Under Lock and Key Trivia Quiz

Answer:

Two of the world's seven continents have no landlocked countries - Australia/Oceania and North America (including Central America) - while one, Antarctica, has no actual countries at all. As of 2023, the number of the world's landlocked countries stands at 44, plus four de facto states with limited international recognition. Sixteen of these countries are located in Africa, fourteen in Europe, twelve in Asia, and two in South America.

Bolivia is one of South America's two landlocked countries - the other being Paraguay. The country lost much of its original territory in the wars fought against neighbouring countries in the decades that followed independence (1825). Bolivia's coastline on the Pacific Ocean was lost to Chile in 1879. Uruguay, on the other hand, has 660 km (410 mi) of coastline on the Atlantic Ocean.

Most of Asia's landlocked countries lie in the central part of the continent. All the so-called "Stans" (the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, plus Afghanistan, which also considered part of South Asia) are landlocked - one of them, Uzbekistan, being one of the world's only two doubly landlocked countries (the other is Liechtenstein). The only non-landlocked "Stan" is Pakistan, which geographically belongs to the Indian subcontinent. Iraq, in Western Asia, has a very short coastline (58 km/36 mi) on the Persian Gulf.

Sandwiched between Russia and China, Mongolia is the world's second-largest landlocked country (after Kazakhstan), and also the most sparsely populated sovereign nation. Afghanistan and Nepal lie in one of the world's most mountainous regions: Afghanistan is dominated by the Hindu Kush range, and Nepal by the Himalayas. In fact, eight of the world's ten highest peaks (including Mount Everest) are at least partly located in Nepal. On the other hand, Laos is the southernmost of Asia's landlocked countries. A former French colony, it lies in the Indochinese Peninsula, as does Cambodia, which has a 443-km (275-mi) coastline on the Gulf of Thailand.

Europe's landlocked nations, unlike those in other continents, tend to be on the small side. Of those mentioned in this quiz, Luxembourg is the smallest (though larger than Liechtenstein, San Marino and Vatican City), but also one of the continent's wealthiest countries. It is surrounded by France, Germany, and Belgium (which has a short but important coastline on the North Sea). Serbia, in the Balkan Peninsula, lost its access to the Adriatic Sea when its union with Montenegro was dissolved in 2006. Bulgaria, which borders Serbia to the southeast, has a relatively short (354 km/220 mi) coastline on the Black Sea. Georgia, which is a transcontinental country, also has a coastline on the Black Sea, though on its eastern side.

Being the continent with the highest number of sovereign nations, it is not surprising that Africa also boasts the most landlocked countries. Some of them are among the largest in the world: Chad, nicknamed the "dead heart of Africa" because of its distance from the sea and its largely desert climate (part of it is covered by the Sahara Desert), is the third-largest after Kazakhstan and Mongolia. Ethiopia, somewhat smaller than Chad, is the world's most populous landlocked country, and its population is growing at a very brisk rate. It also lost its coastline on the Red Sea because of political changes - in this case, the independence of Eritrea (1993), which followed 30 years of war. Sudan, on the other hand, did not lose access to the Red Sea (though its coastline is relatively small in proportion to the rest of the country), but lost the title of largest African country when South Sudan became independent in 2011.

Uganda lies in East Africa, in the Great Lakes Region. Though landlocked, it has a relatively large coastline on Lake Victoria (where its capital, Kampala, is located), and shorter ones on Lake Albert and Lake Edward on its western border. Congo (or Republic of the Congo), one of two countries named after Africa's second-longest river, lies instead in western Central Africa, with a short coastline on the Atlantic Ocean. Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, is located in West Africa, with a substantial coastline (at least 853 km/530 mi) on the Gulf of Guinea. Its neighbour Niger, with which it is occasionally confused, is landlocked, and very sparsely populated.