A Chemical Tourist Trivia Quiz

Answer: Brunei

Br-U-Ne-I spells Brunei. The State of Brunei, the Abode of Peace (to give it its full title) is located on Borneo, bordering on the South China Sea. It shares the island with Malaysia and Indonesia, and the Malaysian state of Sarawak not only surrounds Brunei, it separates Brunei into two non-contiguous pieces.

Answer: Nauru

Na-U-Ru spells Nauru. Nauru is the world's smallest republic, with an area of just over 20 square kilometres (8 square miles), and the world's second-least populated country. Once the phosphate reserves had been exhausted, and the country ravaged by the mining process, the Nauruan economy struggled, and the unemployment rate was about 90% early in the 21st century. During the first decade of this century the establishment of an Australian detention centre for the processing of applicants for asylum provided welcome income and jobs, but it closed in 2007.

Answer: Kiribati

K-Ir-I-Ba-Ti spells Kiribati. Kiribati (the 'ti' sounds like an 's') is smack in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Its widespread islands lie on both sides of the equator, and also on both sides of the 180th meridian. Its easternmost point, Carolina Island, borders the International Date Line, so it is the first place in the world to see the start of every new day - and that includes the start of the new millennium. Most of the country, however, is significantly further west, and sees the dawn later than such places as the country of New Zealand.

Answer: Laos

La-O-S spells Laos. Formally known as The Lao People's Democratic Republic, Laos was formed when the French colonialists united three separate Lao kingdoms into a single entity. After being occupied by the Japanese during World War II, Laos gained independence briefly at the end of the war, but was quickly reclaimed by the French. Full independence was finally achieved in 1953. Since 1975 Laos has been a single-party socialist republic, with the ruling party called the Pathet Lao.

Answer: Burundi

B-U-Ru-Nd-I spells Burundi. Burundi may be landlocked, but it has an extensive shoreline on Lake Tanganyika, one of the world's largest freshwater lakes, so Eloise will find a use for her swimsuit. Like neighbouring Rwanda, Burundi has suffered from conflict between the Tutsi and Hutu tribes who live in the region. Burundi is one of the world's poorest countries, partly as a result of the civil wars, and food is pretty basic.

A typical meal would feature sweet potatoes, corn, or peas as its main dish.

However, if there's a party on, it will be accompanied by impeke, a type of beer.

Answer: Gabon

Ga-B-O-N spells Gabon. Gabon's coastal plains, which are part of an ecoregion referred to as the Atlantic Equatorial coastal forests, contain some ecologically-valuable mangrove regions. It also has extensive karst regions, in which limestone rocks have been dissolved by groundwater to form complex systems of caves.

Many of Gabon's caves remained unexplored at the start of the 21st century.

Answer: Benin

Be-Ni-N spells Benin. Dahomey was a French colony, and it retained that name on gaining independence in 1960. In 1975, however, the name was changed to Benin, in reference both to the Bight of Benin on which it has a coast, and to the Benin Empire, a pre-colonial nation roughly corresponding to modern Nigeria, from which the bight got its name. Because Dahomey was the name of one of the three kingdoms in the country (Borgu and Atakora being the other two), it was felt that Benin was a more politically neutral name.

Answer: Finland

F-In-La-Nd spells Finland. Finland is not on the Scandinavian peninsula with Norway and Sweden, but it is the country on the main body of Europe that borders them, making it one of the world's most northerly countries. An exact count of its lakes is hard to determine - there are nearly 200,000 of them that are larger than 500 square metres (an eighth of an acre). As well as all those lakes, there are around 180,000 islands, mostly in the southwest of the country.

Answer: Cuba

Cu-Ba spells Cuba. The Republic of Cuba consists of the main island (Cuba), the smaller Isla de la Juventud, and several island chains. It is only 150 km (90 mi) away from the United States, and before the revolution of 1959 it was a popular oliday destination for American tourists. Cuba's main popular sports are more US-oriented than is the case for most Spanish-speaking countries, and a number of successful Major League Baseball players were born there, including Jose Canseco, the first foreign-born player to score 400 runs.

Answer: Peru

P-Er-U spells Peru. Peru is located on the west coast of South America, bordering the Pacific Ocean. While one usually thinks of it as being mountainous because the Andes Mountains run through the centre of the country, there is also a coastal plain between the mountains and the sea, and a jungle that is part of the Amazonian rainforest in the eastern part of the country.

This latter region includes over half of the land area of Peru.