Landlocked Trivia Quiz

Answer: Paraguay

Paraguay is one of the few South American countries to retain its national tongue. Guarani is the foremost language spoken, with Spanish being second. Despite many internet claims that duelling is still legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are registered blood donors, this is not the case, although the claim has been repeated so many times that it has been necessary for the Paraguayan government to issue an official denial.

Answer: Rwanda

Rwanda earns millions of dollars each year from tourists going to see the Mountain Gorillas in their natural habitat. It is one of only three countries that still has a population of Mountain Gorillas, the other two being Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo.

Answer: Laos

The official name of Laos is the Lao People's Democratic Republic and it remained one of the few remaining communist countries in the world, well into the 21st century. It is also one of the most heavily bombed places in the world as during the Vietnam war, the USA dropped over two million tons of bombs in nine years. Sadly, many failed to detonate, leading to many deaths and casualties among children today as well as rendering huge areas of agricultural land unusable.

Answer: Ethiopia

If you're travelling to Ethiopia, be sure to take an extra suitcase just for your phrase books as over 80 languages are spoken in the country. Although Amharic is the official language, English, Italian, Omoro, Tigrinya, Wolaytta and Hebrew are all common among many others.

Answer: Armenia

Armenia is ancient, and I mean really ancient. First mention of the country is in manuscripts from 520 BCE and it is classed, along with China, Japan, Iran, Greece and Egypt as one of the six ancient countries. It was also the first country to adopt Christianity as a state religion and the Armenian Apostolic Church is named after Thaddeus and Bartholomew, apostles of Jesus who preached in the country.

Answer: Vatican City

Vatican City is the smallest country in the world by both population and area, but it thinks big. It has its own post office, radio station and passport office which issues passports to the Pope, cardinals, members of the Swiss guard and members of the clergy.

It must surely be the only country capable of offsetting its carbon footprint by creating a forest in Hungary, which it did in 2007, making it a completely carbon neutral country.

Answer: Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan is the largest landlocked country in the world, but it has a navy which is based on the Caspian Sea, which is also landlocked. Apples are alleged to have originated in Kazakhstan and the former capital Almaty, translates as "place full of apples".

Answer: Lesotho

Lesotho is a high altitude country at 2,161 metres (7,090 feet) above sea level, leading to the nickname "the kingdom in the sky". This also means that Lesotho gets more than its share of sun, with an average of 300 days of sunshine per year, which is an incredible amount for a non desert and non equatorial country.

Answer: North Macedonia

Of all the former Yugoslav territories, Macedonia was the only one which gained its independence peacefully, which it did in 1991. The country is gaining international recognition for the quality of its wine and at an International Wine Contest held in Romania in 2015, Macedonian wines won six gold and three silver medals, against almost a thousand other wines from 27 different countries.

Answer: Burkina Faso

Although Burkina Faso is Africa's biggest producer of cotton, the country's biggest export is gold, with at least fifteen major discoveries made since 2006. Although gold may have earned the country US$247 million in 2011 alone, it comes at a price as many mines employ slave and child labour.