"Ross" Is Gaelic for Headland Trivia Quiz

Answer: Santiago de Compostela

Located in the northwestern Spanish region of Galicia, on the Atlantic Ocean, Cape Finisterre is so named because in Roman times it was believed to be the end of the world ("finis terrae"). It is also the final destination on the Way of St James (Camino de Santiago), the ancient pilgrimage route leading to the shrine of Santiago de Compostela, where the apostle St James the Great is believed to be buried. Though many pilgrims stop at the shrine, others walk the remaining distance to Cape Finisterre, where they burn their clothes and boots. The area held many sacred locations also in pre-Christian times. A lighthouse stands on top of Monte Facho, the hill that dominates the cape. Continental Europe's westernmost point, Cabo da Rocha, is located in Portugal, in the municipality of Sintra, not far from Lisbon.

All the incorrect answers refer to major Christian shrines in Europe: the Basilica of St Francis is found in Italy, Lourdes in France, and Canterbury Cathedral in England.

Answer: Eastbourne

With its steep, white chalk cliffs rising to 162 m (531 ft) above sea level, Beachy Head is a spectacular landmark that allows great views of England's south-east coast. Its name probably comes from the French "Beauchef", meaning "beautiful headland". England's highest sea cliff, Beachy Head is part of the Eastbourne Downland Estate, an area of land located at the eastern end of the South Downs National Park, and managed by Eastbourne Borough Council. The town of Eastbourne, with its many Victorian-era buildings, lies immediately east of the headland. Unfortunately, this beautiful natural site's reputation has been tainted by the many suicides that have been committed there in recent and less recent times. The final scene of the 1979 film "Quadrophenia", based on the rock opera by The Who, was filmed there.

The remaining options are all famous English seaside resorts: Blackpool is located in Lancashire, Margate in Kent, and Torquay in Devon.

Answer: Monte Argentario

Located in the province of Grosseto, Tuscany's southernmost province, Monte Argentario is a promontory whose highest peak, Punta Telegrafo, stands at 635 m (2,083 ft) above sea level. The promontory used to be an island, but is now connected to the mainland by two narrow stretches of land, known in Italian as "tomboli". The two main settlements on the promontory are the towns of Porto Ercole (facing south) and Porto Santo Stefano (facing north), both renowned seaside resorts located at a convenient distance from major cities such as Rome and Florence. The two southernmost islands of the Tuscan Archipelago can be reached by ferry from Porto Santo Stefano. Celebrated Baroque painter Caravaggio died in Porto Ercole in 1610, and is believed to have been buried there. The promontory's name probably comes from "argentarium", the Latin word for "moneylender", as in Roman times the area was owned by a family of bankers. No silver ("argento" in Italian) mines ever existed on the promontory or in its vicinity.

Monte Circeo is also found on Italy's Tyrrhenian coast, between Rome and Naples. Cape Matapan, the southern tip of mainland Europe, is located in Greece, and Cape Greco on the island of Cyprus.

Answer: South Africa

Africa's southernmost point, Cape Agulhas is located in the South African province of Western Cape, 170 km (105 mi) southeast of Cape Town. The name of "Cape of the Needles" (Cabo das Agulhas) was given to the headland by Portuguese navigators in the early days of the 16th century - probably when they realized that in that particular point the magnetic north (the compass needle) coincided with the true north.

The cape is famous for its scenic coastline, with rocky and sandy beaches, and shallow waters warmed by the Agulhas Current that provide ideal fishing grounds. On the other hand, Cape Agulhas is also notorious for its winter storms and massive rogue waves: in fact, the coast around the cape is littered with the wrecks of ships, some of which are on display in a museum.

A lighthouse was built in 1848 to make navigation safer. The cape is part of a National Park, popular for both whale- and birdwatching enthusiasts. A cairn marks the exact location of the southernmost tip of Africa, which is also the longitudinal point where the Atlantic and Indian oceans meet.

Answer: Tamil Nadu

Named after the Hindu goddess Devi Kanya Kumari, the city of Kanyakumari has stood for centuries at the confluence of three seas - the Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the Bay of Bengal. The temple dedicated to the goddess, the city's oldest landmark, is located directly on the ocean shore; Devi Kanya Kumari's worship in this particular area is mentioned in Greco-Roman sources dating from the 1st century AD. The area was named "Cape Comorin" during British rule, but reverted to its original name some time in the late 20th century. Kanyakumari is a popular tourist destination; among its more modern landmarks there is a memorial to the victims of the December 2004 tsunami, and a gigantic statue of Tamil poet and philosopher Thiruvalluvar. The city and its eponymous district are part of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located in the southernmost part of the subcontinent; the state was named Madras (like its capital, now Chennai) until 1969.

The remaining options are all Indian states. However, Rajasthan and Kashmir are found in the northern part of the country, and are both landlocked, while West Bengal is in eastern India, on the Bay of Bengal.

