What country has the higest lowest point ?

[Friday]

*Originally posted by UncleBeer *
**

And hey, now that I think about it, how the HELL can the lowest point in a country be a river junction? Water doesn’t flow uphill!

And now that I think about it, this is still a good question. I mean, those rivers must be contained in something. Wouldn’t the riverbank necessarily be higher than the river itself? **

The river bank is higher than the river, but since we’re looking for the highest lowest point, it’s immaterial. Think about it.

[UncleBeer]

Whack! Of course. Color me stupid.

[The_Rat]

…has anyone else driven through Everglades National Park to Flamingo? There’s a point on the road that tops out somewhere about a metre above sea level. Someone, obviously with a wry sense of humour, has named it on the map as ‘Rock Reef Pass’.

[wolfman]

According to the CIA World Factbook, Rwanda has the highest low point at 950 meters (3117 ft) above sea level

The lowest point in Colorado is 3350ft. Now I just need to convince everyone else that it’s worth secceding for, and we will hold the record.

[Arnold_Winkelried]

Good find UncleBeer! If the question had been asked in 1949, before the Chinese invasion of Tibet, I bet the answer would have been Tibet. I haven’t found a site that mentions the lowest elevation in Tibet yet, but I’m still looking.

I was disappointed to see that Switzerland wasn’t even in the top three! Or maybe I didn’t read the site right. I will also report on Switzerland’s ranking when I come back.

[hibernicus]

*Originally posted by Colibri *
**Most countries use “mean sea level,” which is the mean of mean high tide and mean low tide. This site, says the UK does it differently from the way you describe it for Ireland.
**

I’ve been searching for a cite for my description, and so far it’s inconclusive. All I can say is that it was correct in 1930, according to this fascinating document, which says:

"The Datum for the Isle of Man was established on the same principle as that of Liverpool (for Great Britain), i.e., both were established from Mean Sea Level.

The Ordnance Datum for Ireland differs from that for the Isle of Man and Liverpool, the Irish Datum being established from the Low Water of Spring Tides."

Things may well have changed since 1930, but even the maps of my childhood were based on a spring low water at Dublin Port from sometime in the 1830s. If they changed to mean sea level since then, all the mountains would have lost a couple of metres in height.

[hibernicus]

*Originally posted by Arnold Winkelried *
**I haven’t found a site that mentions the lowest elevation in Tibet yet, but I’m still looking.
**

From Hello Tibet:

The lowest point in Tibet is near the great bend of the Yarlong Tsangpo as it turns southward towards India.

Annoyingly, this site does not actually state the altitude of this location.
Other sites of varying credibility mention 11,000 feet, 11,500 or 12,000 feet as the lowest altitude, but this site claims that part of Tibet is below 3,000 m.

With an altitude less than 3,000m it is one of the lowest places in all Tibet, and a climate that is ‘almost-tropical’ in the minds of wind-swept Tibetans from their high plateau.

The beauty of the internet: you can find as many answers as you want, one of which may be correct.

[scratch1300]

*Originally posted by UncleBeer *
**
Coldie, I’d be willing to be there’s a bunch of tiny little island nations that have lower high-points than your country.

Navassa Island:
lowest point: Caribbean Sea 0 m
highest point: unnamed location on southwest side 77 m

**

Nation? Navassa is an untenanted island owned by the United States.