Odd Geography Out Trivia Quiz

Answer: Senegal

Senegal is the only country out of the choices that is not encompassed by the Sahara Desert, the largest "hot" desert in the world. The largest desert in the world title belongs to the cold barren lands of Antarctica.

The Sahara Desert encompasses eleven countries in Africa. Three of them are Mali, Sudan and Tunisia. It also covers Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger and Western Sahara.

Answer: Hungary

Hungary is the only European country out of the four enclosed by land, whereas the other three have oceans or seas as one of their borders. Hungary does, however, have two main rivers running through it--the Danube and the Tisza.

Greece is on the southern tip of the Balkan Peninsula, meaning it is surrounded mostly by water from the Mediterranean, Aegean and Ionian seas. Latvia lies on the east of the Baltic Sea. On its north is the Gulf of Riga. Poland is the opposite of Greece (which is surrounded on three sides by water). To its north lies the Baltic Sea.

Answer: Andorra

Andorra is not a former Soviet Union country. It is a small country landlocked between Spain and France--far away from the Soviet domain.

Estonia was recognized as a country on February 2, 1920 only to be occupied by the German and Soviet forces. Estonia regained independence on August 20, 1991. Belarus declared independence from the Soviet Union on July 1990, while Armenia seceded on August of that same year. Its independence was not finalized until Christmas of 1991.

Answer: India, Bangladesh and Myanmar

On a map, India, Bangladesh and Myanmar are the only set that are close together horizontally. Myanmar lies to Bangladesh's right, which in turn lies to India's right. The others form a mostly straight line vertically on a map.

Answer: Argentina

Argentina is the only country of the choices that is bordered by more than one country. It is surrounded by Paraguay, Brazil, Bolivia, Uruguay and Chile.

Qatar is bordered solely by Saudi Arabia. Ireland and United Kingdom are each other's sole neighbors in terms of land borders. Canada is only bordered by the United States.

Answer: Samoa

Samoa is the only Oceania country out of the four that does not belong in the Micronesia region. It belongs with Hawaii and Easter Island in the Polynesia region.

Oceania is divided into four different regions: Australasia (Australia and New Zealand), Melanesia (Fiji and Papua New Guinea), Micronesia (Guam and Palau, as well as the three choices) and Polynesia.

Answer: Cyprus

Cyprus, the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, is the only island nation of the choices that is made up of just one island.

Mauritius is made up of the main island of Mauritius, along with the Cargados Carajos, Rodrigues and the Agalega Islands. Taiwan is made up of the main island and a group of islands called Penghu Islands on the country's left. Grenada, as a country, is made up of the big island along with six smaller ones to its north.

Answer: Brazil

Brazil is the only South American country that does not have Spanish as its dominant language. As a matter of fact, Brazil is the only Portuguese-dominated country in South America, which has been nicknamed Latin America. Indigenous languages in Peru persist even if the country is mostly Spanish-speaking.

Quebec has a national language of French, while the other Canadian provinces have English alone or English and other languages (including French).

Answer: Philippines and Uruguay

Philippines and Uruguay are not antipodes of each other. An antipode is a point (or a place) on Earth that is directly opposite diametrically to another point. That is, if you can dig a straight hole from the Philippines through the earth's core and out the other end of the globe, you would probably find yourself in Brazil, Bolivia or Paraguay. Digging a hole through Uruguay would bring you to China or South Korea.

Buenos Aires in Argentina and Beijing in China are two of the most populous countries of the world. They are also almost antipodes of each other.

Answer: Warsaw, Guadalajara and Lisbon

Warsaw, Guadalajara and Lisbon had not hosted the Summer nor the Winter Olympics by 2011.

The first Olympic games were hosted by Athens, Greece in 1896. Athens hosted again for the Summer 2004 Olympics. Los Angeles, USA did the honors twice--in 1932 and 1984. Antwerp, Belgium hosted in 1920. Helsinki, Finland hosted 1952's games. Melbourne, Australia was the host for 1956, along with Stockholm, Sweden. Sapporo, Japan was the host in 1972. Seoul, South Korea hosted in 1988. Barcelona, Spain was the host in 1992. Vancouver, Canada hosted in 2010.

Answer: Bhogdoi

The Bhogdoi is the only one out of the four that is not a lake. It is a river that branches out of the Brahmaputra River in India.

A body of water is considered a lake if it is completely enclosed by landmasses blocked off from the oceans and seas. The poorly-named Caspian Sea is actually the largest lake in the world, trapped by the countries of Iran, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Russia. Lake Vostok is the largest sub-glacial lake and is located under the continent of Antarctica. Lumajangdong is one of the many lakes in China.

Answer: Oslo

Oslo, the capital of Norway, is the only capital of the options that was given the title while the previous capital city (Bergen, from 1070 to 1299) was still standing. The other three's predecessors had been destroyed.

Diriyah was the capital of Saudi Arabia from 1744 to 1818 before it was burned down by the Ottoman Empire. Since then, Saudi Arabia's capital has been Riyadh. A similar story played out in Thailand, whose capital from 1350 to 1767 was Ayutthaya before the city was destroyed by the Burmese army. The capital was moved to Thonburi, then later to Bangkok. In 1972, Thonburi was merged with Bangkok. Varazdin was the capital of Croatia from 1756 to 1776, until a fire destroyed the city and the capital was moved back to Zagreb.

Answer: Pakistan

Pakistan is the only country that has a name that does not translate to: "the land of the [dominant ethnic group in the area]". Its name was coined by Choudhary Rahmat Ali, an Islamic nationalist, who decided to take the acronym of the different regions that exist in the country and use that to give the country a fair name. Pakistan was later meant to stand for Punjab, Afghania, Kashmir, Indus Valley, Sindh, Turkharistan, Afghanistan and Baluchistan.

Turkmenistan literally means "land of the Turkmen". Uzbekistan means "land of the Uzbeks" and Kazakhstan means "land of the Kazakhs".

Answer: Faroe Islands

The Faroe Islands did not belong to the Netherlands. The Faroe Islands are an autonomous administrative division of the Kingdom of Denmark, along with Greenland.

The other three choices were members of the Netherlands Antilles, a group of islands in the Caribbean that belonged to the Kingdom of Netherlands. In 1986, Aruba separated from the group. On October 10, 2010, the Netherlands Antilles was dissolved and the three became "constituent countries" of the Netherlands.

Answer: Europe

Out of the answer options, Europe is the only continent that is fully in the northern hemisphere of the earth. Antarctica and Australia are both fully in the southern hemisphere. South America lies in both the southern hemisphere and the northern hemisphere.