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World Geography Quiz | Expert Rivers, Borders and Relative Location

1 / 100.0s

Problem 1

Following a great river of central Africa from its headwaters, it crosses the equator northwards, sweeps round in a great arc and crosses the equator southwards again on its way to the Atlantic.

Which river has that characteristic?

View explanation

The Congo is the only great river to cross the equator twice. Its basin extends far to the north and south of the equator, and its course is nothing like a straight east–west line.

Problem 2

Recording the capitals and the river border together to tell apart two countries with almost the same name.

Which pair of capitals face each other across the Congo River?

View explanation

Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of the Congo, face each other across a widening of the Congo River. The country names are similar, so each capital must be matched to the right one.

Problem 3

One country borders Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan, and none of those five neighbours has a coast on the open sea either.

Which doubly landlocked country requires crossing at least two borders to reach the sea?

View explanation

The one that fits is Uzbekistan. Not only is it landlocked; all its neighbours are too, so reaching an ocean coast takes at least two border crossings. The Caspian does not count as a direct outlet to the open sea.

Problem 4

Going right round its border you meet only one other country, and even the lowest point in the country lies at about 1,400 metres.

Which is this "kingdom in the sky"?

View explanation

Lesotho is an enclaved state entirely surrounded by South Africa, and the whole country lies above 1,000 metres. Eswatini is also a landlocked country in southern Africa, but it borders Mozambique as well as South Africa.

Problem 5

Walking through the town, parcels of Belgian territory are dotted about inside the Netherlands, and inside those Belgian parcels there are parcels of Dutch territory again.

Which place is known for these nested borders?

View explanation

At Baarle the territories of Baarle-Nassau in the Netherlands and Baarle-Hertog in Belgium interlock in complicated fashion, and in places there are enclaves within enclaves. It is not merely a border cutting a town in two.

Problem 6

Two countries that do not look adjacent on a map of mainland Europe share a land border of more than 720 kilometres by way of an overseas territory in South America.

Which two countries are they?

View explanation

French Guiana is an overseas department and region of France and borders Brazil. Taking each state's territory as a whole, France and Brazil therefore share a land border in South America.

Problem 7

A country in the south-west of the Arabian Peninsula has the Red Sea on its western coast and the Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea on its southern coast, and commands the Bab el-Mandeb between them.

Which country meets all those conditions?

View explanation

Yemen is in the south-west of the Arabian Peninsula with coasts on both the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea. Djibouti is also close to Bab el-Mandeb but lies on the African side, not the peninsula.

Problem 8

Its northern coast is on the largest inland body of water in the world and its southern coast on a gulf important for oil shipping and on a further gulf leading out to the open sea.

Which country meets all three conditions of the Caspian Sea, the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman?

View explanation

Iran faces the Caspian in the north and the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman in the south. Iraq has a short coast on the Persian Gulf but none on the Caspian, and Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan have only Caspian coasts.

Problem 9

Within one country you can go from the Black Sea through the Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara and the Dardanelles into the Aegean, and round to the Mediterranean coast as well.

Which country has that chain of seas and straits?

View explanation

Turkey faces the Black Sea, the Aegean and the Mediterranean, with the Sea of Marmara between the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles. The Bosphorus does not join the Black Sea to the Mediterranean directly.

Problem 10

In the dry season a tributary carries water from a great lake to the major river near the capital; in the wet season it reverses and carries the swollen river's water back into the lake.

Which river shows this seasonal reversal of flow?

View explanation

Cambodia's Tonle Sap river flows from Tonle Sap lake to the Mekong in the dry season, but the rising Mekong pushes it back towards the lake in the wet season. That is what drives the seasonal change in the lake's area and volume.