148 Fun Facts About Countries of the World

Which Japanese city was once called Edo?

Tokyo: after the shogunate fell, Edo was renamed Tokyo, 'eastern capital', in 1868, and Emperor Meiji moved his court there from Kyoto.

Which country overtook its neighbour in 2023 to become the world's most populous?

India passed China in 2023 with over 1.4 billion people, a year after China's population began to shrink.

Which island country was known as Ceylon until 1972?

Sri Lanka dropped the name Ceylon when it became a republic in 1972, yet its best-known export is still sold under the old name as Ceylon tea.

Falkland Islands banknotes are pegged at par to which currency?

Pound sterling: the Falkland Islands pound trades at par with it, and British notes and coins are used interchangeably with local money on the islands.

Angel Falls, the world's tallest uninterrupted waterfall, is in which country?

Venezuela's Angel Falls is named after US pilot Jimmie Angel, whose plane sank into the marshy summit of Auyán-tepui, leaving him to walk out for 11 days.

Which purpose-built city became Australia's capital as a compromise between Sydney and Melbourne?

Canberra: the deal put the capital in New South Wales but at least 100 miles from Sydney, with Melbourne as the temporary seat while it was built.

Which country's flag carries a green cedar tree between two red stripes?

Lebanon's cedar is its national emblem, and in the Bible, King Solomon had cedars of Lebanon cut to build the Temple in Jerusalem.

The temple complex of Angkor Wat is in which country?

Cambodia's Angkor Wat was built in the 12th century as a Hindu temple to Vishnu, then gradually turned into a Buddhist temple.

The ancient trading city of Timbuktu is in which modern country?

Mali's Timbuktu was a centre of Islamic scholarship in the 14th century, and its name became a byword in English for somewhere impossibly remote.

What is the official language of Brazil?

Portuguese: the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas split the New World along a line, and the eastern coast of what is now Brazil fell on Portugal's side.

Reykjavík, the world's northernmost national capital, is the capital of which country?

Reykjavík, Iceland's capital, keeps the title because Nuuk, a few kilometres further north, is the capital of Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark.

What is the smallest country in the world by area?

Vatican City, an enclave inside Rome, only became an independent state in 1929, under the Lateran Treaty.

Which African country was formerly known as Abyssinia?

Ethiopia, long called Abyssinia in the West, surprised the world by defeating an Italian invasion at Adwa in 1896 and stayed independent through the scramble for Africa.

Which city, on the Ontario side of the river opposite Gatineau, is the Canadian capital?

Ottawa was chosen as capital by Queen Victoria in 1857, partly because it lay far from the US border.

Easter Island, famous for its moai statues, is a territory of which country?

Chile annexed Easter Island in 1888, then rented most of it out as a sheep ranch, and the Rapa Nui were confined to the village of Hanga Roa until the 1960s.

Which country has the world's only non-rectangular national flag?

Nepal's flag joins two stacked pennants that were once flown separately by rival branches of its ruling dynasty.

Which currency, like the yuan and won, means 'round'?

Yen: all three names come from the same written character for 'round', first used for the round silver dollar coins traders brought to East Asia.

Which Central American country abolished its army in 1948?

Costa Rica's José Figueres abolished the army after winning the 1948 civil war, and the 1949 constitution banned a permanent army.

Which Caribbean island nation is named after a virgin martyr of Syracuse?

Saint Lucia is named after Lucy of Syracuse, and rival European powers fought over the island so often that it changed hands again and again.

What is the capital of South Korea?

Seoul was left largely in ruins by the Korean War, yet about half of South Koreans now live in its metropolitan area.

Which country has been the world's biggest cocoa producer since the late 1970s?

Ivory Coast has led world cocoa production since the late 1970s, after a farm boom driven by President Félix Houphouët-Boigny's push to grow exports.

Which country, bordered by three oceans, has the world's longest coastline?

Canada: its shoreline wraps around a vast Arctic archipelago, and depending on the method, estimates of its length run from about 202,000 to 265,000 km.

What is the only country that borders both France and Brazil?

Suriname's eastern neighbour is French Guiana, an overseas department of France, and its southern neighbour is Brazil; no other country touches both.

