World Geography Questions and Answers

Answer: A

Chicago is known as the Windy City. The nickname is usually credited to 19th-century newspapers mocking the boastfulness of its politicians, though the wind off Lake Michigan makes it apt enough.

Chicago is the third largest city in the United States and stands on the south-western shore of the lake.

Answer: B

Japan is the Land of the Rising Sun. Its own name, Nippon or Nihon, means 'origin of the sun' - the name China gave it because it lay to the east, in the direction of the sunrise.

The red disc on the Japanese flag represents the same idea.

Answer: B

Africa was called the Dark Continent by 19th-century Europeans, because its interior remained unmapped by them long after its coasts were known.

The name records European ignorance rather than anything about Africa itself, and it has fallen out of use for that reason.

Answer: D

The Durand Line is the 2,640 km boundary between Pakistan and Afghanistan, agreed in 1893 between Sir Mortimer Durand and Amir Abdur Rahman Khan of Afghanistan.

It cut through Pashtun tribal territory, and Afghanistan has never formally accepted it as an international border.

Answer: B

India and Pakistan have boundary named Radcliffe Line,
Germany and Poland have boundary named "Hindenberg Line",
USA and Canada have boundary named 49th Parallel.
Note : India and China have boundary named Mac Mahon Line.

Answer: C

Rome is called the Eternal City, a name going back to the Roman poets Tibullus and Ovid, who held that the city would endure whatever became of its empire.

It is the capital of Italy and encloses Vatican City, the world's smallest sovereign state.

Answer: B

The Takla Makan lies in the Tarim Basin of Xinjiang, in western China. Covering about 337,000 km², it is one of the largest sandy deserts in the world.

It is ringed by the Kunlun, Pamir and Tian Shan ranges, which cut it off from every source of moisture, and the Silk Road skirted it on both sides rather than crossing it.

Answer: C

Mount McKinley (Denali) in Alaska, at 6,190 m, is the highest point in North America and the third of the Seven Summits.

Aconcagua is the highest in South America, the Ellsworth Mountains hold Antarctica's highest peak, and Kosciuszko is Australia's.

Answer: A

The Panama Canal joins the Pacific Ocean at Panama City to the Caribbean Sea at Colón, and through the Caribbean to the Atlantic beyond.

Naming the Caribbean is the more precise answer, since that is the body of water the canal's northern end actually opens onto. The passage is about 82 km and saves ships the 13,000 km voyage round Cape Horn.

Answer: D

The Golden Gate Bridge spans the strait between San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean, in California.

Opened in 1937, its main span of 1,280 m was the longest in the world for 27 years, and its International Orange paint was chosen to keep it visible in the bay's fog.