How about a quiz including all the land area, and having a column for protectorates/external territories like Dutch East Indies? Interesting that Aceh remained a separate country all that time.
I think they were de jure part of China, though de facto independent (and together with Persia and Afghanistan a bone of contention between Russia and the UK)
Tibet had some level of autonomy, but they were very much part of the Qing empire. Had history gone slightly different though, it would have been annexed by the British, and today probably been part of India.
It might be on the map, but then so is Ethiopia, which was independent. Bulgaria and Ethiopia are not in Asia: the quiz is about Asia, not places in Europe and Africa that happen to appear on the map.
I was aware that Ha'il, a city in Saudi Arabia, was the most prosperous and significant city in the region in 1900. I knew that the al-Rashidi and Shammari tribes held sway there and still do. But I wasn't sure what to call the Emirate that existed there at the time. Tried a few things and failed.
You might accept also "Najd" instead of Ha'il. To the extent of my knowledges, it's a more common name referring to the whole region the Saudis started their expansion from.
Personally I think you shouldn't accept the modern names like Thailand and Iran. Those weren't the names of those countries at the time, so it makes it a little too easy.
They're successor states, though. Not accepting successor states' name changes would be problematic, as it would contravene the acceptance of Burma in place of Myanmar on dozens of quizzes.
Not only in English... It was known as Persia (or a variation on that name) in most world languages at the time. Only in Farsi and languages heavily influenced by Farsi was it known as Iran.
Formosa was originally settled by indigenous people of Melanesian descent, before Portugal colonised it. However, it was then taken over by the the expanding Japanese empire, and it was part of Japan in 1900. After the revolution in China, the national party was driven onto the island, now named Taiwan, while the CCP claimed the mainland. In 1900, Taiwan was at the state of control under Japan, as it was one of the earlier territories they acquired, (along with the Okinawa islands).
It wasn't the Portuguese, but the Dutch who colonized Formosa, from 1622 onward (although there was a Spanish stronghold for some time too). In 1661 it was conquered by Ming loyalists, who lost it to Qing in 1683. Only in 1895 it was annexed by Japan after the first Sino-Japanese war.
Emirate of Ha'il is also known as Emirate of Jabal Shammar. Both should be accepted in this quiz. I'd also suggest House of Rashid should be accepted for this.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Najd
It existed in 1900
like hail=nejd
aden= south yemen
russia= ussr