Capital Idea or Capital Punishment! Quiz

Answer: Apia

Samoa, more formally, the Independent State of Samoa, was previously Western Samoa from 1962 until their constitution was amended in 1997.

Apia sits on Samoa's second-largest island, Upolu, and it is the only city on that island's central north coast. Its greatest feature is the natural harbour in which it sits, making it the ideal point of entrance to the islands. The city began life as a small village that boasted a population of barely 300 people in 1800. The population was in excess of 40,000 by the start of the 2020s.

The city's growth was rather haphazard as it moved from small village to trading post to city centre, which has created a range of infrastructure issues for it. The city centre, which, today, is made up of 45 independent villages, was established during the 1850s and it became Samoa's capital city in 1959. The introduction of the Planning and Urban Management Act in 2004 was an effort to bring some order into the city's growth and alleviate most of those infrastructure issues.

One of the most bizarre incidents in the city's history was a naval stand-off that occurred in its harbour in 1889. A typhoon was approaching and ships from Germany, Great Britain and the United States were docked in the harbour. Instead of getting away from the impending danger they chose to stay, each one fearing to be the first to leave in the event that they would lose face. As a consequence, all but one of the ships was sunk or sustained serious damage.

Answer: Adamstown

The nation in question is Pitcairn Island. Adamstown, its capital city, is tiny. It boasts a population of only 40 people and it is the only settlement on the islands. Remarkably, it is not the smallest capital in the world based on population numbers... it ranks third smallest.

The Polynesians arrived on the islands in the 11th century and established a settlement and developed a culture of their own. However, after about 400 years, they simply vanished. The next settlement here occurred in 1790 and these were sailors who were the remnants of those that mutinied on the ship the HMS Bounty. In their efforts to escape the Royal Navy they re-discovered Pitcairn and settled there. They too would eventually perish or relocate with the settlement being named after the last surviving mutineer, John Adams.

Answer: Funafuti

Funafuti is the capital of Tuvalu. The Ellice Islands were a part of the Gilbert & Ellice Islands, a colony of the British Empire. In 1975 the islands were divided into two separate colonies, the Ellice Islands became the independent nation of Tuvalu in 1978 and the Gilbert islands became Kiribati in 1979.

When someone mentions the capital of a nation one tends to conjure images of a thriving metropolis, tall buildings and a vast population. Not always true... and so it is with Funafuti. Funafuti is an atoll and it had a population, according to the 2017 census, of just over 6,000 people. It is sometimes mentioned that Fongafale is the capital but this is not correct. Fongafale is the largest island in the make-up of the atoll that is Funafuti and the whole atoll is considered the capital.

The land of Funafuti makes up a little over 60% of all the land of Tuvalu. The first European to sight Funafuti was Aren(t) Schuyler de Peyster in 1819. Technically, he was an American but he was sailing under British colours at the time. He named the island Ellice's Island. The United States laid claim to the island under the auspices of the Guano Islands Act of 1856 but they eventually relinquished control in 1983.

An important step was taken to protect the wonderful coral in Tuvalu and the marine and land biodiversity with the establishment of the Funafuti Conservation Area, a zone that covers 33 square kilometres of reefs and lagoons on the western side of Funafuti. If you're planning to visit the area, be sure to take your wet weather gear as the atoll has no dry season and receives an extraordinary amount of rain throughout the year.

Answer: Majuro

The Marshall Islands received their independence from the United States in 1979, however, the nation was named after British explorer John Marshall who had visited the islands in 1788. Their earliest known inhabitants were Micronesian settlers who'd arrived there between 2000 and 1000 BC.

Majuro is a coral atoll in the Pacific Ocean that is made up of some 64 islands. It is also the largest city of the Marshall Islands. The islands were settled by the Austronesian people some 2,000 years ago and these have become the ancestors of the modern day Marshallese people. The islands were taken over by the German Empire in 1885 and have also been under (both) Japanese and American control at some time. The islands broke away from the Federated States of Micronesia in 1978 and it was at this point that Majuro was named its capital city.

The islands' main industry is the service sector though, at the turn of the century, they came to notice for their experiments converting coconut oil into an alternative source of fuel to power vehicles and generators.

Answer: Mata-Utu

Mata-Utu, which is located on the island of Uvea possesses one of the island's two ports and its only airport. Mata-Utu is the largest urban centre on Wallis Island and if you were to walk downtown you would find the centre is dominated by the impressive Mata-Utu Cathedral (also known as the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption). The cathedral is a national monument of France.

The island is reliant on imports, which leads to an imbalance in its trade. The economy relies on primary production to move forward, most of which is centred on copra, cassava, yams, taro roots, and bananas.

Wallis and Futuna is one of five overseas collectivities of France, the others being French Polynesia (121 islands), Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saint Barthelemy and Saint Martin.

Answer: Tarawa

The Gilbert Islands were a part of the Gilbert & Ellice Islands, a colony of the British Empire. In 1975 the islands were divided into two separate colonies, the Ellice Islands became independent nation of Tuvalu in 1978 and the Gilbert islands became Kiribati in 1979.

