Great Globe Sites (all in ten letters) Quiz

Answer: Uzbekistan

A double landlocked country is a nation that is not only landlocked but is also surrounded by other landlocked countries. Only two countries have this condition, Liechtenstein and Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan, in addition to being landlocked, is surrounded by five landlocked countries: Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.

The Republic of Uzbekistan is located in Central Asia south and southeast of the Aral Sea. The country gained its independence from the USSR in 1991. It's a secular, unitary constitutional republic, whose capital and largest city is Tashkent and whose official language is Uzbek. The country is a major producer and exporter of cotton and very rich in mineral resources. Uranium, copper and gold are its main mineral products.

Answer: Calipatria

The City of Calipatria is located in Imperial County, California. It has an area of 9.6 km2, entirely covered by land. It is located 50 meters below sea level; this makes it the lowest altitude city in the western hemisphere. It has a population of about 8,000 inhabitants. Calipatria is located about 150 miles from San Diego. Its main activity is agriculture and the city is surrounded by several recreational activity locations.

Calipatria claims to have the tallest flagpole in the world (184 feet or 56 meters), so the flag is above sea level. However, the Guinness Book reports that the tallest mast is from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (561 feet or 171 meters).

Answer: Chihuahuan

The Chihuahuan Desert, with an area of about 502,000km2, is the largest desert in North America. It is a desert and an ecoregion covering part of northern Mexico and the southwestern United States. The existence of innumerable mountain ranges in the desert lead to the occurence of "sky islands", which present climate and vegetation not characteristic of deserts.

There are few cities in this region. On the Mexican side is Ciudad Juárez, with about 2 million inhabitants and on the American side, among others, are the cities of El Paso and Albuquerque. Some consider the Chihuahuan Desert to be the most varied biologically desert in the world. The desert, although close to the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, is mostly a rain shadow desert because the two main mountain ranges, the Sierra Madre Occidental and the Sierra Madre Oriental, block most of the moisture coming from these bodies of water.

Answer: Hispaniola

Hispaniola, known as the Greater Antilles, is the second largest Caribbean island. The island was the first place the Europeans settled in the region. La Navidad (1492-1493), La Isabella (1493-1500) and Santo Domingo (c. 1498) were founded successively by Christopher Columbus on his first three trips to America.

The island is divided into two sovereign nations. One is the Dominican Republic (48,445 km2), a Spanish-speaking country, with about 10 million inhabitants, with Roman Catholicism as the official and dominant religion. The other is the Republic of Haiti (27,750 km2), with about 12 million inhabitants, a nation which had great influence from the French, with official languages French (mostly used by the most educated population) and Haitian Creole (which is spoken practically by everyone). There is a big difference between the development of the two nations. The per capita income in the Dominican Republic is about ten times the per capita income in Haiti.

Answer: Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the capital and the most populous city of the Kingdom of Denmark. It was originally a fishing village and became the capital of Denmark in the 15th century. Copenhagen has several attractions such as the Tivoli Gardens, Amalienborg and Christiansborg palaces, museums and The Little Mermaid statue.

The Little Mermaid is a bronze statue by Edvard Eriksen, displayed by the waterside. It is 1.25 meter tall and weighs 175 kg. Based on the fairy tale of the same name by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen, the statue has been a major tourist attraction since 1913. It is one of the most photographed statues in the world.

Answer: Samothrace

The "Winged Victory of Samothrace" (Nike in Greek), shown in the form of a winged woman, is a 2.5 meter high marble statue on display at the Louvre Museum. It was found in pieces and without a head in 1863, at the Sanctuary of Great Gods, on the island of Samothrace, by the French archeologist Charles Champoiseau. It is one of the masterpieces of Hellenistic sculptures, dating from about 190 BCE.

Samothrace is a small Greek island in the northern Aegean Sea, in an area known as the Sea of Thrace, just a few kilometers from the sea border between Greece and Turkey. The island has 178 km2, a very rugged terrain and an economy based on fishing and tourism. The most important tourist spot is the Sanctuary of Great Gods, whose ruins can be seen at Paleopolis ("Old City").

Answer: Birmingham

Aston Villa Football Club, founded in 1874, is an English professional football club that competes in the Premier League. The club's home ground is Villa Park, located in Aston, Birmingham.

Birmingham is a very important city in England's West Midlands Region, considered the social, cultural, financial and commercial center of the Midlands. Birmingham had an exceptional development in the 18th century and a key role in the Industrial Revolution. By 1791, the city was considered "the first manufacturing town in the world" and remains a storehouse of innovations and the birthplace of prominent figures.

Answer: Friendship

The "Friendship Bridge" connects the Brazilian city of Foz do Iguaçu and Ciudad del Este in Paraguay, passing over the Paraná River. It is an arch bridge opened to use in 1965.

It was built between 1959 and 1965, has a total length of 553 meters, 78 meters high, supported by an arch with a free span of 290 meters. Its location was chosen after hydrological studies of the Paraná River. A condition established before the start of the project was that river navigation should not be interrupted. The bridge serves a highway connecting several countries of Latin America, facilitating the expansion of commercial relations amongst Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Bolivia and Peru.

Answer: Mozambique

Mozambique was not a British colony and is the only country whose official language is Portuguese to be part of the Commonwealth. The country has long commercial ties with the Commonwealth. As the country fulfilled the conditions to be part of the Commonwealth, it was accepted in the community in 1995.

Republic of Mozambique is a country in Southeastern Africa, bordered by Indian Ocean and Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, eSwatini and South Africa. Its capital and largest city is Maputo and its official language is Portuguese. The Portuguese dominated the region from 1500 to 1975, when Mozambique achieved independence. Almost 70% of the country's population live in the countryside; it is endowed with arable land, water, natural resources, recently discovered offshore natural gas and deep sea ports. Furthermore, it is strategically located, since four of the six countries which it borders are landlocked and depend on Mozambique for access to the international market.

Answer: Casablanca

"Casablanca" is an American romantic film directed by Michael Curtiz starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid, based on the play called "Everybody Comes to Rick's". Filming ended in August, 1942 and the project was renamed "Casablanca". The film was released in November, 1942 in order to capitalize on the media's attention on Casablanca's capture in Operation Torch at that time. Fun fact: most of the movie was filmed at the Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank, California.

Though Rabat is the capital of Morocco, Casablanca is the largest city in the country and the largest industrial and commercial center. It is located in the central-western region of Morocco, on the Atlantic coast, where one of the largest artificial ports in the world is located. The city's French legacy can be seen in the Moorish architecture that mixes with European art deco. The film Casablanca made the city known worldwide.