Geographical Place Names: 'A' Trivia Quiz

Answer: Azerbaijan

Baku is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as being the largest city in the Caucasus. The city is located on the southern shoreline of the Absheron Peninsula, which extends 60km into the Caspian Sea. The Caspian is an inland body of water located in a depression in the landscape of the Caucasus.

As a result it, and the land surrounding it, is located as much as 28 metres below sea level. Baku's location makes it the lowest lying national capital and, with its population of more than 2 million, it is also the largest city to be located below sea level.

Answer: Seville

Andalusia is the most southerly of Spain's sixteen Autonomous Communities, and is the second largest, forming much of the southern quarter of the country. Andalusia is divided into eight provinces, with the Province of Seville hosting the city of the same name, which also serves as the Community's capital city.

Although Seville had been one of Spain's most important cities since the 16th century, having once been the only port permitted to conduct trade with Spain's colonies in the Americas, it was only in 1982 that the city was named as the capital of Andalusia. Since then, Seville has gone on to become the largest and most prosperous city in southern Spain.

Answer: Anchorage

The city of Anchorage was originally founded as a rail hub on the new Alaska Railroad between Fairbanks and Seward, work on the completion of which began in 1914. Beginning life as a tent city, Anchorage rapidly grew in size and importance as a port thanks to its coastal location at the terminus of the Cook Inlet, while it is within ten hours flight time from 90% of the industrialised world.

The City of Anchorage encompasses more than 1700 square miles of area, making it larger than the state of Rhode Island, and, as of the 2020 census, has a population totalling more than 290,000, which is almost 40% of Alaska's overall population.

Answer: Democratic Republic of the Congo

Lake Albert is the northernmost of a chain of lakes in what is called the Albertine Rift, which forms the western part of the East African Rift System. Lake Albert is around 160km long and 30km wide, and is located on the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The seventh-largest lake in Africa, it forms part of the Upper Nile system, with one of its major sources being the White Nile originating in Lake Victoria, located to the south-east. Originally known as Lake Mwitanzige, the name by which it is still known by the Banyoro and Batooro peoples, it gained its current name when it was come across by the explorers Samuel Baker and Flóra von Sass in 1864, who named it for the late consort of Queen Victoria.

Answer: Mendoza

Aconcagua is a mountain that forms part of the Principal Cordillera, an area of the Andes that forms the boundary between central Chile and the neighbouring areas of Argentina. Located within Mendoza Province in west central Argentina, Aconcagua lies just 5km from Mendoza's boundary with neighbouring San Juan Province, and 15km from the border with Chile, and forms part of the Aconcagua Provincial Park. Rising to a height of 6,961 metres, Aconcagua is the tallest mountain in both the Americas and the Southern Hemisphere, as well as being the tallest located outside Asia, although in an overall list of the tallest mountains on Earth it lies 189th.

Answer: Bahrain

The Arabian Peninsula is a large landmass located in western Asia, to the northeast of Africa. The largest peninsula in the world, the geographical Arabian Peninsula consists of seven different countries, six of which - Saudi Arabia, Yemen, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait - are on the peninsula itself.

The seventh, Bahrain, consists of a small archipelago centred on Bahrain Island itself in the Persian Gulf. Bahrain is located between Qatar and the northeast coast of Saudi Arabia, to which it is connected by a 25km long series of bridges and causeways that are named collectively as the King Fahd Causeway.

Answer: Saint Kitts and Nevis

Anguilla is a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. One of the Leeward Islands, it was originally settled by English colonisers from the nearby island of Saint Kitts in 1650. Initially administered from Antigua, control of the island was transferred to Saint Kitts in 1825.

In 1882, despite the objections of Anguillans, the island was joined into a single federated entity with Saint Kitts and Nevis, of which it remained part until 1967. At that time, Anguillans, tired of the seeming domination of Saint Kitts, ejected the local police force and held a referendum stating their wish to be independent of Saint Kitts and Nevis.

In 1980, this wish was granted and Anguilla became a separate Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom.

Answer: Yerevan

Mount Ararat is a compound volcano located in eastern Turkey, consisting of two main cones, Greater Ararat and Little Ararat. The mountain gained its name during the middle ages, when it began to be associated with the Biblical story of Noah's Ark, which was described as having come to rest on the "mountains of Ararat".

Although it is geographically inside Turkey, Mount Ararat sits at a point less than 16km from the border with Iran, and 32km from Armenia. The mountain is a significant national symbol for Armenians, with it occupying a place as a "holy mountain" in Armenian culture. Located just 65km from Armenia's capital, Yerevan, Ararat has been employed as a symbol on Armenia's coat of arms since it was part of the Soviet Union.

Answer: Maghreb

The Atlas Mountains is a range that straddles most of the western edge of North Africa, occupying the region known as the Maghreb. This region is generally accepted to consist of the Arab nations of North Africa (with the exception of Egypt), as well as Mauretania and the territory of Western Sahara.

The Atlas range runs for approximately 2,500km through Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, and separates the Sahara Desert from the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean, which derives its name from the Atlas Mountains.

The highest peak in the range is Toubkal, located in southwestern Morocco approximately 60km from Marrakesh.

Answer: Austin

Between 1835 and 1836, Texas fought and won its independence from Mexico, becoming the new Republic of Texas. At the time its capital was located at Houston but, in 1839, a new commission began to look for the site of a new national capital. A site was located on the north bank of the Colorado River - it was a crossroads for trade routes between Santa Fe and Galveston, and between Mexico and the Red River.

Initially incorporated as "Waterloo", it was quickly renamed after Stephen F. Austin, the country's first Secretary of State, regarded as the "father of Texas". Texas remained independent until December 1845, when it was annexed as the 28th state of the United States.

The city was subsequently retained as the new state capital, which it remains.