With Your Head in the Clouds Trivia Quiz

Answer: Uruguay

The capitals of Bolivia (La Paz), Ecuador (Quito) and Colombia (Bogotá) occupy the first three positions of the list of the world's highest capitals. Sitting at a whopping elevation of 3,650 m (11,975 ft) above sea level, La Paz is considerably higher than the other two: Quito sits at 2,850 m (9,350 ft), and Bogotá at 2,640 m (8,660 ft). Quito and Bogotá are located on high plateaus surrounded by mountains belonging to the Andes range, while La Paz lies in a canyon, overlooked by the towering peaks of Illimani. La Paz has an unusual range of microclimates within its metropolitan area; Quito and Bogotá, on the other hand, are renowned for their pleasant climate. With a population of over 7 million, Bogotá is also the world's largest high-altitude city.

The status of La Paz as a national capital is contested by some sources, as the country also has a constitutional capital, Sucre (which, with its elevation of 2,810 meters/9,214 feet, would rank second after Quito). However, La Paz is the seat of the Bolivian government, hosting the Presidential Palace, the seat of the legislature, and all foreign embassies. The satellite city of El Alto, with a population of nearly one million, is the world's highest major city, with an elevation of 4,150 m (13,620 ft).

Uruguay's capital of Montevideo lies at an average elevation of 43 m (141 ft), on the north shore of the Rio de la Plata.

Answer: Ethiopia and Eritrea

Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia, and Asmara, capital of Eritrea, are respectively the fourth- and sixth-highest capitals in the world. Located at an elevation of 2,355 m (7,726 ft) above sea level, on a high plateau just west of the East African Rift that splits Ethiopia in two halves, Addis Ababa ("new flower") enjoys a mild climate with little monthly variation in temperature because of its closeness to the Equator. Established by emperor Menelik II in 1886, the city is home to over 3 million people.

Present-day Asmara is also a city of relatively recent origin, having been greatly expanded after it was promoted to capital of Italian Eritrea in 1897; its elegant modernist architecture earned it a place on the UNESCO World Heritage List (2017). The city lies at an elevation of 2,325 m (7,628 ft), in the central part of the Eritrean Highlands; it enjoys a temperate climate, and is surrounded by fertile lands, though droughts are a serious concern in the area.

Eritrea seceded from Ethiopia in 1993 after a referendum, preceded by decades of conflict; the split left Ethiopia without a coastline. South Sudan split from Sudan in 2011, and Timor-Leste from Indonesia in 2002; Slovakia and the Czech Republic became two separate countries after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia at the beginning of 1993.

Answer: Mexico City

With a population of over 20 million, Mexico City's metropolitan area is the second-largest in the Western Hemisphere (after São Paulo in Brazil). Located in the high plateaus of South-Central Mexico, and surrounded by mountains and volcanoes, this huge, sprawling city - the world's 8th-highest - rests on the bed of Lake Texcoco, which was drained starting from the 17th century. Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec Empire, lay on an island in the middle of the lake; razed after the Spanish conquest in 1521, the city was rebuilt by the Spanish and renamed Mexico, which was easier to pronounce. The historic centre of Mexico City rose on the ruins of the ancient Aztec buildings: in particular, the Zócalo, the city's vast main square, was built on the site of Tenochtitlan's primary ceremonial centre.

As is often the case with cities located at high elevations, Mexico City's climate is temperate, and very low or very high temperatures are uncommon. Although air pollution was a serious concern up to a few years ago, in recent times the situation has dramatically improved.

Washington DC, though obviously very important on a global level, is nowhere as big as the other choices. Beijing, incidentally, is one of Mexico City's sister cities.

Answer: Bhutan

Not surprisingly, the fifth-highest capital in the world is found in the Himalayan region. Bhutan's capital of Thimphu sits at an average elevation of 2,320 m (7,656 ft), in a narrow valley carved by the Raidak River, surrounded by hills. It receives heavy rainfall during the late spring and summer months, because of the influence of the monsoons, while winters are dry and cold. A modern city, established as capital in 1955, Thimphu is home to about 100,000 people.

Introduced in Bhutan's constitution in 2008, the philosophy of Gross National (or Domestic) Happiness includes an index that measures the collective well-being of the population.

The capitals of the countries listed as wrong answers - Kabul (Afghanistan), Kathmandu (Nepal) and Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia) - are also among the top 20 highest world capitals, though all of them sit below 2,000 m (6,561 ft) above sea level. Lhasa, the administrative capital of China's Autonomous Region of Tibet, would become the world's highest capital if Tibet were to become a sovereign nation: with its elevation of 3,656 m (11,995 ft), it is slightly higher than La Paz.

Answer: Yemen

Sana'a is a city of ancient origin, often identified with the capital of the kingdom of Sheba mentioned in the Bible. Its Old Town (a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1986) is famous for its striking tower houses, built of brick and stone with elaborate plaster decorations. Home to over 2.5 million people, Sana'a lies on a high plain bordered by cliffs and mountains, in the south-western part of the Arabian Peninsula. Because of the city's elevation, its desert climate is not as harsh as in most of the Peninsula, and extremes of heat or cold are relatively rare; however, as is the case with all of Yemen, water scarcity (as well as water quality) is a serious problem, exacerbated by population growth.