Answer: Bering Strait

Named "East Cape" by James Cook during his third voyage, in 1898 Cape Dezhnev was renamed after Russian explorer Semyon Dezhnev, who was the first European to round its tip in the 17th century. The cape is located in a sparsely populated area of Russia's Far Eastern Federal District, between the Chukchi Sea and the Bering Strait. The island of Big Diomede, Asia's easternmost point, lies about 45 km (28 mi) southeast of the cape, immediately west of the International Date Line. Towards the end of the 19th century, Cape Dezhnev was an important trade centre for whalers and fur traders. A monument to Semyon Dezhnev, which also functions as a lighthouse, stands on top of a low hill on the cape, the tip of a high, rocky headland. The closest settlement to the cape is the village ("selo" in Russian) of Uelen, also the Eurasian settlement closest to North America.

Though all the other seas mentioned as incorrect answers are part of the Pacific Ocean, the Bismarck Sea lies in the Southern rather than the Northern hemisphere.

Answer: Cape Kennedy

Cape Canaveral lies almost in the centre of Florida's Atlantic coast, in a region discovered in 1513 by famed Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León, but inhabited by humans for thousands of years. The name "Canaveral" given to the cape by Spanish explorers means "reed bed" or "sugarcane plantation"; another name it was know by was "Cape of Currents". Shipwrecks were not uncommon on that stretch of the coast because of the presence of coral shoals, so a lighthouse was built there in 1848. In 1949, the US Air Force Base on the cape became the test site for missiles, known as Joint Long Range Proving Ground. In fact, because of its location, Cape Canaveral allows rocket launches to take advantage of the Earth's rotation. The area came to be known as Cape Kennedy after the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy on 22 November, 1963 - a fitting memorial for a man who had made space exploration one of the goals of his short-lived presidency. The Gemini and Apollo missions, as well as the first Skylab mission, were all launched from "Cape Kennedy", which reverted to its original name (one of the oldest surviving European place-names in the US) in 1973. NASA's Space Center, on the other hand, retained the Kennedy name.

All the incorrect answers are capes located in the US, though not in Florida.

Answer: a city in the Netherlands

Located on Hornos Island, part of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago in southern Chile, Cape Horn ("Cabo de Hornos" in Spanish) marks the point where the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans meet. The cape also marks the northern boundary of the Drake Passage, the strait that separates South America from the South Shetland Islands, which are part of Antarctica. South America's southernmost point, one of the Diego Ramirez Islands, lies about 105 km (65 mi) southwest of the cape. Willem Schouten, a navigator for the Dutch East India Company, who discovered the cape in 1616, named it after his hometown, the city of Hoorn in the province of Noord-Holland in the Netherlands.

The need for rounding Cape Horn, which meant sailing through some of the world's most dangerous waters, was almost eliminated by the opening of the Panama Canal (1914), though braving the cape's dangers is still highly regarded as a sporting challenge. Two lighthouses are located on the cape: the smaller of the two is the world's southernmost lighthouse.

The Cape Horn region was declared a national park in 1945, and designated as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 2005.

Answer: Queensland

Famous for its unspoiled wilderness, which makes it popular with adventure-seeking tourists, Cape York Peninsula is located in Far North Queensland, the northernmost region of Australia's second-largest state. Cape York, found at the peninsula's northern tip, lies in the Torres Strait, about 150 km (93 mi) from the coast of Papua New Guinea. The cape was named by James Cook in honour of Prince Edward, Duke of York and Albany, a brother of King George III, who had died in 1767, three years before Cook reached the cape. However, the first European to land in that area was Dutch sailor Willem Janszoon in 1606 - who was also the first European to ever come in contact with Australia's Aboriginal people. Cape York Peninsula is home to an extraordinary number of plant and animal species, and most of its population is indigenous; over 30 aboriginal languages are spoken there.

The other three Australian states are all located much further south than Queensland.

Answer: New Zealand

Named Te Kuri o Paoa ("The Dog of Paoa") in the Maori language, Young Nick's Head lies on New Zealand's North Island, at the southern end of Poverty Bay. The cape's rather distinctive English name comes from Nicholas Young, a 12-year-old boy who worked as the surgeon's assistant on the "Endeavour" during James Cook's first voyage of discovery. On 6 October 1769, Cook promised a reward to the first member of the crew who first sighted land; at about 2 pm, Nicholas was the first to do so, and was awarded two gallons of rum - as well as the honour of having part of that land's coast named after him. A bronze statue depicting "Young Nick" pointing towards the white cliffs of the headland that bears his name stands on Waikanae Beach, in the city of Gisborne, at Poverty Bay's northern end. The headland and its surrounding area, known as Nick's Head Station, are notable for their wildlife, which includes various seabird species and the tuatara, a lizard-like reptile that is one the world's oldest animals.

Of the three incorrect choices, only Vanuatu is a sovereign nation. Hawaii is one of the states of the USA, and the Society Islands are part of French Polynesia.