Madrid Pub Quiz

Copyleft: feel free to use these questions in your quizzes. This is not a game, there’s no scoring, and questions are provided as a service only. Some answers are a little lengthy as players requested clarification. “NEW” means less than a month old. Spanish flags denote Spanish-based questions.

Geography

323 questions in this category

Which three crosses of England, Scotland and Ireland make up the Union Jack?
St George, St. Andrew, and St. Patrick
Which Australian city was named after the queen consort to King William IV?
Adelaide, in 1836
The Channel Islands are not part of the UK but Crown Dependencies. Charles Ⅲ is the head of state under which title?
Duke of Normandy
Where would you find the islands of Macaronesia?
Macaronesia is a collection of four volcanic archipelagos in the North Atlantic Ocean, off the coasts of the continents of Africa and Europe. Some of the Macaronesian islands belong to Portugal (Madeira and the Azores), some belong to Spain (Canary Islands), and the rest belong to Cape Verde.
This is a Spanish-based question The southernmost point and the westernmost point of Spain are less than 20 Kms apart. Where are they?
El Hierro in the Canary Islands. (Southernmost is La Restinga at 27°38′N 17°59′W, and the westernmost is Punta de la Orchilla at 27°43′N 18°09′W).
Which countries have both an Atlantic and a Mediterranean coast?
France, Spain, and Morocco
The Strait of Otranto separates which two countries?
Italy and Albania
With thanks to Ross Stewart of Auckland, New Zealand, for correcting the question
Which is the smallest independent country in South America?
Suriname
With thanks to Tim Sharples for fine tuning the question
How many points of the compass are there?
32
Which Spanish region has the same name as a region of eastern Europe spanning south-eastern Poland and western Ukraine?
Galicia
Which town in Spain is the self-proclaimed ‘windsurf capital of the world’?
Tarifa
This is a Spanish-based question Whose statue is outside the main entrance to the Prado Museum?
Diego Velázquez
With which countries does Spain have a land border (i.e. there is a border post)?
Portugal, France, Andorra, Morocco (Ceuta and Melilla), UK (Gibraltar)
If you travelled due west from Madrid crossed the Atlantic Ocean, which city would you hit?
New York
Which capital city is on the river Tagus?
Lisbon
Valentia Island is off the coast of which European country?
Ireland
With thanks to Gerry O’Sullivan of Killarney for correcting this question
Which country had, until 2011, a flag with only a solid colour?
Libya (the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya)
With thanks to Jake Whiteman for updating the question
Where are the Tivoli gardens?
Copenhagen (also a less well know one in Ljubljana)
Which river separates Buda from Pest?
The Danube
Abuja is the capital of the seventh most populous country in the world. Which?
Nigeria
The Canary Islands are named after which animal?
Dogs (although it could refer to monk seals, known as ‘sea dogs’ in Latin)
Who was the first president of the Fifth Republic (1958-present) in France?
Charles de Gaulle
Which African city derives its name from ‘Three Cities’?
Tripoli (from ‘Regio Tripolitana’, region of the three cities)
Which country’s flag has a blue 24-spoked wheel in the centre called the Ashoka Chakra?
India
Port Moresby (Pot Mosbi) is the capital city of which country?
Papua New Guinea
Which city in Ireland derives its English name from Blackpool in Irish?
Dublin (Dubh Linn)
In which time zone is Ireland?
WET (Western European Time) which is the same as GMT and UTC. In summer it is WEST (Western European Summer Time) which is GMT/UTC +1.
Which is the only truly African language of the six official working languages of the African Union?
Swahili. (The other five are Arabic, English, French, Spanish and Portuguese.)
Which country has 37 official languages, more than any other? (The first language mentioned in the constitution and the most widely spoken is Spanish.)
Bolivia. (Bolivian Constitution, Article 5-I: Son idiomas oficiales del Estado el castellano y todos los idiomas de las naciones y pueblos indígena originario campesinos, que son el aymara, araona, baure, bésiro, canichana, cavineño, cayubaba, chácobo, chimán, ese ejja, guaraní, guarasu’we, guarayu, itonama, leco, machajuyai-kallawaya, machineri, maropa, mojeño-trinitario, mojeño-ignaciano, moré, mosetén, movima, pacawara, puquina, quechua, siriona, tacana, tapieté, toromona, uru-chipaya, weenhayek, yawanawa, yuki, yuracaré y zamuco.)
