Eighth Wonder of the World

Eighth Wonder of the World is a term sometimes used to describe phenomena in comparison to the widely known list of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Candidates for the Eighth Wonder of the World

Mitre Peak, in Milford Sound, New Zealand.

Natural places

• Milford Sound in New Zealand; called so by Rudyard Kipling^[1]
• Natural Bridge in Virginia, so dubbed by William Jennings Bryan^[2]
• Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland, United Kingdom^[3]
• Burney Falls in California; called so by Theodore Roosevelt^[4]
• Gros Morne National Park in Newfoundland, Canada^[5]
• The great wildebeest migration in the Maasai Mara, Kenya^[6]
• Uluru in Australia.
• Pink and White Terraces in New Zealand, prior to their destruction in the 1886 eruption of Mount Tarawera.^[7]

Pre-1900 creations

Sigiriya in Matale District, Sri Lanka.

The Banaue Rice Terraces in Ifugao, Philippines.

Angkor Wat in Angkor, Cambodia.

The Citadelle Laferrière in Northern Haiti.

Monolithic church of Ethiopia in Lalibela, Ethiopia.

• Great Wall of China, China^[8]
• The Taj Mahal, India^[9][10]
• Stonehenge, United Kingdom^[11]
• Machu Picchu, Peru^[12]
• Banaue Rice Terraces, Philippines^{[13][14][15][16][17]}
• The Citadelle Laferrière, Haiti^[18]
• Amber Room in the Catherine Palace near Saint Petersburg, Russia^[19]
• The monastery of San Lorenzo del Escorial, Spain.^[20]
• The rock-hewn churches at Lalibela, Ethiopia^[21] (Church of Saint George, Lalibela)
• The stelae of Axum, Ethiopia^[22]
• Sigiriya, Sri Lanka^[23][24][25]
• Royal Palace in Amsterdam, Netherlands^[26]
• Statue of Liberty,^[27] New York Harbor, United States
• Angkor Wat, Cambodia^[28]
• The moai statues of Easter Island, Chile^[29]
• The Terracotta Army, China^[30]

Post-1900 creations

• Delta Works, the Dutch provinces of Zeeland and Zuid-Holland, the Netherlands. The Delta Works have been officially elected as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World by both Quest magazine, and the American Society of Civil Engineers. The Delta Works have also been mentioned by several other sources as the "Eighth Wonder of the World"^[31]

Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia.

• Houston Astrodome^[32]
• Empire State Building, New York City^[33][34]
• Palm Islands of Dubai^[35]
• Panama Canal^[36]
• Karakoram Highway in Pakistan and China;
• Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia;^[37] the story of its construction was recounted in the opera The Eighth Wonder
• Thames Barrier, London, England.^[38]
• Bahá'í terraces, on Mount Carmel, Haifa, Israel.^[39]
• Three Gorges Dam in Hubei, China^[40]
• West Baden Springs Hotel^[41]
• Pikeville Cut-Through in Pikeville, Kentucky; given the title by The New York Times.^[42][43][44]
• International Space Station in Orbit around Earth; given the title by the Americans and Russians.
• Great Manmade River, in Libya; given the title by Muammar Gaddafi.^[45]

People

• André the Giant, a French professional wrestler who predominantly wrestled for WWE (then World Wrestling Federation) in the 1970's and 1980's. André, who was billed at a height of 7 ft 4 in (2.24 m) and weight of 520 pounds (240 kg; 37 st 2 lb) was frequently billed as the "Eighth Wonder of the World".^[46] André's actual height has been the subject of debate over the years with some reports claiming that he was 'only' 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) tall, citing the pro-wrestling world's habit of over-exaggeration to make their stars seem larger than life.

Fiction

• King Kong, a fictional giant movie monster resembling a colossal gorilla, that has appeared in several movies since 1933. It is often described as the "Eighth Wonder of the World".^[47]

See also

• New Seven Wonders of the World
• Wonders of the World

References