Felines From Hot Climes Trivia Quiz

Answer: Sulawesi

Also known as Celebes, Sulawesi is one of Indonesia's largest islands, and the world's 11th-largest. Most of its territory consists of four peninsulas that give it a distinctive, almost star-like shape. Sulawesi lies east of Borneo (from which it is separated by the Strait of Makassar), west of the Moluccas (Maluku Islands), and south of the Philippines. The island's name probably means "island of iron", referring to the rich iron deposits found in Lake Matano, in the southern peninsula. Balinese and Javanese cats are long-haired variants of the Siamese breed.

Mindanao, the second-largest island of the Philippines, lies north of Sulawesi. Okinawa is part of Japan, and Viti Levu of Fiji.

Answer: Singapore

The city-state of Singapore lies 137 km (85 m) north of the Equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula. It is an island country, consisting of one main island, Pulau Ujong (also known as Singapore Island or Mainland Singapore), and another 62 smaller islands. With an area of 725.7 kmē (280.2 sq mi), it is one of the world's smallest sovereign nations, but also one of the wealthiest and most developed, with a very high GDP. The name Singapore is an anglicization of the Malay "Singapura", which in turn comes from the Sanskrit "Simhapura", meaning "lion city". A lion and a tiger appear on the country's coat of arms, and a mythical creature half-lion, half fish - the Merlion - is Singapore's official mascot. The cat breed referenced in the question is the Singapura, which was developed in the US and then introduced to Singapore, rather than the other way around.

Of the remaining three countries, Bhutan is by far the largest, being slightly smaller than Switzerland. Brunei and Samoa, though larger than Singapore, are considerably smaller than Bhutan.

Answer: South China Sea

The name Tonkin comes from the Vietnamese Dong Kinh ("northern capital"), the former name of Hanoi, Vietnam's capital. It was used in the French colonial era for the region of northern Vietnam located in the Red River Delta, a fertile, densely populated, low-lying plain mostly devoted to the cultivation of rice. The Gulf of Tonkin, an arm of the South China Sea into which the Red River empties, is located off the coast of northern Vietnam and southern China. In 1964, US President Lyndon B. Johnson falsely claimed that American destroyers had been attacked twice by the forces of North Vietnam in the Gulf of Tonkin - eventually leading to open war between the two countries.

The Tonkinese domestic cat breed is a cross between Siamese and Burmese, with no connection to the Gulf.

Answer: Thailand

Many cat breeds originated in Thailand, though the Siamese is by far the best- known of them. The Korat is named after its province of origin, Nakhonratkasima (Khorat or Korat for short), the country's largest province, located in lower northeastern Thailand. The Kingdom of Thailand lies at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, in Southeast Asia; it was the only country in the region that managed to avoid becoming a colony of some Western power in the 18th and 19th centuries. The demonym "Thai" (which also denotes the language spoken in the country) has been interpreted as "free man", or simply "human being". The elaborate architecture of Thai Buddhist temples and the country's natural beauty draw millions of visitors every year; Thai cuisine, characterized by the use of fresh herbs and fiery chili peppers, is very popular all over the world.

"Si-sawat", the common Thai name of the Korat cat, means "colour of the sawat seed", a tropical plant with silver-grey seeds.

Answer: Yangon

Myanmar, or Burma, is the westernmost country in Southeast Asia, and the largest mainland country in the region. Formerly known as Rangoon, Yangon is located in lower Myanmar, 30 km (19 mi) from the coast of the Andaman Sea. Home to over 7 million people, it was the national capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government relocated the country's administration to Napyidaw, a purpose-built city in central Myanmar. Founded in the 11th century with the name of Dagon, Yangon was renamed Rangoon by the British when they seized the city and all of Lower Burma in 1852. Outstanding examples of late 19th-century colonial architecture are counted among Yangon's main sights, together with the imposing, gold-plated Shwedagon Pagoda, Myanmar's most sacred Buddhist temple.