Out of the ten most populous islands in the world, only 2 are outside Asia. Can you name them?
Great Britain (3rd) and Hispaniola (10th)
With which other country did Tanganyika merge to form present day Tanzania in 1964?
Zanzibar
Where would you commonly find the letters BCE, ECB, EZB, EKT and EKP together?
On Euro bank notes (the initials of the European Central Bank in different languages).
Which is the largest country through which the equator passes?
Brazil
The Merlion, an imaginary creature with the head of a lion and the body of a fish, is used as the mascot of which island nation?
Singapore
What are the member states of the Swiss Federation known as?
Cantons
How is French Somaliland now known?
Djibouti
Which three countries have a flag which is simply a circle on a solid background?
Japan, Bangladesh, and Palau
With thanks to Neil Robinson in New Zealand for correcting the answer to this question
The Gulf of Bothnia lies between which two countries?
Sweden and Finland
The Juan de Fuca Strait separates which two countries?
Canada and USA (between Washington state and Vancouver Island)
Which European capital is served by Schwechat airport?
Vienna
Which countries use Western European Time?
UK, Ireland, Iceland, and Portugal (plus the Canary Islands and the Faroe Islands)
Which is the only United States territory that drives on the left?
The US Virgin Islands
Which European Union country has the largest army per capita (mainly because of the perceived threat from its larger neighbour)?
Greece
Which mountain range separates the Rhône and Rhine rivers and gives name to a French Department, a Swiss canton, a geologic time period and, indirectly, an Oscar winning film?
The Jura mountains (Jura, Canton of Jura, Jurassic period, and Jurassic Park)
What was the name of the balsa wood raft used by Thor Heyerdahl and his crew to sail across the South Pacific in 1947?
Kon-Tiki
New Zealand is named after which ‘old’ Zealand?
The Dutch province of Zeeland (not the Danish Island of Zealand)
Which is the largest country without an airport?
Andorra (but it has a heliport)
In which desert is Las Vegas?
Mojave
Which is the largest island in the Society Islands?
Tahiti
Which Canadian territory forms most of the border with Alaska?
The Yukon
Between which two cities is the longest railway journey that does not require changing trains?
Moscow and Beijing
Which is the largest state in Mexico?
Chihuahua
What are the official languages of Israel?
Hebrew and Arabic
Which country has the ten highest waterfalls in Europe?
Norway
Which famous building complex lies on the south bank of the Yamuna river near Agra?
The Taj Mahal
This is a Spanish-based question In which Comunidad is the northernmost point in Spain ?
Galicia (Cabo de Bares)
Which country officially describes itself as ‘República Oriental’?
Uruguay
Which EU country has a coat of arms with a hammer and a sickle on it?
Austria
Which country occupies practically one half of the land of South America?
Brazil
Which famous bridge nicknamed the ‘Coathanger’ celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2007?
Sydney Harbour Bridge
St Patrick is known as the Patron Saint of Ireland but there are others, name at least one.
Brigid of Kildare, Columba of Iona, Kevin of Glendalough
What is the currency of India?
Rupee
Chisinau is the capital of which European country?
Moldova
Which is the world’s smallest republic?
Nauru
Which city in India is now called Chennai?
Madras
Between which two cities is the shortest intercontinental commercial flight?
Gibraltar and Tangier
Cape York is the northernmost point of which country?
Australia
In 1807, the capital of Portugal was moved out of Lisbon. Where?
Rio de Janeiro
In Germany, a motorway is called an ‘autobahn’. What are they called in Italy?
Autostrada
In which country is Dubrovnik?
Croatia
What are the Dutch East Indies now called?
Indonesia
What is the Kotel or Western Wall of the Second Temple in Jerusalem better known as?
The Wailing Wall
Which two animals appear on the Australian coat of arms?
Kangaroo and emu
Which US city is known as ‘The Big Easy’?
New Orleans
This is a Spanish-based question What are Chafarinas, Alhucemas and Vélez de la Gomera?
Spanish islands off the coast of North Africa
Pico Duarte is the highest mountain in the West Indies. In which country is it?
Domincan Republic
In which group of British Islands would you find the port of Sullom Voe?
The Shetlands
Llullaillaco is the world’s highest active volcano. It’s on the border between which two countries?
Argentina and Chile
Paraguay borders which other countries?
Argentina, Brazil and Bolivia
Which sea does the Volga empty into?
