Africa’s five smallest countries are all island nations: the Seychelles, São Tomé and Príncipe, Mauritius, Comoros, and Cape Verde. The smallest country on the mainland is the Gambia, which — at 4,361 square miles — is about the same size as Connecticut. Despite its relatively small size, the Gambia is home to 2.3 million people, making it one of the most densely populated countries in West Africa.

The Newby-McMahon Building in Wichita Falls, Texas, bills itself as the “world’s littlest skyscraper,” standing just four floors and 40 feet tall. Why isn’t the building any taller? During the oil boom of the early 1900s, snake oil salesman J.D. McMahon conned local businesses and individuals into investing in the construction of a high-rise. Once he’d received the payout of $200,000, he skipped town after building this mini skyscraper.

The smallest country in Africa is also home to the smallest national park in the world. Moyenne Island National Park, located off the coast of the Seychelles, comprises a mere 22 acres. In 1964, the once-abandoned island was purchased by a British newspaper editor named Brendon Grimshaw. He and a native Seychellois, Rene Antoine Lafortune, turned the island into a preserve, which is now a national park.

Asia stakes claim to 30% of the world’s land area, but the nation making the smallest contribution to that claim is the Maldives. Covering only 116 square miles in the Indian Ocean, the Maldives is made up of 26 atolls – islands formed of coral. Tourism is one of the top industries for the beautiful island nation, and staying in an overwater bungalow is a bucket-list dream for many travelers.

At just eight square miles, Nauru takes the cake for the smallest island nation in the world. At that size, Nauru is only bigger than two other countries: Monaco and Vatican City. Because there is not room for much on this South Pacific island, it might come as no surprise that Nauru has just 18 miles of roads and is home to only about 11,000 people.

The island nation of Bahrain covers a total area of just 295 square miles (about four times the size of Washington, D.C.) — making it the smallest country on the Persian Gulf. It’s also the third-smallest country in Asia, behind the Maldives and Singapore. Bahrain was originally made up of 33 islands, but today that number stands at 84, after extensive land reclamation projects that have increased the country’s area by 38 square miles.

America's smallest county, Kalawao County on the Hawaiian island of Molokai, is only about 12 square miles in area. It also has a population of just 82 people as of the most recent census, making it the second-smallest county by population after Texas' Loving County with its 64 residents.

Bordered on three sides by France and the remaining side by the Mediterranean Sea, the European microstate of Monaco has just 2.38 miles of coastline. That makes it the shortest coastline of any country in the world. Monaco is also the second-smallest country in the world by land area (after Vatican City), home to just 38,000 residents in an area smaller than New York City’s Central Park.

The dual-island Caribbean nation of Saint Kitts and Nevis totals 104 square miles. It is also the least populated country in North America, home to less than 55,00 people. Part of the Leeward Islands, the country’s two islands are separated by a narrow two-mile-wide channel. The country’s tallest peak, Saint Kitt's Mount Liamuiga, stands 3,792 feet above the turquoise sea.

At only 12 miles long and 45 square miles, Kahoolawe is far and away the smallest Hawaiian island. Apart from its small size, Kahoolawe is the only one of the eight main Hawaiian islands that is uninhabited. The island once served as a military training site, and the U.S. Navy is still in the process of cleaning up the island, so it could be inhabited in the near future.

Covering a mere 2,185 square miles, Prince Edward Island is the smallest of Canada’s 10 provinces by a healthy margin. The second-smallest province, Nova Scotia, is more than 18,000 square miles bigger. Named in 1799 for Prince Edward, the Duke of Kent and father of Queen Victoria, Prince Edward Island accounts for only 0.1% of Canada’s landmass.

Covering just 6.73 square miles, Annapolis, Maryland, is the smallest U.S. state capital by land area. It is also the seventh-smallest capital in terms of population, with about 46,000 people. Annapolis was originally called Providence when it was first settled in 1649, and it was renamed in 1695 in honor of Queen Anne of England. Since 1845, it has been the home of the U.S. Naval Academy.

El Salvador is not only the smallest of the seven Central American nations, but also the most densely populated. The country, which borders the Pacific Ocean, is roughly 8,124 square miles in size and home to 6.5 million people. El Salvador is slightly smaller than Belize (8,867 square miles), the second-smallest Central American country.

Suriname covers about 63,000 square miles of the northeastern coast of South America — about the size of the state of Wisconsin. The nation is home to only 541,000 people, nearly half of whom reside in the capital of Paramaribo. A former Dutch colony, Suriname still uses Dutch as its official language.

Although Manhattan is the most densely populated of the New York City boroughs at 72,033 people per square mile (with a total of 1.6 million people), it is the smallest in size, measuring just 22.83 square miles. The largest borough by size is Queens, which measures 109.7 square miles. If you need your space, Staten Island is your best bet since there are “only” 8,112 people per square mile.

The smallest of the Balkan nations, Kosovo is a landlocked country about the size of Delaware. In 2008, the country declared its independence from neighboring Serbia; two years later, Kosovo’s sovereignty was formally recognized by the International Court of Justice. This makes Kosovo the youngest nation in Europe, just ahead of Serbia, which only became an independent country in 2006.

Hainan, whose name means "south of the sea," is the smallest province in China. At just 13,200 square miles, and with a population around 9 million people, the island only became its own province in 1988. Located about 200 miles east of Vietnam and just off the coast of China's Guangdong province, Hainan is also China's largest island, other than the controversial region of Taiwan.

The smallest of Earth’s five oceans, the Arctic makes up only 3% of the planet’s area that is covered by oceans. Covering 5.4 million square miles north of the Arctic Circle, the ice-packed Arctic Ocean is almost completely landlocked. It’s linked with the Pacific via the Bering Strait and with the Atlantic via the Greenland Sea.

Earth is divided into seven continents. Asia is the largest by area, covering over 17 million square miles, followed in order by Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, and Europe. Australia (also called Oceania to include the surrounding island nations in the Pacific Ocean) is the planet’s smallest continent, covering just under 3 million square miles.

Rhode Island may cover only 1,214 square miles, but it’s home to more than 1 million people — giving it a larger population than some much geographically bigger states, such as Alaska and Wyoming. Despite its small stature, the state’s shoreline stretches for nearly 400 miles, which gives Rhode Island its official nickname of “the Ocean State.”

The home of the Roman Catholic Church, Vatican City takes up just 0.19 square miles. It is entirely surrounded by Rome, Italy, but is an independent city-state — only of only three such city-states left in the world. It doesn’t have its own army, but has instead employed the Swiss army to protect the Pope at the Vatican since 1506.