A Buffet for Geography Buffs Trivia Quiz

Answer: Borneo

The world's third-largest island, Borneo is one of the Greater Sunda islands. Located at the centre of the region of Maritime Southeast Asia and crossed by the Equator, Borneo has been inhabited for thousands of years by many different peoples with their own distinctive ethnic and cultural identities. Most of Borneo's territory is taken up by five provinces of Indonesia, in whose language the island is known as Kalimantan. The northern part of the island consists of the Malaysian states of Sarawak and Sabah (East Malaysia) and the Sultanate of Brunei, a semi-enclave within Sarawak.

The island of Ireland is shared by the UK and the Republic of Ireland (Eire), the Caribbean island of Hispaniola by Haiti and the Dominican Republic, and Timor (one of the Lesser Sunda islands) by Indonesia and Timor-Leste.

Answer: Equatorial Guinea

During the colonial era, Spain's presence in Africa was limited to a few territories on or near the Atlantic coast of the continent, such as Spanish North Africa and the former Spanish Sahara (now Western Sahara, governed by Morocco). What was known as Spanish Guinea from 1926 to 1968 was the oldest of Spain's African colonies, acquired in the late 18th century, when the might of the Spanish Empire was already on the wane. The colony consisted of two islands in the Gulf of Guinea, Fernando Po (Bioko) and Annobón, and Rio Muni on the mainland.

Upon gaining its independence in 1968, the new country adopted the name of Equatorial Guinea, though no part of it is crossed by the Equator. Spanish is its main official language (the others being French and Portuguese), serving as lingua franca for the country's different ethnic groups. Ivory Coast and Central African Republic are former French colonies where French is an official language, while South Sudan's national language is English.

Answer: Brazil

Of the world's continents, Europe and North America lie entirely north of the Equator, as does the whole of continental Asia. The largest number of countries located entirely in the Southern Hemisphere are found in Africa, South America and Oceania. Lesotho, which is completely surrounded by South Africa, and Uruguay lie south of the Tropic of Capricorn, while the island country of Samoa lies south of the Equator in the Pacific region of Polynesia.

Brazil, the world's fifth-largest nation, lies mostly south of the Equator, which passes through the northernmost part of the country, located within the vast Amazon Basin. In Macapá, the capital of the sparsely populated state of Amapá in the Amazon Dalta, a popular monument called Marco Zero stands on the Equator line, showing the passage of the sun at the spring and autumn equinoxes.

Answer: Caucasus

Europe's highest mountain peak, Mount Elbrus, is a dormant stratovolcano that lies in the Caucasus range, in the Russian republic of Kabardino-Balkaria. Elbrus stands at an elevation of 5,642 m (18,510 ft) above sea level. It has two summits, both volcanic domes, and is covered by a large, glaciated area that comprises nearly 30 glaciers. Elbrus' most recent eruption is believed to have taken place around 50 AD. This striking mountain was first summited in 1874.

Mount Elbrus' status as Europe's highest mountain has been long debated because it lies on the boundary between Europe and Asia, whose definition is not universally agreed upon. For the few who still maintain that Elbrus is located in Asia, the highest mountain in the European continent is Mont Blanc (4,810 m/15,781 ft), the highest peak in the Alps, which lies on the border between Italy and France.

Answer: Egypt

Transcontinental countries are countries whose territory lies in two or more continents. Not surprisingly, most of the world's contiguous transcontinental countries are found in Europe and Asia, as these two continents form a single landmass often referred to as Eurasia. The only African country to span two continents is Egypt, most of whose territory lies in North Africa. However, the wedge-shaped Sinai Peninsula is part of West Asia, forming a land bridge between the two continents. The peninsula lies on the African Plate and is bounded by the Arabian Plate to the east. It is connected to Africa by the Isthmus of Suez, through which runs the Suez Canal, one of the world's most crucial waterways.

Countries that have overseas territories are called non-contiguous transcontinental countries: prominent examples are France, the UK and Denmark.