The Caspian Sea
How is Portuguese West Africa now known?
Angola
The city of St. Petersburg stands on which river?
Neva
Which animal appears on the national flag of Sri Lanka?
Lion
Which is the longest river in France?
Loire
The Welland Ship Canal links which two great lakes?
Erie and Ontario
In which states is Yellowstone National Park?
Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming
In which Asian city would you find the Potala Palace?
Lhasa, in Tibet
A black letter ‘A’ in a white oval on the back of a car denotes it is from which country?
Austria
Travelling south, after the Atlas and the Middle Atlas, what comes next in North Africa?
The Anti Atlas
Christmas Island is surrounded by which ocean?
The Indian Ocean (however, the island of Kiritimati, in the Pacific Ocean, is also called Christmas Island)
With thanks to Nick Wilde for correcting this question
GBZ denotes cars from where?
Gibraltar
How many stars does the flag of the European Union now have?
12 — the number of stars will not change when new members are admitted.
How many time zones are there in China?
One
If you crossed the Panama Canal from the Atlantic (Caribbean) to the Pacific, in which general direction would you be going?
South-East (not South-West as might be expected).
If you saw the letters BWI after a country on a postal address, where would you expect the letter to be delivered?
Somewhere in the British West Indies
If you were in Molokai, in which country would you be?
United States (Hawaii)
In Australia, in which month of the year is the longest day?
In December
In which city is Marco Polo airport?
Venice
In which city is the HQ of the Central Bank of China?
Taipei
In which country is Bali?
Indonesia
In which country is water considered so precious that it gives name to the currency: the Pula?
Botswana
In which country would you find the Caprivi Strip?
Namibia. A thin finger of land surrounded by Angola, Zambia and Botswana
In which US state would you find the Everglades?
Florida
India and Pakistan have neighbouring states of the same name, meaning ‘land of five rivers’. Which states are they?
Punjab and Punjab
Jebel Musa is acknowledged to be one of the Pillars of Hercules, the end of the world according to Mediterranean cultures. What is the other one?
Jebel Tarik, better known as Gibraltar
London’s Fleet Street runs from the Strand to Ludgate Circus and is fast becoming the former home of British journalism. What is it named after?
The River Fleet which still flows under the street in the sewers
Minsk is the capital of which country?
Belarus
Monaco has the same flag as which other country?
Indonesia
Name the eastern-most and western-most state in the United States.
Alaska and Alaska. The Aleutians cross the 180 degree line of longitude and are in both the eastern and western hemispheres.
Only three countries (members of the United Nations) have names that start with the letter ‘F’ in English. Which ones?
France, Finland, and Fiji
Some call it Sagarmatha, some call it Chomolunga, and others call it...?
Mount Everest
The Golden Temple at Amritsar is a place of pilgrimage for whom?
Sikhs
The language officially called Putonghua is more commonly known as what?
Mandarin or Chinese
What is the current name of the French Sudan?
Mali
What is the current name of what used to be the German Ocean?
The North Sea
What is the English name for the island of Rapa Nui?
Easter Island
What is the name of the gate in the Tower of London that leads onto the Thames?
Traitor’s Gate
What name was given to New York by Washington Irving in ”Salmagundi” in 1807 and is still a nickname for the city?
Gotham
This is a Spanish-based question What time difference is there between Spain and Poland?
None
What’s the difference between an American and a European roulette wheel?
The American has an extra slot for 00
When it’s 4:45 pm in Kathmandu, what time is it in Madrid?
Noon
Where is Dogger Bank?
The North Sea
Where is the Mosquito Coast?
Nicaragua
Where or what is Laputa?
An imaginary flying island in Gulliver’s Travels, inhabited by unpractical scientists and philosophers who have attendants to flap them in the face with bladders to bring them down to consideration of mundane matters.
Where you be if you were at the geographical position 0 degrees latitude and 0 degrees longitude?
The Atlantic ocean
Which are the only two Caribbean islands with a land border separating two countries?
Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic) and St. Martin (France and the Netherlands)
Which country has HK on its aircraft?
Colombia
Which country has RCH on its cars?
Chile
Which country has the highest per capita tea consumption?
Ireland (although Turkey now claims the honour)
Which country has the oldest written constitution still in existence?
The United States
Which country in Europe has the shortest coastline?
Monaco
Which country’s aircraft registrations start with the letters ‘EC’?