Which Asian country escaped European colonisation as a buffer between Britain and France?

Thailand, then called Siam, stayed free by playing rival colonial powers off against each other, and it is the only Southeast Asian country never colonised.

Which country was historically known as Persia?

Iran was known abroad as Persia until 1935, when Reza Shah asked foreign governments to use the country's own name instead.

Lake Baikal, the deepest lake in the world, is in which country?

Russia's Lake Baikal is smaller in area than Lake Superior, yet it is so deep that it holds more water than all five North American Great Lakes combined.

In a June 1946 referendum, which country voted to become a republic?

Italy: the republic won by about nine points, with the industrial north voting firmly for it and the rural south mostly for the king.

Nairobi is the capital of which country?

Kenya's capital, Nairobi, began as a depot on the Uganda Railway, and within a decade it had replaced Mombasa as capital of the East Africa Protectorate.

Which country is home to the ancient city of Petra?

Jordan: Petra was the Nabataeans' rock-cut capital, and in 1812 explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt got in by posing as a pilgrim.

Which Scandinavian country's North Cape is a famous place to watch the midnight sun?

Norway's North Cape is often billed as Europe's northernmost point, but the nearby Knivskjellodden headland actually reaches further north.

Which African country is home to the royal pyramids of Meroë?

Sudan: Meroë was a capital of the Kingdom of Kush, whose kings had earlier conquered Egypt and ruled it as its 25th Dynasty.

What is the currency of the country whose capitals include Pretoria and Bloemfontein?

Rand: the Krugerrand gold coin takes half its name from it, and in 1985 the United States banned Krugerrand imports as a sanction against apartheid.

Which country's national flag is square, showing a white cross on red?

Switzerland's flag, with its colours reversed, forms the Red Cross emblem, which the Geneva Conventions keep as a compliment to the country.

Which country has the highest population density in the world?

Monaco is so short of space that it has pushed into the sea, building its Fontvieille district on land reclaimed in the 1970s.

Which self-governing country first let women vote in national elections, in 1893?

New Zealand: women won the vote in 1893 after a campaign led by Kate Sheppard, yet they could not stand for Parliament until 1919.

Which country is the largest in Africa by area?

Algeria: most of it is Sahara desert, so the great majority of Algerians live in the north, near the Mediterranean coast.

Which South American country has Quito as its capital?

Ecuador simply means 'equator', which crosses the country about 25 km north of Quito, so days there last close to 12 hours all year round.

Which two countries are doubly landlocked (surrounded entirely by landlocked countries)?

Liechtenstein and Uzbekistan: Uzbekistan became doubly landlocked only in 1991, when the Soviet Union dissolved, and only if the Caspian Sea counts as a lake.

Which country has 12 official languages, the most recent being a sign language added in 2023?

South Africa's anthem fuses Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika, a hymn of the anti-apartheid struggle, with Die Stem, the anthem of the apartheid era.

Which city replaced Istanbul as Turkey's capital when the republic was founded?

Ankara was a small Anatolian town when it became the capital in October 1923, just over two weeks before the republic was proclaimed.

Which country is the world's largest island nation by area?

Indonesia's islands are spread so widely that the country spans three time zones, and its far east is two hours ahead of Java and Sumatra.

Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest peak, is in which country?

Tanzania's Kilimanjaro: German geographer Hans Meyer, who reached the top in 1889, named its summit after the Kaiser; today it is Uhuru Peak, Swahili for 'Freedom'.

Which country's Al-Qarawiyyin is listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest operating university?

Morocco's Al-Qarawiyyin stands in Fez, and tradition credits a woman, Fatima al-Fihri, with founding it.

What is Mongolia's capital, the coldest national capital on Earth?

Ulaanbaatar means 'Red Hero', a name the city took in 1924, when it became capital of the new Soviet-backed Mongolian People's Republic.

According to 2016 figures, which country drank the most tea per person?

Turkey promoted tea as an alternative after World War I, when coffee had become expensive and at times unavailable.

Which country declared independence on 9 July 2011 after a referendum?

South Sudan broke away from Sudan through a referendum in January 2011 and joined the United Nations just five days after independence.

