Angkor Wat is spread across over 400 acres / 1.6 km², and is said to be the largest religious monument in the world. It was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992, which encouraged an international effort to save the complex.
Since around 1850, Angkor Wat has been featured in the center of the national flag of Cambodia, as if to show their incredible pride in the ancient monument. Their pride is also reflected by putting images from Angkor Wat on many denominations of the riel (Cambodia's currency).
Unlike most Angkorian temples which are commonly directed to the east, Angkor Wat is oriented to the west, a direction associated with death in Hindu culture. So, many archaeologists and scholars have concluded that Suryavarman intended to use it as a funerary temple.
Also, the direction means it faces the sunset, which adds to its beauty and attracts many visitors at this time.
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This brilliant building has 80 entrances and could seat approximately 50,000 spectators who would come to watch sporting events and games. These events included gladiatorial combats, wild animal hunts and, believe it or not, ship naval battles!
Made from stone and concrete, this magnificent monument was built with the man power of tens of thousands of slaves.
The first games ever to be held were in 80 A.D, under Emperor Titus (the son of Vespasian), and they ran for 100 days straight. Games continued to be held for centuries to come – gladiatorial games until the fifth century and animal hunts until the 6th century.Click here to see more...
At 6.9 million square kilometers (2.72 million square miles), the Amazon Basin is roughly the size of the forty-eight contiguous United States and covers some 40 percent of the South American continent. The "Amazon rainforest" — which defined biogeographically includes the rainforest in the Guianas, which technically are outside the Amazon Basin — covers 7.8-8.2 million square km (3-3.2 million square mi), of which just over 80 percent is forested.
The Amazon River is by far the world's largest river by volume, carrying more than five times the volume of the Congo or twelve times that of the Mississippi. It drains an area nearly the size of the forty-eight contiguous United States and has over 1,100 tributaries, 17 of which are longer than 1000 miles.
70 percent of South America's GDP is produced in areas that receive rainfall or water from the Amazon. The Amazon influences rainfall patterns as far away as the United States. See more...