Intimidating Neighbours Quiz | Names, Maps and Borders

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. The questions in this quiz will be in order from the tenth largest country right up to the largest country in the world (no prizes for guessing that one I'm afraid). Your journey starts in Africa. This will be your only stop here so make sure you take in all the sights! Sudan was the world's tenth largest country for a long time but split in 2011 to form Sudan and South Sudan. Realising you're in the wrong place, you quickly head Northwest through the Sahara until you reach the new 'largest country in Africa', Algeria! Can you tell me which of the following countries does NOT border Algeria?

Answer: Zimbabwe

In total, Algeria borders an impressive seven countries (if you include Western Sahara): Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Libya and Tunisia.

Libya is the largest neighbouring country with around 74% of the area of Algeria, while the smallest is Tunisia, which looks so scared it might just jump into the Mediterranean. But who could blame them when you could fit Tunisia more than 14 times over in the area of Algeria?

After the splitting of Sudan, Algeria is also the largest Arab nation in the world.

2. After waving goodbye to Africa, you head East to the ninth largest country in the world. Kazakhstan is a country so vast it is generally considered to be part of Eastern Europe and yet still manages to reach across Asia to touch China (whom you'll meet later). Unfortunately there don't seem to be many people around, maybe because Kazakhstan has a population density which is among the bottom 15 of all of the countries in the world! Disregarding your confusion, you head to the border with neighbouring Uzbekistan. What body of water can be found along part of this border?

Answer: Aral Sea

Despite being larger than Algeria, Kazakhstan has land borders with a disappointing five countries: Russia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and China.

The largest of these is the heavyweight Russia, who is in no mood to be intimidated by Kazakhstan when it is more than six times the size. The same can't be said for Kyrgyzstan, who has only 7.3% of the area of its neighbour.

The story of the Aral Sea is a sad one. At the start of the 1960s it was one of the largest lakes in the world. Since then, the two largest rivers feeding the lake (the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya) have been diverted for use by the Soviet Union leading to a steady decline in the size and volume of the lake. By 2007, the size of the Aral Sea had been decimated leaving thousands of square miles of barren wasteland.

3. You're leaving Eurasia now (don't worry you'll be back later!) because you've packed your bags and you're off to South America, home to the world's eighth largest country. More precisely you are in Argentina and after you've had a quick look around it's obvious that this is a huge country. When you were in the north, the climate was subtropical, even with a few deserts, but when you ventured south there were glaciers and people skiing and temperatures going as low as -30 degrees Celsius! Good thing you packed your coat. Anyway you decide to check out the borders in Argentina. There are only 12 independent countries in South America (including Argentina itself), how many share a border with Argentina?

Answer: 5

That's right, Argentina borders five countries: Uruguay, Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia and Chile. Although that means that Argentina borders almost half of the countries on the same continent as it,

The largest country bordering Argentina is Brazil, whom we'll be seeing later. The smallest is Uruguay, who doesn't seem too scared. Maybe nobody's told it that Argentina is almost 16 times bigger!

The southern, colder part of Argentina is often referred to as Patagonia and also includes the Southern portion of neighbouring Chile. The Andes Mountains form the spine of South America but even they are broken apart in the lower reaches of Patagonia to form the Tierra Del Fuego peninsula culminating in Cape Horn at the Southern tip of the continent. This area of ocean used to be particularly deadly for ships wishing to traverse South America and get from the Atlantic to the Pacific or vice-versa. It still is but thankfully we now have the Panama Canal in Central America which connects the two oceans far less hazardously.

4. Your first visit to South America was a good one and you can't wait to see what's in store next. It turns out you're going back in a similar direction, back to Asia and this time it's India! India is the world's seventh largest country, occupies around 2.3% of the total land area in the world and also has one of the largest populations in the world. You notice how different it is from the last country you saw in Asia and marvel at some of the world's largest cities. You head East to check out some of India's borders. Can you tell me which of the following Southeast Asian countries borders India?

Answer: Myanmar

In total India has six land borders with neighbouring countries (one less than Algeria): China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Bhutan and Nepal.

The largest of these is China, a country large enough to make even India quake in its boots (almost three times the total land area). However, the smallest is the tiny kingdom of Bhutan, which is only 1.2% of the size of the behemoth India. You'd think it'd be scared, but it can take pride in being home to some of the mighty Himalayan mountain range.

The Himalayas separate India from the Tibetan Plateau in the north and in addition to India itself, they are also found across many of its neighbours (all but Bangladesh) in addition to the nation of Afghanistan.

5. You're now heading southeast for your one and only stop in Oceania. There are only 14 independent countries here. Most of them are small Pacific island groups, but by far and away the largest is Australia, the sixth largest country in the world! You've now reached the truly giant countries of our world, Australia is over twice the size of India, who were seventh on our list. But can you answer the following question... Does Australia have a land border with any other country in Oceania?

Answer: No

How boring! Not only does Australia have no land borders with any country in Oceania, it is the largest country in the world with no land borders. The nearest country to Australia is Papua New Guinea, which is around 150km away.

It is thought that Australia as we know it today began to form around 80 million years ago when it started to break away from Antarctica. It then (along with Papua New Guinea) rotated on its axis, so will have been in its current position for significantly less time. Aboriginal Australians arrived around 40,000 years ago and Europeans only arrived on the continent in the 17th century.

