Drop a Letter - Islands Trivia Quiz

Answer: Majorca

Drop the L and the remaining letters C-O-R-A-J-A-M can be rearranged to spell Majorca, one of the Balearic Islands that are part of Spain.

Majorca is the English spelling for the Spanish name Mallorca. Majorca lies to the east of the region of Catalonia and has an area close to 1400 square miles. It is a very popular tourist destination and part-time residence of several celebrities, such as Rafael Nadal and Jeffrey Archer.

Answer: Sardinia

Again drop the L and R-A-I-N-D-I-A-S can be arranged to spell Sardinia.

Sardinia is the second largest island in the Mediterranean and a semiautonomous region of Italy with the capital city of Cagliari. It lies off the west coast of Italy, south of the French island of Corsica. In its history Sardinia has been controlled by the Kingdom of Aragon (Spain), the Empire of Austria-Hungary, and finally by Italy.

Answer: Molokai

Drop the N and the remaining letters M-A-I-L-O-O-K can be rearranged to spell Molokai, one of the Hawaiian Islands famous for its leper colony served by the Belgian priest Father Damien.
It is the fifth most populated of the Hawaiian islands and measures about 260 square miles. Residents have campaigned against tourism, and the economy is based upon agricultural production of sugar and pineapples.

Answer: Tasmania

Drop the D and the remaining letters S-A-I-N-T-A-A-M can be rearranged to spell Tasmania.

Tasmania is one of the Australian states, approximately 150 miles south of the Australian mainland. The 26th largest island in the world, it was discovered for Europeans by Abel Tasman in 1642. Originally known as Van Diemen's Land, it received transported convicts until 1853.

It was renamed Tasmania in 1855 and became a state of Australia in 1901. Its major industries have been mining, agriculture and tourism.

Answer: Borneo

Drop the S and the remaining letters N-O-R-O-B-E can be rearranged to spell Borneo.

Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is divided politically between Indonesia, Brunei, and provinces of Malaysia. It is part of the Greater Sunda Archipelago with an area of approximately 288,000 square miles.

It contains the oldest rain forests in the world and has seven distinct ecosystems. It was a major trading center for the Portuguese, Dutch, and English merchants. After the end of World War II Borneo became a major hot spot as the Dutch, English, Indonesians, and Malayans vied for control.

The economy is based on agriculture, forestry, and oil production. Serious concerns have been raised about the reduction in the rain forest area.

Answer: Murano

Drop the Y and the remaining letters O-U-R-M-A-N can be rearranged to spell Murano, an island in the Venice lagoon noted for its exquisite glassware.

Murano was settled by the Romans and prospered initially as a fishing village and a source of salt. In 1291 all glassmakers were forced to move from Venice to Murano due to fear of fire, and for a long period of time Murano produced most of the fine glass in Europe by keep its glassmaking methods secret. It still has a population of about 5,000 people, many still employed in the glassmaking art.

Answer: Grenada

Drop the T and the remaining letters A-D-A-N-G-E-R can be rearranged to spell Grenada, a beautiful Caribbean island that gained some measure of fame due to a military action by the US.

First sighted by Columbus on his third voyage, it was controlled first by France and then Britain before gaining its independence in 1974. A coup by Marxist forces led to invasion by US forces in 1983, which has stabilized the Government.

Grenada is approximately 134 square miles in area and is the southernmost island in the Antilles, near to Trinidad and Venezuela. It's noted for production of the spices nutmeg and mace, along with other agricultural products. It is also a popular tourist destination especially for those interested in ecotourism.

Answer: Rhodes

Drop the A and the remaining letters D-H-O-R-S-E can be rearranged to spell Rhodes, a Greek island that once was the location of the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Rhodes is the largest of the Dodecanese islands with a size of about 540 square miles. It's about 226 miles east-southeast of mainland Greece and about 11 miles from the Turkish coast. It was ruled by Minoans and Mycenaeans before becoming part of the Greek empire. For over 200 years it was controlled by the Crusaders (Knights Hospitaller) before falling to the Ottoman Empire. It is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Greece.

Answer: Guernsey

Drop one of the Gs and the remaining letters R-U-N-G-E-Y-E-S can be rearranged ot spell Guernsey, one of the Channel Island dependencies of the UK.

Guernsey is the second largest of the Channel Islands located near the Normandy peninsula of France. Originally part of the Duchy of Normandy, the Channel Islands were part of England under William the Conqueror and remained so even after France regained control of the mainland portion of the Duchy. Guernsey and the islands of Sark and Alderney comprise the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a Crown Dependency.

Financial services, banking, and tourism are the main commercial enterprises.

Answer: Baffin

Drop the S and the remaining letters F-I-B-F-A-N can be rearranged to form Baffin, one of the larger Canadian Arctic islands.

Baffin Island, part of the Canadian territory of Nunavut, is the fifth largest island in the world. Part of the Arctic Archipelago, it is separated from mainland Quebec by the Hudson Strait.

Recent evidence indicates that Icelandic explorers had reached Baffin Island by 1000. It was sighted by British explorer Martin Frobisher during his search for the Northwest passage (1576-1578). It is largely uninhabited except for small settlements in coastal regions. It contains the northernmost mine in the world, producing silver, zinc, and iron.