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Question: If you head directly south from San Diego, what border town will be the first city you hit in Mexico?

Answer: Tijuana will be the first city you'll hit in Mexico.

Question: In which country is the world's oldest active volcano located? Bonus: Can you name it?

Answer: Located on the island of Kyushu, Japan, Mt. Unzen is the world's oldest active volcano. It is estimated to be about 2.5 million years old, and has erupted as recently as 1984.

Question: What is the largest country by land area in the Caribbean?

Answer: The answer is Cuba, at 42,800 square miles.

Question: What is the world's longest land border between two countries and about how long is it?

Answer: The world's longest land border is between Canada and the United States, and it is about 5,525 miles long.

Question: Which is the least densely populated country/territory in the world?

Answer: Greenland had 56,421 inhabitants in 2021. With a population of 0.14 people per square kilometer in 2021, Greenland is the least densely populated country/territory in the world.

Question: What is the name of the waterway that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea?

Answer: The Strait of Gibraltar.

Question: Which capital city in the United States is at the highest elevation?

Answer: At 7,199', Santa Fe, New Mexico is at the highest elevation.

Question: The animal life of which islands in the Pacific Ocean inspired much of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution?

Answer: The Galapagos Islands.

Question: Which state on the east coast, excluding Florida, is closest to California?

Answer: Georgia

Question: In straight-line distance, the Rocky Mountains stretch about how many miles from the northernmost part of western Canada to New Mexico in the southwestern United States?

Answer: The Rocky Mountains stretch 3,000 miles in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada to New Mexico in the southwestern United States.

Question: France shares a land border with the small countries of Monaco and Andorra as well as 6 other European countries. Can you name the 6 other countries?

Answer: Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and Spain.

Question: What are the 6 state capitals that lie west of Los Angeles?

Answer: Those capital cities are: Honolulu,  HI,  Juneau, AK,  Salem, OR,  Olympia, WA,  Sacramento, CA, and  Carson City, NV.

Carson city is the closest: LA is 118.2437 degrees west of Greenwich, and Carson City is 118.2817 degrees west of Greenwich.

Question: How many miles long is the Equator?

Answer: The Equator is 24,901 miles long, and it is described as "the circumference of the earth halfway between the North and South Poles".

Question: Which states are the northernmost and southernmost of the Lower 48?

Answer: The Northwest Angle (or Angle Inlet) in the Lake of the Woods area of Minnesota is the only point in the continental United States that lies north of the 49th Parallel. Ballast Key in Florida is the southernmost point in the 48 states continuously above water.

Question: What is the world's largest inland body of water?

Answer: The Caspian Sea, with salinity about one third that of the ocean, is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the world's largest lake. (Wikipedia)

Question: What is the only state whose east and west borders are formed almost entirely by rivers?

Answer: Iowa is bordered by the Mississippi River on the east, and the Missouri and Big Sioux Rivers on the west.

Question: In order of size, what are the five largest countries in South America?

Answer: Brazil has 45% of the whole continent, followed by Argentina (16%), Peru (7%), and Colombia and Bolivia at 6% - with Bolivia being slightly smaller.

Question:  The southwest Pacific countries of Australia and New Zealand are about how many miles apart?  a. 400 b. 1,200 c. 2,000

Answer: b. They are about 1,200 miles apart.

Question: How many square miles are in Mexico (United Mexican States)?

Answer: There are about 761,610 square miles and 32 Federal Entities (states).

Question:  Besides the District of Columbia, which six states form the drainage for the Chesapeake Bay?

Answer:  Those six states are Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Question: According to the World Atlas and Wikipedia, what are the 3 largest islands on Earth?

Answer:  The largest is Greenland (822,700 sq. mi.), followed by New Guinea (Indonesia and Papua New Guinea 303,381 sq. mi.) ) and Borneo (Brunei, Malaysia, and Indonesia 288,869 sq. mi.).

Question:  Which country in the world has the most natural lakes?

Answer: Canada is home to about 62% of the almost 1.42 million lakes around the world.

Question: Lascar (18,077'), the highest active volcano in the world, is located in which country?

Answer: Lascar is a stratovolcano located in the Andes Mountains in Chile.

Question: Which of the 48 states (shown above) has the greatest water area?

Answer: Of the 48 states, Michigan has the greatest water area with about 40,275 square miles. Alaska has the most of all 50 states, with 94,743 square miles.

Question: What are the world's top 5 cities by population?

Answer: Tokyo (37,468,000), Delhi (28,514,000), Shanghai (25,582,000), Sao Paulo (21,650,000), and Mexico City (21,581,000) according to Wikipedia.

Question:  What is the desert along the southwest coast of Africa noted for?

Answer: It is noted for the mining of diamonds.

Question: What are the capital cities of the 6 New England states?

Answer:  They are: Augusta (Maine), Boston (Massachusetts), Montpelier (Vermont), Concord (New Hampshire), Hartford (Connecticut), and Providence (Rhode Island).

Question:  The collision of the Eurasian and Indo-Australian tectonic plates gave birth to a. Antarctica , b. the Philippines, c. the world's highest mountains, or d. Africa

Answer: c. The world's highest mountains, including Mount Everest, are the Himalayas.

Question: What are the capital cities of Greece, Sweden, Norway, and Spain?

Answer: Those capitals are Athens (Greece),  Stockholm (Sweden) , Oslo (Norway), and Madrid (Spain).

Question: The Nile River, considered to be the world's longest river, is how long?

Answer: The Nile is 4,130 miles long.

Question: Near which large city does the Missouri River join the Mississippi?

Answer: The Missouri River joins the Mississippi River just north of St. Louis.

Question: Which is the most populated country in Africa?

Answer: The most populated country in Africa is Nigeria, with 223,804,632 people. Second is Ethiopia with 126,527,060, and third is Egypt, with 112,716,598.

Question: What is the smallest of Canada's 10 provinces?

Answer: Prince Edward Island (2,190 sq. miles).

Question: In which desert is Las Vegas located ?

Answer: Las Vegas is in the Mojave Desert.

Question: What is the least populated state in the country?

Answer: The answer is Wyoming, with a population of 576, 851. The second least populated is Vermont with 643,077.

Question: What is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area? (Hint: It is in the United States)

Answer: One of the Great Lakes, Lake Superior, is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area (1,200 sq. miles).

Question: In which state would you find the largest number of endangered species?

Answer: That state is Hawaii, which has about 503 endangered species at this time.

Question:  The fossil fuel coal formed from _______that died millions of years ago. Please fill in the blank.

Answer: Coal is formed from plants that died millions of years ago.

Question: What is considered to be the oldest city in the United States?

Answer: According to the Library of Congress, Pedro Menendes de Avilés landed in today’s Matanzas Bay on September 8, 1565.  He then began the founding of the Presidio of San Agustin or St. Augustine, Florida, the oldest city in the country.

Question: Where is the world's largest tropical rain forest?

Answer: South America contains the world's largest rain forest. Tropical rain forests are characterized by a warm and wet climate with no substantial dry season.  They are typically found within 10 degrees north and  south of the  Equator.  Brazil is home to the majority of the rain forest in South America. (60%).


Question: One definition of the word "desert" is that it has fewer than how many inches of rain annually?

Answer: To be classified as "desert",  the amount of annual rainfall should be less than 10".

Question: Christopher Columbus was hoping to sail all the way to Asia, perhaps including the islands of Cipangu, which were probably what country?

Answer: Cipangu was another name for Japan at that time.

Question: In 1853, the last land was added to the lower 48 states. What was the name of this purchase, and what was added?

Answer: The Gadsden Purchase is a 29,640-square-mile region of southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico that the US bought from Mexico.

Question: What is the only continent in all 4 hemispheres?

Answer: The earth is divided into seven major regions that have been defined as independent continents; these are Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia. Of these, Africa is the only continent to be situated in all four hemispheres.

Question:  What is both the highest mountain in Africa and is also the highest free-standing mountain above sea level in the world?

Answer: Mt. Kilimanjaro, at 19,341',  is this mountain.

Question: Micronesia is in which large body of water?

Answer: Micronesia is in the central Pacific Ocean and includes the Marshall, Caroline, and Gilbert Islands.

