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by CSO Contributor

Great Wall of China

Feature
May 01, 20052 mins
CSO and CISOData and Information Security

According to various online sources, estimated length in miles of the Great Wall of China: Anywhere from1,500 to 4,500

According to archaeologists, actual length in miles of the system of walls that make up the Great Wall of China: Unknown

Number of years the Great Wall was under construction: More than 2,000

Other components of the Great Wall: Walled villages, gates, crenellated towers

Most recent year in which a previously unknown part of the Great Wall was found: 2003

Miles of wall discovered in 2001 and 2002, combined: 360

Adjective used in National Geographic to describe the Great Wall’s effectiveness as a defensive barrier: Spotty

Hadrian’s Wall

Length in miles of Hadrian’s Wall, in modern-day Northern England: 73

For every three miles of Hadrian’s Wall built of stone, approximate number of miles built of turf: 2

Number of years it took Rome to construct Hadrian’s Wall: 6

Number of forts built on or near Hadrian’s Wall: 16

Other components of Hadrian’s Wall: Ditches, turrets, mile castles (gateways)

According to scholars, chances Hadrian’s Wall could have withstood a concentrated attack from “barbarians” to the north: Minimal

Berlin Wall

Approximate length in miles of the Berlin Wall: 96

Approximate number of watchtowers: 302

Number of times the Berlin Wall was rebuilt: 3

Other components of the Berlin Wall: Barbed wire, trenches, fences, bunkers

Fatality rate on the Berlin Wall during its 28-year operation: One person killed every 54 days

According to a 2004 poll, percentage of West Germans who said they wished East Germans were “cut off again by the Berlin Wall”: 24

Percentage of East Germans who said they wanted “out of a united Germany”: 12

The West Bank & Kashmir

Approximate length planned for the wall in the West Bank and the wall in Kashmir, respectively: 217 miles, 500 miles

Approximate cost, respectively, of those walls: $200 million, $300 million

Components of the new walls: Ditches, barbed wire, video surveillance, motion detection

Term used by officials who built both barriers to describe the walls: Fence

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According to a Robert Frost poem, what good fences make: Good neighbors

Phrase used to describe barriers separating Catholic and Protestant neighborhoods in Belfast, Northern Ireland: Peace Walls