World Facts and Geography

The first commercial Christmas card was designed in England in 1843 by John Calcott Horsley for Sir Henry Cole. The custom quickly gained popularity in both England and the United States, where Louis Prang later became known as the father of the American Christmas card in the 1870s.

Fossil and genetic evidence strongly indicates that the earliest hominids and modern humans (Homo sapiens) originated on the African continent. From Africa, early human populations gradually migrated to populate the rest of the world.

Scientific evidence shows that early humans originated in Africa before migrating to other parts of the world. Therefore, at one point in evolutionary history, all humans lived on the African continent.

While the evolutionary ancestors of horses originated in North America before going extinct there, modern domesticated horses were first domesticated in the Eurasian steppes, which spans regions of Central and East Asia. They were later reintroduced to the Americas by European explorers.

Modern taurine cattle were domesticated from wild aurochs in the Fertile Crescent region of the Middle East approximately 10,500 years ago. Another lineage, Zebu cattle, was domesticated independently in the Indus Valley.

Juan Vucetich, an Argentine police official, developed a highly effective fingerprint classification system in the early 1890s. His system was widely adopted across Spanish-speaking South America and subsequently influenced fingerprint filing methods in several European nations. Therefore, both Spanish-speaking and European countries utilized his system.

Giraffes are endemic to the African continent, where they inhabit savannas, grasslands, and open woodlands. They do not exist in the wild on any other continent, though they are kept in zoos worldwide.

Antarctica is the only continent where bees are not found because it is too cold and lacks the flowering plants needed for their survival. All other continents have diverse populations of bees.

An archipelago is a group or chain of islands. Both Indonesia and the Philippines are island nations made up of thousands of individual islands, making them classic examples of archipelagos.

Mainland Southeast Asia features two major peninsulas: the Indochinese Peninsula (which includes Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, and Myanmar) and the long, narrow Malay Peninsula to the south.

Laos is the only country in Southeast Asia that does not have a coastline, making it entirely landlocked. The other options, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Brunei, all have direct access to the sea.

Indonesia has the largest population among all ASEAN member states, with over 270 million people. This makes it the fourth most populous country in the world, far exceeding the populations of Malaysia, Cambodia, and the Philippines.

Singapore is an island city-state with a total land area of only about 730 square kilometers, making it the smallest country in ASEAN by land mass. The other options represent much larger nations in mainland and maritime Southeast Asia.