Tarawa is an atoll with a small part of its population at the north end (approximately 6,600) and a wider base at the southern end, holding some 56,000 inhabitants. Its name is derived from the Gilbertese word for passage but the more popular version is derived from Kiribati mythology. The legend tells us that in the beginning the land, the water and the sky were not separated. Nareau the spider then cleaved and separated them. The sky he named karawa, the oceans marawa and the land became tarawa.

Though he did not land there, the first European to sight Tarawa was Thomas Gilbert, the captain of the Dutch East Indies ship "Charlotte". He named it Matthew Island. The Gilbertese, however, had been there for thousands of years previously, with carbon dated evidence pointing to them inhabiting the area as far back as 2000BC.

During World War II the island was occupied by the Japanese and it soon became the centre of an intense battle with US Marines, who would eventually drive the Japanese out after 76 hours of bitter fighting.

Answer: Pago Pago

This US territory is American Samoa and, just because you are born there, it doesn't automatically make you a citizen of the United States. You would be classified as a "non-citizen national". Despite this appearing to be a bit of a slight, it hasn't stopped the locals from enlisting for the US Armed Forces. The territory has the highest rate of military enlistment of any U.S. state or territory.

If you're anything like me you would have pronounced the name of its capital city as "pay-go pay-go", however, in Samoan, the letter "g" is pronounced as "ng", meaning the correct pronunciation of the name sounds more like "pango pango".

Pago Pago is the only modern urban centre on the island of American Samoa. Its pride is its harbour. Strategically located and beautifully protected by the Rainmaker Mountains, this is one of the deepest natural harbours in the southern Pacific Ocean. This makes it an ideal place for the landing of fishing catches. To add to this the seas around the island are blessed with an abundance of fish, in particular tuna, providing Pago Pago with a strong source of revenue. Two of the world's largest tuna companies - SeaKist and Chicken of the Sea - are based there.

Despite being one of the wettest places on Earth, tourism is also a strong industry for the island and Pago Pago boasts numerous eateries, bars and amusement facilities to cater for this trade.

Answer: Suva

The local inhabitants of Fiji would call their home Viti, derived from from the nation's main island, Viti Levu. The Tongans called it Fisi and it was here that Captain James Cook picked up the pronunciation, which was anglicized to sound as fee-jee.

With a population of almost 94,000 people and located on the island of Viti Levu, in Rewa Province of Fiji, Suva is both the largest metropolitan city and the capital of that nation. With its mix of modern and colonial styled buildings the city is also Fiji's port city and both its commercial and political centres.

The strength of Suva as Fiji's economic base is that it is not reliant on any one industry to survive. Its diversity gives it stability. The city boasts markets, shopping centres and industrial areas full of shipyards, warehouse, container storage facilities and a range of import/export companies. It has attracted a number of international banks, such as the ANZ Banking Group and the Westpac Banking Corporation, to base their Pacific headquarters within it environs.

With its vibrant nightlife, mass media centres and entertainment infrastructure and venues, Suva is also the nation's cultural hub.

Answer: Kingston

Kingston is the capital of Norfolk Island, an external territory of Australia.

Kingston is, today, a UNESCO heritage listed site. It was also recorded on the Norfolk Island Heritage Register in 2003 and the Australian National Heritage List in 2007. The latter recognises the four distinct periods of settlement in the area, the vibrant culture that evolved from a tough and brutal time. UNESCO has also listed the Norf'k language, a mixture of English, Tahitian, and West Indian Creole that was brought to the islander by Pitcairn settlers, on its endangered list.

Kingston was initially settled by Polynesians between 650 and 1,000 years ago. This was followed by a British colonial settlement led by Lieutenant Philip Gidley King in 1788 which was eventually abandoned after the landing areas became too treacherous to negotiate. It then became a penal colony, and it was here that the settlement earned its reputation for cruelty and brutality. The penal colony ceased in 1855. Families descended from the mutineers of the HMS Bounty that were on Pitcairn Island then moved in and settled on the site. The culture that survives on this island was raised by these latter settlers.

Answer: Port Moresby

Greenland is acknowledged as the largest island in the world, that is not a continent, and Papua New Guinea (PNG) slots in as the second largest.

The first Briton to sight Port Moresby was John Moresby, a captain in the Royal Navy, in 1873. And, no, he didn't name it after himself, instead, he bestowed that honour on his father, Sir Fairfax Moresby, who was Admiral of the Fleet.

Port Moresby is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific, boasting a population in excess of 380,000 people. This, and its proximity to Australia, made it a vital staging point for the Japanese army during World War II. As a consequence, the area around the city became a vicious battleground for control of it.

Port Moresby is the capital of a country that is rich in natural resources and the rest of the world is thirsty for them. This has resulted in the area receiving significant aid from industrialized nations and strong export arrangements. The flow on effect is that there has been a substantial amount of construction in Port Moresby, centring on housing, office blocks, commercial centres and shopping complexes.

The city is serviced by the Jackson International Airport and this is also the base for Air Niugini, the national airline of Papua New Guinea, and Airlines PNG, the second biggest airline in the country.