Five-Letter Place Names Trivia Quiz

Answer: Aqaba

Today the city of Aqaba is the only port of the nation of Jordan. The Gulf of Aqaba is an extension of the Red Sea.

Answer: Kenai

All of the incorrect answers are islands of Alaska. The Kenai Peninsula also has a town named Kenai, which is the largest town on the peninsula, with about 7000 people as of 2010, while Homer had about 5000.

Answer: Tyrol

Within Austria, the Tyrol (Tirol in German) is divided into two parts, due to the annexation of the South Tyrol into Italy at the end of World War I. Hesse is a state in Germany, Basel is a canton in Switzerland, and Pavia is a province in Italy. Innsbruck is the capital of Tyrol?

Answer: Lhasa

As it was when Tibet was an independent nation, Lhasa is its capital as an autonomous region of China. It lies at an altitude of 11,450 feet, or 3490 meters. Vaduz is the capital of Liechtenstein and, although it is in the Alps, has an altitude of only 1,93 feet, or 455 meters. Lagos is the former capital of Nigeria and, being on the coast, is only 135 feet, or 41 meters, above sea level. Ostia lies at the mouth of the Tiber River and served as Rome's seaport in classical times.

It is only 16 feet, or 5 meters, above sea level.

Answer: Suomi

Finnish is a non-Indo-European language, so the Finns' name for their country does not resemble any place names non-Finns would not be familiar with. Suomi is also the word for Finland in the Baltic languages of Latvian and Lithuanian. The origins of the word are unclear.

Nokia is a communications company founded in Finland. Lahti is the capital of the Päijänne Tavastia region of Finland. I formed "Lappa" from the once-used term for the Sami people of northern Finland, Sweden, and Norway.

Answer: Texas

When Texas became a state in the USA in 1846, it became the Union's largest state and remained so until Alaska joined the Union in 1959.

Following a revolution against the Ottoman Empire, Crete became an independent state in 1898 and remained so until 1908. It then became part of Greece in 1913.

Tibet was an independent country until taken over by Communist China in 1950.

Natal was a Boer republic from 1839 to 1843, but was then taken over by the British as a colony from 1843 to 1910, when it became a province of South Africa.

Answer: Stowe

Calling itself the "Ski Capital of the East", Snow Mountain Resort is located about a dozen miles northwest of the small town of Stowe, Vermont.

Banff Ski Resort is actually three resorts in Alberta, Canada: Lake Louise, Sunshine Village, and Mt. Norquay.

Four ski resorts are in the area of Aspen, Colorado: Snowmass, Buttermilk, Aspen Mountain, and Aspen Highlands.

Davos is in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. It boasts six ski areas in the winter, such as Jakobshorn, Pischahorn, and Madrisahorn, which are named for the peaks from which the ski slopes descend.

Answer: Rhine

The Rhine rises in Switzerland and forms part of the borders of Switzerland, Austria, Liechtenstein, Germany, and France before passing through the Rhineland in Germany and flowing through the Netherlands and emptying into the North Sea. The Seine flows only in France and the Tiber only in Italy.

The Tagus rises in Spain, then flows west through Spain and into Portugal before entering the Atlantic. It is the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula.

Answer: Haiti

Haiti is just one-third of the island of Hispaniola, the larger part of the island being the Dominican Republic. Corfu is part of Greece, Luzon is the largest island in the Philippines, and Kaua'i is an island of Hawaii.

Answer: Libya

Today Libya and Egypt are nations in Africa, while Syria is in Asia. The region of Nubia was historically south of Egypt, along the Nile, and is today located in the country of Sudan.