Question: Which U.S. river runs through the most state capitals? Bonus: Can you name them?

Answer: The Missouri River runs through 3 state capitals: Bismark-North Dakota, Pierre-South Dakota, and Jefferson City-Missouri.

Question: Which island in the U.S. is owned by the federal government and is within the borders of 2 states ?

Answer: Ellis Island is a federally owned island in New York Harbor, situated within the US states of New Jersey and New York.

Question: After Hawaii, which state has the highest annual rainfall?

Answer: Louisiana, with an average annual rainfall of about 60 inches, has the second highest rainfall average, closely followed by Mississippi and Alabama.

Question: What countries form the Iberian Peninsula?

Answer: The 2 primary countries are Peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, as well as Andorra, Gibraltar, and a small part of Southern France.

Question: The Hawaiian Islands stretch about how many miles across the Pacific Ocean?

Answer: Hawaii consists of 137 volcanic islands that spread about 1,500 miles across the Pacific Ocean.

Question: There are 8 countries that extend north of the Arctic Circle. Can you name them?

Answer: Those countries are Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, United States, Canada, Iceland, and Greenland (autonomous country within the kingdom of Denmark).

Question: Which 2 of the 12 sovereign countries of South America do not share a border with Brazil?

Answer: Those 2 countries are Ecuador and Chile.

Question: What is both the highest mountain in Africa and the highest single free-standing mountain above sea level in the world?

Answer: Mount Kilimanjaro at 19,341'.

Question: Which continent has the largest river by volume, the longest mountain range, and the highest capital city on Earth?

Answer: South America (the Amazon, the Andes, and La Paz (11,942') in Bolivia).

Question: What is the largest country (by population) without an official language?

Answer: The United States.

Question: Heading due south from the center of North Dakota, which 5 states will you be passing through before you get to the US border?

Answer: Starting in North Dakota, those states are South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas.

Question: Can you name all the states that begin with the letter M?

Answer: There are 8: Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, and Montana.

Question: What is the only Canadian Province bordering the Great Lakes?

Answer: The Province of Ontario borders 4 of the Great Lakes.  It does not border Lake Michigan. Quebec is at times included as part of the region because of the the St. Lawrence watershed.

Question: Can you name all 13 of the original colonies of the United States?

Answer: In no particular order, they are New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode island, New Hampshire, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.


Question: Mount Everest lies on the border between which two countries?

Answer: Mount Everest (29,031.7') is located on the border between Koshi Province in Nepal and Tibet Autonomous Region in China.

Question: A total of about how many peaks of the Rockies in the state of Colorado are higher than 14,000' and are considered to be Fourteeners?

Answer: There are 53 peaks higher than 14,000' in Colorado which are considered to be Fourteeners.*

*Summits that qualify are those considered by mountaineers to be independent. Objective standards for independence include topographic prominence and isolation (distance from a higher summit), or a combination of the two. However, Fourteener lists do not always use such objective rules consistently.

Question: What is the largest city in India by population?

Answer: Mumbai has 12.4 million, followed by Delhi with 11 million,  and Bangalore with almost 8.5 million.

Question:  What are the Horse Latitudes?

Answer: According  to Wikipedia, the Horse Latitudes are "the latitudes about 30 degrees north and south of the Equator, characterized by sunny skies, calm winds, and very little precipitation".

Question:The Rocky Mountains, the largest mountain system in North America, is about how long from its start in western Canada to its end in New Mexico?

Answer: According to Wikipedia, "the Rocky Mountains stretch 3,000 miles in straight line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada to New Mexico in the southwestern United States".

Question: Ice covers what percent of the land surface of the Earth?

Answer: About 10 percent of the land surface of the Earth is covered by ice at this time.

Question: The Appalachian Trail between Georgia and Maine is about how long?

Answer: The Appalachian Trail between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine is 2,198.4 miles long.

Question:  What is the least populated state capital?

Answer: Montpelier, Vermont, with about 8,000 residents.

Questions: Which country is the world's leading producer of coal?

Answer: China  leads the world in coal production.

Question: Which state's  nickname is the Constitution State, and which state is nicknamed the Bluegrass State?

Answer: Connecticut is the Constitution State, and Kentucky is the Bluegrass State.

Question: Which U.S. state shares borders with Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico?

Answer: Texas

Question: Mt. Elbert is the highest summit in the Rocky Mountains, and the second highest summit in the contiguous United States. In which state is it located and about how tall is it?

Answer: Mt. Elbert is 14,440' high and it's in Colorado.

Question: Which country, the 8th largest in the world by area, is also the largest Spanish speaking country in the world by area?

Answer: That country is Argentina.

Question: Which state borders 3 Canadian Provinces, and, for extra credit, what are they?

Answer: Montana borders British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan.

Question: What are the 5 boroughs of New York City?

Answer: The five boroughs are Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, and Staten Island.

Question: Along with Spain and France, what is the other country with both an Atlantic and
Mediterranean coastline?

Answer: Morocco

Question: Which state has the most active volcanoes?

Answer: There are about 169 volcanoes in the United States that are considered active by scientists.  The majority of these (about 130) are located in Alaska, where eruptions occur almost every year. 
Source: USGS Volcano Hazards Program.

Question: Which river is viewed as the national river of Russia?

Answer: The Volga is widely viewed as the national river of Russia.  Eleven of the twenty largest cities of Russia, including Moscow, are in the Volga's drainage basin.

Question: What is the only US state that calls its counties parishes?

Answer: Louisiana.

Questions: The narrow landform with water on both sides that connects 2 larger land areas is

called:  a. an atoll   b. an isthmus  c. an islet, or  d. a cay?

Answer: b. An isthmus

Question: What is the name of the waterway between Albany and Buffalo, New York?

Answer: Erie Canal, now 351 miles long.

Question: Most of Japan's population lives on one of the country's 4 main islands: a. Honshu, b. Shikoku, c. Kyushu, or d. Hokkaido ?

Answer: a. Honshu has a total population of 104 million people, according to a 2017 estimate, 81.3% of the entire population of Japan.

Question: Which US state has no documented poisonous snakes?

Answer: Alaska

Question: Which state, nicknamed the “Land of Enchantment,” became the 47th state in 1912?

Answer: New Mexico

Question: Although there is truly just one ocean on Earth, can you name the 5 standard oceans recognized by NOAA?

Answer: Those 5 oceans are Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic, and Southern (Antarctic).

Question: As of 2020, which US state has the most populous capital city (not including metropolitan area)?

Answer: Arizona (Phoenix: 1,660,272), Texas (Austin: 988,216), Ohio (Columbus: 922,223), and Indiana (Indianapolis: 875,929)

Question: In a climate called Mediterranean, it rains most often in which season?

Answer: Winter.

Question: Which state has the most electoral votes?

Answer: California has the most at 55, followed by Texas with 38, and New York and Florida with 29.

Question: According to the UN, how many "internationally recognized sovereign countries fall even partially under any common geographical or political definitions of Europe?"

Answer: There are 50 countries falling under that definition.

Question: What is the highest mountain in Europe and about what is its elevation?

Answer: Located in the Caucasus Mountains, Mount Elbrus, at 18,510', is considered the highest peak in Europe. 

Question: Lake Mead was created when Hoover Dam was built on which river?

Answer: Lake Mead is a reservoir formed by the building of Hoover Dam on the Colorado River.   The lake is located in the states of Nevada and Arizona, and the Colorado River is 1,450 miles long.

Question: Which US State has the highest number of endangered species?

Answer: Hawaii, with 503, has the most, followed by California with 299, and Florida with 135.

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Question: Which state has the shortest ocean coastline and about how long is it?

Answer: New Hampshire, whose coastline is between 13-18 miles long.

Question: Between 2010 - 2021, which US state added the most people to its population count?

Answer: Texas, with 4.3 million more residents.

Question: How many miles long is the border between the United States and Canada?

Answer: The border is about 5,525 miles, and is considered to be the longest international border in the world.  The border includes the area between the contiguous US and Canada , and the border between Canada and Alaska in the west.

Question: What is the longest river in Asia?

