Okay, But What is Malaysia? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Putrajaya

While Kuala Lumpur is the nation's capital, Putrajaya was purpose-built to take on most of the administrative infrastructure in 1999. This being said, Kuala Lumpur continued to remain the home of the monarchy and a hub for most international trade and business. Putrajaya is much smaller, containing a fraction of Kuala Lumpur's population; to get there you would head about an hour due south out of the capital.

Answer: False

Peninsular Malaysia, attached to the Asian mainland, makes up only 40% of the nation's total land area. The remaining 60% remains on the island of Borneo, sharing that island with two other nations. Despite this, Peninsular Malaysia contains over 70% of Malaysia's total population; most of the Bornean expanse of the country is either forested or simply sparsely populated.

Of Malaysia's thirteen states, eleven are on the peninsula and two-- Sabah and Sarawak-- are on Borneo.

Answer: Sri Lanka

The Malay Archipelago is the stretch of island nations splayed out between Asia and Australia and includes Borneo (and, thus, Malaysia), all of Indonesia, the Philippines, East Timor, and Papua New Guinea. It's the most expansive of all the archipelagos in the world, taking up more of the Earth's surface than any other such grouping, but it falls short when speaking of number of islands-- the Norwegian Archipelago, and the islands in the north of Canada, have higher total number of islands. That said, more of the Malay Archipelago is inhabited as well.

It probably has something to do with climate.

Answer: Tropical rainforest climate

The Equator is actually surprisingly variable in its climate depending on where you are around the globe (the Sahara, for instance, is a very different climate from anywhere in Southeast Asia). Malaysia falls into the tropical rainforest climate, a climate characterized by a threshold of rain it receives monthly (60mm).

It shares this hot, humid, wet climate with regions in Brazil, Suriname, Ecuador, and Liberia. Although parts of neighbouring countries have a monsoon season, Malaysia typically doesn't.

Answer: Its endemic species

Malaysia may be multicultural and multiethnic and be worth visiting/living in for a multitude of reasons, but the term 'megadiverse' specifically refers to the diversity of species found throughout the country. Seventeen countries on the globe were considered 'megadiverse' when Conservation International determined their statistics for the first time in the late 1990s though the number rose over the years. Malaysia shares the honour of 'megadiverse' with Costa Rica, Iran, Venezuela, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Africa, amongst others. Notably, most of these biodiverse nations are in regions of the globe closer to the Equator and closer to the sea.

Answer: Largest caves in the world

Gunung Mulu National Park, found on Bornean Malaysia in the state of Sarawak, is known specifically for its landscape. While it features a number of mountains and karst peaks, it's actually most studied for its cave systems, among which you'll find the largest anywhere in the explored world. Sarawak Chamber has the largest explored area in the world; Deer Cave is one of the longest, and Clearwater is one of the most extensive as a system in this region of the world. Of course, with the caves comes a lot of bats.

When we talk about biodiversity, Bornean Malaysia has it in spades.

Answer: Strait of Malacca

The Strait of Malacca has been used as a shipping passage for centuries, connecting boats from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific by passing from the Andaman Sea to the South China Sea. Nestled between Peninsular Malaysia and the Indonesian island of Sumatra, this body of water is said to be the main line of transport for roughly one quarter of all goods shipped by sea.

Answer: British

There was a time when Malaysia was actually under British rule, and for a hundred years, it continued that way until the 1950s when Malaysia created its own Declaration of Independence, reforming itself as a Federation and eventually taking on its final form (sans Singapore, which seceded) in 1965. Brunei was also a part of this territory, but neglected to join in with Malaysia.

It gained its own independence in the '80s. Interestingly, the British Empire shrunk even more during this decade, losing Cyprus, Malta, Jamaica, Uganda, and Nigeria (amongst others) around the same time.

Answer: Singapore

Although all of these countries share a land border with Malaysia (with Thailand on the peninsula and Brunei and Indonesia on Borneo), Singapore actually doesn't, despite being one of the closest in history and proximity. Although Singapore used to be part of Malaysia (only for a few years), it separated and created its own nation in 1965.

Its borders are contained mostly on one large island (though there are many outlying smaller ones around it) divided from the mainland by the Johor Strait. You can cross by ferry or bridge.

Answer: Tanjung Piai

While Singapore technically dips lower on the globe, it's being an island excludes it from the criteria. Mainland Asia stops at Tanjung Piai, Malaysia, part of a national park in Johor state due west from Singapore (the skyline of which can actually be seen from the wetlands there). Part of a protected reach of mangrove forests near the sea, it's a haven for birdlife, plants, and coastal aquatic creatures. Serian and Sandakan are on Borneo (off the mainland) and Langkawi is an island much further north along the peninsula, near the Thai border.