Extreme points of the world

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This is a list of lists of extreme points of the world, the points that are farther north, south, east or west than any other locations on the landmasses, continents or countries.

1 The world
2 The Americas
3 Antarctica
4 Australasia
5 Africa-Eurasia
6 See also

[edit] The world

[edit] Latitude and longitude

The northernmost point of the world is the geographic North Pole, in the Arctic Ocean.
The northernmost point on land is Kaffeklubben Island, north of Greenland (83°40′N 29°50′W), which lies slightly north of Cape Morris Jesup, Greenland (83°38′N 32°40′W). Various shifting gravel bars lie further north, the most famous being Oodaaq. It is possible that Schmitt's Island, which lies just north of Kaffeklubben, is a permanent island. The term Ultima Thule was given by medieval cartographers for the northernmost point of land.
The southernmost point of the world and the southernmost point on land is the geographic South Pole, which is on the continent of Antarctica.
The westernmost and easternmost points of land, based on the normal practice of using longitude, can be found anywhere along the 180th meridian in Siberian Russia (including Wrangel Island), Antarctica, or the three islands of Fiji through which the 180th meridian passes (Vanua Levu's eastern peninsula, the middle of Taveuni, and the western part of Rabi.)
The westernmost point on land, according to the path of the International Date Line, would be Attu Island, Alaska.
The easternmost point on land, according to the path of the International Date Line, would be Caroline Island, Kiribati.¹

¹A 1995 realignment of the International Date Line ([1]) moved all of Kiribati to the Asian side of the Date Line, causing Caroline Island to be the easternmost. However, if the original Date Line were followed, the easternmost point would be Tafahi Niuatoputapu, in the Tonga Islands chain.

[edit] Altitude

The highest point measured from sea level is the summit of Mount Everest. While measurements of its height vary slightly, the elevation of its peak is usually given as 8,848 m (29,028 feet) above sea level.
The lowest point is Challenger Deep, at the bottom of the Mariana Trench: 10,911 m (35,797 feet) below sea level [2].
The lowest point on dry land is the shore of the Dead Sea, 418 m below sea level. See List of places on land with elevations below sea level
The lowest point on land not covered by liquid water is the floor of the Bentley Subglacial Trench: 2,555 m below sea level. See the Extremes on Earth page. See List of places on land with elevations below sea level
The point farthest from the Earth's centre is the summit of Chimborazo (due to the Earth not being a perfect sphere), at 6384.4 km. (Everest's summit is at 6382.3 km.)
The point closest to the Earth's centre (~6353 km) is probably somewhere at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean (depth ~4 km) near the Geographic North pole (the bottom of the Mariana Trench is 6366.4 km from the centre of the Earth).
Highest attainable by transportation:
- Road (mountain pass): Semo La, Tibet, 5,565 m, 30°06.6′N 85°25.9′E, or Marsimik La, Indian Himalaya, 5,590 m, 34°05.6′N 78°37.1′E, depending on definition of "attainable by transportation". There may be higher motorable passes in Tibet, in areas affected by lack of information and restricted access. See Khardung La, 5,359 m for more information.
- Train: Tanggula Mountain Pass, Tibet, 5,072 m

[edit] Remoteness

The Eurasian pole of inaccessibility, the point on land farthest from any ocean, is located approximately 320 km (200 mi) from the city of Urumqi, in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region of China, at 46°16.8′N 86°40.2′E (in the Dzoosotoyn Elisen Desert). This position is at a distance of approximately 2648 km (1645 mi) from the nearest coastline.
The Pacific pole of inaccessibility (also called Point Nemo), the point in the ocean farthest from any land, lies in the South Pacific Ocean at 48°52.6′S 123°23.6′W, which is approximately 2688 km (1670 mi) from the nearest land (equidistant from Ducie Island in the Pitcairn Islands to the north, Maher Island off Siple Island near Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica to the south and Motu Nui off Rapa Nui in the north east). It is in the middle of an area of 22,405,411 km² (8,650,778 sq mi) of ocean, larger than the entire former Soviet Union.
The most remote island is Bouvet Island, an uninhabited and small Norwegian island in the South Atlantic Ocean. It lies at coordinates 54°26′S 3°24′E. The nearest land is the uninhabited Queen Maud Land, Antarctica, over 1600 km away to the south. The nearest inhabited land are Tristan da Cunha, 2260 km away and South Africa, 2580 km away.
The most remote archipelago is the British Tristan da Cunha Islands in the South Atlantic Ocean, 2816 km (1750 miles) from South Africa and 3360 km (2088 miles) from South America. This is also the most remote inhabited archipelago.
The most remote, major inhabited city is either Honolulu, Hawaii or Perth in western Australia, depending upon one's definition of "remote" and "major." There are no settlements within 3800 km of Honolulu or within 2200 km of Perth larger than the 30,000 to 50,000 population range (Hilo, Hawaii and Geraldton and Kalgoorlie, Australia).

[edit] Centre

Since the Earth is a near-sphere, its centre (the core) is thousands of kilometres beneath its crust. However, one could perhaps consider the intersection of the Equator and Prime Meridian, located at the coordinates of zero degrees by zero, to be the "centre" of the human world, especially when viewed on a map. This point is located in the Atlantic Ocean approximately 614 km south of Accra, Ghana, in the Gulf of Guinea.