The ABC of Borders Trivia Quiz

Answer: Belgium

The country in question is the Netherlands, which has land borders with Belgium to the south and Germany to the east. Belgium was part of the Netherlands until it achieved independence in 1830, a fact that goes a long way to explaining why the majority of its population (the Flemish) speak Dutch as a first language. The French-speaking Belgian population are known as Walloons. The area of Europe that includes Belgium and the Netherlands, as well as the smaller nation of Luxembourg, is often known as Benelux.

Austria and the Czech Republic are in central Europe and Cyprus is an island nation in the Mediterranean.

Answer: Botswana

The map in the picture clue is of South Africa. Its three neighbours to the north are (from west to east) Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe. To the east, it has borders with Mozambique and Swaziland, while Lesotho is entirely surrounded by it. Botswana is dominated by the Kalahari Desert, which covers around 70% of its land area and explains why the country is one of the least densely populated in the world. Both South Africa and Botswana were formerly part of the British Empire and gained their independence during the 20th century. However, Botswana had to wait quite a bit longer than its larger neighbour - South Africa gained nominal independence in 1910 and actual self-governance in 1931; Botswana became independent in 1966.

Angola is located to the north of Namibia, Burundi is in central Africa and Cabo Verde is an island nation just off the African continent's Atlantic coastline.

Answer: Colombia

The depicted country is Ecuador (perhaps the best hint on the map is the fact that its capital city is Quito), on South America's Pacific coast. It has two neighbours - Colombia to the north and east and Peru to the south and east. Ecuador, along with most of the modern-day states of northern South America, was once part of the Republic of Gran Colombia. The republic's first president was the famed revolutionary leader Simon Bolívar, who had been instrumental in achieving the area's independence from Spain in the early 1820s.

Ecuador is one of the few South American nations that doesn't share a border with Brazil. Argentina and Chile occupy the southern part of the continent.

Answer: Cambodia

Thailand (the aforementioned country whose outline is shown in the picture clue) has a total of five land borders with other countries. In the far south it shares a border with Malaysia, to the east it has borders with Laos and Cambodia and to the west it has a border with Myanmar (also formerly known as Burma - but that wasn't an 'A, B, or C' answer option here). Thailand and Cambodia are Buddhist nations (specifically Theravada Buddhism) and monks dressed in their traditional costumes are a relatively common sight in both countries. However, while Cambodia came under French rule in the 19th century and didn't regain its independence until 1953, Thailand remained a sovereign nation under the rule (first absolute and then constitutional) of its monarchy.

Thailand is one of the few countries on the south-east Asian mainland that doesn't share a border with China. Bhutan is sandwiched between China and India and Brunei is a tiny country on the island of Borneo.

Answer: Bulgaria

The area of land covered by the map in the picture clue is eastern Europe and the highlighted country is Romania. Its southern border is shared with Bulgaria and both have a coastline on the Black Sea. Bulgaria's history as a nation dates back over a thousand years to the First Bulgarian Empire of 681 to 1018 AD, but in more recent times it became part of the wider Ottoman Empire until its independence was restored in 1908. Romania also spent a brief period as part of the Ottoman Empire, but emerged as an independent kingdom in 1878.

Romania's other neighbours are Hungary and Serbia to the west, Moldova to the east and Ukraine to the north and east. Belarus is located to the north of Ukraine, while both Armenia and Azerbaijan are considerably further east.

Answer: Cameroon

Equatorial Guinea is the part-island, part-continental country highlighted on the map. Its capital city, Malabo, is located on Bioko Island in the Gulf of Guinea, but most of its territory is sandwiched between Cameroon (to the north) and Gabon (to the south and east). Cameroon, whose capital city is Yaounde, was once colonised by Germany, France and Britain; Equatorial Guinea is both a former Portuguese and Spanish colony - the Portuguese ceded it to Spain during the 18th century.

The Central African Republic is located, somewhat unsurprisingly, in the centre of Africa with Chad directly to the north of it. The Comoros is an African island nation in the Indian Ocean.

Answer: Burkina Faso

The highlighted country is Cote d'Ivoire - also known in English as the Ivory Coast. (If you go by the French name then this could be considered an 'A, B, or C' country in its own right!) It has land borders with Ghana to the east; Liberia and Guinea to the west; and Mali and Burkina Faso to the north. Burkina Faso was formerly known as Upper Volta, after the major river system of the area that is primarily found in Ghana. Like Cote d'Ivoire, it was formerly a French colony and the two countries gained their independence within two days of each other in August 1960.

Burkina Faso also borders the long, thin nation of Benin. Algeria is located further north on Africa's Mediterranean coast while Albania is a European country.

Answer: Belize

Belize is one of the Central American countries on Mexico's southern border, the other being Guatemala. Belize was formerly known as British Honduras and as a result has English as its official language. However, a large proportion of the population also speak Spanish, the main language of both Mexico and Guatemala - Belize's only neighbours. Belize has a tropical climate and a vast range of flora and fauna that makes it one of the most biodiverse countries in the world. Its coastline on the Caribbean Sea (it is the only Central American nation without a Pacific coastline) is also dominated by reefs and lagoons

Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean; Bolivia is a South American nation and there is a country named the United States of America separating Mexico from Canada.

Answer: Costa Rica

The map in the picture clue shows three of the small nations that make up the Central American isthmus. The highlighted one is Nicaragua, which has borders with Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. Both Nicaragua and Costa Rica are former Spanish colonies and Spanish-speaking nations. The name of the latter translates into English as 'rich coast', which is probably a good description of the country's beautiful beaches on both the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea coastlines.

The nation of Antigua and Barbuda, as well as that of Barbados, can be found on islands in the Caribbean Sea. Andorra is a small European country sandwiched between France and Spain.

Answer: Afghanistan

If you don't recognise the borders of the countries shown on the map then the best clue is probably the fact that they all lie close to the Caspian Sea, which is also often described as the largest lake on Earth. It is located between Europe and Asia and the list of possible answers only included one country that is located in this region - Afghanistan. The highlighted country that includes Afghanistan as one of its neighbours is Turkmenistan, which also has borders with Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Iran. Afghanistan is the country located to its south-east.

Bangladesh is located further east between India and Myanmar; Bosnia and Herzegovina is in the Balkans area of Europe; and Bahrain is on an island in the Persian Gulf.