Spain (España Civil)
Which country’s capital city means ‘Red Hero’ in English?
Mongolia: Ulaanbaatar (Улаанбаатар), previously known as Ulan Bator
Which dynasty rules Jordan?
Hashemite
Which European country is not a member of the United Nations?
The Vatican. Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco, and San Marino are members.
With thanks to Carter Young for correcting this question
Which is the largest land-locked country in the world?
Kazakhstan
Which is the longest river to flow into the Mediterranean?
The Nile
Which is the most visited paying monument in the world that recorded in December 2002 its 200 millionth visitor?
The Eiffel Tower, 6.91 million people ascended it in 2015.
Which is the only country crossed by a tropic and the equator?
Brazil
Which is the only country that has Hinduism as its official religion?
Nepal
Which is the only one of New York’s five boroughs to be located on the mainland?
The Bronx
Which is the second largest country in Europe (by area) after Russia?
Ukraine
Which is the smallest country in mainland Africa?
The Gambia
With thanks to Carter Young for correcting this question
Which is the southernmost capital of continental South America?
Montevideo is 34°53′S; Buenos Aires is further north at 34°36′S
With thanks to Kevin Magill of the Cayman Islands for correcting this question
Which mountain overlooks Cape Town?
Table Mountain
With thanks to Ken G. Fisher of Toronto for correcting this question
Which of the five great lakes in North America is nearest to the sea?
Lake Ontario
Which river flows through the Grand Canyon?
The Colorado River
Which state is made up of 700 islands, the largest of which is Andros?
Bahamas
With thanks to Alan Chapple for correcting this question
Which three counties of Ulster are not in Northern Ireland?
Cavan, Monaghan, and Donegal
Which two countries in Central America do not have a coastline on both oceans?
Belize and El Salvador
Which two US states are rectangular?
Colorado and Wyoming
Which US city is known as Motown?
Detroit
Which US state has by far the most tornadoes on average?
Texas (4,000 per annum, Oklahoma 2nd with 1,400)
Why is the Empire State Building so called?
Because New York is the Empire State
If you climbed up the Euromast which is in the Europort, which city would you be in?
Rotterdam
If you were to go directly south from Belfast, which is the first major city you would reach?
Oviedo, in Spain
In which county is the northernmost point in Ireland?
Co. Donegal (Malin Head)
In which province is Dublin?
Leinster
In which US state is Panama City?
Florida
On which side of the road do the Japanese drive?
The left
Which are the only two countries that have square flags?
Switzerland and the Vatican
Which people’s republic stands between the Bay of Bengal and the foothills of the Himalayas, bordered by India and Burma?
Bangladesh
Alba is the Celtic name for which country?
Scotland
What in Australia is a Willy-Willy?
A whirlwind
What is the former name of Thailand?
Siam
What is traditionally considered the burial site of St. Peter?
Rome
Which are the last two colonial territories in North America? (Not counting Greenland)
Saint Pierre et Miquelon (France) and Bermuda (UK)
With thanks to Kevin Magill of the Cayman Islands for correcting this question
Which is the ultimate court of appeal in Great Britain and Northern Ireland?
The House of Lords
Where in the world would you find Queen Maude Land, Queen Mary Land, and George Ⅴ Land?
Antarctica
Where did Douglas Corrigan land to end his famous flight from Roosevelt Field, N.Y. to California in 1938?
Dublin. He was henceforth known as ‘Wrongway Corrigan’.
If you looked out to sea in El Dar el Beida, which ocean would you be looking at?
The Atlantic. You are in Casablanca, Morocco
If you were in a place that some of the natives called ‘Aotearoa’, where would you be?
New Zealand
In which continent is the country called Hrvatska in its own language?
Europe (Croatia)
In which country do people speak the language they call Nihongo?
Japan
Only three countries (members of the UN) have names that start with the letter ‘H’ in English. Which ones?
Haiti, Honduras, and Hungary.
The city of Firenze is better known in English as...?
Florence, Italy
What colour are French letter boxes?
Yellow
Which city was built around and on the slopes of Mount-Royal?
Montreal, Canada
Which country has a birth rate of zero?
The Vatican
Which European country is called the ‘Eastern kingdom’ in its own language?
Austria (Österreich)
Which large city is also called the ‘Fragrant Harbour’?
Hong Kong
Which Russian city’s name means ‘Rule the East’ in Russian?
