What's the difference between the ocean and the sea, a mountain and a hill, a forest and a jungle?

You may have hated geography but I promise, when I explain these landforms, you'll never forget. Also, book our trip to Ado Awaye and buy our games for only ₦5,000.

My People,

This past Easter holiday was so restful for me and I hope it was for you too. We successfully hosted two trips to Badagry and Abeokuta, and if you missed them, you can explore photos on our Instagram and Twitter pages.

Also, I’ve got some great news for you. All our games in Nigeria are now heavily discounted to ₦5,000! Yep, that’s right. If you would like to order the games for adults or kids, send us a DM to @TVPgames_ on Instagram or Twitter or reply this e-mail and I’ll sort you out.

One more thing…we are going to Ado Awaye next week during the public holiday. This day trip is one of my favorites because the views of the mountain are spectacular and the only suspended lake in Africa is located on the mountain. You can book the day trip for only ₦29,000. We’ve got limited slots and I want you get some if you want.

So, let’s go to the topic of the day. What’s the difference between the ocean and the sea, a mountain and a hill, the forest and the jungle? Basically, do you even know what an island is, what makes Lekki a peninsula? Let’s learn about landforms today!

First, take a look at this colorful image:

If you look closely, you’ll be able to observe some terms we use every day. So, I’ll explain some of the landforms that people often get wrong or misuse.

So, here are some major differences:

1. Ocean vs Sea: Many times, we use these words interchangeably but there’s a technical difference. There are only 5 oceans on Earth (the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic and Southern Oceans). Oceans are vast bodies of salt water that cover more than 70% of the Earth’s surface and are only interrupted by continents. Seas are also large salt water masses, but they are much smaller than oceans because they are portions of the ocean that are partially surrounded by land. Usually, when you’re coming out from the land, you pass through the seas before you go out into the wider ocean. So, in summary, seas are smaller parts of the ocean that come in contact with the land and are almost entirely encapsulated by the land.

2. Island vs Archipelago: An island is a piece of land that’s entirely surrounded by water. When we think of our favorite holiday destinations, we think of island countries. However, most of them are actually archipelagos - a collection of islands. If there’s one piece of land surrounded by water, it is an island. If there are many pieces of land (or a cluster of land pieces) surrounded by water, then it’s an archipelago. Yep, Zanzibar, Seychelles and Maldives are all archipelagos.

3. Mountain vs Hill: When I climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, I truly understood the difference between a hill and a mountain. Yes, mountains are much higher than hills (we can’t exactly give a height limit) but also, mountains typically form peaks while hills have rounded tops. In addition, most hills tend to feel like a natural bump in the area, while mountains are sharper and steeper protrusions.

4. Forest vs Rainforest vs Jungle: Any large collection of densely-packed trees is called a forest. A rainforest is a type of forest that grows in rainy, tropical areas. Because of the nature of the environment, rainforests are mostly evergreen which means that their large wide leaves never turn brown or red and they stay lush green all year long, unlike some other forests which have smaller or spikier leaves and shed them in the fall and winter. A jungle typically refers to the undergrowth of rainforests (the shorter, more entangled layer of rainforests), even though sometimes, the word is used to simply mean ‘forest’.

5. Glacier vs Iceberg: Most people know that an iceberg brought down the Titanic but what is an iceberg? It is a large piece of ice that’s floating in the ocean. But where do these icebergs come from? Well, most of them fall off glaciers, which are large mountains of ice in colder regions. As the region warms up, pieces of the ice mountain (glacier) falls off into the sea and depending on how large it is, it could be a huge obstacle to ships.

Now, take one more look at the image above. Is it clearer?

How do you feel about landforms? Do you think you’ve learned something today? Please, share as a comment or as a reply to this e-mail.

Before you go, please share this newsletter with other curious minds. There’s something pretty cool to discover (almost) every week!

Love,
Funmi.