Easy Geography Trivia Questions

34 easy geography trivia questions with answers

1. What is the capital city of Australia?

   Answer: Canberra Sydney is the largest city, but Canberra was purpose-built as the capital.Why?

2. Which is the longest river in South America?

   Answer: Amazon It carries more water than any other river on Earth by a wide margin.Why?

3. Mount Everest sits on the border between Nepal and which other country?

   Answer: China The Tibetan side is administered by China, and the peak straddles the line.

4. Which ocean lies between Africa and Australia?

   Answer: Indian Ocean Its monsoon winds shaped centuries of trade between Arabia, India and East Africa.Why?

5. What is the largest country in the world by land area?

   Answer: Russia It covers around an eighth of the world's inhabited land.Why?

6. Which desert covers most of northern Africa?

   Answer: Sahara The name simply means 'desert' in Arabic.Why?

7. Which continent is the driest on Earth?

   Answer: Antarctica Almost no precipitation falls there, which makes it a polar desert.Why?

8. The Nile flows into which sea?

   Answer: Mediterranean Sea It fans out into a broad delta north of Cairo.

9. Which country is home to the city of Marrakesh?

   Answer: Morocco Its old walled medina is built largely from red clay, hence 'the red city'.Why?

10. The Andes mountain range runs down which continent?

    Answer: South America It is the longest continental mountain range in the world.

11. Which US state is the largest by area?

    Answer: Alaska It is more than twice the size of Texas.Why?

12. Iceland's capital city is which of these?

    Answer: Reykjavik Much of the city is heated by geothermal water piped from nearby fields.

13. Which sea does the Suez Canal connect to the Mediterranean?

    Answer: Red Sea The canal lets ships avoid sailing around the whole of Africa.Why?

14. Which country lies directly south of the United States?

    Answer: Mexico Much of the border follows the Rio Grande.Why?

15. Which European country is often said to be shaped like a boot?

    Answer: Italy The 'heel' is Puglia and the 'toe' is Calabria, kicking the island of Sicily.

16. Brazil lies on which continent?

    Answer: South America It is the largest country on the continent and the only one where Portuguese is the official language.

17. Which of these is an island country?

    Answer: Cuba The other three are landlocked, with no coastline at all.

18. Which is the largest ocean on Earth?

    Answer: Pacific Ocean It covers more area than all the world's land put together.

19. The Rocky Mountains run through which continent?

    Answer: North America They stretch from British Columbia in Canada down to New Mexico.

20. Which river flows through the centre of London?

    Answer: Thames The city grew up around a Roman bridge over it nearly two thousand years ago.

21. Mont Blanc, the highest peak in the Alps, stands on the border of France and which country?

    Answer: Italy A road tunnel beneath the mountain links Chamonix with the Aosta Valley.

22. Lima is the capital of which South American country?

    Answer: Peru It was founded by Francisco Pizarro in 1535 as the seat of Spanish rule in the Andes.

23. The Eiffel Tower stands in which city?

    Answer: Paris It was built for the 1889 World's Fair and was meant to be temporary.

24. Which desert stretches across southern Mongolia and northern China?

    Answer: Gobi It is a cold desert, with winter temperatures far below freezing.

25. Which continent has the most countries?

    Answer: Africa Africa has fifty-four internationally recognised states, more than any other continent.

26. Which sea separates Italy from the Balkan Peninsula?

    Answer: Adriatic Sea Venice sits at its northern end and Croatia's islands line its eastern shore.

27. Which country lies directly north of the contiguous United States?

    Answer: Canada Much of the border runs along the 49th parallel and through the Great Lakes.

28. Big Ben and Buckingham Palace are landmarks of which city?

    Answer: London Big Ben is strictly the name of the bell, not the clock tower itself.

29. The Taj Mahal is in which country?

    Answer: India It stands beside the Yamuna river in the city of Agra.

30. The Amazon river empties into which ocean?

    Answer: Atlantic Ocean Its fresh water can be detected far out to sea from the Brazilian coast.

31. Which country is known as the Land of the Rising Sun?

    Answer: Japan The name Nippon means 'origin of the sun', as the islands lie east of the Asian mainland.

32. Cairo stands on the banks of which river?

    Answer: Nile The city sits just south of the point where the river splits into its delta.

33. Which US city is nicknamed the Big Apple?

    Answer: New York The nickname was popularised by a 1920s horse-racing columnist and later a tourism campaign.

34. Which is the largest continent by land area?

    Answer: Asia It covers roughly thirty per cent of the world's land surface.