Vladivostok (Владивосто́к)
Which US city’s name means ‘straits’ or ‘channel’ because it is on a channel?
Detroit
What’s the main official residence of the head of state of Canada?
Buckingham Palace (Queen Elizabeth II is the head of state of Canada)
Bangladesh is the seventh most populous country in the world and it only has one official language. Which?
Bengali (or Bangla বাংলা)
Which two cities had the first underground railway systems?
London in 1863 and Budapest in 1894
Which are the only two South American countries that do not border Brazil?
Chile and Ecuador
In what language is ‘Switzerland’ written on Swiss stamps and coins?
Latin: Helvetia or Confederatio Helvetica
With thanks to Luke Williams in Switzerland for expanding the answer
Which is the main river that flows into the Dead Sea?
The river Jordan
With thanks to Luke Williams in Switzerland for correcting this question
The Ku’damm (Kurfürstendamm) is one of the main avenues of which city?
Berlin
Which country is the biggest producer of bananas in Europe?
Spain (not Iceland!)
Which street in Manhattan is named after the northern boundary fortifications of the New Amsterdam settlement?
Wall Street
Which street in the City of Westminster (home now to many clubs) is named after a mallet-and-ball game that was played there during the 17th century?
Pall Mall
Which avenue runs for two kilometres through the 8th arrondissement in Paris from Place de la Concorde to Place Charles de Gaulle?
The Champs Élysées
Who’s official residence is called Gracie Mansion?
The Mayor of New York City
The legendary city of Timbuktu is really in which country?
Mali
Which is, by far, the smallest Canadian province in both area and population?
Prince Edward Island (5,660 Km2 and approximately 140,000 inhabitants)
Which European Union member country has the lowest high point?
Denmark – Møllehøj at 171m.
Which river flows over Niagara Falls?
The Niagara river
The Tsar-kolokol (Царь–колокол) in the Moscow Kremlin weighs 216 tons and is the world’s largest what?
Bell
Which city of over 3 million inhabitants lies between Table Mountain and Table Bay?
Cape Town
The South Western Township area of Johannesburg is better know as what?
Soweto
This is a Spanish-based question Which were the first two Denominaciones de Origen in Spain?
Rioja (1925) and Jerez (1932)
Which are the only three European countries that are neutral?
Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Vatican City
The Mubarak Peace Bridge spans which waterway?
The Suez Canal
Paramaribo is the capital of which South American country?
Suriname
Which is the least populated state of the US with little more than half a million inhabitants (576,850 in 2020)?
Wyoming
Which capital city, famous for its wool and cats, was known as Angora until 1930?
Ankara
Where would you find the Pyramid of the Sun together with the Pyramid of the Moon?
In Teotihuacan, Mexico
Which river flows from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario and forms part of the border between Canada and the USA?
The Niagara river
What is the common name of the currencies of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Mauritius, and Seychelles?
The Rupee
Which river originates in a glacier in Switzerland, flows through Lake Geneva and the city of Geneva and in Arles divides into two branches forming the Camargue delta?
The Rhône
Fredericton is the capital of the only officially bilingual Canadian province. Which?
New Brunswick
What was the official name of Burkina Fasso until it was changed in 1984?
Upper Volta (Haute Volta)
In which Indian city would you find the Taj Mahal?
Agra
Canada Post has assigned the post code H0H 0H0 to which location?
The North Pole (for letters to Father Christmas)
Which US city is nicknamed the ‘City of Brotherly Love’ as that is what its name means in Greek?
Philadelphia (Ancient Greek: φίλος phílos (beloved, dear) and ἀδελφός adelphós (brother, brotherly)).
What is the name of the siren in the Rhine that lures sailors to their deaths?
Loreley
In which country would you find the Southern Alps?
New Zealand
In which country would you find the Atacama desert?
Chile
Which Japanese city suffered the Great Hanshin Earthquake in 1995?
Kobe
Which is the most populous state in the USA?
California with 39.2 million followed by Texas with 29.5 million (2021 estimates of the United States Census Bureau).
Which is the most populous island in the world?
Java (124M followed by Honshu with 103M and Great Britain with 56.8M)
What does GPS stand for?
Global Positioning System
The Jurassic Coast is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Where is it located?
On the English Channel coast of southern England. The site stretches from Orcombe Point near Exmouth in East Devon to Old Harry Rocks near Swanage in East Dorset, a distance of 153 kilometres (95 miles).