Answer: The Yangtze River in China, at about 3,917 miles, is the longest river system in Asia, and the third longest in the world, after the Nile (4,130 miles) and the Amazon (3,976 miles).

Question: What are the top three major food crops grown in the United States?

Answer: The top three food crops are corn, soybeans, and wheat.

Question: According to Claudius Ptolemy's (100-170 AD) Earth-centric view of the universe,
which major orbs/planets were circulating around the Earth?

Answer: At that time, the orbs that were perceived to be circulating around the Earth instead of around the sun were: the moon, Mercury, Venus, the sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.

Question: Where is the Barbary Coast ?

Answer: The term Barbary Coast was used from the 16th century to the early 19th.  It refers to the coastal regions of North Africa, specifically the Ottoman borderlands (Regencies of Algiers and Tripoli)  as well as the Beylik of Tunis and the Sultanate of Morocco.

Question:  From 1926 to 1984, this highway stretched from Chicago to Santa Monica and became a very popular route for Americans to travel. Can you name it?

Answer: Route 66, about 2,448 miles long , was such a popular route there was even a television show named after it from 1960-1964.

Question: It takes how many minutes for light from the Sun to reach Earth?

Answer: Sunlight takes about 8.3 minutes to reach Earth.


Question: It took over two million years of human prehistory and history for the world population to reach one billion in 1804, and only slightly over 200 more years for it to grow to...?

Answer: The population is now right around 8 billion people.

Question: The tallest arch structure in the world, Gateway Arch, can be found in the U.S. city of...

Answer: St. Louis, Missouri, is the home of the 630' Gateway Arch. The Arch was designed by Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen in 1947.

Question: What is the highest mountain in the Alps and where is it located?  Extra Credit: What is the elevation of the aforementioned peak?

Answer: Mont Blanc, a mountain which straddles parts of France, Italy and, by some smaller measure, Switzerland (but whose peak is only in France and Italy), is 15,773' high.

Question: Which river contains nearly 1/5 of all the fresh river water that discharges into the oceans?

Answer: At about 4,000 miles long, the Amazon River contains about 1/5 of the Earth's fresh river water.

Question: What is the southernmost country in the world?

Answer: The Republic of Chile.

Question: Which state is known as the Constitution State, which state is known as the Buckeye State, and which state is the Show Me state?

Answer: The answers are: Connecticut, Ohio, and Missouri.

Question: Can you name the top five states in order of population as of 2021?

Answer: 1. California (39,237,836)   2. Texas (29,527,941)  3. Florida (21,781,128)  4. New York (19,835,913) 5. Pennsylvania (12,964,056).

Question: Mount Elbert, the highest of the Rocky Mountains, is located in which state?

Answer: Mount Elbert, at 14,440', is the highest point in Colorado and in the Rocky Mountains.  It is also the second-highest summit in the contiguous United States after California's Mount Whitney, 14,505'.

Question: Where is the largest National Park in the US located?

Answer:
Wrangell -St. Elias National Park and Preserve is in Alaska and it is 13.2 million acres.
Compare it to the smallest, Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial, PA, at 0.02 acres!

Question: Which of these countries is NOT on 0° longitude?  a.England, b.South Africa c. Mali d. Spain?

Answer: b. South Africa

Question: In 1607, the London Company established the first permanent English settlement in the New World. Which state has it become?

Answer: The area became known as the state of Virginia, and the town was Jamestown (which was briefly abandoned in 1610).

Question: Which president was quite active in the early days of the conservation movement?

Answer: Theodore Roosevelt.

Question: What are the top five countries by total area (land and water)?

Answer: In square miles, they are (approximately): Russia:6,601,670, Canada: 3,855,100, The United States: 3,796,742, China: 3,705,407, and Brazil: 3,287,596.

Question:  About how long is the Sierra Nevada mountain range in California?

Answer: From Fredonyer Pass in the north to Tehachapi Pass in the south, the mountain range is about 400 miles long and about 80 miles wide.

Question: Which 2 bodies of water does the Strait of Gibraltar connect?

Answer: The Strait connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea. Additionally, it separates the Iberian Peninsula in Europe from Morocco in Africa.

Question: What is the name of the highest mountain in Canada?

Answer: Mt. Logan, at 19,551', is the highest mountain in Canada. It is located in the Saint Elias Mountains which are part of the Pacific Coast Range.

Question: About what percent of the world's population lives above the equator?

Answer: As of 2015, the Northern Hemisphere is home to approximately 6.4 billion people which is around 87.0% of the earth's total human population of 7.3 billion people.  Keep in mind that the majority of the earth's land surface is above the equator as well.

Question: Which Midwest state has the nicknames The Prairie State, the Sucker State, and the Corn State?

Answer: The 21st state: Illinois.

Question: The Republic of San Marino is a tiny European country completely surrounded by what other country?

Answer: Italy

Question: What is the most populous city (city proper, not metro area surrounding it) in North America?

Answer: As of 2015, Mexico City has about 9.2 million people, while New York City has about 8.5 and Los Angeles has about 3.9.

Question: What state is bordered by Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming?

Answer: That state is Colorado, The Centennial State, so named because it was admitted to the Union in 1876.

Question: Washington, D.C. was created from portions of which states?

Answer: The land was originally ceded to the federal government by Virginia and Maryland in 1790.

Question: Which US states are made up entirely of straight lines?

Answer: There are only three states whose borders are entirely made up of straight lines:  Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado. 

Question: What are the 5 most populated countries in the world?

Answer: From first to fifth, they are China (1,412,600,000), India (1,374,781,750), The United States (332,593,599), Indonesia (272,248,500), and Pakistan (225,199,586).  As of November 2021, the total world's population is about 7,940,160,000!

Question: Who was the first President of the United States to live in the White House?

Answer: The White House has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams and his wife Abigail moved into 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW in 1800.

Question: Can you name 6 state capitals that lie west of Los Angeles?

Answer: The capitals, in order of degrees west of Greenwich, England (from farthest to nearest) are:
Honolulu-Hawaii, Juneau-Alaska, Salem-Oregon, Olympia-Washington, Sacramento-California, and the closest: Carson City-Nevada.

Question: Which continent has the highest average elevation on the earth?
Answer:  Antarctica is the highest continent on Earth: average elevation is 8,200'. (about 7000' of that elevation is the ice sheet that covers Antarctica.)

Question: What is the highest mountain in the western hemisphere?

Answer: Aconcagua, located in the Andes Mountains in Argentina, is the highest mountain in the western hemisphere at about 22,837'. 

Question: "Disappointment" is the name of a notable cape in which state?

Answer: Cape Disappointment is in the state of Washington. It was already named by the time Lewis and Clark reached the site in November 1805. The cape was named on July 6, 1788, by a sea captain in the fur trade, John Meares, who mistook the mouth of the Columbia for a bay.

Question: What is the largest island in Europe?

Answer: Great Britain (Wales, Scotland, and England) is the largest. The second largest, Iceland, is not quite half the size of Great Britain.

Question: About how long is the Panama Canal?

Answer: The Panama Canal, originally built between 1904-1914, is about 51 miles long. 

Question: From which of these cities in the contiguous US can you drive south to enter Canada?      a. Blaine, WA     b. Detroit, MI    c. Bangor, ME

Answer: You can get to Ontario, Canada by driving  south from Detroit, Michigan. The Ambassador Bridge joins Detroit with its Canadian neighbor, Windsor, ON.

Question: Which of these European cities is the highest in elevation: Prague, Madrid, or Copenhagen?

Answer: Madrid's highest point is about 2,180', followed by Prague and Copenhagen.

Question: The Snake River is about how many miles long?  a.75 b.97 c. 763 d. 1,078

Answer: d.  At about 1,078 miles long, the Snake River is the largest tributary of the Columbia River.

Question: About when did Captain Cook find the Hawaiian Islands, and what did he name them?

Answer: Captain Cook found the Hawaiian Islands in January of 1778 while on a voyage of discovery, and he named them The Sandwich Isles in honor of the fourth Earl of Sandwich.

Question: What is the general direction that most of the major rivers in the Great Plains flow?

