The 37th Parallel Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Secret Garden

The Changdeokgung Palace Complex was built at the base of a mountain during the 15th century. In 1997, the building was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was recognised for the inclusion of the natural landscape in its design. The palace followed pungsu principles; the belief that topography and the position of the home has an effect on an individual's fortune.

Answer: Sicily

Sicily is an Italian island off the coast of the mainland. The town was founded in 743 CE by Corinthians and has been witness to a vibrant history since then. In 2005, the town was designated a World Heritage Site for its abundant architecture spanning a long and colourful history.

In 413 BCE, the town played a part in the Peloponnesian War and later became part of the Byzantine Empire. Roughly 300 years after Byzantine rule began, the Islamic Aghlabids took control of Syracuse and other parts of the island. Over time, the town was ruled by the Normans, the Aragons, and the Bourbons. Buildings and structures throughout the town are testament to its history.

Answer: Uzbekistan

Ayrybaba, or Airibaba, is the highest mountain in Turkmenistan and sits on the narrow eastern border with Uzbekistan. Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, are all landlocked central Asian countries. They surround Uzbekistan, making it doubly-landlocked.

Ayrybaba is part of the Kughinang Mountains and is 3,138m high. It's roughly the same height as Gray Peak in the USA's Yellowstone National Park.

Answer: China

In northern China, the city of Zhongwei is home to a peculiar place of worship. Built during the Ming Dynasty, Gao Miao is an unusual temple because it has influences from different religions. Things start to get bizarre when visitors venture underground. During the Cultural Revolution, a bunker was built beneath the temple. Since then, it has been converted into a fairground ride to Hell. Visitors journey through a maze of rooms with animatronics playing out scenes from the underworld.

Answer: Mosaics

The ancient city of Zeugma was founded in the 3rd century BCE, but it fell into ruin centuries later. Luckily, some of the mosaics that adorned the town were salvaged and placed in a museum in nearby Gaziantep. The Zeugma Mosaic Museum is one of the largest mosaic museums in the world.

Some of the artwork there is incredibly detailed and mosaics like the "Gypsy Girl" are true masterpieces.

Answer: Earthquakes

San Francisco sits near the San Andreas Fault: the boundary between the North American and Pacific tectonic plates. The plates are slowly moving past each other, which sometimes causes earthquakes. The city was the victim of a particularly horrific quake in 1906. Many buildings were destroyed, either during the earthquake or in the four-day-long fire that followed.

Answer: Alpine grassland

Wakhan National Park is in the northeastern portion of Afghanistan in a narrow corridor of land between Tajikistan and Pakistan. The Afghan government allocated over 10,000 square km of land to the nature reserve, which includes mountains and large expanses of alpine grassland.

The reserve is home to a range of animals, including wolves, brown bears, and snow leopards. The world's largest wild sheep, named after Marco Polo, also live in the area. Their spiralling horns can grow up to two metres from end to end.

Answer: A Greek island

Naxos is one of the islands southeast of mainland Greece in the Aegean Sea. One of the iconic landmarks on the island (technically on the islet of Palatia) is the gateway to the Temple of Apollo. Built in the 6th century BC, the marble archway stands six metres high and was the mythical site of a meeting between Dionysus and Ariadne.

The grand temple was never completed and some of the building materials were later taken and used in other projects on the island.

Answer: Spain

Sometimes called Costa Calida (the balmy coast), Murcia is a region in Spain with the city of Murcia within its borders. Originally the site of a Roman colony, one of the Umayyad rulers of Muslim Spain called Abd al-Rahman II later founded the town of Mursiya there in 825 CE. The city has a long and colourful history, and the cathedral houses the tomb of the 13th century king, Alfonso X.

Answer: It's the largest inland body of water on Earth.

The Caspian Sea is roughly 1,200 km long, covering a total area larger than Japan and containing around a third of the Earth's inland surface water. Despite its name, it's often considered to be a lake - the largest of its kind in the world by surface area. Until around 11 million years ago, the Caspian Sea was indeed a sea and was connected to the ocean through the Mediterranean Sea, the Black Sea, and the Sea of Azov.

It's located in western Asia and is surrounded by five different countries: Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Azerbaijan, and Russia.