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Geography Trivia Questions and Answers
Geography Trivia Questions Part 1
1. Which country is home to the highest waterfall, Angel Falls?
Answer: Venezuela.
The Angel Falls are the world’s highest single-drop waterfall. Located in the Canaima National Park of Venezuela, it plunges a total of 2,648 feet (808 meters) into the Churun River (a tributary of the Carrao).
Angel Falls was discovered by Jimmie Angel, an American aviator on 13 November 1933. It was named after his wife, Ruth, who died in a plane crash near Coari on 21 October 1935. Angel himself died in a forced landing at Laguna Cobre near Cunaviche on 9 December 1937 while en route to Caracas for medical treatment after suffering severe injuries during his last flight above the falls.
2. On what continent is Argentina located?
Answer: South America.
The Argentine Republic usually referred to as Argentina, is a union of twenty-three provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. Located in southern South America, the country is bordered by Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay. The capital of Argentina is Buenos Aires; the population of the capital is ten million.
3. Which country is the best example of a compact state?
Answer: Cambodia.
Cambodia is a long, narrow country with a coastline on the Gulf of Thailand and the South China Sea. Its climate is tropical. Rice, sugarcane, corn (maize), and manioc are grown for food; coffee, rubber, tea, and tobacco are grown for export. Largely forested with thickets of bamboo in eastern and central parts of the country (making them hard to navigate through), Cambodia has been occupied by the Chinese empire, Thai armies and French troops since the 19th century.
4. Which country has the world’s largest merchant fleet?
Answer: Greece.
Greece controls 23.2% of the world’s total merchant fleet. Located in southeastern Europe, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Bulgaria and Turkey. Greece has an area of 131,957 square miles (342,146 square kilometers), making it slightly smaller than the state of Alaska.
5. Near which line of longitude is Montana and Wyoming’s eastern border?
Answer: 104.
The longitude line of 104° east of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, Asia, the Indian Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole.
It is also known as the “Easter Meridian”. It was made for navigational purposes in 1884 and adopted as international in 1911. This particular longitude is important since it is used as International Date Line when traveling west. The date changes one day every time you cross it traveling westwards and changing to next day when you reach it traveling eastwards.
6. What is Nyasaland now known as?
Answer: Malawi.
Sixty-eight years ago today, the then British colony of Nyasaland was rebranded Malawi. Tomorrow will be the sixth State of the Nation Address for President Dr. Bingu wa Mutharika and his government.
7. The Java Trench is also known by which name?
Answer: Sunda Trench.
The Sunda Trench (or Sunda Trough; Indonesian: Tenggara) is a major oceanic trench in the western Pacific Ocean, to the south-west of Java. It is a back-arc basin and associated trench normal faulting and subduction zone associated with the collision between the Indo-Australian and Eurasian tectonic plates. The subduction system accommodates crustal shortening associated with ongoing plate convergence. The collision of these two plates has caused thickening and temperatures are high in this region due to mantle upwelling from below.
8. Where is New Miami?
Answer: Ohio.
New Miami is a city in Miami County, Ohio, United States. The population was 10,691 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Miami County.
New Miami was originally called Middletown because of its location in the middle of Miami County. Middletown was an important trading and shipping point in the Miami Valley. The State of Ohio had plans to build a courthouse and begin a new city at this location in 1818.
9. Where would you find ancient Numidia?
Answer: Algeria.
The kingdom of Numidia in North Africa is placed next to the Western Sahara and Mauritania on the southern shores of Morocco and Algeria in Northern Africa. It was known as Numidia Cirta during its existence from 300BC to around 46BC (Livy). The kingdom was in located on the eastern side of Algeria near Tunisia’s western border with Libya at its north-east borders with Egypt.
10. The Great Bitter Lake lies along which waterway?
Answer: Suez Canal.
The Great Bitter Lake is a saltwater lake in Egypt, connected to the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea via the Suez Canal. It is connected to the Small Bitter Lake.
The Great Bitter Lake was formed from a regression of the Nile during ancient times. Because of the surrounding sand, which mainly consists of finely divided calcium carbonate, seawater is slightly alkaline (pH = 7.8) at the elevated concentrations typical for seaside lakes (total dissolved solids [TDS] approximately 1000 parts per million [ppm]). A consequence of this specific chemistry is that a number of terrestrial plant species are able to flourish in clearings of the surrounding desert shrubbery.
11. Nunavut extends as far west as which U.S. state?
Answer: Washington.
Nunavut; Inuktitut pronunciation: [nʊ̃.na.vuːt], “Our Land”) is the newest, largest — and most northerly — territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the Nunavut Implementation Act and the Nunavut Act, which together made up the Northwest Territories Act. The creation of Nunavut resulted in the first major change to Canada’s political map since the incorporation of Newfoundland in 1949.
12. The Rub al Khali or the Empty Quarter is located in?
Answer: Saudi Arabia.
The Rub al Khali is the world’s largest sand desert, covering most of the southern third of the Arabian Peninsula, including Saudi Arabia and Oman. It is the largest area of non-polar sand dunes in the world and extends to 1,000 km (620 mi) from east to west and 1,500 km (930 mi) from north to south. The desert covers approximately 250,000 square kilometers (97,000 sq mi).
The Rub al Khali is part of a much larger sand sea that extends from eastern Syria across Arabia to Pakistan. It is one of six distinct deserts which occupy most of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a vast plain comprising large areas of sandy or stony ground with little or no vegetation.
Geography Trivia Questions Part 2
13. What are the Azores?
Answer: A group of islands.
The Azores (; Portuguese: Açores [ɐˈsoɾɨʃ] or Açóros [aˈsoɾus]) is an archipelago in the mid-Atlantic Ocean, located in the North Atlantic Ocean, about 1,350 km (850 mi) west of Portugal and about 3,880 km (2,400 mi) southeast of Newfoundland.