At the time of writing, Yemen is facing a severe humanitarian crisis, a direct consequence of the Saudi-led blockade that followed the outbreak of civil war in 2014. Sana'a was seized by the Houthis, an Islamist insurgent group, and in March 2015 the country's official seat of government was temporarily moved to the port city of Aden.

Answer: Kigali

Kigali is the capital of Rwanda, the small, landlocked country in East-Central Africa that in 1994 was ravaged by genocidal violence. Home to over one million people, the city lies in the hilly region of central Rwanda, between two mountains, Mount Jali and Mount Kigali. In spite of its location just a few degrees south of the Equator, Kigali's climate is temperate, with alternating dry and rainy seasons.

In April 1994, one day after the assassination of the President of Rwanda, the city became a place of violence and terror: in the space of only three months, probably over one million people (mostly members of the Tutsi minority group) were massacred by armed militias. In the years following the genocide, Kigali rebounded, and now is considered one of Africa's safest capitals.

All the wrong answers are capitals of countries located in the same part of Africa: Kenya (Nairobi), Uganda (Kampala), and Burundi (Gitega). With an elevation of 1795 m (5,889 ft), Nairobi is the world's 10th-highest capital; Kampala and Gitega are both above 1,000 m (3,280 ft).

Answer: Tehran

Iran's capital, Tehran is the world's 9th-highest city. With a population of almost 9 million (about 16 million in the greater metropolitan area), it is a cosmopolitan, relatively modern city home to people from many different ethnic backgrounds. Part of present-day Tehran stands on the site of the Median city of Rhages, which was destroyed by the Mongols in the 13th century. Located between the majestic Alborz mountain range (whose snow-covered peaks can be seen from the city) and the Dasht-e Kavir, or Great Salt Desert, compared to most of the cities mentioned in this quiz Tehran has got a harsher, rather unpredictable climate, which can get very hot in summer and very cold in winter. Additionally, the city is plagued by severe air pollution (mostly due to car traffic), and is prone to earthquakes - two issues that have prompted discussion about moving Iran's capital elsewhere.

Of the three wrong answers, Jordan's capital of Amman is the highest (900 m/2,490 ft), followed by Damascus, the capital of Syria (691 m/2,267 ft); Baghdad, Iraq's capital, is close to sea level. Iran is also one of the world's 20 largest countries, much larger than the other three.

Answer: desert

Windhoek ("wind corner" in Afrikaans) is the capital of Namibia, formerly South-West Africa. The country is named after its most significant feature, the Namib Desert, which stretches for over 2,000 km (1,200 mi) along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. Founded in 1890 by the Germans (whose colony Namibia was at the time), Windhoek lies in the Khomas Highland plateau, a rugged area in the central part of the country, not far from the Kalahari Desert. At the time of writing, it is a steadily growing city, with a population of about 400,000. Its hot semi-arid climate, mitigated by the altitude, is characterized by abundant, almost year-round sunshine.

South-West Africa was a possession of South Africa from the end of WWI to 1990, when the country became independent and adopted the current name of Namibia.

Answer: Guatemala

Guatemala City lies in a mountain valley known as Valle de la Hermita (Hermitage Valley), located in the mountainous region in the south-central part of Guatemala. Founded in 1776 with the name of Nueva Guatemala de Asuncion, the city stands on the site of the Preclassic Maya city of Kaminaljuyu, which was inhabited until about 1200 AD; a portion of the impressive ruins are preserved as an archaeological park. Guatemala City's tropical savanna climate is mitigated by the altitude, and very high temperatures are very rare; heavy rainfall occurs during the rainy season, which lasts from May to October. Volcanic activity and earthquakes are also frequent in the region. About 3 million people live in Guatemala City - many of them of Mayan ethnicity.

Costa Rica's capital, San José, sits at an elevation of 1,146 m (3,760 ft); Managua and Panama City, on the other hand, lie close to sea level.

Answer: Pyrenees

One of the smallest European capitals, Andorra la Vella ("Andorra the Town") is home to about 22,000 people. Founded in the Middle Ages, probably around the 8th century, the town lies at an altitude of 1,023 m (3,356 ft) in the eastern part of the Pyrenees, the mountain range that separates France and Spain; this makes it the 29th-highest capital in the world. With its pleasantly cool summers and snowy winters, it is a popular tourist resort, especially for skiing; however, it is also known as a banking centre, since the Principality of Andorra - like other small nations - has developed a reputation as a tax haven.

Most other European capitals are rather low-lying: only the capitals of the Eurasian countries of Turkey (Ankara) and Armenia (Yerevan) sit at elevations close to 1,000 m above sea level. As to Australia and Oceania, the highest capital in the region is Canberra, the capital of Australia, with an elevation of 605 m (1,985 ft) - a long way away from the lofty heights of many South American, African and Asian capitals.