Geography Quiz Questions and Answers
EXPLORING SOUTH AMERICA QUIZ
What’s the southernmost point of South America? What’s its highest peak? Find your way through South America with this quiz.
1) Where is the University of St. Francis Xavier, one of the oldest universities of South America?
Answer: Sucre
The University of St. Francis Xavier is in Sucre, Bolivia. Founded in 1624, it is one of the oldest universities in South America.
2) What is the southernmost point of South America?
Answer: Cape Horn
Cape Horn, the southernmost point of South America, is a steep, rocky headland on Hornos Island of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago; it is in the Magallanes y La Antarctica Chilena region of southern Chile.
3) Which South American city is overlooked by a granite peak known as Sugar Loaf?
Answer: Rio de Janeiro
The city of Rio de Janeiro lies on a strip of Brazil’s Atlantic coast, on an inlet at the entrance to which is the landmark peak called Sugar Loaf.
4) Which South American country does not border the Pacific Ocean?
Answer: Brazil
Brazil faces the Atlantic Ocean along 4,600 miles (7,400 km) of coastline. It does not border the Pacific Ocean.
5) What name is given to the vast plain extending westward across central Argentina?
Answer: the Pampas
The Pampas is the name of the vast plain extending westward across central Argentina from the Atlantic coast to the Andean foothills. The name comes from a Quechua Indian word meaning “flat surface.”
6) In South America, what is the Gran Chaco?
Answer: lowland alluvial plain
The Gran Chaco is a lowland alluvial plain in interior south-central South America. The name is of Quechua origin, meaning “hunting land.”
7) What is the highest peak in South America?
Answer: Mount Aconcagua
Mount Aconcagua, located in Argentina, is the highest peak in South America and commonly regarded as the highest summit in the Western Hemisphere. Its exact height is disputed.
GEOGRAPHY OF AFRICA QUIZ
Where is Serengeti National Park? What is Rhodesia called today? Find out by taking this quiz about Africa.
8) Which country is the chief home of the Shona people?
Answer: Zimbabwe
The Shona, a group of culturally similar Bantu-speaking peoples, live chiefly in the eastern half of Zimbabwe, north of the Lundi River.
9) Serengeti National Park is in which country?
Answer: Tanzania
Serengeti National Park is located in Tanzania. It is a wildlife refuge best known for its huge herds of plains animals (especially gnu [wildebeests], gazelles, and zebras). It was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1981.
10) Which country was formerly called Rhodesia?
Answer: Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe was formerly known as Southern Rhodesia (1911–64) and Rhodesia (1964–79). It is a landlocked country of southern Africa that shares a 125-mile (200-km) border on the south with the Republic of South Africa.
11) What is the name given to various types of open country in southern Africa that is used for pasturage and farmland?
Answer: veld
Veld is the name given to various types of open country in southern Africa that is used for pasturage and farmland. These types depend upon local characteristics such as elevation, cultivation, and climate.
12) What is the North African mountain range that runs from the Moroccan port of Agadir in the southwest to the Tunisian capital of Tunis in the northeast?
Answer: Atlas Mountains
The Atlas Mountains are a series of mountain ranges in northwestern Africa, running generally southwest to northeast to form the geologic backbone of the countries of the Maghrib (the western region of the Arab world)—Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. They extend more than 1,200 miles (2,000 km), from the Moroccan port of Agadir in the southwest to the Tunisian capital of Tunis in the northeast.
13) In which country would you find the city of Timbuktu?
Mali
The city of Timbuktu is located in the western Africa country of Mali. It is historically important as a trading post on the trans-Saharan caravan route and as a centre of Islamic culture (c. 1400–1600). Located on the southern edge of the Sahara, it was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1988.
14) What is the full name of “The Rand,” the ridge of gold-yielding rock in Gauteng province, South Africa?
Answer: Witwatersrand
The Witwatersrand is a ridge of gold-bearing rock mostly in Gauteng province, South Africa. Its name means “ridge of white waters.”
15) What Ethiopian locality is famous for its 11 monolithic churches (hewn out of solid rock)?
Answer: Lalībela
Lalībela is a religious centre in north-central Ethiopia. The capital of the Zagwe dynasty for about 300 years, it was renamed for its most distinguished monarch, Lalībela (late 12th–early 13th century), who, according to tradition, built the 11 monolithic churches for which the place is famous.
16) According to local tradition, what ancient Christian artifact is located in the church of St. Mary of Zion in Aksum, Ethiopia?