The Azores islands were discovered by a Genoese captain sailing for Henry the Navigator in 1427. Many of the islands have volcanic origins with lava fields and lakes. The soil is very fertile and most of the land is covered by vegetation.
14. Which country is the largest exporter of sawn wood?
Answer: Canada.
Canada’s top 10 producers account for nearly 85% of the country’s output and include Western Forest Products Inc., Interfor, Canfor, Greencore Group Ltd., Tembec Inc., Weyerhaeuser Company, Tolko Industries Ltd., Resolute Forest Products Inc., West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. and Masonite International Corp. (produced engineered wood products).
15. What is the most populous county in New York State?
Answer: Kings.
The county seat is Brooklyn.
Kings County was formed on January 24, 1788, by the state Legislature. It was named after Kings (Domhnall), one of the sons of Charles II of England and Scotland. His namesake James II was forced to flee the country with his family as part of the Glorious Revolution; he styled himself King James III now titled King James VII and II). In exile, he maintained a claim to the throne, and supported an ultimately unsuccessful rebellion by his Catholic supporters in Scotland.
16. Which country calls its secretary of the treasury department the Chancellor of the Exchequer?
Answer: United Kingdom.
The current Chancellor of the Exchequer in the UK is Rishi Sunak.
17. Andisol soils come from which material?
Answer: Volcanic.
Andisols are soils formed in volcanic ash sediments of ignimbrite and tuff. They are often found in semi-arid regions of Australia, Brazil and the United States. Andisols are known for their mineralogy and unique physical properties.
The mineralogy of Andisols contains high proportions of aluminium, silicon, sodium, potassium, phosphorus, calcium and iron oxides. Silicon is typically the second most abundant element after aluminum as a cation. The oxides commonly present are AlO (aluminium oxide), FeO (iron oxide), KFeO (potassium iron oxide) SiO (silicon dioxide), CaO (calcium oxide) and Na20 (sodium oxide).
18. Which river’s mouth lies in Mozambique?
Answer: Zambezi.
The Zambezi (also spelled Zambeze and Zambesi) is a river of south-central Africa. It is the fourth-longest river in Africa (after the Nile, Congo and Niger). The area of its basin is 1,390,000 square kilometers (540,000 sq mi). The Zambezi River originates in central Angola. It flows westwards into the Lualaba River—a tributary of the Congo—at the border with Zambia and Democratic Republic of the Congo.
19. Which country does not cross the Tropic of Capricorn?
a) Mozambique b) Zimbabwe c) Botswana d) Namibia
Answer: Zimbabwe.
The Tropic of Capricorn is the circle of longitude that marks the northernmost position of the Sun, which occurs on December 22 or 23; it is thus the southern boundary of the Southern Hemisphere. At this latitude, which is about 10° south of the Equator, a person standing with his feet in sunlight would have his head in shadow. The Tropic of Capricorn cuts through Mexico and roughly follows a path from Madagascar to Fiji. The Tropic of Capricorn changes its latitude quite appreciably as one moves southward along a line that passes through eastern Indonesia and Papua New Guinea and then across Australia to South America.
20. In which U.S. National Park does the Snake River begin?
Answer: Yellowstone.
The Yellowstone National Park was created in 1872. The park includes a great variety of animals that can be found nowhere else. The most famous is the grizzly bear which has become a symbol for the park. The grizzly bear, a symbol of strength and endurance, is also its largest animal at 600-900 pounds and 5 to 6 feet tall at the shoulder. It is also one of the most aggressive animals in Yellowstone causing it to be reclassified as “endangered” on July 31, 1975 by President Gerald Ford (Gould 294).
21. What is New Zealand’s most populous city?
Answer: Auckland.
Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city, is a major port and the country’s main gateway for international commerce and trade. It has a population of 1.45 million (June 2013 estimate) in an area of 1,270 km².
Auckland is the largest Polynesian city in the world and has been described as the world’s most polyglot city. The city is home to over half of New Zealand’s Polynesian population, making it by far the country’s most important centre for Polynesian culture.
The Māori-language name for Auckland is Tāmaki or Tāmaki-makau-rau, meaning “Tāmaki with a hundred lovers”, in reference to the desirability of its fertile land at the hub of waterways in all directions.
22. Torino lies of which river?
Answer: PO.
Turin (Italian: Torino; Piedmontese: Turin), Turin is a busy city with a large number of universities and institutes. It has had a long history, dating back to Roman times, when it was known as Augusta Taurinorum; it was capital of Italy during the reigns of Vittorio Emanuele II (1861–78) and Umberto I (1900–09).
23. What is the capital of Switzerland?
Answer: Bern.
Bern capital of Switzerland, is a city in Switzerland, a federal republic in Europe, on the Aare River. With an estimated population of 125,500 as of January 2007, it is the fourth most populous city in Switzerland. The Bern metropolitan area, which includes three cantons with their municipalities (see Canton of Bern) and some districts (see Bern-Mittelland) has about 300,000 inhabitants.
24. Where is Franz Josef Land?
Answer: Arctic Ocean.
Franz Josef Land is an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, about halfway between the North Pole and the Novaya Zemlya archipelago. The name honors Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria.
The islands have been a nature reserve (Franz Josef Land Nature Reserve) since 1990 and are known for their large population of polar bears and for being the most northern landing site of an aircraft in the world (1957). There are no native human inhabitants.
The first European to see Franz Josef Land was Frederick William Beechey in 1826, though it remained largely unexplored until the late 19th century.
25. Which country is the world’s largest wheat producer?
Answer: China.
China is the largest wheat producer in the world, accounting for one-third of the wheat production worldwide. A good harvest this season is expected with close to 90 million tonnes.
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