About This Quiz
Calling all globetrotters or armchair travelers: Are you ready to test your knowledge of the countries of the world?
Planet Earth is home to about 190 nations, many of which are tiny and little-known, so we're only going to touch on the bigger, better-known ones (35 of them, to be exact). And just to mix things up, we're doing it Jeopardy-style. That means we'll give you a salient fact or two about the country, and then four answer choices that are written as a question.
You might know which country is home to the vast "Outback." Or which country is famous for its "Bollywood" film industry. But it takes a little more savvy to know which country is affectionately known as "the Hexagon," or which is the southernmost nation in the Eastern hemisphere. Some countries are most recognizable by a prominent natural feature -- a mountain of a river. Others don't have a marquee geographic feature -- they're known for a manmade marvel instead, or a historic event. So this quiz will test your knowledge in a variety of areas, not just one.
Settle in (with an atlas by your side if you want; that's not cheating!) and try our quiz on the countries of the world. It's the next best thing to getting new stamps in your passport!
Of course, it's Australia. The only country that's also a continent by itself, Australia is likewise known for great beaches.
Building on the Great Wall of China was begun before the birth of Christ. It remains one of history's most impressive engineering feats.
The province of Quebec, the capital of which is Montreal, is home to many of Canada's French speakers. However, you'll find bilingual signs throughout the country.
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Austria was the birthplace or adult home of many classical musicians. Though Mozart was buried in a common grave, (the tradition at the time), you can visit Beethoven's grave, with its grand marker, in Vienna's "Zentralfriedhof."
The Amazon might actually be the world's longest river. But since cartographers disagree on measuring methods, the Nile River in Africa generally is given that title.
Tourists from all over the world come to Greece to see the ruins of the Parthenon, the Temple of Zeus, and more. Greece was home to two of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, but unfortunately, the Colossus of Rhodes and the Statue of Zeus at Olympia have been destroyed.
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Lake Titicaca is considered the world's highest navigable lake, at an elevation of about 12,000 feet. It's also the most likely to make schoolchildren snicker out loud in geography class.
Egypt is a storehouse of cultural treasures. Unfortunately, political turmoil in recent years has made it difficult for Western tourists to visit safely.
Italy is an evergreen tourist destination for lovers of history, art and great food and wine. Aficionados of the last two might go specifically to the region of Tuscany.
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Japan's economic success is especially remarkable given its lack of natural resources. Its lands do not have oil or coal, or other notable mineral resources, while a minority of the mountainous land is arable. Technology, primarily, has been Japan's road to prosperity.
"If a man is tired of London, he is tired of life," said Samuel Johnson. Maybe so, but there are still things to see outside England's capital!
The Mississippi makes a rough two-thirds/one-third division in the United States. For many years, in America's youth, the other side of the Mississippi was "where the West began."
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For such a large nation, Russia doesn't have as much climate diversity as you'd expect. Most of the country is either subarctic or temperate, though there is a subtropical region around Sochi, where the 2014 Winter Olympics were held.
A great many white Americans claim Irish ancestry (possibly more than actually have it). That's one reason why Irish writers, like Frank McCourt, have had fantastic success in the West.
India is the second-most populated nation on the planet (behind only China). Though the majority of the population is Hindu, there is a sizable Muslim minority (nearly 15 percent of the population).
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The vintage cars you'll still see there are a result of the U.S. trade embargo. Without an automotive industry of its own, and unable to trade with the U.S., Cubans continually fixed up cars from the 1940s and 1950s, prior to the Castro revolution.
France is called "the hexagon" because its boundaries roughly make a six-sided shape. Sometimes people will refer to "hexagon French" as classic French, compared to that spoken in former colonies.
Peru is very popular as a tourist destination. People also love its Pisco sour cocktail, named for the town of Pisco.
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Korea has been divided into North and South since the Korean Conflict, which ended in a cease fire that didn't go so far as a lasting peace. For a time after the war, the South was impoverished while the Communist North flourished, but today that situation has reversed itself.
Buenos Aires has often been described as the "Paris of South America." Otherwise, it is a strongly agricultural nation, especially rich in cattle.
Mexico is part of North America, as signaled by its inclusion in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Americans cross the border to drink and have fun in border cities like Tijuana, but more serious-minded tourists can visit Aztec ruins in the jungles.
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Marcos, wife of Ferdinand, reportedly owned more than 1,000 pairs of shoes. It spawned a new word in the Philippines: "Imeldific," for "shoe crazy," "fashion crazy" or just "extravagant."
Spain has recently become a very popular tourist destination for Westerners, especially North Americans. They go for the museums, the nightlife and the tapas -- dinners entirely of shareable appetizers.
Madagascar is an island nation off the East Coast of Africa. Sadly, its diverse wildlife is threatened by rapid deforestation.
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Haiti has a proud tradition of independence. It was established after a successful slave revolt, and remains the only nation on Earth to be founded under such conditions.
New Zealand's gorgeous mountains, meadows and seascapes have lent themselves to a number of film projects. Television, too: the wildly-popular '90s series "Xena: Warrior Princess" was shot there, and starred New Zealand actress Lucy Lawless.
If you're not counting the waters, then Indonesia drops to the planet's 14-largest country in terms of area. More than half of Indonesians live on the island of Java.
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New Zealand has remained anti-Nuclear, and is also notable for being the first country in the world where women won the right to vote.
Many nations still have monarchies that are largely symbolic, like the Netherlands and England. But in Saudi Arabia, the royal family wields great power -- a situation similar to monarchies in Brunei, Oman and the United Arab Emirates.
Czechoslovakia was formed in 1918, after the Austro-Hungarian Empire fell apart. Czechoslovakia dissolved peacefully in 1993, after the fall of Communism.
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Chile has one of the most recognizable geographic profiles of any country on Earth. Wherever you are in Chile, you're never too far from a beach (relatively speaking, of course).
Mongolia, south of Russia and north of China, is a sparsely-populated land. The Mongol Empire, founded by Genghis Khan, was once much bigger, extending into what is now China, Korea, and Russia.
Don't confuse this with the nation of Niger, also named for the Niger River. Nigeria is a populous country, with three main ethnicities: the Igbo, the Hausa and the Yoruba.
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Slovenia was part of the former Yugoslavia (like the similiar-sounding "Slovakia"). Melania Trump was born there, leaving to pursue her modeling career.
Morocco is a beautiful and ethnically diverse country. It has both coastal cities and a share of the Sahara desert, inhabited by its native Berber people.