Kabul and Dhaka are both capitals (respectively of Afghanistan and Bangladesh), while Karachi is Pakistan's former capital and largest city.

Answer: film

One of the world's most populous cities, Mumbai is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Its former name, Bombay, comes from the Portuguese "Bombaim" (possibly meaning "good little bay"), while Mumbai probably derives from the name of Mumba Devi, a local goddess. A major seaport with a deep natural harbour, Mumbai lies on the west coast of India, on the Arabian Sea. It is India's wealthiest city and economic hub, home to Asia's oldest stock exchange, as well as many international companies. Besides finance, Mumbai owes its current prosperity to sectors such as healthcare, jewellery, leather processing, textiles, and especially entertainment. The Hindi film industry, commonly known as Bollywood (a combination of "Bombay" and "Hollywood"), is based there.

Though meant to resemble a miniature black panther (hence the Indian connection), the Bombay cat breed was developed in the US.

Answer: Addis Ababa

From the Arabic "habasha" (a term used to denote people of mixed ethnic origin), Abyssinia was the name by which the Ethiopian Empire was called by outsiders. The Empire, which lasted from 1270 to 1974, encompassed the present-day countries of Ethiopia and Eritrea. After Eritrea declared its independence in 1991, Ethiopia lost its coastline on the Red Sea, and is now one of the world's largest landlocked countries. Its capital, Addis Ababa ("new flower" in Amharic), lies at an elevation of 2,355 metres (7,726 ft), a few miles west of the East African Rift. Founded in 1886 by Emperor Menelik II, the city is now home to over 3 million people, and its population enjoys a higher living standard than many other African capitals. Addis Ababa is also an important cultural centre, and hosts the headquarters of a number of continental and international organizations - most prominently, the African Union.

Cairo is the capital of Egypt, Khartoum of Sudan, and Dakar of Senegal.

Answer: Italy

While it was occupied by Italy between 1936 and 1941, Ethiopia was never officially a colony of the Kingdom of Italy - unlike Eritrea and a sizable part of Somalia, known as Italian Somaliland. This territory, which corresponds to the northeastern, central and southern parts of modern-day Somalia, was acquired by Italy in 1880 through various treaties rather than military occupation. This lasted until 1941, when the British took over during WWII. British and Italian Somaliland united in 1960 to form the Somali Republic, now known simply as Somalia. Sadly, the country has been torn apart by a bloody civil war that started in 1991, and for a time had no functioning government.

Belgium, France and Portugal all had a number of colonies in Africa, but Somalia was never one of them.

Answer: Tanzania

Inhabited for centuries by the Maasai people, the Serengeti region spans southwestern Kenya and northern Tanzania; its name has been interpreted to mean "endless plain" in the Maasai language. Serengeti National Park is located in northern Tanzania, on the Kenyan border, and is part of the 30,000-kmē (12,000-sq mi) protected area within the region. One of the world's foremost natural travel destinations, and Tanzania's oldest national park, the Serengeti is famous for its animal population, in particular for the massive year-long migration involving 1.5 million wildebeest, as well as hundreds of thousands of zebras and antelope. The Serengeti is also believed to host Africa's largest lion population, amounting to over 3,000 specimens. The Serengeti domestic cat breed was developed in the US to look like a serval, a wild cat species found in the Serengeti region and most of sub-Saharan Africa.

Neither Angola nor Nigeria are in East Africa, while Mozambique lies south of Tanzania.

Answer: Zambia and Zimbabwe

Located in the central-eastern part of southern Africa, the region of Rhodesia was administered by the British South Africa Company (BSAC) from 1890 to the 1920s. White settlers first gave the region the informal name of Rhodesia after British businessman Cecil Rhodes, the company's founder and managing director, and a few years later the name became official. Rhodesia was bisected by the Zambezi River: the territory north of the river (Northern Rhodesia) became Zambia in 1964, while Southern Rhodesia became Zimbabwe in 1980.

Botswana and Namibia are also located in southern Africa, while the remaining two pairs of countries are in central Africa.