Longitude 90 East Trivia Quiz

Answer: Australia

It is part of the Australian Antarctic Territory, an external territory. Australia has claims to over 40% of the Antarctic continent.

Kaiser Wilhelm II Land was first explored by the German geologist, Erich von Drygalski, in 1902, and named after the German leader. Despite the name, Germany has not made any claims to any Antarctic territory.

Answer: Dhaka

Bangladesh was known as East Pakistan prior to 1971. It is located to the east of India, which almost surrounds it, and has a small border with Myanmar. The mighty Brahmaputra River bisects the country, before merging with the Ganges, both combining to flow into the Bay of Bengal.

Dakar is the capital of Senegal, in western Africa. Dili is the capital of the relatively new country of East Timor, and the capital of Qatar is Doha.

Answer: Potala Palace

The palace in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa has not been occupied by the Dalai Lama since 1959, with the incumbent living in exile, in India. The castle is huge, covering about 140,000 square metres, and up to 13 stories in places.

The position of Dalai Lama dates back to the 14th century, when Gendun Drup was appointed to the position at the age of two.

Tibet is one of the highest regions on the planet, with its southern border being the mighty Himalayas.

The Istana Nurul Iman is the home of the Sultan of Brunei, and Palazzo Pitti is in Florence, Italy. Drottningholm Palace is in Stockholm, and is the residence of the King and Queen of Sweden.

Answer: Krai

A krai, or kray, can also be called an oblast. All these terms roughly translate into English as 'territory'. There are nine krais in Russia, with the biggest being Krasnoyarsk Krai, which is one of the largest areas of Siberia.

Answer: Bhutan

Bhutan is squeezed between India and China, in the Himalayas. It is only a smallish country, a bit smaller than Switzerland, or about half the size of the Australian state of Tasmania. It has a population of less than a million people, according to the 2022 census.

In 2010, Bhutan was the first country to ban tobacco, but hopefully not the last!

Answer: Indian Ocean

The Ninety East Ridge divides the Indian Ocean into East and West. It runs due south from the Bay of Bengal, near the northern tip of Sumatra, to its lower terminus, roughly at the same level as Perth, Western Australia. The Ridge rises approximately 2,000 metres above the surrounding Indian Ocean seafloor, and is about the same distance below the surface.

Answer: Kara Sea

The Novaya Zemlya archipelago separate the Kara and Barents Seas to the north of Siberia. Some of the largest rivers in Russia flow into the sea, including the Yenisey, Ob, Pyasina, and Kara. The sea is ice-bound for much of the year.

The Labrador Sea separates southern Greenland from eastern Canada, and the Sea of Okhotsk is in the Pacific, between the north of Japan and eastern Siberia.

The Coral Sea is a long way from the frozen north- it is off the northeast coast of Australia, and is home to the Great Barrier Reef.

Answer: Mongolia

Mongolia is the most sparsely populated country on earth, with just over three million people in an area of 1.5 million square kilometres, almost the same size as Alaska or Queensland in Australia. It is home to the Gobi Desert, which it shares with northern China. It is classified as a cold desert, with the average temperature around zero Celsius.

The three wrong answers are all to the west of the 90E line of longitude.

Answer: Davis Sea

The Davis Sea was named after John King Davis, an English/Australian Antarctic explorer. King sailed with legends like Ernest Shackleton and Douglas Mawson. Davis Station is also named after him. The Weddell, Ross and Amundsen Seas are all part of the Southern Ocean (sometimes known as the Antarctic Ocean), but are on the opposite side of the continent.

Answer: Meghalaya and Assam

Rajahstan and Gujarat are both in the far western part of India, and Tamil Nadu and Kerala are the southernmost mainland states. Jammu & Kashmir (ownership of which is disputed with Pakistan and China), and Himochal Pradesh are the two states at the northern end of the country.