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Geography General Knowledge #9

Can you answer these random geography questions?
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: June 22, 2023
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First submittedMarch 24, 2013
Times taken110,399
Average score70.0%
Rating4.37
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Question
Answer
What's the largest city in southern Germany?
Munich
What strait divides Morocco and Spain?
Strait of Gibraltar
On what street would you find the official residence of the British Prime Minister?
Downing
What branch of Islam do the majority of Iranians belong to?
Shia
What peninsula contains the countries of Spain and Portugal?
Iberian Peninsula
What country has as many as 227 inhabited islands, including Lesbos, Chíos, and Corfu?
Greece
Which U.S. state has the largest Mormon population?
Utah
By surface area, what is the largest of the African Great Lakes?
Lake Victoria
What ocean current brings warm water from the Gulf of Mexico to Europe?
Gulf Stream
In what country is Khmer the primary language?
Cambodia
What ethnic group has its homeland in northeast Spain and southwest France?
Basques
What canal stretches (roughly) from Albany to Buffalo?
Erie Canal
Who is Paris's main international airport named for?
Charles de Gaulle
What's the Spanish name for the United States?
Estados Unidos
What island is divided between Greek and Turkish factions?
Cyprus
Which African country has a name with one word but all five vowels?
Mozambique
What South American desert is often considered to be the driest place in the world?
Atacama
Which Canadian territory borders Alaska and British Columbia?
Yukon Territory
What is the easternmost country on the African mainland?
Somalia
Which country is often counted as part of North America despite lying less than
20 kilometers off the coast of South America?
Trinidad and
Tobago
47 Comments
+3
Level 76
Aug 26, 2013
Got 17 right but it helped that there are quite a lot of Europe related questions.
+3
Level 63
Mar 6, 2014
I wish that typing in "Gulf Current" would have worked ... and that be acceptable in the future?
+5
Level 71
Oct 7, 2014
How about EUA for "What is the Spanish name for the United States?"
+8
Level 85
Nov 30, 2016
or EEUU?
+4
Level ∞
Aug 24, 2020
EEUU will work now
+4
Level 66
Jun 30, 2015
Just FYI:: Greek sovereign land includes 6,000 islands and islets scattered in the Aegean and Ionian Seas, of which only 227 islands are inhabited. This is a truly unique phenomenon for the European continent.
+2
Level ∞
Mar 14, 2016
I wonder. My guess would be that Greece has the greatest number of inhabited islands in Europe, but other countries may have more total islands. Norway seems like an obvious candidate.
+4
Level 86
Mar 14, 2016
Finland probably has the most islands in Europe. Sweden and Norway also have tens, if not hundreds of thousands of islands. All depends on what you call an island though, which is really not straightforward, but by any measure those three countries have many more than Greece.
+4
Level 72
Dec 15, 2018
The Åland Islands archipelago alone - an autonomous region of Finland, in the Baltic Sea - has around 6500 islands and islets, of which only 65 are inhabited. Finland has a crapload of islands.
+2
Level 74
Dec 2, 2020
I just looked up the area in Google Maps - incredible. at a zoomed-out level it looks like a few islands, zoom in a bit and more appear, zoom in closer and there are islands *everywhere*!
+1
Level 77
Jan 13, 2024
Have you ever zoomed in on the coast of Sweden?
+3
Level 67
Mar 14, 2016
I thought it was asking for the state with the largest Muslim population. It's way too early for this today.
+5
Level 91
Mar 14, 2016
According to Wikipedia, it's Michigan.
+2
Level 66
May 17, 2021
Yes, I started to write Michigan until, mid-typing of word, I re-read Mormon and had to back up and re-type the correct answer.
+2
Level ∞
Jun 22, 2023
As of 2023, New York and California have the most Muslims.

Illinois has the highest percentages of Muslims at 3.7% trailed by New York at 3.6%.

Michigan ranks 5th by percentage and 6th in overall number.

Michigan does have the only Muslim-majority city in the United States – Hamtramck – which recently banned the gay pride flag from appearing on city property.

+2
Level 72
Jun 22, 2023
That seems surprising to me. I wonder if despite Michigan having such a large Middle Eastern population, many of those are non-Muslims (e.g. Lebanese Maronites, Assyrian refugees, etc.)
+6
Level 57
Mar 15, 2016
Finland has 609 inhabited islands, I just had to check.
+2
Level 69
Jun 15, 2017
Got 18, should have gotten Gulf Stream
+1
Level 48
Dec 15, 2018
Cyprus is not divided in Greek and Turkish 'factions' - that is an oversimplification that just enables propaganda.
+7
Level 75
Dec 15, 2018
How would you reword the clue in under ten words? 70% of quiz takers got it correct. There is a comments section to state opinions, clarifications or grievances, or yes, promote propaganda, in which case I hope you check back and call them out on it. For the most part I have no problem with oversimplification. (Many of my own comments could use a good dose of it, including this one.)
+4
Level 71
Oct 13, 2020
Alternatively, you could say "which Greek island is partially occupied by a Turkish faction".
+3
Level 79
May 15, 2021
Cyprus isn't a Greek island, though. Calling a Greek island implies that it is under control of the Greek government when it is not. You could say Eastern Mediterranean island or culturally Greek island.
+3
Level 71
May 17, 2021
Does saying that moussaka is a Greek dish imply that it's under the control of the Greek government?
+3
Level 70
Jun 9, 2021
Governments do not generally control food dishes, though they do, on occasion, control areas of land. Calling a Cyprus a "Greek island" does not necessarily mean it is part of the nation of Greece, but it is by no means unreasonable for the phrase to be interpreted in that way. At best, it would create an unnecessary ambiguity in the clue. Most likely, it would be positively misleading. Personally, given that clue, I would run through the admittedly short list of islands in Greece that I know, and when none of them worked, conclude that the answer is one of the many others I don't know.

