Westward, Ho! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Attu Island

Found in Alaska, Attu Island is part of the Aleutian Island chain and part of American soil. That said, it's regularly uninhabited, likely due to the foreboding landscape and remoteness. Part of the U.S. National Register of Historic Places due to the role it played during World War II, Attu has the distinction of being one of the westernmost spots in the hemisphere, edging closer to the International Date Line (since we're using that as our east-west reference point for this question) than any other land-based destination.

The International Date Line is unique in that it bends around some of the landmasses in the Pacific, so while it is useful for marking time zones, it does not cut straight down the 180 degree longitude meridian.

Answer: Greenwich

One of the largest towns in Connecticut, Greenwich, named after the very city in England known for giving its name to Greenwich Mean Time, is found in the southwest of the state and marks the furthest west point in New England, the region formed by Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. Bordering New York State, Greenwich has long been known for having a great deal of wealth.

In terms of income per capita, Greenwich grew in the early 21st century to be one of the more upscale towns in the northeastern United States, likely due to its proximity to New York City.

Answer: Cape Baba

Found in Anatolia, Cape Baba is the westernmost part of Asian Turkey, meaning it stretches into Europe deeper than Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, and a number of Baltic countries. The westernmost capital of Asia, Ankara, is about seven hundred miles away.

Interestingly, the westernmost location in Turkey isn't in Asia; since the country straddles the continents of Asia and Europe, the westernmost point of the nation, found on the island of Gökçeada, is in Europe in the Aegean Sea.

Answer: Lisbon

One of the most populated cities in Europe and certainly the largest in Portugal, Lisbon is one of the economic hubs of the continent and the only European capital to sit on the Atlantic Ocean. As part of its greater metropolitan area, Lisbon takes in the town of Cabo da Roca, near Sintra, and that's the westernmost point of the European mainland. Settled in the thirteenth century AD, Lisbon has since become a city of grand monuments, elaborate architecture, old world charm, and modern industriousness.

Answer: Dakar

While the archipelago nation of Cape Verde, sitting out in the Atlantic, makes up the westernmost stretch of Africa as a whole, Dakar, Senegal, sitting on the Atlantic coast, is the furthest west on the mainland (and on the continental eastern hemisphere). Now the capital of the nation, Dakar was colonized by the Portuguese in the fifteenth century and then the French in the seventeenth. Today, it's one of the most important economic and industrial centres in Western Africa and home to more than a million citizens.

Answer: Moscow

The Trans-Siberian Railway, which started construction in the late nineteenth century, has grown to become one of the longest rail lines in the world, connecting Moscow to Vladivostok over going-on-ten-thousand kilometres of tracks. The line begins in Russia's capital, Moscow, at the Moscow Yaroslavsky railway station, and heads far to the east, eventually reaching the Pacific Coast.

While originally, the line would take weeks to cross due to the harsh weather and rough landscape, track and train upgrades in the twenty-first century have cut cargo train times down to about a week.

Answer: Punta Pariñas

The westernmost point in Peru also happens to be the westernmost point of all of continental South America. The shoreline of Punta Pariñas is home to little more than rocky waters (and a lighthouse to protect ships heading along the coast) but it does make up part of the Piura Region which, along with the Tumbes Region, makes up the northwest edge of the country; the latter is actually known for its beautiful beaches. Piura Region is slightly south of the Equator and the further inland you go, the more likely you are to pull away from the rocky coast and into the tropical, dry forests.

Answer: Victoria

Victoria, the capital city of British Columbia, Canada, is found in the southern reach of Vancouver Island making it quite westerly, but not exactly the most western part of the nation-- you would need to go to Mt. St. Elias in the Yukon to find that.

But Victoria does mark the first kilometer marker of the Trans-Canada Highway if you're going eastbound. This nearly-eight-thousand-kilometre route across the world's second-largest nation crosses all the way over to the Atlantic Coast, ending at Cape Pear near St. John's, Newfoundland. Funnily enough, both St. John's and Victoria cite their terminus points as 'Mile Zero'.

Answer: Cape Alava

Found at the end of the Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail, Cape Alava is found in Washington state and sits in Olympic National Park. To get there, you need to take a boat or proceed on foot through the woods; this one's not a scenic overlook you can just drive out to. If you're looking for the westernmost point in the U.S. without worrying about the contiguous 48, then you need to get more specific.

As noted, Attu Island in Alaska takes the cake for the outlying states, but even then, Point Udall in Guam is the furthest west by travel across all U.S. territories.

Answer: Viwa Island

If we're not looking at degrees of east and west by the International Date Line but instead by the lines of longitude, things get interesting since the 180 degree line (or the antimeridian) cuts right through the island nation of Fiji. This means that if you're looking at a map, Fiji could technically be the easternmost nation since it falls in longitudes that couldn't go further east without tracking back around the globe. So if we're looking at 'points of extreme west', Fiji has the easternmost one of those since Viwa Island, found in the Yasawa Islands of Fiji (and home to some beautiful coral reefs) is the westernmost location in Fiji at 176 degrees longitude.