Answer: Ark of the Covenant
Aksum is an ancient town in northern Ethiopia. According to tradition, the church of St. Mary of Zion located there contains the Ark of the Covenant. Over the centuries the church was destroyed and rebuilt several times; the present structure dates from the 17th century.
17) What historic city, located in the centre of the fertile Haouz Plain south of the Tennsift River, is the major city of central Morocco?
Answer: Marrakech
Marrakech is the chief city of central Morocco. The first of Morocco’s four imperial cities, it lies in the centre of the fertile, irrigated Haouz Plain, south of the Tennsift River. The ancient section of the city, known as the medina, was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1985.
18) Olduvai Gorge, an archaeological site in the eastern Serengeti Plain, is located in what country?
Answer: Tanzania
Olduvai Gorge is an archaeological site located in the eastern Serengeti Plain, within the boundaries of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area in northern Tanzania. Olduvai Gorge was designated part of a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1979.
KNOW YOUR EUROPEAN GEOGRAPHY QUIZ
What’s the longest river in Europe? Where is Gdańsk? Get ready to prove what you know about the geography (and history) of Europe with this quiz.
19) Which French city became the capital of the papacy in 1309?
Answer: Avignon
Avignon became the capital of the papacy in 1309. It was bought by Clement VI, the fourth of seven Avignon popes, in 1348 from Queen Joan of Provence and remained papal property until the French Revolution.
20) In which city is the Uffizi Gallery located?
Answer: Florence
The Uffizi Gallery is an art museum in Florence, Italy, that has the world’s finest collection of Italian Renaissance paintings, particularly of the Florentine school. It also has antiques, sculpture, and more than 100,000 drawings and prints.
21) Where is Humboldt University located?
Answer: Berlin
Berlin is the home of Humboldt University of Berlin, a coeducational state-supported institution of higher learning in Germany. The university was founded in 1809–10 by the linguist, philosopher, and educational reformer Wilhelm, Freiherr (baron) von Humboldt, then Prussian minister of education.
22) What does the word Balkan mean in Turkish?
Answer: mountain
The word Balkan means “mountain” in Turkish. The Balkans constitute the easternmost of Europe’s three great southern peninsulas; it includes Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, and Moldova.
.23) What is often referred to as the “Emerald Isle”?
Answer: Ireland
Ireland’s pervasive grasslands impart upon the landscape the green hues responsible for the popular sobriquet “Emerald Isle.”
24) Which peak is the highest active volcano in Europe?
Answer: Mount Etna
Mount Etna is an active volcano on the east coast of Sicily. It is the highest active volcano in Europe, its topmost elevation being more than 10,000 feet (3,200 metres).
25) The Madeira Islands in the North Atlantic Ocean belong to which country?
Answer: Portugal
An archipelago of volcanic origin in the North Atlantic Ocean, the Madeira Islands belong to Portugal and consist of two inhabited islands, Madeira and Porto Santo, and two uninhabited groups, the Desertas and the Selvagens.
26) What is the longest river in Europe?
Answer: Volga River
As Europe’s longest river and the principal waterway of western Russia, the Volga sprawls across about two-fifths of the European part of Russia, where almost half of the entire population of Russia resides.
27) The summit of Mont Blanc, Europe’s highest peak, is located in which country?
Answer: France
Mount Blanc is a mountain massif and the highest peak (15,771 feet [4,807 metres]) in Europe. Located in the Alps, the massif lies along the French-Italian border and reaches into Switzerland, but its summit is in French territory.
28) What Austrian city, noted for its Italian Renaissance and Baroque architecture, is dominated by a fortress resting on Monks’ Hill?
Answer: Salzburg
The city of Salzburg is the capital of Salzburg Bundesland (federal state), north-central Austria. It is noted for its Italian Renaissance and Baroque architecture and is dominated by a fortress resting on Monks’ Hill.
29) What city in north-central Germany is the site where Martin Luther started the Protestant Reformation?
Answer: Wittenberg
The city of Wittenberg is located in north-central Germany, on the Elbe River southwest of Berlin. Martin Luther started the Reformation in Wittenberg in 1517.
30) Which of the following is not on the Acropolis in Athens?
Answer: Academeia
The Academeia is not on the Acropolis in Athens. The structures that survive consist of the Propylaea, the gateway to the sacred precinct; the Parthenon, the chief shrine to Athena and also the treasury of the Delian League; the Erechtheum, a shrine to the agricultural deities, especially Erichthonius; and the Temple of Athena Nike.