Answer: Maldives

The smallest country in Asia, the Maldives are an island nation consisting of about 1,190 coral islands grouped in 26 atolls. The archipelago stretches for 871 km (541 mi) in the Indian Ocean, southwest of India and Sri Lanka; its southernmost part lies south of the Equator. Despite their small size, the Maldives are one of the world's most densely populated countries. They are also the world's lowest-lying country, with an average elevation of 1.5 m (4.11 ft) above sea level - thus extremely vulnerable to climate change.

The Comoros, the Seychelles and Mauritius are considered politically part of Africa. The Comoros are the closest to the African mainland, located in the northern part of the Mozambique Channel, between the coasts of Tanzania and Mozambique and the island of Madagascar. The Seychelles and Mauritius both lie east of Madagascar and are geographically closer to Asia; a sizable part of their respective populations is of Asian descent.

Answer: Finland

Though Canada, Chile and Japan boast very large numbers of islands, Finland beats them all with the over 50,000 islands of its Turku Archipelago, also known as Archipelago Sea (Saaristomeri in Finnish, S kärgårdshavet in Swedish). This vast expanse of islands stretches at the entrance of the Gulf of Bothnia, in the Baltic Sea, from the southwestern coast of Finland towards the eastern coast of Sweden. The Åland Islands, a Swedish-speaking, autonomous province of Finland, are sometimes considered part of the Archipelago Sea. Many of the islands in the Turku Archipelago are very small and clustered together; most of the inhabited islands are closer to the Finnish coast. With their beautiful natural surroundings and mild summer climate, the islands are a popular tourist destination. and many people have summer cottages there.

With over 36,000 islands, the Canadian Arctic Archipelago ranks second. while the Japanese Archipelago ranks considerably lower with about 6,800 islands. Chile's territory includes over 40,000 islands, mainly concentrated in the south of the country: however, they are not regarded as a single archipelago.

Answer: Zambezi

With a length of 2,574 km (1,599 mi), the Zambezi is Africa's fourth-longest river and the world's 33rd-longest. From its source in Zambia, near the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the river flows south through Angola and Zambia before turning eastward, also touching Namibia and Botswana. On the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe it forms the majestic Victoria Falls, then flows through Mozambique before reaching its mouth on the Indian Ocean. The huge Kariba Dam, opened in 1960, is located east of Victoria Falls, on the stretch of the Zambezi that forms the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The three rivers listed as wrong answers flow through only one country: China (the Yangtze, the world's third-longest river), the US (the Mississippi, which forms the world's fourth-longest river system together with the Missouri), and Russia (the Volga, Europe's longest river and the world's 18th-longest).

Answer: Moscow

Moscow is the capital of Russia, the world's largest sovereign nation. It is located in the federal district of Central Russia, in the European part of the country. Covering an area of 2,561.5 km ² (989.0 sq mi), Moscow is home to over 13 million people - which makes it Europe's most populous capital, as well as the most populous city that lies entirely within Europe. Istanbul's population is even larger, but the city - which has never been the capital of the modern state of Turkey - is only partly located in Europe.

Along with London, Paris and Istanbul, Moscow is one of the few European cities to qualify as a megacity - that is, a city with a population of at least 10 million. Lagos, the former capital of Nigeria, is also one of an increasing number of megacities. Toronto, the capital of the Canadian province of Ontario (which also contains the national capital, Ottawa), is the North American country's largest city. However, with a population of around 3 million, is not a member of the megacity club.

Answer: Romania and Moldova

A landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered by Romania and Ukraine, Moldova became independent from the Soviet Union in 1991. Its national language is Romanian, an Eastern Romance language. However, in the 1994 Constitution of Moldova the language was designated as Moldovan. Following a 2013 decision of the country's Constitutional Court, the name Romanian was officially adopted by law in 2023.

In Moldova, Romanian was written in the Cyrillic script until 1983, while Romania has always used the Latin script. Although here are no substantial differences between the Romanian spoken in Romania and the one spoken in Moldova, in the 2024 census nearly 50% of the Moldovan population declared Moldovan as their native language.