By official national counts, which country has the most islands?

Sweden's land is still slowly rising as it rebounds from the weight of Ice Age glaciers, so new land keeps emerging from the sea.

Which landlocked South American country keeps a navy with a base on Lake Titicaca?

Bolivia lost its Pacific coast to Chile in the War of the Pacific, yet it still keeps a navy that trains on Lake Titicaca.

Which country's national anthem has no official lyrics?

Spain's Marcha Real has no official words, and lyrics chosen in a 2007-08 Spanish Olympic Committee contest were withdrawn within days after public criticism.

The dodo, a flightless bird wiped out in the 1600s, lived only on which island nation?

Mauritius: the pigs, dogs, cats and monkeys that ships brought to the island raided the dodo's nests and ate its eggs.

Which country is named after a 16th-century Spanish king?

The Philippines take their name from Prince Philip, later King Philip II: explorer Ruy López de Villalobos named islands after him.

What is the world's largest landlocked country?

Kazakhstan, the world's ninth-largest country, is the biggest with no ocean coast, and in 1997 it moved its capital from Almaty to Astana.

Which country's national flag features an AK-47 rifle?

Mozambique's flag, adopted in 1983, shows an AK-47 crossed with a hoe over an open book, symbolising defence, labour and education; the rifle recalls the FRELIMO independence struggle.

Which country is tied for the most land neighbours in the world, bordering 14 others?

China borders 14 countries, from North Korea and Vietnam round to Afghanistan and Kazakhstan, equalling Russia's tally; its roughly 22,000 km of land border is the world's longest.

Which country's national flag is different on its front and back?

Paraguay's flag carries the national coat of arms on the front and the Treasury seal, a lion beneath a Phrygian cap with the motto 'Paz y Justicia', on the reverse; the two-sided design was formalised in 1842.

Which country grew the most avocados in 2024?

Mexico: the avocado trade has attracted crime groups that extort payments from growers, particularly in the state of Michoacán.

Which country moved its capital from Yangon to purpose-built Naypyidaw in 2005?

Myanmar's military government moved the capital from Yangon to Naypyidaw in November 2005; the name means 'abode of kings', and the city is known for its vast, near-empty 20-lane boulevards.

Which kingdom is the largest of the three countries entirely enclosed by one neighbour?

Lesotho is wholly surrounded by South Africa, yet it sells its neighbour water from the Orange River system through the Lesotho Highlands Water Project.

Which country's name comes from the Latin word for silver?

Argentina takes its name from argentum, Latin for silver, after early explorers of the Río de la Plata, the 'River of Silver', chased legends of a silver mountain range.

Which West African country was called the Republic of Upper Volta until 1984?

Burkina Faso got its name from President Thomas Sankara, who was killed three years later in a coup that brought his close associate Blaise Compaoré to power.

Which country has the largest population of any European Union member?

Germany: after reunification, its government left Bonn, West Germany's stopgap capital, and moved back to Berlin in 1999.

The 15th-century Inca citadel of Machu Picchu is in which country?

Peru's Machu Picchu was already known to local farmers, whose young son led American explorer Hiram Bingham to the ruins in 1911.

Which island country is the world's lowest-lying?

The Maldives averages only about 1.5 metres above sea level, so rising seas threaten to wipe it off the map.

Which country has more living languages than any other, about 840?

Papua New Guinea's rugged mountains kept villages so isolated from one another that hundreds of separate languages developed.

Hellas is the native name of which country?

Greece is Hellas to its own people, and the English name comes from Latin Graeci, probably first used by Romans for one small group of Greek colonists.

Which country is known to its own people as Sakartvelo?

Georgia is Sakartvelo to Georgians, and it has pressed other countries to stop calling it Gruziya, a request South Korea accepted in 2011.

Which country's flag shows its own map in copper above two olive branches?

Cyprus's flag shows the island in copper orange for its copper deposits, above olive branches standing for peace between Greek and Turkish Cypriots.

Which country is the most populous in Africa?

Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, moved its capital from Lagos to purpose-built Abuja, near the country's centre, in 1991.

Which Southeast Asian country is the most heavily bombed in history, per capita?