If "Greek islands" includes Cyprus, how do you refer to just the islands that the are part of the nation of Greece? "The islands that are a part of the nation of Greece" seems rather a mouthful.

+2
Level 76
Jun 22, 2023
Obviously you'd just say islands of Greece, no need to overcomplicate. Because Greece is a country whereas Greek is both a demonym and an ethnic signifier so Greek can apply to things unaffiliated with the country but with the ethnic group, like Cyprus.
+1
Level 81
Jun 22, 2023
How about "the only country with a politically divided capital"? 8 words. I thoroughly agree with all who have taken issue with this question. To say that Cyprus is divided into Greek and Turkish factions is ridiculous. Before the invention of so called Northern Cyprus, Cyprus was a country that both Greece and Turkey were supposed to protect as one united island
+1
Level 54
Apr 26, 2024
If you call Nicosia and North Nicosia one city, i think you can also call Brazzaville and Kinshasa one city
+1
Level 71
Oct 7, 2023
How about saying "which Greek-speaking island is partially and illegally occupied by Turkey"?
+1
Level 63
Oct 8, 2023
How about "Which European country is divided between Greek and Turkish factions?" ;)
+1
Level 71
Oct 9, 2023
Well, for one, you'll confuse Quizmaster, who mistakenly believes that Cyprus isn't in Asia.

Also, it doesn't really seem fair to put Cypriots trying to live legally in Cyprus on the same level as Turkey illegally occupying half that island in defiance of international law and colonizing it with people from Anatolia. I get that there's more to the History of the place, but, in a very short summary, that's what's happening there!

+1
Level 54
Apr 26, 2024
I think its an official JP Standard that Cyprus is (mistakenly) considered an Asian Country
+3
Level 80
Oct 24, 2019
Would the British Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia not count as British factions on the island of Cyprus?
+2
Level 80
Oct 24, 2019
Even though I wouldn't use the word 'factions' for these areas
+3
Level 75
Dec 2, 2020
Nah, rather imperialism leftovers.
+4
Level 71
May 15, 2021
They shouldn't really count as anything - least of all "sovereign". The main (and only) road to the west of the island, including Paphos, goes right through it, and if you didn't check on your GPS for fun, you'd never know it. Hilariously, the bases also use the Euro as their official currency - just wait until the Brexiters find out about that!
+8
Level 74
Sep 30, 2020
The question "What ethnic group has its homeland in northeast Spain and southwest France?" is ambiguous, Catalans fit the descriptions as well as Basques.
+1
Level 65
May 15, 2021
I thought the Basques were in France and Catalans in Spain. I don't think you can lump them together.
+7
Level 79
May 15, 2021
Basques and Catalans are totally different. Catalan is a Romance language related to Spanish, Galician, and French (among many others) while Basque is related to nothing. The Catalan community is on the Mediterranean coast around Barcelona and Andorra while the Basque community is on the Bay of Biscay. Culturally, linguistically, and ethnically the two groups are very different.
+2
Level 75
Jun 22, 2023
More to the point, is the Basque Country even "northeast" in Spain? I'll grant it's more east than west, but I'd definitely call that just "northern" Spain.

Google describes it as "Basque Country (Euskadi) is an autonomous community in northern Spain" (and Navarra (Navarre) is a geographically diverse region in northern Spain). Not sure which bit is northeast - the tiny enclaves in Aragon?

+1
Level 69
Jun 23, 2023
Came to say the same

I would say Cataluña is in the North-East, and País Vasco is more (central) North

+1
Level 54
May 15, 2021
Too easy this one
+3
Level 81
Jun 22, 2023
Don't knock it. We Brits with no interest in American sports need all the help we can get
+7
Level 79
May 25, 2022
Weird to randomly have a Spanish translation as a question. What's next, the Chinese name for Liberia?
+1
Level 67
Sep 13, 2022
Argh so close, I do not speak Spanish at all but I do speak French so I tried "Estatos Unidos".

Random question!

+2
Level 76
Jun 22, 2023
New York State Barge Canal should be accepted. That is its present name. I used to live right next to it.
+1
Level 74
Jun 22, 2023
Cyprus is not divided by any ethnic functions, at least legally speaking. The south is the Republic of Cyprus, the other is the occupied part of that Republic by US's handy man in the ME, Turkey.
+1
Level 80
Jun 23, 2023
Trinidad is the new Cyprus. The majority of its territory (the island of Trinidad) is geographically in South America, not North.