The Land of Stan Online Quiz | Geography

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. In the Persian language, the suffix -stan means "the place of" or "the land of". For example, Afghanistan simply means "the land of the Afghans", where Afghan is the name of the ethnic group living in that country. From the perspective of etymology, the name of which country does NOT contain an ethnic group?

Answer: Pakistan

In the Urdu language, pak means clean or pure. The name Pakistan is a combination of an Urdu word and a Persian suffix. So, literally, the country name means "the land of pure". The name was coined by the famous Pakistani Muslim nationalist Choudhry Rahmat Ali. He proposed the acronym PAKSTAN that stands for the five regions in northern India: Punjab, Afghan, Kashmir, Sind, and BaluchisTAN. The letter "i" was later added so that the word could be pronounced more smoothly.

Kazakhstan means "the land of the Kazakhs", where Kazakh can refer to both the ethic group and the official language of the country. Similarly, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan mean "the land of the Kyrgyzs" and "the land of the Tajiks", respectively. The Turkmen community forms the majority of the population of Turkmenistan. The Uzbek is the major ethnic group in Uzbekistan.

The suffix -stan is similar to the common English suffix -land, which appears in the names of many countries, such as Finland, Greenland, Thailand, and Switzerland.

2. Of the countries that end with the suffix -stan, only Pakistan borders a sea and a gulf. For the remaining six countries, Uzbekistan is completely surrounded by five other landlocked countries - Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. This makes Uzbekistan a doubly landlocked country. Is Uzbekistan the only doubly landlocked country in the world?

Answer: No

Pakistan borders the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman.

The two doubly landlocked countries in the world are Uzbekistan and Liechtenstein. While Uzbekistan is surrounded by five other landlocked countries, Liechtenstein is surrounded by Austria and Switzerland.

Historically speaking, there was no doubly landlocked country in the world prior to 1866. This is because Liechtenstein was part of Germany, until its independence in the year 1866. Similarly, Uzbekistan was formerly part of the Soviet Union (USSR). The union was dissolved in 1991, making Uzbekistan the second doubly landlocked country in the world.

As the names imply, landlocked and doubly landlocked countries do not have access to the sea, so they need to rely on rivers for the fishing industry. For instance, being the only landlocked country in southeast Asia, Laos gets its fish supply from the Mekong River.

3. The flag of Afghanistan features three vertical stripes with its national emblem in the middle of the flag. Meanwhile, the flag of Kazakhstan shows a sun with 32 rays, while the flag of Kyrgyzstan depicts a sun, but with 40 rays. The flags of the following four countries, except one, have featured at least one five-pointed star and a crescent. Which is the exception?

Answer: Tajikistan

The flag of Pakistan has featured a star and a crescent against a dark green background, with a vertical white stripe at the left hand side of the flag.

The five stars that appear on the flag of Turkmenistan represent the five provinces of the country - Ahal, Balkan, Dashhowuz, Lebap, and Mary. A crescent is featured on the right hand side of the stars. On the other hand, a crescent and 12 stars have been featured on the flag of Uzbekistan.

Meanwhile, the flag of Tajikistan has depicted three horizontal stripes (from top to bottom - red, white, green), and in the middle of the flag is a crown with seven stars on it.

4. Apart from being known as part of the Silk Road, Afghanistan is also know for its Sistan Basin, which is an endorheic basin that occupies a large area of the southwestern region of the country. In the Greek language, the prefix "endo-' means "within", while "rheic" means "to flow". What is the unique characteristic of this Sistan Basin?

Answer: It is one of the driest regions in the world.

The Sistan Basin receives water from the Hindu Kush mountain range, which lies in central Afghanistan. Being an endorheic basin, the water that flows into the Sistan Basin does not flow out to other rivers or oceans. Other notable endorheic basins in the world are the Aral Sea and the Caspian Sea.

5. Kazakhstanis pride themselves with their Baikonur Cosmodrome, which is a large space launch site that is located near the town of Baikonur in the Kazakh Steppe. Is the Baikonur Cosmodrome also the world's first spaceport?

Answer: Yes

The seal of Baikonur (formerly known as Leninsk) features a rocket and a globe, symbolizing the Baikonur Cosmodrome that the city houses. In fact, the city was purposely built and constructed to cater to the people who work in the aerospace industry in the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

6. The Tian Shan (which literally means celestial mountains in the Chinese language) mountain range covers almost 80% of Kyrgyzstan. Being a landlocked mountainous country, Kyrgyzstan has earned itself the nickname of "the ___ of Central Asia". Which landlocked mountainous European country goes into the blank?

Answer: Switzerland

Both Switzerland and Kyrgyzstan are landlocked and mountainous countries. Kyrgyzstan is also well known for its Issyk Kul, which is the world's second largest saline lake. The lake is a popular tourist attraction.

7. Standing tall at 8611 metres, this mountain, located in Pakistan, is the world's second highest mountain. The image of this mountain has also been featured on the reverse of the Pakistan 50 rupees banknote. Which mountain is being described here?

Answer: K2

K2 is also known as the Savage Mountain. Some other names used are Mount Godwin-Austen and Mount Qogir. It is considered by mountain climbers as one of the most difficult peaks to conquer.

The name of the mountain, K2, was actually a simple notation used by the Great Trigonometric Survey, which was an ambitious project led by William Lambton and George Everest in the 19th century to measure the heights of the several peaks of the Himalaya mountain range.

K3, K4, and K5 refer to Broad Peak (8051 metres), Gasherbrum II (8035 metres), and Gasherbrum I (8080 metres), respectively.

8. Which ancient city, whose name means "where the land begins", was chosen as the first World Heritage Site of Tajikistan by UNESCO in 2010?

Answer: Sarazm

Located in the province of Sughd, UNESCO describes the ancient city of Sarazm as "an archaeological site bearing testimony to the development of human settlements in Central Asia, from the 4th millennium BCE to the end of the 3rd millennium BCE."

Petra is an ancient city located in Jordan. Angkor is in Cambodia while Pompeii is an ancient city in Italy.

9. Known for its abundance of oil and natural gas, Turkmenistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia. What is the name of the desert that covers approximately 70% of the country?

Answer: Karakum Desert

In the Turkmen language, Kara-Kum or Gara Gum, literally means black sand. Two oases in this desert, Mary (formerly known as Merv) and Tejen (also known as Tedzhen), are notable for cotton cultivation.

10. The city of Samarkand in Uzbekistan is known for its strategic location on the Silk Road. In 2001, this city was listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. What is the nickname given by UNESCO to this ancient city?

Answer: Crossroads of Cultures

UNESCO describes Samarkand as follows: "The historic town of Samarkand is a crossroad and melting pot of the world's cultures""

Samarkand is Uzbekistan's second largest city, after the nation's capital, Tashkent.

Source: Author Matthew_07

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor Pagiedamon before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

The Land of Stan Trivia Quiz

Yes, it's the Land of Stan, not the Land of Satan. Have you found the common link? Let's explore these seven exotic Asian countries that end with the suffix -stan: Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

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