Laos was bombed by the US from 1964 to 1973, and the unexploded bombs left behind still kill people every year.

Which African country was named Zaire from 1971 to 1997?

Mobutu Sese Seko renamed the country Zaire in 1971, and the old name, DR Congo, came back in 1997 after rebels overthrew him.

Which country was known as Rhodesia before independence in 1980?

Zimbabwe was Rhodesia, named after Cecil Rhodes, whose company colonised it in the 1890s; a white-minority government declared independence in 1965, and majority rule brought the new name in 1980.

Which European country's currency is the forint?

Hungary's forint takes its name from the gold florin of Florence, and it replaced the pengő in 1946, after the worst hyperinflation ever recorded.

Which country's currency is named after a colourful bird that also appears on its flag?

Guatemala's currency, the quetzal, is named after the bird on its flag, whose tail feathers the Maya once used as money.

Which is the only Central American country with English as its official language?

Belize, the former colony of British Honduras, became independent in 1981 and kept English as its official language, though most people speak Belizean Creole or Spanish day to day.

Which country is the world's only remaining sovereign grand duchy?

Luxembourg: when Grand Duke Henri refused to sign a euthanasia law in 2008, parliament changed the constitution so the monarch can no longer block laws.

Which country's flag holds the Guinness record as the oldest in continuous use?

Denmark's Dannebrog, legend says, fell from the sky during a battle in Estonia in 1219, and the Danes rallied and won.

The Burj Khalifa, completed in 2010, stands in which country?

The Burj Khalifa in Dubai, UAE, was built as Burj Dubai and renamed at its 2010 opening after UAE president Sheikh Khalifa, who had given Dubai financial help.

What is the largest country lying entirely within Europe?

Ukraine, the largest country wholly in Europe, owes its role as a major grain exporter to its famously rich black soil.

Which country's flag includes an open Bible in its coat of arms?

The Dominican Republic's first flag took the blue and red of the country it had broken away from and added a white cross.

Which is the only country in history founded by a successful slave revolt?

Haiti: France recognised its independence only in 1825, and only in exchange for a huge indemnity.

From 1977 to 2011, which country's flag was plain green with no design at all?

Libya's plain green flag stood for Gaddafi's Green Book ideology, and after his fall in 2011 the country brought back its royal-era tricolour.

Ha Long Bay, famous for its thousands of limestone islands, is in which country?

Vietnam's Ha Long means 'descending dragon': legend says a family of dragons spat jewels into the sea to form the karst towers as a barrier against invaders.

Which Balkan country changed its name in 2019 under the Prespa agreement?

North Macedonia adopted its new name in February 2019 under the Prespa agreement with Greece, settling a dispute dating from its 1991 independence and clearing its path into NATO in March 2020.

Which country, by tradition, was the first to make Christianity its state religion?

Armenia: King Tiridates III was converted by Gregory the Illuminator, traditionally in 301, though many historians now favour 314.

Which country hosted and won the very first FIFA World Cup in 1930?

Uruguay, the reigning two-time Olympic football champion, won the right to host the first World Cup and played every match in Montevideo.

Which Pacific republic, the world's third-smallest country, has no official capital city?

Nauru, a 21-square-kilometre island once rich from phosphate, has no official capital; government offices cluster in Yaren district, which is listed as the capital by default.

Which Pacific island nation earns government revenue by leasing its '.tv' internet domain?

Tuvalu's country code happens to be '.tv', and leasing it to web registrars brings the tiny nation millions of dollars a year.

Which country topped the World Happiness Report every year from 2018 to 2025?

Finland held first place in the World Happiness Report for eight straight years, 2018 to 2025, with Denmark and Iceland usually close behind; the ranking rests on a Gallup World Poll life-evaluation question.

Which island country is the native home of wild lemurs?

Madagascar's lemur ancestors probably crossed the sea from Africa on rafts of vegetation, then evolved in isolation into many species.

About a quarter of which European country lies below sea level?

The Netherlands literally means 'lower countries', and much of its low land is polder reclaimed from the sea and guarded by dykes.

Which country is home to the Caribbean's largest island?

Cuba: Christopher Columbus landed there in October 1492, during his first voyage across the Atlantic.