Shatt al-Arab forms part of the often disputed border between which two countries?
Iran (where it is known as Arvand Rud) and Iraq, it is formed by the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers
February the 6th is Waitangi Day which is the national holiday of which country?
New Zealand
What are the Sandwich Islands now called?
Hawaii
Fray Bentos, where a lot of the corned beef came from, is in which country?
Uruguay
If you travel directly East from Cape Horn, what’s the first land you hit?
Cape Horn
If you go directly South from Detroit, which country (other than the US) would you first enter?
Canada
What are the Danish West Indies now known as?
The US Virgin Islands
What lies between Vietnam and the Philippines and between China and Borneo?
The South China Sea
Which region of Europe derives its name from the Arabic word for ‘the west’?
Algarve in Portugal (originally Al-gharb al-andalus)
Guaraní is both the currency and an official language of which country?
Paraguay
Which country’s official languages are: English, Malay, Mandarin, and Tamil?
Singapore
Only one country (member of the UN) has a name that in English starts with the letter ‘Y’.
Yemen
The international license plate code on cars denotes the country the car comes from. A is Austria, B is Belgium and C and D are?
Cuba and Germany
Which city is served by George Best City Airport?
Belfast
Only three countries (members of the UN) have names that in English start with the letter ‘J’.
Jamaica, Japan and Jordan
Part of the border between the US and Mexico is a river known as the Rio Grande in the United States and by what name in Mexico?
Rio Bravo (del Norte)
Christopher Columbus discovered an archipelago in the Leeward islands and named it ‘Santa Ursula y las Once Mil Virgenes’ (Saint Ursula and the eleven thousand virgins). By what name are they now known?
The Virgin Islands
Which is the only official language of the European Union that is not the most widely spoken in any country?
Irish (gaelige)
Which country’s flag is the same as the Irish flag except that it is flown the opposite way around, i.e. with green in the fly and orange in the hoist?
Ivory Coast
Traditionally, Ireland is subdivided into four provinces. Which?
Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster
What in shipping is ‘Panamax’?
The maximum size that can go through the Panama Canal (length 294.1m, beam 32.3m, draft 12m, air draft 57.9m which is about 65,000 tons displacement)
Luzon is the largest island in which large archipelago?
The Philippines
La Paz is the world’s highest capital but which is the lowest? (Also the dirtiest according to Forbes)
Baku at −28m (Azerbaijan)
On the 1st of January 2007, the EU adopted a third official alphabet. Which one and due to the admission of which country?
Cyrillic when Bulgaria joined
Which church stands in the Red Square in Moscow and is sometimes mistaken for the Kremlin?
St Basil’s Cathedral
What literally means ‘chief sea’ in Greek but now refers to something in the sea?
The word archipelago is derived from the Ancient Greek ἄρχι-(arkhi-, ‘chief’) and πέλαγος (pélagos, ‘sea’).
Vatican City is one of three countries entirely surrounded by one other. What are the other two?
San Marino and Lesotho
Where or what is Romandy (Romandie)?
The French-speaking part of Switzerland
What are two main tributaries of the Nile?
White Nile and Blue Nile
Which is the only non-American capital of a country named after an American president?
Monrovia
Which river flows through Baghdad?
The Tigris
Which Mediterranean country is called Misr in its own language?
Egypt
Catalan is the official language of Andorra. it is also spoken in parts of three other countries. Which?
Spain, France, and Italy (Alghero or L’Alguer in Sardinia)
On which island is Waikiki Beach?
Oahu in Hawai’i
In which country would you find the Spanish Virgin Islands?
In Puerto Rico (or United States). Also know as the Passage Islands,
On which country’s flag would you see an eagle on a cactus eating a snake?
Mexico
What in Africa is a ‘Bidonville’?
A slum or shanty town
Batavia was the old Dutch name for which modern city?
Jakarta
Which two capital cities (of countries members of the UN) are closest to each other?
Brazzaville (Republic of the Congo) and Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of the Congo) are across the Congo river from each other. Vatican City lies within Rome but is not a member of the UN.
With thanks to Nicola Wood for correcting this question
Which European capital means ‘Merchant’s harbour’ in its original form and was also known as Hafnia to the Romans?
Copenhagen (Kjøbmandehavn)
This is a Spanish-based question In memory of whom is the monument in Plaza de Castilla?
