The southernmost point of water is a bay on the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf (pictured) along the coast of Antarctica.
The highest river is disputed, but it's likely the Yarlung Tsangpo, the source of which is about 6,020 m (19,751 ft) above sea level. Originating in western Tibet, it ultimately flows into India and Bangladesh.
The lowest known natural point on the planet is Challenger Deep, at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, at 11,034 m (36,201 ft) below sea level.
The westernmost and easternmost points on Earth can be found anywhere along the 180th meridian (which divides the earth into the Western and Eastern Hemispheres) in Siberia (including Wrangle Island, pictured).
The Kidd Mine in Ontario, Canada is 2,733 m (8,967 ft) below sea level—the deepest accessible non-marine point on earth. It is also the world's deepest copper-zinc mine.
The surface of the Arctic Ocean, at the North Pole, is the lowest point attainable by a person to the Earth's center. Pictured: North Pole at sunset.
The highest helipad is Sonam, located on the Siachen Glacier (pictured) in India. Pilots land at a height of 6,400 m (20,997 ft) above sea level.
A spot in the Gurbantünggüt Desert in China known as the Eurasian pole of inaccessibility is considered the most distant point from an ocean.
The most remote airport in the world (defined as distance to another airport) is Mataveri International Airport on Easter Island.
The farthest road from the Earth's center is the road to Carrel Hut in the Ecuadorian Andes.
The Hambach surface mine in Germany is probably the lowest (from sea level) artificially made point with open sky, which reaches a depth of 293 m (961 ft) below seal level.
The lowest undersea highway tunnel is the Eiksund Tunnel in Norway, at 287 m (942 ft) below sea level.
The highest point accessible by road (dead end) is on a mining road to the summit of Aucanquilcha in Chile, which reaches an elevation of 6,176 m (20,262 ft).
The highest asphalted road crosses Tibet's Semo La Pass at 5,566 m (18,261 ft), though in places it resembles a dirt track.
The most distant point from land is the Pacific pole of inaccessibility (also called "Nemo Point"), which lies in the South Pacific Ocean, approximately 2,688 km (1,670 mi) from the nearest land.
The highest island is one of a number of islands in the Orba Co, a lake in Tibet that's set at an elevation of 5,209 m (17,090 ft).
Furthermore, with a summit of 6,983 m (22, 615 ft), Ojos del Salado on the Argentine-Chile border is the highest of any volcano on Earth. The unnamed crater lake on Ojos del Salado is also the highest natural lake.
The farthest point on Earth (the point furthest from the axis of Earth) is the summit of Cayambe, in Ecuador. This also means its summit rotates the fastest as Earth spins.
What is the most distant point from an ocean? Where is the highest permanent human settlement located, or the lowest commercial airport? And what is the greatest vertical drop found anywhere?
Our world is a place of extremes, a planet of mind-boggling contrast that puzzles and amazes us in equal measure. And it's always full of surprises! So, do you know the answers to the questions above?
Click through the following gallery for a list of 60 extreme points on Earth that will have you shaking your head in disbelief.
Discover 60 extreme points of Earth
The deepest, highest, and lowest places
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What is the most distant point from an ocean? Where is the highest permanent human settlement located, or the lowest commercial airport? And what is the greatest vertical drop found anywhere?
Our world is a place of extremes, a planet of mind-boggling contrast that puzzles and amazes us in equal measure. And it's always full of surprises! So, do you know the answers to the questions above?
Click through the following gallery for a list of 60 extreme points on Earth that will have you shaking your head in disbelief.