Which Pacific country skipped 30 December 2011 entirely by jumping across the date line?

Samoa jumped west across the International Date Line at the end of 29 December 2011, moving from UTC−11 to UTC+13 to share a working week with Australia and New Zealand; Friday 30 December never happened.

Which African country's flag is almost identical to Romania's blue-yellow-red tricolour?

Chad's flag dates from 1959, and it became a near twin of Romania's in 1989, when Romanians cut the communist emblem out of their tricolour.

Which African country was settled from 1822 by freed and free-born Black Americans?

Liberia began as a colony of the American Colonization Society, and in 1847 its settlers declared independence as a republic.

Which African country renamed itself in 2018 on the 50th anniversary of its independence?

Eswatini: as one of the world's few absolute monarchs, King Mswati III could change the country's name by his own decree.

Which country is historically the world's largest producer of emeralds?

Colombia's emeralds were mined by the Muzo people before conquistadors invaded in the 1500s and took the stones as plunder.

Which is the only country in mainland South America with English as its official language?

Guyana lies on the South American mainland, yet its capital is home to the headquarters of the Caribbean Community.

Which country became the first in the world to make bitcoin legal tender, in 2021?

El Salvador made bitcoin legal tender in 2021, yet most Salvadorans stuck with the US dollar, the country's legal tender since 2001.

Which Caribbean country's black, green and gold flag is the only national flag with no red, white or blue?

Jamaica has stood alone since 2017, when Mauritania added red bands to its own green and gold flag. Every other sovereign state flies at least one of the three colours.

The cravat, ancestor of the modern necktie, was named after 17th-century soldiers from which country?

Croatia supplied mercenaries whose knotted neck scarves fascinated Paris, where the fashion was first called a 'Croat' and later corrupted to 'cravat'.

Which country spans two continents, with its Sinai Peninsula lying in Asia and the rest in Africa?

Egypt is split by the Suez Canal, the waterway that links the Mediterranean with the Red Sea. The land bridge it cuts through is called the Isthmus of Suez.

Which European country's national symbol is a harp, shown on its coins, passports and official seals?

Ireland registered only left-facing harps as state emblems, because a right-facing harp had been the Guinness brewery's logo since the 1870s.

Which Pacific island nation won its first Olympic medal, a gold in men's rugby sevens, at Rio 2016?

Fiji beat Great Britain 43–7 in the final of the sport's first Olympic tournament. The country marked the win by issuing the world's first circulating seven-dollar banknote.

Which Caribbean island became a republic in 2021, replacing Queen Elizabeth II with its own president?

Barbados made the switch on the 55th anniversary of its independence. At the same ceremony the singer Rihanna, who was born on the island, was named a National Hero.

Which country vanished from the map of Europe for 123 years after three neighbouring powers partitioned it?

Poland was carved up in three stages that ended in 1795, and it did not return as a sovereign state until the end of the First World War in 1918.

The giant Buddhas of Bamiyan, carved into a sandstone cliff and blown up in 2001, stood in which country?

Afghanistan lost both statues in March 2001, when the Taliban ordered them destroyed. The larger one stood 55 metres tall and had been carved some 1,400 years earlier.

The steelpan, a drum first hammered out of discarded oil barrels, is the national instrument of which Caribbean country?

Trinidad and Tobago declared the steelpan its national instrument in 1992. Players in the 1930s began with frying pans and dustbin lids before settling on the 55-gallon oil drum.

Which country hosts the headquarters of NATO as well as several main institutions of the European Union?

Belgium's capital, Brussels, is the de facto capital of the European Union, even though the bloc's top court sits elsewhere and its parliament spends part of each year in Strasbourg.

Which country split peacefully from Slovakia in the 1993 breakup known as the 'Velvet Divorce'?

The Czech Republic and its former partner became separate states on 1 January 1993 without a shot fired. The federal parliament settled the division of property in advance, and no referendum was held.

Which island country displays the George Cross on its flag, awarded by Britain for bravery during World War II?

Malta was given the medal by King George VI in April 1942 for holding out under siege. The award went to the island's people collectively, not to any one person.

Which European country, founded by tradition in AD 301, claims to be the world's oldest surviving republic?

