Landlocked Countries Trivia Quiz

Bolivia is a landlocked medium-sized nation of around 12 million people in South America. It has a very varied landscape ranging from the very tall Andes mountains, through the Atacama Desert to the Amazon Basin rainforest. Its administrative capital, La Paz, sits in a bowl surrounded by mountains. At an elevation of more than 3500 metres, it is the highest capital in the world.

Bolivia was not always landlocked but its land that connected to the Pacific Ocea (250 miles / 400 km) was lost during the War of the Pacific which Bolivia and Peru fought against Chile between 1879 and 1883.

Paraguay is the only other landlocked nation in South America, there are no landlocked nations in North America. It shares a border with its landlocked neighbour Bolivia, but also with the much bigger Brazil and Argentina. While it is landlocked, it has access to the sea (Atlantic Ocean) via ports on the Paraguay and Parana rivers.

Paraguay is almost the same size as Bolivia but only has half as many people. Of its six million people, almost half live in the capital Asuncion.

Europe has 17 landlocked nations (counting Kosovo).

The Vatican City is the only country in the world that is surrounded by a city (Rome). It is a tiny nation of only 49 hectares (121 acres) with a 2023 population of 743. It is the headquarters of the Roman Catholic church. It is where the Pope lives. In global terms, it is an enclave within Italy. San Marino in the north is also an enclave of Italy. It, too, is landlocked.

Vatican City was established in 1929 after the signing of the Lateran Treaty by the Prime Minister of Italy and the Pope. Before that, it was part of Italy. It took its name from Vatican Hill, which was the name of a nearby Etruscan settlement many years ago.

Moldova is a small landlocked country wedged between Ukraine and Romania. It is a poor country by European standards. Its population of 2.4 million people all live close to the Dniester River, including the half million people who live in the capital, Chisinau. The river is the only access to the Black Sea.

The country first became an entity as the Principality of Moldovia in 1346, but it has had a troubled past, being, at times incorporated into Romania, the Russian and Ottoman Empires as well as being made a Soviet Republic in 1940. It finally declared its independence after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Belarus, meaning white Russia, is a landlocked nation in Eastern Europe. Throughout history it has been occupied and/or governed by Poland, Lithuania and Russia/Soviet Union, losing much of its territory when claimed by each of these countries. After the Russian Revolution, it became the Byelorussian Socialist Soviet Republic in 1917 and became an independent nation in 1991. It borders Russia to the east/northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Latvia and Lithuania to the northwest.

Belarus is a medium-sized country (207,595 km2 / 80,153 sq mi) with over nine million people. Over two million people live in the centrally located capital Minsk. The country is mainly a plateau with rolling hills. The Dnieper River bisects the country from north to south on its way to the Black Sea. Over 40% of Belarus is forested and over 11 000 lakes are within its borders.

There are 16 landlocked countries in Africa: Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Ethiopia, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Niger, Rwanda, South Sudan, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Most lie in an east-west strip across north-central Africa, whereas the five in southern Africa are aligned in a north-south strip.

Mali is a landlocked country, shaped like a bow tie on its side, in West Africa. It is the eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of 1,200,000 square kilometres (480,000 sq mi) and borders with Algeria, Niger, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Guinea and Senegal. It was once a much bigger country and even a powerful empire. Mali means "the place where the king lives". The top half of the "bow-tie" shape is mainly the Sahara desert. Most of the 24 million Mali residents live in the southern part of the "bow-tie" which is relatively fertile as it is bisected by the massive Niger River.

Ethiopia is a large African country. It had a coastline on the Red Sea when Eritrea declared independence from Ethiopia in 1993, making Ethiopia landlocked in the process. Besides Eritrea, it has borders with Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Kenya to the south, South Sudan to the West, and Sudan to the northwest. It is a large country of 1,104,300 square kilometres (426,400 sq mi) making it the 26th largest in the world.

It is the tenth most populous in the world and the world's most populous landlocked country with over 132 million people (2023). Its capital is Addis Ababa (meaning "new flower") has over three million people and is centrally located.

Zambia is a landlocked country of 20 million people (2023) in Southern Africa. It is the home of the Bantu and San peoples. It is bordered by eight countries, and it is unusual as it is shaped like a peanut. The British colonised Zambia in the 1800s through South Africa. The British called it Northern Rhodesia and were interested in the massive copper deposits in the east of the country.

The country became independent in 1964 and called itself Zambia after its main river, the Zambesi. Victoria Falls, one of the seven natural Wonders of the world is part of this river.

Uzbekistan and Liechtenstein are the only two doubly landlocked nations in the world. This means that all of Uzbekistan's bordering countries (Kazakhstan in the north, Kyrgyzstan in the northeast, Tajikistan in the southeast, Afghanistan in the south, and Turkmenistan in the southwest) are all landlocked as well.

In the 1800s, the land occupied by present-day Uzbekistan was divided between the Emirate of Bukhara and the khanates of Khiva and Kokand. With the expansion of the Russian Empire later that century, much of central Asia became part of this Empire. In 1924 the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic was created, which then became an independent country in 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed.

Uzbekistan is mainly arid, but from east to west, it was part of the Silk Road, a trade route and cultural centre between east Asia and Europe.

Laos can trace its history back to Lan Xang, a kingdom that existed from the 13th to the 18th century. Despite being landlocked, the kingdom was a hub for regional trade. When the Chinese Black Flag Army attacked the capital, Luang Prabang, in the late 19th century, the French rescued the Lao king and added Luang Prabang to its protectorate of French Indochina. Later the Kingdom of Champasak and the territory of Vientiane were added to this protectorate and a unified Lao kingdom was created (with French governance). After the Japanese occupation in WWII, Lao declared independence, but it was not until 1953 that Laos gained full independence as a constitutional monarchy.

Laos remains landlocked, with Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and east, and Thailand to the west. The Mekong River forms part of the boundary between Thailand and Laos. Mountains form most of the border with Vietnam in the east. Between them, Laos nestles on two broad plateaus. Laos is a medium-sized country with over eight million people.

Pha That Luang is a national monument located in the capital Vientiane.