Missing Vowels: European Countries Quiz

Answer: Bulgaria

The Balkans, or Balkan Peninsula, is a geographic feature of south-eastern Europe. It lies on the opposite side of the Adriatic Sea from Italy and is bounded on its eastern side by the Black Sea and by the Mediterranean Sea to the south. At around 110,900 square kilometres (42,800 square miles), Bulgaria is the largest of the five countries whose land area sits entirely on the peninsula. It was part of the Ottoman Empire for over 500 years before gaining independence in 1908 and joined the European Union (along with its northern neighbour, Romania) in 2007.

Mount Musala is in the south-west of the country and stands in the Rila Mountains. Its peak is at 2,925 metres (9,600 feet) above sea level.

Answer: Andorra

Andorra might actually be better described as 'tiny' rather than just 'small', as it has a land area of just 468 square kilometres (181 square miles) and as such you could fit nearly seven Andorras into the US state of Rhode Island. The Pyrenees mountain range forms the majority of the land border between France and Spain and Andorra has a boundary with both of these much larger nations. Its small size also means that its entire territory is mountainous and the country has an average height above sea level of nearly 2,000 metres (around 6,500 feet).

As a principality, Andorra's joint heads of state are known as the Co-Princes of Andorra. The positions have historically been held by the President of France and the Roman Catholic Bishop of Urgell - Urgell being an ancient diocese of Catalonia.

Answer: Iceland

Iceland does have the snow-capped mountains and glaciers that its name immediately brings to mind, but it also has a lot of geological and seismic activity that give it a considerable supply of natural geothermal energy and some distinctly hot features such as active volcanoes. Many tourists visiting Iceland take tours of the famous geysers of Geysir and Strokkur, while other tourists have been distinctly inconvenienced by the disruption to European air travel caused by the clouds of ash emitted during various Icelandic volcanic eruptions, including Eyjafjallajökull in 2010 and Grímsvötn in 2011.

Visitors to Iceland will also want to make sure that they take warm clothing with them as average high temperatures in the capital, Reykjavik, reach just 13.3°C (55.9°F) in July.

Answer: Moldova

Moldova is located in Eastern Europe, bounded by Romania to the west and the Ukraine on all of its other sides. The country gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, but the area has historical ties to Romania and its official language is Romanian. Its border with Romania is delineated by the Prut River, while the eastern boundary largely follows the course of the Dniester River.

The small section of Moldova situated between Ukraine and the Dniester River is known as Transnistria and gained significant automony from the Moldovan government as a result of the political turmoil that followed a largely unrecognised declaration of independence and the 1992 War of Transnistria.

Answer: Luxembourg

Luxembourg (also known as Luxembourg City) is located in the south of the country whose official name is the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, but is most commonly known simply as Luxembourg. Just to add to any confusion, Luxembourg (the country) is split into 12 cantons, one of which is named Luxembourg and contains Luxembourg (the city). Luxembourg (the country) has three official languages - French, German and Luxembourgish. The Luxembourgish name for Luxembourg is Lëtzebuerg.

Luxembourg (the country, just to be clear) covers around 2,600 square kilometres (just under 1,000 square miles) - so it is pretty small, roughly the same size as the US state of Rhode Island. That's where the similarity between the two areas ends though, as Luxembourg is landlocked.

Answer: Greece

Coming up with a definitive answer to the number of islands that are included in the European nation of Greece is quite difficult, but depending on the definition applied it seems to be somewhere between 1,200 and 6,000. However, only around 200 of these are populated and the majority of the country's population live in mainland Greece. The islands are grouped into several archipelagos, including the Aegean Islands, the Cyclades, the Dodecanese and the Ionian Islands. The largest island is Crete, which lies in the far south of the maritime territory controlled by the country with the Sea of Crete to its north and the Mediterranean Sea to the south.

Greece's history stretches back into ancient times, with the Minoan and Mycenaean civilisations dating back to around 2700 and 1900 BC respectively. The evidence of these can be still be seen in Greece's rich archaeology, which also includes famous buildings such as the Parthenon in Athens.

Answer: Croatia

Croatia declared its independence from Yugoslavia in June 1991, however this sparked four years of war with the remaining portion of Yugoslavia (led by Serbia) that cost thousands of lives on both sides. It is located in the north-west of the Balkan peninsula and shares land borders with five other countries, while its entire south-western border is its coastline on the Adriatic. The country also includes a large number of small islands in the Adriatic, the biggest of which are called Cres and Krk.

Croatia's topography includes sections of the Dinaric Alps mountain ranges, as well as forested highland plains, a connected series of lakes, important wetlands and part of the course of the famous River Danube.

Answer: Austria

Austria is a landlocked country in central Europe. It shares borders with eight other nations, including Switzerland and Liechtenstein in the west. The Rhine forms part of Austria's boundary as it flows down from its source in the Alps to the eastern end of Lake Constance, which also borders Switzerland and Germany. The River Danube is a major feature of the northern part of the country as it flows through major cities such as Linz and the capital, Vienna. A large proportion of Austria's territory is mountainous - particularly the Alpine western section - and only around a third of its land area is less than 500 metres above sea level.

The highest mountain in Austria is the Grossglockner, at around 3,800 metres (12,500 feet) above sea level.

Answer: San Marino

San Marino can be found on the Italian peninsula (also known as the Apennine Peninsula) in southern Europe as it is a small enclave entirely surrounded by Italy. It covers just 61 square kilometres (23 square miles), making it slightly larger than Monaco and its fellow Italian enclave, Vatican City, but still one of the smallest countries on the continent. It also lays claim to the title of the oldest existing nation state - dating its origin to the founding of an independent monastery in the year 301 AD. The Apennine mountains run down the centre of the peninsula and can be separated into three connecting chains - the Northern, Central and Southern Apennines.

The San Marino Grand Prix was a fixture of the Formula One world championship for 26 years between 1981 and 2006, despite the fact that the country does not contain an international racing circuit. The races were in fact held at Italy's Imola circuit, around 100 km (60 miles) away from San Marino.

Answer: Malta

The country of Malta is a small archipelago located south of Italy in the Mediterranean Sea; the population live on the three largest islands - Malta, Gozo and Comino. Malta gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1964 and joined the European Union in 2004. During the Second World War, while Malta was still part of the British Empire, it was awarded the George Cross for the bravery shown by its population during two years of siege and bombardment by German and Italian forces between 1940 and 1942. Malta's flag consists of two vertical stripes of white and red, with a small cross in the top left-hand corner. That cross is a depiction of the George Cross medal.