San Marino is named after Saint Marinus, a stonemason who is said to have fled Roman persecution and built a small chapel on Monte Titano.

Which European microstate has two heads of state, the president of France and a Catalan bishop?

Andorra owes the arrangement to a treaty of 1278 between the Bishop of Urgell and the Count of Foix, whose share later passed to the French head of state.

Which modern country covers most of ancient Mesopotamia, the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers?

Iraq is the name the region came to be known by after the Islamic conquest. The older name, Mesopotamia, simply means 'land between rivers'.

Which country's name was coined in 1933 as an acronym of regions including Punjab, Kashmir and Sindh?

Pakistan was first spelled 'Pakstan' by the activist Choudhry Rahmat Ali in a pamphlet called 'Now or Never', published fourteen years before the country itself existed.

Most of which country lies on the Ganges Delta, the world's largest river delta, beside the Bay of Bengal?

Bangladesh's delta coast holds much of the Sundarbans, the only mangrove forest that harbours tigers, which swim between its islands to hunt.

Which country, home to the Petronas Towers, is split between a mainland peninsula and part of Borneo?

Malaysia's two halves are separated by open sea. The Petronas Towers in its capital, Kuala Lumpur, were the tallest buildings in the world from 1998 to 2004.

Which Southeast Asian island country takes its name from Sanskrit words meaning 'Lion City'?

Singapore has no native lions, so scholars think the animal in its founding legend was misidentified. The story credits a prince, Sang Nila Utama, with choosing the name.

Which West African country was known as the Gold Coast while it was a British colony?

Ghana took its new name at independence in 1957, borrowing it from a medieval trading empire that lay hundreds of miles away in what is now Mauritania and Mali.

The ruins of ancient Carthage, Rome's great rival in the Punic Wars, lie in which modern country?

Tunisia holds the site, beside the Lake of Tunis. Carthage grew from a Phoenician settlement into a trading empire before the Romans defeated it in 146 BC.

Christopher Columbus made his first landfall in the New World in 1492 on an island in which modern country?

The Bahamas island where he came ashore was known as Guanahani to the Lucayan people who lived there. Columbus renamed it San Salvador.

Which Central American country's canal, opened in 1914, lets ships cross between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans?

Panama's canal does not run at sea level. Locks at each end lift ships 26 metres up to an artificial lake, then lower them again on the far side.

O. Henry coined the phrase 'banana republic' for a fictional land inspired by his stay in which country?

Honduras was the model for the Republic of Anchuria in his 1904 book 'Cabbages and Kings', written when the country's economy leaned heavily on exporting the fruit.

Which country's native name, Österreich, comes from an Old High German word meaning 'eastern realm'?

Austria began as a borderland on the eastern edge of the Duchy of Bavaria, and the name first appears in a document written in 996.

Which Baltic country, where Skype was developed, became the first to hold nationwide elections with internet voting?

Estonia introduced binding online voting in its 2005 local elections. By the 2023 parliamentary election, more than half of all votes were cast over the internet.

Which West African country's capital, Dakar, is the westernmost city on the African mainland?

Senegal's capital was for decades the finish line of the Dakar Rally, until security fears moved the race to another continent after 2007.

Which is the smallest country on mainland Africa, a sliver of land along both banks of a single river?

The Gambia follows the lower reaches of the river it is named after, which flows through the centre of the country and empties into the Atlantic.

Which landlocked African country holds the Okavango Delta, a vast wetland whose waters never reach the sea?

Botswana's delta swells to three times its permanent size during the dry winter months, drawing animals from kilometres around. Almost all of its water is lost to evaporation and plants.

Which African country is named after a river that early explorers called the 'Shrimp River'?

Cameroon comes from 'Rio dos Camarões', the name sailors gave the Wouri River after finding it full of ghost shrimp.

Which East African country's flag shows a grey crowned crane, its national bird, on a white disc?

Uganda's crane had already featured on its colonial-era badge. On the flag adopted at independence it sits at the centre of six black, yellow and red bands.

Which African country's oil-rich province of Cabinda is cut off from the rest of its territory by a neighbour's land?