José Calvo Sotelo (1893-1936)
Where is Reina Sofia airport?
Tenerife
How do you say ‘journey’ in Swahili?
Safari
The Khyber Pass kinks which two countries?
Pakistan and Afghanistan
This is a Spanish-based question The Tower of Hercules (Torre de Hércules) in La Coruña is the oldest what in the world?
Working lighthouse
Pashto is the official language of which country?
Afghanistan
How is the submerged section of the Great Rift Valley known?
The Red Sea
What is the name of the cube shaped building in Mecca that is the holiest place in Islam?
The Kaaba
Which is the smallest state in Australia?
Tasmania
What is the popular name of the Angel of Christian Charity in London?
The statue of Eros in Piccadilly Circus
In which country is the Angel Falls, the world’s highest waterfalls?
Venezuela
Which Central American country’s official language is English?
Belize
What are the Twelve Bens in Ireland?
Mountains (in Connemara)
How many avenues radiate from the Arc de Triomphe in Paris?
12
If you are known as a ‘Porteño’, from which South American city do you come?
Buenos Aires
In which US state is the Tongass National Forest (the largest National Forest in the US)?
Alaska
Which country is Muscat the capital of?
Oman
Bridgetown is the capital of which country?
Barbados
In which country is the island of Mindanao?
The Philippines
From where does the airline Cathay Pacific come?
Hong Kong
Which two countries are connected by the Khyber pass?
Afghanistan and Pakistan
What was Ho Chi Min City previously known as?
Saigon
The Thar Desert lies between which two countries?
India and Pakistan (also known as the Great Indian Desert)
Off which country would you find the Gulf of Taranto?
Italy
In which country would you find the Nullarbor Plain?
Australia
Winnipeg is the capital of which Canadian province?
Manitoba
Which was the last African country to achieve independence?
Eritrea (won independence from Ethiopia on May 24, 1991)
With thanks to Fithi Garza for correcting the date in the answer
Only three countries (members of the UN) have names that start with the letter ‘V’ in English. Which ones?
Vanuatu, Venezuela and Vietnam
Which is the largest region (Regione) of Italy?
Sicily
Which country surrounds the Gulf of Carpentaria?
Australia
Which country administers the Andaman Islands?
India
Which river flows through the city of Derry (Londonderry)?
The Foyle
Which sea has no coast?
Sargasso
The Dong is the currency of which country?
Vietnam
Which was the world’s first national park?
Yellowstone
Name the northernmost and southernmost capital cities in the world.
Reykjavik and Wellington
What takes place in Happy Valley, Hong Kong?
Horse racing
Which country is known to its inhabitants as Hellas?
Greece
Only five countries (members of the UN) have monosyllabic names in English. Which ones?
Chad, France, Greece, Spain and Laos
With thanks to Andy Henderson at the Breeze Beer Garden in Thailand for correcting the answer to this question
What large tourist attraction lies between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario?
Niagara Falls
Which EU countries drive on the left?
UK, Ireland, Cyprus and Malta
Which landlocked European country is bordered only by other landlocked countries?
Liechtenstein
In which sea would you find the Eolian Islands?
The Tyrrhenian Sea
What are the Santa Ana in California, the Brickfielder in southeastern Australia and the Haboob in Sudan?
Winds
This is a Spanish-based question How many Spanish provinces have a coast?
19
In the highlands of which African country are the lakes Tana, Shala, and Abayla?
Ethiopia
What is the currency of Albania?
The Lek
On which river is the US city of Albuquerque, NM?
The Rio Grande
Which Italian region includes the towns of Assisi, Orvieto, and Perugia?
Umbria
Which is the second largest city in France in terms of population?
Marseilles
In which country would you find Mount Kilimanjaro?
Tanzania
Suva is the capital of which country in Oceania?
Fiji
Avianca is the national airline of which South American country?
Colombia
Which is the largest Spanish-speaking country in terms of population?
Mexico
Which airport has the code DFW?
Dallas / Fort Worth
The Vinson Massif is the highest mountain in which continent?
Antarctica
What is the name given to the notorious tidal current in the Lofoten Islands of Norway?
Maelstrom
What proportion of the population has an IQ of under 100?
50% by definition. For modern IQ tests, the raw score is transformed to a normal distribution with mean 100 and standard deviation 15. This results in approximately two-thirds of the population scoring between IQ 85 and IQ 115 and about 2.5 percent each above 130 and below 70.