Answer: The Great Plains are drained by the Missouri River and its tributaries (the Yellowstone, Platte, and Kansas) and the Red, Rio Grande, and Arkansas rivers, which flow eastward from the Rockies, eventually heading southeast to empty into the Gulf of Mexico.

Question: The Hebrides (an archipelago) are part of which country?

Answer: The Hebrides are part of Scotland, which is part of the United Kingdom.

Question: How many countries are there in Central America?

Answer: There are seven: Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama. 

Question: What is the most populated urban area in the world?

Answer: With a population of about 37,843,000 people, the Tokyo-Yokohama area of Japan is the most populated in the world.

Question: The only southeast Asian country never colonized by a European power is:
a. Singapore, b. India, c. Vietnam, d. Thailand?

Answer: d. Thailand (which changed its name to Siam and then back to Thailand in 1939).


Question:  What are the only two landlocked countries in South America?
Answer:  Bolivia and Paraguay are both landlocked.

Question: What is the only major city located on two continents?

Answer: With a population of over 15 million residents, the largest city in Turkey, Istanbul, is located in both Europe and Asia.

Question: The border of which U.S. state contains virtually no straight lines?

Answer: Hawaii

Question: North America covers about what percent of the Earth's land area?
Answer: North America covers about 16.5% of the Earth's land area.

Question: Which state's nickname is the Land of Enchantment?

Answer: The state is New Mexico, whose total area is 5th behind Alaska, Texas, California, and Montana.

Question: Can you name the three largest countries mostly in the Southern Hemisphere in order of size (total land plus water area)?

Answer: Brazil *(3,287,956 sq mi),  Australia (2,969,907 sq mi),  Argentina (1,073,500 sq mi).

Question:  The historical region of Transylvania is located in which country?

Answer: It's in Romania.

Question: What are the three largest islands in Europe?

Answer: In order of size, Great Britain (England, Scotland, Wales): 88,745 sq. mi., Iceland: 39,315 sq. mi., Ireland: 35,595 sq. mi.

Question: What is the highest point east of the Mississippi River?

Answer: Mount Mitchell, in North Carolina, is the highest point at 6,684'.
Thanks to LA for this question.

Question: Which state borders only one other state?

Answer: Maine shares a border with only one U.S. state: New Hampshire.

Question: What are the three largest provinces (excluding territories) in Canada?

Answer: The province of Quebec has a total area of 595,391 sq mi. The second largest is Ontario with 415,598 sq mi., and the third is British Columbia with 364,764 sq mi. The largest territory is Nunavut at 787,155 sq mi.


Question: Which state was the first one to be admitted to the Union?

Answer: On December 7, 1787, the first state to be admitted to the Union was Delaware.


Question: How many countries does the Equator run through around the world?
                Extra Credit: How many can you name?

Answer: The 24,901 mile long Equator runs through 11 countries: Sao Tome & Principe, Gabon, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Somalia, Indonesia, Ecuador, Colombia, and Brazil.


Question: What is the largest island in the world that is not a continent?

Answer: Since Australia is classified as a continent, the largest island in the world is Greenland, which is within the Kingdom of Denmark. 


Question: What are the three longest rivers in North America (by main stem)?

Answer: 1. Missouri River - 2,341 miles long, 2. Mississippi River - 2,320 miles long, and 3. Yukon River - 1,980 miles long.

Question: The Nazca Lines, a World Heritage Site, are located in what country?Answer: They are located in southern Peru, and they were created between about 500 BC and AD 500.

Question: Which state is bordered by or touches Arizona, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah, and Wyoming?

Answer: The answer is Colorado, which is known as the Centennial State because it joined the Union in 1876.

Question: Which state has the most Federal land, and which state has the highest percentage of Federal land?

Answer: Alaska has the most Federal land, while Nevada had the greatest percentage of Federal land.

Question: What is the world's longest continental mountain chain, and about how long is it?

Answer: The Andes Range is the longest continental mountain range in the world.  The range is about 4,350 miles long, and the mountains have an average height of 13,123 feet. Aconcagua is the highest peak at about 22,837 feet.

Question: Christopher Columbus was looking for Cipango or Zipangu (islands described by Marco Polo), which was probably what country?

Answer: That country is Japan.

Question: Which Empire is/was the world's largest contiguous land empire in history?
Answer: The Mongol Empire of the 13th and 14th centuries was the largest contiguous land empire in history.

Question: Which river is considered the world's deepest?Answer: With a measured depth in excess of 720 ft, the Congo in Africa is considered the deepest in the world, with the Yangtze second (about 650'),  and the Danube third (about 580'). 

Question: Who was the first person to sign the Declaration of Independence, and in which city was it done?
Answer: On July 4, 1776, Congress approved the final text of the Declaration. The actual signing finally took place on August 2, 1776. As President of the Second Continental Congress, John Hancock was the first to sign this historic document, and the signing took place in Philadelphia.

Question: Between 1869-1923, 7 of the 12 United States presidents were from one state. Can you name the state?
Answer: The state is Ohio, and the presidents are: Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Harrison, McKinley, Taft, and Harding.

Question: Which U.S. state is closest to Africa?

Answer: Quoddy Head in Maine is about 3,154 miles from El Beddouza (in Morocco) in Northern Africa.

Question: What is the driest state when ranked by average rainfall totals?
Answer: Nevada, with around 10" annually, is considered the driest state in the US.

Question: Can you name the least populated and most populated states in the US?Answer: Wyoming, at about 579,000 people, is smallest, and California, with 39,512,000 inhabitants, is the largest.  Interestingly, California is third largest by area, and Wyoming is tenth.

Question: Which one of these countries is not on the Equator: Kenya, Australia, Brazil, or Indonesia?Answer: Australia

Question: The United States has 5 permanently inhabited territories. Can you name all 5 of them?Answer: They are American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Question: Can you name the highest mountain (by elevation) in North America, South America, Africa, Europe, and Asia?
Answer: North America: Denali (20,310'), South America: Aconcagua (22,837'), Africa: Mt. Kilimanjaro (19,341'), Europe: Mt. Elbrus*(18,510'), and Asia: Mt. Everest (29,032'). *Note: The western part of the Caucasus Mountains, where Mt. Elbrus is situated, are considered part of Europe.

Question: Can you name the world's top 5 countries in order of population (2021 data)?
Answer: The top five are: 1. China (1,439,323,776), 2. India (1,380,004,385), 3.United States (331,002,651), 4. Indonesia (273,523,615), and Pakistan (220,892,340).

Question: Eleven of Russia's 20 largest cities, including Moscow, are located in the drainage of what river?   Answer: The Volga River, which is about 2,194 miles long, is also the longest river in Europe.

Question: What is the largest city by surface area in the contiguous United States as of 2020?  
Answer: Jacksonville, in northeast Florida, is the largest city in area in the contiguous 48 states. It has 747.48 square miles in land, and, adding the water (127.19 square miles), it’s 874.67 square miles.

Question: Which city is the capital of Australia?

Answer: The capital of Australia is Canberra, located in the southeastern part of the country.

Question: Which of the ten Canadian provinces has the smallest area, and which has the largest?Answer: Quebec is the largest province (595,391 sq. miles), and Prince Edward Island is the smallest (2,185 sq. miles). The largest territory is Nunavut (808,185 sq. miles).

Question: What is the oldest European-founded city in the United States?

Answer: St. Augustine in Florida was founded in 1565 by Spanish explorers.  It is the oldest continuously-inhabited European-established settlement in the contiguous United States.

Question: Which major river runs through Paris, and about how long is it?

Answer: The Seine River runs through Paris. The 482 mile-long river begins in northeast France near Dijon and ends at the English Channel.

Question: What is thought to be the oldest active volcano in the world?

Answer: Mt. Etna, on the east coast of Sicily, is thought to be the oldest active volcano.  Volcanism began occurring  about 300,000 years ago and is still quite active today. 

Question: Which river touches more countries than does any other river in the world?
Answer: The 4,130 mile long Nile River runs through or touches 11 countries: Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Republic of the Sudan, and, Egypt. Before South Sudan was a country, the Nile and the Danube were tied with 10.

