The World's Southernmost Things

The word the 'South' can be defined in many ways such as the Confederate States of America during the Civil War, South America, and even Australia. In this article, the South will be the Southern Hemisphere of the Earth and its most extreme points, such as where the southernmost capital in the world is and the southernmost bank. These statistics and figures will exclude Antarctica when measuring populations as it only has seasonal research bases there.

One most travel even more south of the land down under to reach the southernmost capital in the world which happens to be Wellington in New Zealand. Wellington is ironically enough at the southern tip of North Island and has a population of 380,000 people. Its latitude is 41°17′20″S and the city has an average high of 60° F in the summer and 47° F in the winter, according to Wikipedia. Wellington is also home to the most southern embassy in the world being the Iranian Embassy in New Zealand.

The southernmost bank in the world can be found at Villa Las Estrellas on King George Island in Antarctica. The Bank of Credit and Investment is operated by one person and serves Chilean citizens and helps them with financial transactions. About 120 people in the Chilean hamlet.

Public libraries can be found all over the world, even at the southern tip of South America in Ushuaia, Argentina at latitude 54°48′S, according to WIkipedia. The southernmost university in the world is also found in Ushuaia: National University of the Patagonia San Juan Bosco, named after the patron saint of Ushaia, with approximately 14,000 students matriculated.

The most southern American companies are spread out all over the Southern Hemisphere. McDonald's most southern restaurant chain is located in Punta Arenas, Chile and for Subway, it is in Invercargill, New Zealand. Christchurch on South Island in New Zealand is the site of the most southern Holiday Inn hotel at latitude 43°31′58″S.

Believe it or not, volcanoes can be found as south as Antarctica, such as Mount Erebus. It is at latitude 77°32′S on Ross Island and is about 12,000 ft tall. It is currently the most active volcano in Antarctica as well.

On a more religious note, the southernmost mosque and synagogue in the world are in Dunedin, New Zealand at the southern part of South Island. The church title goes to the Trinity Church on King George Island in Antarctica.

And no list is complete without knowing where the southernmost nuclear power plant in the world is. It is located in Koeberg, South Africa, about 30 kilometers north of Cape Town. It supplies energy on a national grid to the country, though other power plants even more south of Koeberg are under construction.