31) What major Tuscan city is located northwest of Rome on the Arno River and is the birthplace of the Renaissance?
Answer: Florence
The city of Florence is located northwest of Rome on the Arno River. It is the capital of Firenze province and Tuscany region, central Italy. Florence was founded as a Roman military colony about the 1st century BCE, and during the 14th to 16th centuries the city achieved preeminence in commerce and finance, learning, and, especially, the arts. It was the birthplace of the Renaissance.
32) Besides the Italian Peninsula, what are the other two great peninsulas of southern Europe?
Answer: Iberian and Balkan
The Italian Peninsula is one of the three great peninsulas of southern Europe, the other two being the Balkan (to the east) and the Iberian (to the west) peninsulas.
33) What major Italian city, famous for its history and architecture, is located on a group of islands in a lagoon off the Adriatic Sea?
Answer: Venice
The city of Venice is a major seaport and the capital of both the province of Venezia and the region of Veneto in northern Italy. It is located on a group of islands in a lagoon off the Adriatic Sea. Venice is unique environmentally, architecturally, and historically.
34) In what country is Gdańsk located?
Answer: Poland
The city of Gdańsk is in north-central Poland, situated at the mouth of the Vistula River on the Baltic Sea.
35) What is the capital of Russia?
Answer: Moscow
Moscow is the capital of Russia. It is located in the western part of the country, about 400 miles (640 km) southeast of St. Petersburg and 300 miles (480 km) east of the border with Belarus.
ALL ABOUT ASIA
If you were traveling in Sichuan, what country would you be in? What ocean does Indonesia lie in? Sort out the facts about Asia in this quiz.
36) When did Buddhism arrive in Japan?
Answer: 400 CE
During the Yamato period, about 400 CE, Buddhism came to Japan from Korea. For many centuries the Japanese also borrowed heavily from Chinese culture, using Chinese characters to write down the Japanese language.
37) What country does the Mekong River not flow through?
Answer: Mongolia
The Mekong River flows through China, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam before emptying into the South China Sea.
38) In what country is Sichuan found?
Answer: China
Sichuan is a province in central China. It is famed for its spicy cuisine.
39) What is the main color of China’s flag?
Answer: red
China’s flag is a large red field with yellow stars and a hammer and sickle device.
40) What is the capital of Bangladesh?
Answer: Dhaka
Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, lies on the Buriganga River in the center of the country.
41) In what ocean does Indonesia lie?
Answer: Pacific
The islands of Indonesia lie along the Equator between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean.
42) What body of water separates India from Sri Lanka?
Answer: the Palk Strait
The waterway separating Sri Lanka from India is called the Palk Strait.
GEOGRAPHY FUN FACTS
What was the name of the supercontinent that existed over 200 million years ago? On which continent did mankind’s upright ancestors originate? Unfold your mental road map and test your knowledge of geography in this quiz.
43) What country has the most wild bears?
Answer: Russia
At the last census, Russia had some 100,000 wild bears, about 30,000 more than the United States, Canada, and the rest of Europe combined.
44) Where was the greatest difference between annual high and low temperatures recorded?
Answer: Russia
Verkhoyansk, a Siberian city, has the greatest recorded difference between July high and January low temperatures—193 °F or 107 °C!
45) What was the name of the supercontinent of 200 million years ago?
Answer: Pangaea
The seven continents of today were once joined together as a supercontinent called Pangaea. It began to break apart about 200 million years ago.
46) In which country were bananas first grown?
Answer: India
Bananas have been grown in India for at least 4,000 years. Arabs took them to Africa and Palestine; they are mentioned in early Greek, Latin, and Arabic writings.
47) Where is the world’s highest annual average rainfall?
Answer: Hawaii
The world’s record for average annual rainfall belongs to Mt. Waialeale, Hawaii, where it averages about 450 inches (1,140 centimeters) per year.
48) Where, as of 2009, did the world’s heaviest annual rainfall on record fall?
Answer: India
The world’s heaviest rainfall in a single year was recorded at Cherrapunji, India, where it rained 905 inches (2,300 centimeters) in 1861.
49) On which continent did our upright-walking ancestors originate?
Answer: Africa
Most scientists now believe our early human relatives migrated from Africa to Asia, Europe, and beyond.
50) What is Canada’s longest river?
Answer: Mackenzie River
The Mackenzie River is Canada’s longest river. It flows 2,635 miles (4,241 km) from its source to its mouth.