Question: In 1947, which explorer and his crew sailed the Pacific Ocean on the raft Kon-Tiki?
Answer: That Norwegian adventurer was Thor Heyerdahl, who sailed about 4,340 miles in 101 days, across the Pacific Ocean in a hand-built raft from Peru to the Tuamotu Islands.

Question: Where was the Golden Spike driven to complete the construction of the first transcontinental railroad in the US, and in what year did it happen?Answer: Promontory Summit (Point) in Utah Territory, in 1869. Utah didn't become a state (the 45th) until 1896.

Question: What is the least populated state in the United States?
Answer: Even though it's the 10th largest state by area, Wyoming has the lowest population in the country.

Question: The last land added to the lower 48 states was in 1854. What is the name of the purchase, and where was the land?
Answer: The Gadsden Purchase went  into effect 1854. It was for a 29,670-square-mile area in Southern Arizona and Southwestern New Mexico, and it was purchased from Mexico. 

Question: What is the most extensively grown food crop in the world?Answer: Grains, such as corn, wheat, and rice, are the world’s most extensively grown food crops.

Question: In which states does the Appalachian National Scenic Trail start and end?
Answer: The 2,200 mile long trail is between Mount Katahdin in Maine and Springer Mountain in Georgia.

Question: Each degree of latitude is approximately how many miles apart?
Answer: Each degree of latitude is 69.4444 miles apart.

Question: Which city is considered the de facto capital of the European Union?
Answer: Brussels in Belgium.

Question: The United States Range is in which country?
Answer: The United States Range is in the Northwest Territories in northern Canada. The highest peak is 9,000'.

Question: Which country has the longest coastline in the world?
Answer: Canada, with 125,567 miles, has the most coastline.

Question: Which state has the most miles in rivers?

Answer: Alaska has 365,000 river miles.

Question: Which mountains form part of the conventional boundary between the continents of Europe and Asia?
Answer: The 1,600 mile long Ural Mountains form the boundary.

Question: Which 5 countries are permanent members of the U.N. Security Council?
Answer: China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, and United States are the current permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.

Question: What is the highest mountain in the Americas?Answer: Argentina's Aconcagua, at 23,838', is the highest mountain in the Americas and the highest mountain in the rest of the world outside of Asia.

Question: Which country has the most natural lakes?

Answer: Canada has about half of all the natural lakes in the world.

Question: The fiftieth state stretches about how many miles across the Pacific Ocean?

Answer: The state of Hawaii, which consists of 137 islands, spans about 1,500 miles.

Question: Can you name the top three cities in the world by population?Answer: According to the United Nations 2018 estimates, the cities are Tokyo (37,400,068), Delhi (28,514,000), and Shanghai (25,582,000).  

Question: Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the US, but what is the deepest lake in North America?
Answer: Canada's Great Slave Lake, at 2,015' is just a bit deeper than Oregon's Crater Lake, at 1,949'.

Question: Which is the only state in the US with two panhandles?Answer: West Virginia has one very definite panhandle and one that's not so easily defined!

Question: In which state is Mt. Elbert, the highest point in the Rocky Mountains?
Answer: At 14,439', Mt. Elbert is located in Colorado. It is also the second highest peak in the lower 48.

Question: Transylvania is a 21,297- square-mile plateau located in which European country?Answer:  Transylvania is one of the provinces that form present day Romania.

Question: Which is the largest country by size in Africa: Sudan, Chad, or Algeria?Answer: Algeria is the largest by size at 919,595 square miles. Nigeria is the largest in population at about 206 million people.

Question: Which state contains no straight lines in its border?
Answer: Hawaii.

Question: What is the only US state with a three-word capital?Answer: Utah - Salt Lake City.
Thanks to LA for the question.

Question: The three highest summits in North America (one in the US, one in Canada, and one in Mexico) are...?
Answer: In order: Denali (US) – 20,310’,  Mt. Logan (Canada) – 19,551’, Pico de Orizaba (Mexico) – 18,491’

Question: Hawaii was annexed in 1898, but when did it become a state?
Answer: On August 21, 1959, Hawaii became the 50th state.

Question: What is the flattest continent in the world?
Answer: Australia is the flattest continent on earth.

Question: Can you name a US state that has a state boundary on a Great Lake and on the Atlantic Ocean?

Answer: New York.

Question: What is the highest point in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains?
Answer: Black Elk Peak (also known as Harney Peak), a 7,244' mountain in the Black Hills of South Dakota, is the highest natural point east of the Rockies.

Question: The planets have been glowing brightly this month, but which planet has the
largest moon in the solar system, and what is the moon's name?
Answer: The planet is Jupiter and the moon is Ganymede (diameter is 3,273 miles).
Note: Perseid Meteor Showers peak August 11 and 12 between 11 pm and 1 am. 

Question: The Suez Canal connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea. About how long is it?
Answer: It is about 120 miles long.

Question: Which state has the highest percentage of its area under water?
Answer: Michigan ranks as the number one state with 41.5% of its total area under water. Hawaii,
with 41.2% of its total area under water, is a close second. (Thanks to AJB for this question).

*Alaska has the most water, but only 14.2% of it's total area is under water.

Question: Which US state capital (6 letters) has no letters in common with its state's name?Answer: Pierre, South Dakota (Thanks to LJA for this question)

Question: Guam is one of the five permanently inhabited, unincorporated territories of the United States. Can you name the other four?
Answer: American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are the other four.

Question: About how many miles long is the Equator?
Answer: Earth's Equator, an imaginary line, is about 24,901 miles long.

Question: What is the highest free-standing mountain in the world?
Answer: At 19,341', Mount Kilimanjaro, a dormant volcano in Tanzania, is the highest free-standing mountain in the world.

Question: We've all heard of it, but where exactly is Timbuktu?
Answer: Timbuktu is one of the eight administrative regions of Mali, which is in West Africa.  Interestingly, there is also a ghost town named Timbuctoo in California.

Question: Which U.S. state is closest to Africa?

Answer: The state of Maine, specifically, the West Quoddy Head region.

Question: Which U.S.state contains these rivers: the Guadalupe, Trinity, Rio Grande, Naches, and Brazos?
Answer:  That state is Texas.

Question: Canada has 3 territories and 10 provinces. How many of the 10 Canadian Provinces can you name?
Answer: Their names are British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec,  Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia. For extra credit, the 3 territories are Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut.

Question: Which U.S. Presidents are featured on Mount Rushmore?Answer: From left to right: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln.

Question: Which capital city in the world has the highest elevation?Answer: La Paz (Bolivia - 11,942') is first, followed by Quito (Ecuador - 9,350'), and Bogota (Columbia - 8,612').  Interestingly, Washington, D.C.'s elevation is  from sea level to 409', depending on where you are in the city.

Question: In which state is the world's longest known cave system?Answer: Mammoth Cave, in the state of Kentucky, is the world’s longest known cave system with more than 405 miles of surveyed passageways.

Question: Where is the driest non-polar place on Earth?
Answer: The Atacama Desert, averaging .6” per year. The desert lies between two mountain ranges, the  Andes and the Chilean Coastal Range, which puts the Atacama in a two-sided rain shadow.

Question: What is the straight line distance length of the Rocky Mountains from British Columbia to New Mexico?
Answer: It is about 1,900 miles from northern British Columbia in western Canada, to New Mexico (near Albuquerque) in the Southwestern United States. 

Question: Can you name 2 U.S. state capital cities that border on a neighboring state?
Answer: Trenton, New Jersey is very close to Pennsylvania, as Carson City, Nevada is next to the California state line.

Question: Which of the Great Lakes is located entirely within the United States?
Answer: Lake Michigan is the only Great Lake that lies entirely within the boundaries of the US.

Question: What is the least populated state? Answer: With 578,759, Wyoming has the lowest state population, outnumbered by Vermont which has 623,989.

Question: What is the name of the highest point in the US Rocky Mountains, and which state is it in?
Answer: Mt. Elbert in Colorado with an altitude of 14,440' is the highest point in the Rockies.

