20 Quiz Questions on Geography

Welcome to Trivia Thursday, Expat Living’s weekly quiz! How about challenging a friend or family member? You can get together with them over Zoom, Houseparty or Google Hangouts. Every Thursday, we’ll put up a 20 new questions covering topics relating to pop culture, geography, history, language and more. This week, it’s a geography quiz!

#1 Mount Vesuvius overlooks which city?

#2 In which country can you find a geographical feature named Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu?

#3 Busan is the second biggest city in which country?

#4 Which is the only continent that straddles all four of the world’s hemispheres (Northern, Southern, Eastern, Western)?

#5 Anagrams, Part 1: rearrange the letters of the following words to make the names of four countries – rain, chain, plane, moan

#6 Which dog breed starting with the letter C is named after a state of Mexico?

#7 What is the largest body of water, by volume, in the United Kingdom?

#8 If you’re standing at the summit of Mount Kinabalu, what island are you on?

#9 In geographical terms (rather than Johnny Cash terms), what is the Ring of Fire?

#10 Which is the only American state with one syllable in its name?

#11 What are the modern names of these former Asian countries: Siam, Ceylon, Kampuchea?

#12 What is the second highest mountain in the world?

#13 Australia is wider than the moon: true or false?

#14 What is known as “The Eternal City”?

#15 Which country spans the most time zones?

#16 What’s the official language of Brazil?

#17 Which African country has the largest population, Nigeria, Egypt or Ethiopia?

#18 What is the largest island in the Caribbean Sea?

#19 Anagrams, Part 2: rearrange the letters of the following words to make the names of four countries – moon race, lizard newts, a comedian, rent again

#20 What’s the capital city of Canada?

BONUS

(If you can answer correctly on the first clue, you get 10 points, but you lose a point for each additional clue you require after that.)

What am I?

I’m a country in Asia, roughly the same size as Taiwan. (10)
I am a constitutional monarchy, with a king as my head of state. (9)
I share borders with the two most populous countries in the world, China and India. (8)
My own population is relatively small – over 160 countries have more people. (7)
I have a dragon on my flag. (6)
My national dish is a combination of chilli peppers and cheese. (5)
My capital city is Thimphu. (4)
My most famous tourist attraction is a cliffside monastery known as “Tiger’s Nest”. (3)
I start with the letter B. (2)
I am _____. (1)

All the answers (no cheating!)

#1 Naples, Italy
#2 New Zealand (it’s the name of a small hill in the Hawke’s Bay region)
#3 South Korea
#4 Africa
#5 Iran, China, Nepal, Oman
#6 Chihuahua
#7 Loch Ness
#8 Borneo
#9 The zone around the edge of the Pacific Ocean (or the Pacific Rim) that is particularly prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions
#10 Maine
#11 Thailand, Sri Lanka, Cambodia
#12 K2
#13 True (Australia is approximately 4,000km from east to west; the diameter of the moon is closer to 3,500km)
#14 Rome
#15 Russia (11 time zones; when it’s 8pm in Kaliningrad in the west, it’s already 6am the next day in Provideniya in the east)
#16 Portuguese
#17 Nigeria (around 200 million, which is 90 million more than the second largest, Ethiopia)
#18 Cuba
#19 Cameroon, Switzerland, Macedonia, Argentina
#20 Ottawa

BONUS: Bhutan

See more weekly quiz questions in our Things to Do section!

Shamus Sillar

While he has worked as a magazine editor since 2003, Shamus also has a PhD in Roman History (useful!) and is a published author. He writes mostly on travel but also covers food, history, sport, trivia and more, across Expat Living’s publications and websites in Singapore and Hong Kong.