Geography quiz (true or false)

[Scott P]

It is my own opinion that most Americans are pretty bad when it comes to world geography, world politics and world history. :2thumbs: How well do you know your geography?

Here are 25 true false questions that I wrote.

Just for fun, see how many answers to the questions you know. Please don't cheat by googling, looking at a map, book, etc. :nono:

World politics and world history will come in few days. :2thumbs:

:popcorn:

True or false?

1. Reno Nevada is father west than Los Angeles California.

2. Despite its northerly location, London is usually warmer in the winter than Salt Lake City.

3. The Matterhorn is the highest mountain in Switzerland.

4. Cuba and Dominican Republic are the two most popular tourist destinations in the Caribbean Sea.

5. Equatorial Guinea is one of the richest countries in Africa.

6. Most of Iceland is too cold for trees to grow.

7. Wild tigers have been known to kill natives in Africa.

8. Statistically, Nicaragua is considered to be the second safest countries to travel in the Americas.

9. Statistically, Brazil is one of the most dangerous countries to travel in Latin America.

10. Ulaanbaatar is the coldest national capital I the world.

11. Bermuda is in the tropics.

12. The Sultan of Brunei is one of the richest people in the world when you include royalty. He lives in an oil rich Muslim country in the Middle East.

13. The Ural Mountains are one of the highest mountain ranges in Russia.

14. The wettest place in the world is a location on the island of Kauai in Hawaii.

15. Because of its warm, sunny climate and warm ocean waters, coastal Peru is a popular beach destination in South America.

16. Montana has bigger glaciers than Iran.

17. More of Africa is south of the equator than is north of the equator.

18. Most of Tibet is covered with permanent snow.

19. Most of Australia is flat.

20. Although they are very near the equator, Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya have the largest glaciers in Africa.

21. Cotopaxi is the highest volcano in the world.

22. The closest US state to Europe is Maine.

23. By average world standards, Mexico is a rich country.

24. Mount Fuji has glaciers.

25. Timbuktu is in Asia.

[Scott P]

Answers:

http://www.summitpost.org/custom-object/594240/Ignore.html

[ststephen]

23 out of 25 for me. But I have to say I had to guess on many. I got tripped up on Iceland and African glaciers.

Some false ones were easy because I knew the correct answer. Traveling to Ecuador and Peru helped on those two :naughty: I *should* have climbed Cotapaxi but we got skunked by weather. But, I've always had a head for Geography. I can't tell you where I left my keys but I remember ever place I've ever visited and at 48 states and 30 countries there's a few of them.

I'm not going to do as well on the History quiz...

[Deathcricket]

Yeah 11 out of 25. I suck at history and geography bad. I was always a math, and science person.

:roflol:

Another one I recall when me and Cirrus we chatting..

In total area (size), Canada is larger or smaller than the US?


Answer: Larger


And yeah I thought we were slightly bigger, hehe.

[Cirrus2000]

Well done, Paul! 19/25 for me. A little disappointed, but still - could have been worse. Looking forward to the others. Thanks, Scott!

Hey DC, yeah and I remember being surprised that when the USSR fell apart, Canada was still only the 2nd largest country in the world. Even after losing the rest of the Soviet republics, Russia was still larger than Canada.

[RedMan]

I know what you mean. 8 of 10 people I told about the Borneo trip asked me why I wanted to go to South America.

I said, "Yeah, first I am going to Equador then turning right and goign to the other side of the planet.". Some never caught on and STILL think I went to South America.

[Cirrus2000]

Oh yeah - I don't mean to quibble, but do you have sources for your answers? I mean, some are easy to check, but some are more nebulous. I wondered about most of Iceland being too cold for trees. It takes trees a long time to grow there because of the short growing season, but what I've read says that when people first arrived there Iceland was 60% vegetated, and 30% forested (almost all of which was gone by 1900). However, the main reason for the lack of vegetation seems to be the thin volcanic soil, rather than the cold.