Question: What is the only independent country in the world that has a country-wide
elevation that doesn't dip below 1000 meters (about 3,281')?
Answer: Lesotho in southern Africa has the "highest low point" (4,593') of any country in the world.**  Thanks to AJB for this question

Question: Can you name the 5 largest US states in order of size?
Answer: Alaska (665,384 sq. mi.), Texas (268,596 sq. mi.), California (163,694 sq.mi.), Montana (147,039 sq. mi.), New Mexico (121,590 sq.mi.).

Question: Which of these countries is not on the Equator: Kenya, Australia, Brazil, or Indonesia?Answer: Australia.

Question: Which is the southernmost state in the United States?Answer: The southernmost state is Hawaii at Ka Lae (18 degrees 55 minutes north.)

Question: What is the common name for the hot wind that blows northward from the Sahara to the Northern Mediterranean coastal areas?Answer: Sirocco is the most common name, though jugo and siroc are also names for the wind.

Question: Which state is bordered by Nebraska, Oklahoma, Kansas, Utah, Wyoming, and New Mexico?
Answer: Colorado.

Question: What are the highest mountains in Africa and Australia? Answer: Mount Kilimanjaro, a dormant volcano in Tanzania, is the tallest in Africa at 19,341', and Mount Kosciuszko is mainland Australia's highest mountain at 7,310' above sea level.

Question: According to the United Nations, what are the top 5 countries most visited by tourists?Answer: In 2017, France saw 86.9 million visitors. Spain was the second-most popular destination with 81.8 million, followed by the United States (76.9 million), China (60.7 million), and Italy (58.3 million).

Question: Once the Constitution was ratified, what city was the first capital of the United States?
Answer: New York served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790. It has been the country's largest city since 1790.

Question: In which US state was the last active diamond mine located? 
Answer:  Although millions of carats of diamonds are purchased each year in the United States, very few diamonds are domestically produced. The last active diamond mine in the country is in the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas. For a fee, you can enter the mine and keep any diamonds that you might find.

Question: About how long is the Sierra Nevada mountain range, and what is its highest point?Answer: The Sierra Nevada Range is about 400 miles long, and Mt. Whitney (14,505') is the highest point not only in California, but in the contiguous 48 states.

Question: In order of elevation, what are the three tallest peaks in North America?

Answer: The top 3 are: Denali (20,310') in Alaska, Mount Logan(19,551') in Canada's Yukon Territory, and Pico de Orizaba (18,491') in Mexico.

Question: The geographic center of North America is in what state?

Answer: The geographic center of North America is near Rugby, North Dakota.

Question: In 1939, the country of Siam officially changed its name to what?
Answer: Thailand, although Thailand was renamed Siam from 1946 to 1948, after which it again reverted to "Thailand".

Question: Which are the top 3 states of the contiguous 48 states that have the greatest percentage of water area?Answer: Michigan (41.5%), Rhode Island (33.1%), and Massachusetts (26.1%).

Question: Washington is the US's largest producer of 4 fruit crops. How many of them can you name?
Answer: The state is the US's largest producer of apples, pears, red raspberries, and sweet cherries, and ranks high in the production of apricots and grapes.

Question: Which area on Earth is known for the first domestication of the potato?Answer: The potato was first domesticated in southern Peru and extreme northwestern Bolivia.

Question: With which area of the world is the Basque Nation traditionally associated?
Answer: They live in a region that is located around the western end of the Pyrenees on the coast of the Bay of Biscay and straddles parts of north-central Spain and south-western France.

Question: Which explorer named the Pacific Ocean?
Answer: In the 16th century, Magellan named the ocean the Pacific due to the calmness of the water.

Question: Which state on the Atlantic coast is closest to California?
Answer: The closest state is Florida.

Question: The Great Wall of China was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987. Although the wall is not continuous, about how many miles of construction are involved?Answer: The wall has been under construction since the 7th century BC, and now is about 13,000 miles long.

Question: Which desert (hint: about 600 miles long) is commonly known as the driest non-polar place in the world?Answer: West of the Andes Mountains and primarily in Chile, the Atacama Desert is the driest non-polar place in the world

Question: What are the top three countries in size entirely in the southern hemisphere?
Answer: In order of size: Australia (2,969,907 sq.miles), Argentina (1,073,500 sq.miles), and Angola (481,400 sq.miles).

Question: Which states originally donated land to help form Washington DC?
Answer: Maryland and Virginia.

Question: Which is the freshwater lake with the greatest surface area in the world?Answer: Lake Superior, on the United States/Canada border, is named the freshwater lake with the greatest surface area at 31,700 square miles.

Question: How many of the eight countries that have land within the Arctic Circle can you name?Answer: The land within the Arctic Circle is divided among eight countries: Russia, Sweden, Norway, Finland, the United States (Alaska), Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut), Denmark/Greenland, and Iceland (where it passes through the small offshore island of Grímsey).

Question:Which state is bordered by two parallel rivers: the Mississippi and the Missouri?
Answer:Iowa.

Question:  Which European River touches more countries than any other river in the world?Answer: The Danube River passes through or touches the borders of 10 countries: Romania, Hungary, Serbia, Austria, Germany, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Croatia, Ukraine, and Moldova.

Question:  On December 7, 1787, which of the original 13 colonies became the first state to officially join the Union?Answer: The first state to join the union was Delaware, followed closely by Pennsylvania, and then New Jersey.

Question: Who are the only two presidents born west of Texas?
Answer: Richard Nixon, January 9, 1913 in Yorba Linda, California, and Barack Obama, August 8, 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Question: Which is the smallest state by area and which is the smallest state by population?
Answer: Rhode Island is the smallest state at  about 1,214 square miles, and Wyoming has the smallest population count at approximately 577,737.

Question: Which is the only Great Lake that is located entirely within the US border?Answer: Lake Michigan is the only one of the Great Lakes that is entirely within the US. The others form a water boundary between the United States and Canada.

Question: Can you name the seven countries that comprise Central America?
Answer: The seven countries are Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, and Nicaragua.

Question: Which Canadian Province or Territory is both the newest and the largest? 
Answer: The largest (787,155 sq.miles) and newest (officially separated from the Northwest Territories on 4/1/1999) Territory is Nunavut.

Question: What is the name of the longest continental mountain range on Earth, and about how long is it?Answer: At 4,300 miles long, the Andes Mountains are the longest continental mountain range in the world.

Question: Asia has the largest population of all the continents on Earth. Can you put the rest of the continents in order by population?Answer: Although the numbers can fluctuate depending on the report, the general consensus  is: Asia, Africa, Europe, North America, South America, Oceania, and Antarctica.

Question: The cardinal direction that most of the major rivers in the Great Plains of the US flow is...?Answer: Most of the major rivers in the Great Plains flow east.

Question: What is the name of the highest mountain peak in North America, and what is its elevation?
Answer: Denali (formerly Mount McKinley) is 20,310'.

Question: At one time, Sweden, Norway, the Faroe Islands, Finland, Iceland, and Greenland were are under the rule of which country?Answer: Denmark

Question: Ceylon is the former name of what country?Answer: Sri Lanka

Question: Which country has the highest average elevation in the world: A. Bhutan, B. Tajikistan, or C. Nepal?Answer: A. Bhutan (10,760), then C. Nepal (10,715), and third is B. Tajikistan (10,455').

Question: Angel Falls, the world's highest uninterrupted waterfall, is 3,212' high. In which country is it located? 
Answer: Angel Falls  is located  in Venezuela. 

Question: What is the only Southeast Asian country never colonized by Europeans?
Answer: Thailand.

Question: As of 2018, what are the top six most populated states in the US? Answer: In order of population, they are California, Texas, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, and Illinois. 

Question: About what percent of the earth's fresh water is frozen in the ice sheet of Antarctica?
Answer: About 61% of our fresh water is frozen in the ice sheet in Antarctica.

Question: About how long is the Panama Canal ?Answer: It is 51 miles long.

Question: Which capital city in Europe has the highest elevation?Answer: At 3,356' above sea level, Andorra la Vella, capital of Andorra, is the highest capital city in Europe.

Question: What was the first year that Earth Day used the Internet as its principal organizing tool? Answer: 1990

Question: What are the highest and lowest places in the 48 states?
Answer: At 14,505', Mt. Whitney in California is the highest place, and the lowest place, at -282', is Badwater Basin in Death Valley, also in California.

