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Malaysia is the territory where the tenth highest rainfall in the world is recorded over its land area. It was known to ancient mariners as ‘the land where the winds meet’. The winds being the monsoons. The word monsoon may originate from the Arabic word 'mausim' - meaning seasonal wind patterns that reverse direction. Monsoons are associated with heavy rainfall. Malaysia (and other territories in the tropics) experiences two monsoons a year. The Southwest monsoon lasts from May until September, and is followed by the Northeast monsoon which lasts from November until March. Partly because of its large land area the highest volume of rain falls on Brazil. |
"The coastal humid belt, with high and relatively constant rainfall, supports dense tropical forests ... northern parts of Cameroon, Central African Republic and Chad are drier ..." African Ministerial Conference on the Environment, 2002 |
Territory size shows the proportion of worldwide precipitation falling on land that falls there.
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All of the data we use is estimated; 
Open Population Map for comparison