6. You're now half way through your journey around the world's ten largest countries and you're feeling quite jet-lagged from all this flying. Not to worry, you can catch up some sleep on the flight to South America for your second (and final) visit. To be exact you have just touched down in Brazil, the 5th largest country in the world and home the the Amazon Basin as well as hosting the majority of the largest cities in South America along its Atlantic coast. You found out when you were in Argentina that there are only 12 countries on this continent (including Brazil) and a Brazilian tells you that their country borders ten of them! Can you tell me which of the following is NOT a neighbour of Brazil?

Answer: Chile

Given that Brazil has a land border with ten different countries, it is the new holder of the 'most countries bordered' award as it has two more than Algeria. Algeria can be seen sulking off because they thought they had a good chance with only four countries to go. The countries bordering Brazil are Suriname, Guyana, Venezuela, Colombia, French Guiana, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay.

The largest of these is your old friend Argentina and the smallest is French Guiana, located North of Brazil, who has a total land area of 83,534 square kilometres. Although that might sound impressive, Brazil towers over them with an area of around 8.5 million square kilometres. Chile and Ecuador are the two south American countries that do not share a border with Brazil.

7. It's time now for your first jaunt into North America to visit the fourth largest country in the world, the United States of America! There is some debate as to whether or not the US is the world's third or fourth largest country, but for the purpose of this quiz I'm placing it in fourth because you must be getting tired by now and I thought you might like some extra flight time to get some sleep. Canada borders the USA to the North and this boundary is home to the Great Lakes Basin which contains a group of five lakes that cover over 200,000 square kilometres in area. But can you tell me how many of these lakes contain a USA-Canada National Border within them?

Answer: 4

As the fourth largest country in the world, the United States has an area of over 9.5 million square kilometres. And yet for such a massive area it only has a measly 2 land neighbours; Canada and Mexico.

Canada is the larger of these two, a country that you are yet to meet. However Mexico just missed out on this quiz, managing to make the top 15 countries by total area but unfortunately not the top ten.

The five Great Lakes in the basin (as you probably know) are lakes Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie and Ontario when ordered by surface area. The only lake that does not lie on the boundary of the two countries is Lake Michigan, found in the states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana entirely within the United States. All of the other four lie on a boundary between one or more states of America and the Canadian province of Ontario.

If the lakes are ordered by total volume the list would look different as Lake Michigan holds more water than Lake Huron and, despite being smaller, there is more than three times as much water in Lake Ontario as there is in Lake Erie.

8. You now need to head back over to Asia for the penultimate time in order to visit the third largest country in the world, China! The climate and culture of China is incredibly diverse, ranging from a Siberian landscape in the north to the blistering heat and humidity that can be found further South, and from low population density subsistence farming in the West to the more developed world found in the East, home to Beijing and Shanghai, some of the largest cities in Asia. Having travelled all over Asia can you tell me whether or not the following statement is true or false: The border between China and Mongolia is the longest border between any two Eurasian countries.

Answer: False

China borders an astounding 14 countries, smashing the record for 'most countries bordered' by five and raising the bar significantly for the remaining two competitors. The 14 countries are North Korea, Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam.

The largest of these group is Russia, who we'll be seeing in a few questions time. Similarly to neighbouring India, the smallest country bordering China is the Kingdom of Bhutan, although in this case you fit almost 250 of them inside China.

The largest border between any two Eurasian countries is actually the border between Russia and Kazakhstan which is 6846km long as opposed to the 4677km border between China and its neighbour Mongolia. The longest border between any two countries in the world is between Canada and the United States and is 8893km long (including the border with Alaska).

9. It's time to head back to North America now for your final visit to the continent, and penultimate visit of the whole trip. You are in Canada, the second largest country in the world. You explore the landscape and find barren frozen islands in the North, the huge Rocky Mountain range in the West, home to some of North America's tallest mountains, and a more temperate, hospitable climate in the South (although it can still get very cold!). Given your new found knowledge of the enormity of Canada, can you tell me how many countries it has a land border with?

Answer: 2

Even though Canada is the second largest country in the world, it surprisingly mostly borders only one country, the United States of America. There is a small border with Denmark on a far northern island.

Seven of Canada's ten provinces border the US. They are British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario Quebec and New Brunswick. However only one of the three territories of Canada, the Yukon, borders the US. This is as a result of Alaska being situated on the Northwest side of Canada as opposed to the South. Thirteen American states (including Alaska) border Canada.

10. Unfortunately you're now on the last leg of your extravagant tour around the globe (it's been first class and five star hotels all the way), you've visited all of the continents (excluding Antarctica of course) and witnessed a diverse range of climate and culture. Your final stop is another country that spans two continents. Russia is the largest country in the world, occupying 11.5% of the world's land area and almost twice the size of second place Canada. Given that Russia has over 20,000 km worth of land borders you can see that it has a large selection of neighbours. In fact, Russia borders 14 countries! Can you tell me with which of these it shares the shortest border?

Answer: North Korea

The fact that Russia borders 14 countries means that we have a tie for the 'most countries bordered' award with Russia and China sharing the honour. The 14 countries that border Russia are North Korea, Finland, Azerbaijan, Belarus, China, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Mongolia, Norway, Poland and Ukraine.

The largest of these is the world's third largest country, China. The smallest of the fourteen is Estonia, a country over 378 times smaller than Russia in total area.

North Korea shares most of its Northern border with China and so the border with Russia is only 19km long. Comparatively the Russia-China border is 3645km, the Russia-Mongolia border is 3485km and the Russia-Ukraine border is 1576km.

Source: Author pagea

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor Pagiedamon before going online.
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Intimidating Neighbours Trivia Quiz

This quiz is all about the ten largest countries in the world and some of the borders that they share with their neighbours. Wouldn't you be intimidated if you lived next door to some of these giants? Good luck!

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