Angola's exclave sits beside some of the largest offshore oil fields in the world, and petroleum accounts for most of what the province produces.

Which Middle Eastern country's Arabic name means 'the two seas', though scholars dispute which two were meant?

Bahrain is a small archipelago in the Persian Gulf, centred on a single island that makes up around 80 percent of its land.

Socotra, an Indian Ocean island famed for its strange dragon's blood trees, belongs to which country?

Yemen administers the island, where about a third of the plant life is found nowhere else on Earth.

Which African country's fog-bound Skeleton Coast was once strewn with the bones of whales and seals?

Namibia's desert shore is also littered with shipwrecks caused by offshore rocks and fog. The San people of the interior called it 'The Land God Made in Anger'.

Which country, nicknamed the 'Land of a Thousand Hills', rose to first in the world for women in parliament in 2003?

Rwanda reserves 24 of the 80 seats in its lower house for women, and its jump up the rankings followed the introduction of quotas.

Which small country on the Horn of Africa contains Lake Assal, the lowest point on the African continent?

Djibouti's Lake Assal lies 155 metres below sea level, and the salt collected from its shores was once the basis of a coastal sultanate's trade.

Which Pacific nation, dubbed the 'Friendly Islands' after welcoming Captain Cook, never gave up its sovereignty?

Tonga is the only Pacific island nation that still has its own royal family on the throne. Britain looked after its foreign affairs under a 1900 treaty of friendship, but its kings kept their crown.

Which Pacific nation, once called the New Hebrides, is home to land diving, the vine-jumping ritual behind bungee?

Vanuatu's land divers leap from tall wooden platforms with vines tied to their ankles. In 1995 the people of Pentecost Island said they would seek royalties from bungee operators.

Which Pacific country includes Bikini Atoll, the nuclear test site that gave the two-piece swimsuit its name?

The Marshall Islands saw the first public test of a nuclear bomb at Bikini in July 1946. Four days later the designer Louis Réard borrowed the atoll's name for his new swimsuit.

Which Caribbean country, known as the 'Island of Spice', displays a nutmeg on its national flag?

Grenada counts nutmeg as its top export, and the nutmeg was the one feature carried over from its previous flag.

Which Central Asian country contains the 'Door to Hell', a desert gas crater famed for burning for decades?

Turkmenistan's crater is 60 to 70 metres across and about 30 metres deep. Officially it goes by a gentler name, the 'Shining of Karakum'.

Which country's capital, Baku, lies 28 metres below sea level, making it the lowest national capital on Earth?

Azerbaijan's capital is also the largest city in the world below sea level. On a hillside nearby, Yanar Dag, the 'burning mountain', has natural gas flames that blaze continuously.

Which Balkan country's people call their homeland Shqipëri, widely taken to mean 'Land of the Eagles'?

Albania's flag carries the same bird: a black double-headed eagle on a red field, traditionally the symbol of its people.

Which island nation, the smallest country in Africa, is the only natural home of the giant coco de mer palm?

Seychelles' coco de mer bears the largest seed in the plant kingdom, inside a fruit that weighs up to 45 kilograms and takes six to seven years to mature.

Which West African country, formerly known as Dahomey, has the town of Ouidah as its spiritual centre of Vodun?

Benin took its present name in 1975, borrowed from the bay on its coast, because 'Dahomey' was tied to only one people in the south of the country.

Which country, the inventor of the postage stamp, is the only one whose stamps need not show its name?

The United Kingdom issued the world's first adhesive stamp, the Penny Black, in 1840. Its stamps carry a profile of the monarch in place of a country name.

Which landlocked African country shares Victoria Falls with its southern neighbour and has Lusaka as its capital?

Zambia knows the falls as Mosi-oa-Tunya, 'the smoke that thunders', a Lozi name still in common use beside the one David Livingstone chose to honour his queen.

Which Alpine country won its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991 after the brief Ten-Day War?

Slovenia had voted for independence in a referendum six months earlier, with 88.5 percent of the whole electorate in favour.

Which landlocked African country, once called Nyasaland, borders a lake with more fish species than any other?

Malawi's great lake holds at least 700 species of cichlid alone. The country's nickname is the 'Warm Heart of Africa'.