[ststephen]

I know what you mean. 8 of 10 people I told about the Borneo trip asked me why I wanted to go to South America.

I said, "Yeah, first I am going to Equador then turning right and goign to the other side of the planet.". Some never caught on and STILL think I went to South America.

That is so sad on so many levels.

Why would you want to go to South America??? How about world class mountaineering and backpacking with some of the easiest approach roads? How about Inca ruins? How about rain forests and cloud forests teaming with birds and wildlife? How about great white water? Oh and don't forget the Galapagos Islands.

Then there's the girls and beaches of Brazil :naughty: (Never been myself).

[RedMan]

I know what you mean. 8 of 10 people I told about the Borneo trip asked me why I wanted to go to South America.

I said, "Yeah, first I am going to Equador then turning right and goign to the other side of the planet.". Some never caught on and STILL think I went to South America.

That is so sad on so many levels.

Why would you want to go to South America??? How about world class mountaineering and backpacking with some of the easiest approach roads? How about Inca ruins? How about rain forests and cloud forests teaming with birds and wildlife? How about great white water? Oh and don't forget the Galapagos Islands.

Then there's the girls and beaches of Brazil :naughty: (Never been myself).

Yeah this happens everytime I leave the country. The only ones that know anything are the kids that run and look it up on the Net.

I know a girl with a great tattoo she got in Brazil, right on her......

[Scott P]

I know what you mean. 8 of 10 people I told about the Borneo trip asked me why I wanted to go to South America.

You should have told them you were going to a predominantly Muslim country (or countries depending on the parts of Borneo you visited) and then they would think you were going to the Middle East.


Oh yeah - I don't mean to quibble, but do you have sources for your answers?

I pulled them off the top of my head so the sources vary, but all are easily verifiable. I provided explanations of each answer below on the answer key chart (so as to not give them away on the thread), but feel free to ask for more details to any specific question:

http://www.summitpost.org/custom-object/594240/ignore.html

The Iceland one was a good question on the quiz for the reasons you point out below as well as others. For example, it seems that US school teachers (including my own) like to perpetuate a myth that Iceland is "warm" and Greenland is cold and that their names should be switched (overall Greenland is indeed colder than Iceland).

In reality most of Iceland is too cold for trees to grow. It is true that there were more forest in the past in Iceland, but it was all confined to the south coast. The interior and north has always been lacking in trees throughout recorded history.

It is true that Iceland is much milder in winter than most areas at the same latitude, but tree line is mostly dependant on summer temperatures, not winter. The timberline in the Subarctic/Arctic more or less follows or parallels the July 50F/10C degree isotherm and in most places is even south of it:

http://www.marinebio.net/marinescience/04benthon/arcimg/arcticmap.jpg

(Definition of isotherm for those unfamiliar):

http://www.athropolis.com/arctic-facts/fact-isotherm.htm

Notice where Iceland is on the Isotherm (in fact even less of Iceland should be south of the Iceland since the map excludes the Vatnajokull icefield, which is also too cold for trees.

Even in Reykjavik the average July temperature is not much above 50F (and most of Iceland is colder than Reykjavik):

http://www.worldclimate.com/cgi-bin/data.pl?ref=N64W021+1102+04030W

[Iceaxe]

23 outta 25 for me... :2thumbs:

But I will admit to guessing on many, but than if you know Scott you know its not really guessing..... I'd really just ask how is Scott trying to mess with me on this question.... and select against what appeared to be the obvious answer.....

:popcorn:

[Cirrus2000]

Oh yeah - I don't mean to quibble, but do you have sources for your answers?
I pulled them off the top of my head so the sources vary, but all are easily verifiable. I provided explanations of each answer below on the answer key chart (so as to not give them away on the thread), but feel free to ask for more details to any specific question:

http://www.summitpost.org/custom-object/594240/ignore.html

Excellent - I like this much better than the simple "True/False" key.

Interesting stuff on Iceland - thanks for expanding.