Question: Which state was the last contiguous state to be admitted to the Union?Answer: Arizona, which was admitted on February 14, 1912.

Question: In what year were the residents of Washington DC granted the right to vote in Presidential elections ?  Answer: In 1960, the 23rd Constitutional amendment granted the residents of DC the right to vote in Presidential elections. The amendment was ratified in 1961.

Question: At Earth's equator, the speed of Earth's spin is about how many miles per hour ?
Answer: At the Equator, the Earth's spin is about 1000 miles per hour.

Question: In terms of North American agriculture, who are the Three Sisters?

Answer: The Three Sisters are the three main agricultural crops of some Native American groups in North America: maize (corn), winter squash, and climbing beans. Read more about Three Sisters here.

Question: Alaska is the state with the longest saltwater coastline (6,640 miles).  Which coastal state has the shortest saltwater coastline? Answer: New Hampshire has just 13 miles of saltwater coastline.

Question: Deserts generally receive less than how many inches of precipitation each year?

Answer: In general, deserts receive less than 10" of precipitation per year.

Question: What is the only country situated within all 4 hemispheres?
Answer: Kiribati, a sovereign state in Micronesia in the central Pacific Ocean, has islands in all 4 hemispheres.  You can find it on our Countries of the World map.

Question: The European Union (EU) is a political and economic union of how many member states?Answer:  As of this writing, there are 28 member states. (February, 2019)

Question: What is the flattest state in the US?Answer: Florida, whose highest point is Britton Hill at 345' and whose lowest point is the Atlantic Ocean, is the flattest state.

Question: Alaska, at 71°50'N, is the northernmost state in the US. Can you name the second?
Answer: Minnesota is the second at 49° 23′ N.

Question: What is the most visited National Park in the United States?
Answer: With more than 11 million visitors in 2016, Great Smoky Mountains National Park sits at the number one spot.

Question: Who was president of the US when the Louisiana Purchase was made?
Answer: The Louisiana Purchase (about 828,000 sq mi) occurred in 1803, when Thomas Jefferson was our third president. 

Question: The only Canadian Province that borders the Great Lakes is...?
Answer: The only province is Ontario.

Question: Russia, with 6,601,670 sq.mi., is the largest country in the world. Which country is second?
Answer: In terms of total area, Canada, with 3,855,100 sq.mi. is second. Antarctica, with 5,400,000 sq.mi., is a continent, but not a country. China is third.

Question: About how long is the world's longest above-water mountain range, and where is it located?
Answer: The Andes Mountains, located on the west coast of South America, is about 4300 miles long. It runs north to south through seven countries: Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina.

Question: Which state, if it were a sovereign nation, would  be ranked as the world's fifth largest economy?
Answer: California's  2017 Gross State Product was $2.747 trillion, surpassing the United Kingdom's $2.625 trillion Gross Domestic Product.

Which country is the world's leading producer of gold?Answer: China (440 metric tons) leads the world, followed by Australia (330).  Russia and the US are very close, with around 255 for Russia and 245 for the US.

Question: What are the two smallest countries in the world?
Answer: Vatican City is 0.17 sq. miles, and Monaco is 0.78 sq. miles. Additionally, Monaco, at a population of over 38,000 is the most densely populated country.

Question: What is the largest island in Europe?
Answer: Great Britain (England, Scotland, and Wales), at 80,823 sq miles, is the largest.  It is followed by Iceland (40,000 sq. mi.) and Ireland (32,595 sq. mi.).

Question: What is the southernmost state in the United States?
Answer: Hawaii, with a latitude from 18° 55′ N to 28° 27′ N.

Question: What are the top 3 longest river systems in the world?
Answer: 1. Amazon (Ucayali, Tambo, Ene, Apurimac) 4,345 miles, 2. Nile (Kagera) 4,258 miles, 3. Yangtze (Chan Jiang, Long River) 3,917 miles.

Question: The San Francisco Bay drains water from about what percent of California?
Answer: The Bay receives water from about 40% of California, primarily from these rivers:Sacramento,  San Joaquin, Petaluma, Napa, and the Guadalupe.

Question: The surface of which lake is actually the Earth's lowest elevation on land?
Answer: At 1,412' below sea level, the surface of the Dead Sea, which is by definition a lake, is the Earth's lowest spot on land.

Question: Which National Park has all 5 vowels (excluding y and w) in its name? Answer: Sequoia. PS - thanks to an observant reader who noticed that The Great Smoky Mountains has all 5 plus a y!

Question: About how long is the Appalachian Trail?
Answer: The trail is about 2,200 miles long.

Question: The city of Rugby claims to be the geographic center of North America. In which state or province is it located?  Answer: Rugby, North Dakota

Question: Which state has the highest and which has the lowest population in the U.S.?
Answer: California (approx. 39,537,000) and Wyoming (approx. 579,000).

Question: Can you name all of the original 13 colonies?
Answer: Using the state names as we know them today: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.

Question: What are the two most abundant elements in the earth's crust?
Answer: Oxygen 46.6%, Silicon 27.7%, with Aluminum 8.1% and Iron 5% as the next two.

Question: Four state capitals end in the word "City".  Can you name them? Answer: Carson City, Nevada - Oklahoma City, Oklahoma - Jefferson City, Missouri - Salt Lake City, Utah

Question: Which state derives its nickname from having joined the US one hundred years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence? Answer: The Centennial State: Colorado.

Question? What mountain range forms the traditional boundary between Europe and Asia?
Answer:  The Ural Mountains form the traditional boundary.

Question: Which US state borders on the most Canadian provinces?
Answer: Montana, which shares a border with British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan

Question: Which president was especially active in the early days of the conservation movement in the United States?

Answer: That president would be Theodore Roosevelt, in office 1901-1909.


Question: Which country has the largest amount of proven oil reserves in the world?  
Answer: The country with the largest amount of proven oil reserves is Venezuela, which only recently surpassed Saudi Arabia.

Question: What is the westernmost point of Alaska?

Answer: Attu Island is the westernmost point of Alaska


Question: The Babylonian map Imago Mundi dates back to the 6th century BCE. Where was Babylon?
Answer: Babylon, the most famous city from Mesopotamia whose ruins lie in modern-day Iraq, is about 60 miles southwest of Baghdad.


Question: On which continent are the Atlas Mountains located?
Answer: This 1,600 mile long range is located in northern Africa, and it stretches through Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia.

Question: What is the largest peninsula in the world?
Answer:  The Arabian Peninsula is the largest in the world - over 1,250,000 square miles. It includes Oman, Yemen, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, The United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and parts of southern Jordan and Iraq.


Question: What is the number one silver-producing country in the world?
Answer: Mexico, followed by Peru and China

Question: Only one state's postal abbreviation is the same as the last two letters of its name. Can you guess which state it is?
Answer: Kentucky

Question: At its peak, what was the largest empire by land area in the world?
Answer: The British Empire. At its peak in 1920, they claimed almost 24% of the land area on earth.

Question: What are the 5 largest states by land area (including Alaska and Hawaii)?  
Answer:  In order of size, they are: Alaska, Texas, California, Montana, and New Mexico.

Question: Each degree of latitude is about how many miles apart?
Answer: Due to the slightly elliptical shape of the earth, each degree of latitude is about 69 or 70 miles apart. 

Question: Which cardinal direction do most major rivers of the The Great Plains in the United States flow?
Answer: Most of the rivers flow east.


Question: How many states does the Mississippi River either touch or run through?

Answer: The river either touches or passes through ten states:  Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana.


Question:  Where is the deepest river chasm (gorge) in North America?

Answer: Hell's Canyon along the Oregon-Idaho-Washington border is 7993'  deep. The Grand Canyon, by comparison, is about a mile deep.


Question: What are the three largest islands (by area) in the world?

Answer: Greenland - 840,004 sq. miles, New Guinea - 303,381 sq. miles, and Borneo - 288,869 sq. miles 


Question: Which U.S. state is known as The Prairie State, and which is The Land of Enchantment?

