Zooming in on edMix pU triesCoun Quiz

Answer: Australia

"Terra Australis meaning "land of the south" has been seen on maps as far back as the 15th century although it was not based on any landmass survey but on a hypothesis that continents in the Northern Hemisphere should be offset by a similar amount of land in the southern hemisphere.
The name Australia is from the Latin "australis", meaning "southern". When the explorer Matthew Flinders circumnavigated the continent in 1804 confirming it was an island (Tasmania had already been proved to be an island separate to the main landmass by the same explorer), it was adopted for official use since 1817, This displaced "New Holland," a Dutch name, as the name for the continent. When the six British colonies on the land mass (including the island colony of Tasmania) federated in 1901, the name for the country was a logical progression of the the name of continent, so the Commonwealth of Australia became a sovereign nation but remained as part of the British Empire.

Question submitted by proud Australian Phoenix Rising team member 1nn1.

Answer: Pakistan

Pakistan was created from the division of British India in 1947, however, the discussions that worked toward this end were a series of Round Table conferences that were held in the 1930s. A young Muslim nationalist by the name of Choudhry Rahmat Ali presented a pamphlet toward the end of these dealings that demanded the establishment of a separate Muslim state i.e. Pakistan. In the first paragraph there was a call for a home for 30 million Muslims from the regions of (P) Punjab, (A) Afghan Province (as it was known then), (K) Kashmir and Sind and Baluchistan. He called the nation PAKSTAN. This would eventually become the adopted name for the new country, with an (I) being added to make it easier to pronounce.

"Pak" also means "pure" and "stan" has its origins in Persia, meaning "land". Hence Pakistan is "the land of the pure".

This question was created by Phoenix Rising's pollucci19 who has never been to Pakistan but has eaten ink pasta.

Answer: New Zealand

New Zealand lies in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, about 2,000km (1,200mi) east of Australia across the Tasman Sea.

In 1280-1350 CE, Polynesians began settling New Zealand. Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman sighted the country in 1642, naming it "Staten Landt", thinking that it was part of South America. When this was proved false, Dutch map makers renamed it "Nova Zeelandia" after the Dutch province of Zeeland. Later, its lands were extensively explored and mapped by British explorer James Cook who arrived in 1769. By 1840, the country had been claimed by the British.

New Zealand is also known by its Maori name, Aotearoa, which loosely translates as "land of the long white cloud". These days it is not uncommon to hear the country referred to as Aotearoa-New Zealand.

This question was contributed by Phoenix Rising's resident Kiwi, psnz.

Answer: Yemen

There have been a few theories put forth as to the origin of the name of Yemen, though the strongest of these seem to indicate that it means the cardinal direction "south". These are extended from the word "ymnt" which plays on the notion of "the land to the right" which, if one is facing east, describes the south. Facing east holds significance to Arab nations as it is the direction they will face when praying. The other is the word "yaman" which is an Arabic word that describes "the land to the south".

Other sources will claim that the origins are from a similar word "yamana" which means "he was happy". Adding weight to this argument is that the Latin (Roman) name for this region was "Arabia Felix", which means happy Arabia.

This question was written by Phoenix Rising's pollucci19 who injured himself in the process. He bit his tongue trying to stop himself from recording some form "Yeah man" joke. "Oman, you're kidding me".

Answer: Singapore

The sarong was invented in Malaysia, and its name comes from the Malay word for 'covering'. Malaysia is located right above Singapore, which is at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula.
The word 'Singapore' comes from a Malay word 'Singapura'; 'Singa' comes from the Sanskrit word 'simha', which means 'lion', and 'pura', also a Sanskrit word, which translates to city or town or fortress. Together they mean 'Lion City'. Interestingly, the founder of Singapore, a Sumatran prince named Sang Nila Utama, probably meant tiger, which were present in that region. Nonetheless, the symbol of Singapore is the Merlion.

Before the area was called Singapore, it was known as 'Temasek', meaning 'Sea Town' in Old Javanese. It was also referred to as 'Longyamen' which means Dragon's Teeth Gate by the Yuan Dynasty. Going further back, Greek writings indicate it was called Sabana, and was likely an important port in the ancient marine Silk Road.

This question was sailed into the quiz by Phoenix Rising's VegemiteKid who loves to visit Singapore.

Answer: Serbia

The origins of the name Serbia are not clear. Britannica.com cites the term "Serboi" being used in the second century in Ptolemy's "Guide to Geography", however, there is no evidence that this might pertain to modern day Serbs. In the sixth century Byzantine emperor Heraclius was in a battle to drive the Avars and the Bulgars eastward and sought assistance from a number of Slavic tribal groups resident in the Carpathian mountains. After the campaign he allowed the groups to settle in the Balkans and, it was noted, that one of these tribes, the Serbs, moved to the Dalmatian coast.

This question was serbed up, oops, served up by Phoenix Rising's pollucci19.

Answer: Mali

The name of Mali comes from the name of the Mali Empire which was one of three empires that controlled Western Africa before African colonisation . The name means "the place where the king lives".

Mali is the eighth-largest country in Africa. It is a landlocked nation located in Western Africa that borders Algeria, Niger, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Senegal and Mauritania. Much of Mali is located in the Sahara Desert and thus it is a very hot and flat country. Even so, the country's main industries are agriculture and mining with gold being one of Mali's most important natural resources.

This question was sent by mail (another anagram of Mali) from Phoenix Rising team member Triviaballer who wonders if Liam Neeson has ever visited Mali.

Answer: South Africa

Apartheid is a painful part of the history of South Africa. Based on an ideology of white supremacy, it was a system of extreme racial discrimination enacted to ensure political, social, and economic dominance by the ruling minority. Apartheid was finally dismantled during the presidency of F. W. de Klerk in the early 1990s. President de Klerk was succeeded in 1994 by the nation's first black president, Nelson Mandela.

This question contributed by JCSon, one of Phoenix Rising's resident South Africans, who remembers growing up under apartheid, proudly celebrating its end, and welcoming integration.

Answer: Germany

Germany, as a name, descended from the Latin word "Germania", which had been attributed to the region by Julius Caesar. It was named after a powerful local tribe in Western Europe that had fought against the Romans. They were eventually defeated by Caesar's forces who would then take over that area of the continent.

Germany, however, is a land of many names and it is claimed that no other country has more names than it. The names will be dependent upon the languages and the cultures that have referred to the country and, amongst that list, are names such as Niemcy, Deutschland, Alemania, Saksa, and Vuoceja. There is not enough space within this question to delve deeper and this is probably an area that deserves a quiz in its own right.

This question was produced by Phoenix Rising's Tanzender Bär (Dancing Bear), pollucci19.

Answer: United States of America

America is named after Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian explorer who postulated the then revolutionary concept that the lands that Christopher Columbus reached in 1492 were indeed a separate continent and not the eastern part of Asia. Martin Waldseemüller created a map in 1507 which depicted this this new continent with the name "America," which is a Latinised version of "Amerigo."
The first use of the term "United States of America" was on January 2, 1776 when a letter written by Stephen Moylan to George Washington's aide-de-camp Joseph Reed used the term in a proposal for Spain to support America in the Revolutionary War. The second draft of the Articles of Confederation, compiled by by John Dickinson and completed by 17th June 1776, stated "The name of this Confederation shall be the 'United States of America'. The same title (all in capitals) was used by Thomas Jefferson in the first draft of the Declaration of Independence. The die was cast.

Question written with a less than flourishing hand by Phoenix Rising team member 1nn1.