Answer:  Illinois is The Prairie State,  and New Mexico is The Land of Enchantment.


Question: In April of 1964, which two African countries merged to become Tanzania?

Answer: Tanganyika and Zanzibar  


Question: Mesopotamia was a historical region whose name meant "between two rivers". To which two rivers does the name refer?

Answer: Mesopotamia was located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.

Question: Where is the largest land area in the U.S. retained by a Native American tribe?

Answer: The Navajo Nation has the largest reservation in the country. The reservation straddles the Four Corners region and covers more than 27,000 square miles of land.

Question: How many U.S. state names are only one syllable?

Answer: Only one: Maine.


Question: California contains the lowest place in North America: Badwater Basin in Death Valley. About how many feet below sea level is it?

Answer: Badwater Basin is 282' below sea level.


Question: Which state is known as the Gem State?

Answer: Idaho is the Gem State.

Question: Africa's most populous country is: Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Africa, or Egypt?

Answer: The most populous country in Africa is Nigeria (181,563,000), and the second most populous is Ethiopia (103,764,000).

Question: Which state has only 6 sides, all of which are quite straight ?

AnswerUtah is the state.

Question : About how long are the Rocky Mountains from northern British Columbia to New Mexico?  

Answer: The Rocky Mountains are about 3,000 miles long.


Question: Which of these countries is NOT on the Equator: Brazil, Australia, Kenya, or Indonesia?

Answer: Australia is not on the Equator.


Question: Hispaniola, the second largest Caribbean island after Cuba, is home to which two countries?
Answer:  Hispaniola is comprised of French-speaking Haiti and Spanish-speaking Dominican Republic.


Question: Which state was the first to ratify the U.S. Constitution?
Answer: Delaware, in December of 1787, followed by Pennsylvania and New Jersey in that same month.


Question: What is the largest metropolitan area in the Southern Hemisphere? 

Answer: The largest metropolitan area is Sao Paulo (21 million), followed by Jakarta (18 million), and Buenos Aires (12 million). 

Question: Germany was divided into East and West Germany in 1949. In what year was it reunited?
Answer: It was reunited on Unification Day, October 3, 1990.

Question: Canada is divided into 10 provinces and 3 territories. How many of these can you name? 

Answer: The 10 provinces are: British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador (one province), New Brunswick, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Prince Edward Island. The 3 territories are Northwest Territories, Yukon, and Nunavut.

Question: Mt. Etna, a stratovolcano in Italy,  is one of the most active volcanoes on Earth. Do you know where in Italy it is located? 

Answer: It is on the northeastern side of the island of Sicily.

In the Near East and northern Africa, the term wadi means: a. oasis,  b. valley,  c. plateau,  d. mountain peak.

Answer - Wadi means valley, and in some cases, it may refer to a dry riverbed that occasionally fills with water during a heavy rainy season.


Question: What is a narrow landform, with water on both sides, connecting two larger land areas called?

Answer: An isthmus.


Question: With which six states does Idaho share a border?

Answer: Idaho shares its border with Washington and Oregon to the west, Montana and Wyoming to the east (and southeast), and Nevada and Utah to the south

Question: Which river flows through 10 countries, more  than any other river in the world?  

Answer: The Danube River originates in Germany and flows about 1,670 miles through or touches the border of Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, and Moldova before emptying into the Black Sea.

Question: The highest capital city in the western hemisphere is 11,942'. Can you name the capital and the country?
Answer: At 11,942' La Paz is the capital, and Bolivia is the country.


Question: Aristotle referred to what weather condition as "the dry sighs of the breathing Earth"?
Answer: Aristotle was referring to the wind.


Question: What is the name of a crater-like basin of a volcano, formed by the cone's collapse, or by an explosion (or eruption)?
Answer: It is called a caldera.


Question: Which state was admitted to the Union on October 31, 1864?

Answer:  That state is Nevada.

Question: What is the most abundant element in the earth's crust?  
Answer: The most abundant element in the earth's crust is oxygen. 

What  country is about 2,670 miles long, yet no wider (east/west) than 217 miles?  

Answer: That South American country is Chile

Question: What is the only continent in all four hemispheres (northern, southern, eastern, and western)? 
Answer: The only continent in all four hemispheres (northern, southern, eastern, and western) is Africa. 

Question: In what year were the residents of Washington, D.C. granted the right to vote in presidential elections?
Answer: The passage of the 23rd amendment in 1961 granted the right to vote in presidential elections to residents of Washington, D.C.

Question: Which two states each have 8 National Parks?  
Answer: Alaska and California each have 8 National Parks.

Question: What is the largest island in the world?
Answer: The largest island in the world is Greenland, followed by New Guinea, Borneo, and Madagascar.

Question: In which states does the Appalachian Trail begin and end?
Answer: The Appalachian Trail (approximately 2,190 miles long)  travels through 14 states, beginning in Georgia and  ending in Maine.

Question: Can you name a canal whose construction began in Rome?
Answer: A canal whose construction began in Rome, New York, was the Erie Canal.

Question: What is the newest country in the world?
Answer: The Republic of South Sudan became independent from the African country of Sudan in 2011.

Question: What is the southernmost place in the 50 states with a population over 25,000?

Answer: The southernmost place is Hilo, Hawaii.

Question: Where is the pole of inaccessibility in North America?

Answer: The pole of inaccessibility (location that is the most challenging to reach due to its remoteness from geographical features that could provide access) in North America is about 7 miles north of Allen, South Dakota.

The hottest, lowest in elevation, and driest places recorded in North America are in the same area in which US state?

Answer: California's Death Valley:1. On July 10, 1913, a record high 134° F was recorded 2. Badwater Basin in Death Valley is 282' below sea level 3. With several mountain ranges between Death Valley and the ocean, it lies in a severe rain shadow and receives an annual rainfall of about 1.5".

What is the state with the largest amount of land (not water and land)  entirely east of the Mississippi River?

Answer - Georgia is the largest state entirely east of the Mississippi River in land area, although Michigan is the largest if water is included in size.

Which way does the earth rotate around its axis?
Answer - The earth rotates west to east or counterclockwise when viewed from the North Pole.

What is the only state flag in the United States that is not rectangular?

Answer - The only state flag in the United States that is not rectangular is the state flag of Ohio

Can you name the original 13 Colonies?

Answer - As they are commonly referred to today, the 13 Original colonies are: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.


Where is the longest artificially created waterway (canal) in the world?
Answer - Begun in the 5th century BC and still in use today, the 1,104 mile long Grand Canal in China is the longest artificially created waterway in the world.

How many of the 54* countries in Africa are in the African Union?

Answer - All 54* countries in Africa are in the African Union

*This includes all internationally recognized territories and states on the continent by the UN and the African Union.

Which is the largest Scandinavian country in square miles?

Answer - At 173,860 square miles, Sweden is the largest. Norway is second with 148,718, and Denmark is third at 16,576.


Which states have the lowest and the highest average rainfall per year?

Answer - Hawaii has the highest at 63.70", and Nevada has the lowest at 9.54".


What do the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn represent?

Answer - According to Wikipedia - “The Tropic of Cancer is currently 23°26′13.3″ north of the Equator. It is the most northerly circle of latitude on the Earth at which the Sun can be directly overhead.  The Tropic of Capricorn is 23° 26′ 22″ south of the Equator. It marks the most southerly latitude at which the sun can appear directly overhead.”


Which state is home to the highest point (6,684') east of the Mississippi River?

Answer - Located in the Appalachian Mountains in North Carolina, Mount Mitchell is the highest US mountain east of the Mississippi River.

What is the course or direction of flow of most Russian rivers?

Answer -  Most Russian rivers flow north, eventually into the Arctic Ocean.

What is the longest mountain range on the earth?

Answer - The mid-ocean ridges of the world are connected and form a
continuous mountain range over 40,000 miles long. The world's longest
above-ground mountain range is the Andes (4,300 miles long)

Which state has the highest mean elevation, and which state has the lowest mean elevation?

Answer:  Colorado has the highest mean elevation (6,800'), and Delaware has the lowest (60').


The town of Rugby in which state is considered to be the "Geographic Center of the North  American Continent"?

Answer: North Dakota