Dependent Territories
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50 free Dependent Territories trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Not every place on the map is a sovereign country. Scattered across the oceans are dozens of dependent territories: islands and enclaves that fly their own flags, elect their own governments and sometimes field their own sports teams, yet leave defence or foreign affairs to a larger state far away. Some are household names, others are specks of rock with a few dozen residents. This quiz tours the territories of the world, from British, French, Dutch and American outposts to the self-governing lands tied to northern Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Expect questions on where these places are, how they came to belong to someone else, what makes each one famous, and which former territories went on to become states or independent nations. It suits geography fans, pub quiz regulars and anyone who has looked at a list of non-sovereign nations and wondered how so many small places ended up with such unusual status. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so you learn the story even when you miss.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which self-governing Arctic territory, with its capital at Nuuk, is the world's largest island?
Greenland
Greenland gained self-rule in 2009, with the right to take over its own courts, policing and natural resources in time. An ice sheet covers about 81% of the island.
Q 02From which European country did the United States buy the US Virgin Islands for $25 million in 1917?
Denmark
Denmark had run the three main islands as the Danish West Indies. The United States took possession on March 31, 1917, and gave them their present name.
Q 03The overseas department of French Guiana gives France its longest land border with which country?
Brazil
Brazil meets France along French Guiana, which sits in South America yet is fully part of France and of the European Union.
Q 04Which British territory at the tip of the Iberian Peninsula is home to wild Barbary macaques?
Gibraltar
Gibraltar has been British since Spain ceded it under the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht. Its famous "apes" are actually monkeys, the only wild ones in Europe.
Q 05On which remote British island in the South Atlantic did Napoleon Bonaparte die in exile in 1821?
Saint Helena
Saint Helena was picked by the British government in 1815, after Waterloo. Napoleon lived at Longwood House there until his death six years later.
Q 06Which British Pacific territory was settled in 1790 by mutineers from HMS Bounty?
Pitcairn Islands
The Pitcairn Islands had just 35 permanent residents in 2023, the fewest of any territory in the world. Most islanders descend from the nine mutineers.
Q 07Which US territory became the 50th state when it joined the Union in August 1959?
Hawaii
Hawaii was admitted on August 21, 1959, a few months after Alaska, which had become the 49th state that January.
Q 08Which British South Atlantic territory did Argentina invade in April 1982, starting a ten-week war?
Falkland Islands
The Falkland Islands were retaken by a British task force that June. Fishing, tourism and sheep farming now drive the economy, and five penguin species live there.
Q 09Which Caribbean island with its capital at San Juan is a US territory styled a commonwealth?
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico is home to about 3.2 million people, and its one member of Congress, called the resident commissioner, is a non-voting delegate.
Q 10Which territory did the United Kingdom hand back to China at midnight on 1 July 1997?
Hong Kong
Hong Kong became a special administrative region of China, ending 156 years of British rule that began with the capture of its main island in 1841.
Q 11Which Atlantic island group, named after a Spanish explorer, is Britain's oldest overseas territory?
Bermuda
Bermuda takes its name from Juan de Bermúdez, who found it in the early 1500s. Its House of Assembly dates from 1620, making it one of the world's oldest legislatures.
Q 12Which Pacific island, home to the Chamorro people, did the United States capture from Spain in 1898?
Guam
Guam fell to the US on June 21, 1898, early in a brief war with Madrid. It is now the westernmost territory of the United States.
Q 13Which Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea is known for its TT motorcycle races and tailless cats?
Isle of Man
The Isle of Man has its own parliament, Tynwald, which in 1881 became the first national legislature to give some women the vote in a general election.
Q 21Which island, the largest in French Polynesia, is home to the capital Papeete?
Tahiti
Tahiti is also the highest island in French Polynesia and by far the most populous, home to more than two-thirds of the collectivity's people.
Q 22Which French Pacific territory with its capital at Nouméa voted against independence in 2018?
New Caledonia
New Caledonia voted to stay French again in 2020 and 2021. A British explorer named it in 1774 because its coast reminded him of Scotland.
Q 23Which Caribbean island has been split between France and the Netherlands since a 1648 treaty?
Saint Martin
Saint Martin holds the only land border between the French Republic and the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Dutch part is smaller but has more people.
Q 14Which Channel Island, the largest of all, gave its name to a dairy cattle breed and a US state?
Jersey
Jersey sheltered the future Charles II in the 1640s, and he repaid its governor, Sir George Carteret, with land in America that Carteret named after his island.
Q 15Which British Caribbean territory did Columbus name Las Tortugas after its many turtles?
Cayman Islands
The Cayman Islands have always relied on indirect rather than direct taxes. The turtles behind their first name were soon hunted to near-extinction.
Q 16Which Norwegian Arctic archipelago, governed under a 1920 treaty, houses the Global Seed Vault?
Svalbard
Svalbard is a free economic zone where the 1920 treaty restricts military use. Unlike mainland Norway, it lies outside the Schengen Area.
Q 17Which island group about halfway between Iceland and Norway has its capital at Tórshavn?
Faroe Islands
The Faroe Islands, 18 major islands in all, have had home rule since 1948. Their name is widely taken to mean "sheep islands".
Q 18Which Chinese territory, run by Portugal until 1999, is known as the gambling capital of the world?
Macau
Macau is the most densely populated territory on Earth, and two-thirds of its area is built on land reclaimed from the sea.
Q 19People born in which US territory are US nationals rather than citizens at birth?
American Samoa
American Samoa is the only inhabited US territory where citizenship is not granted at birth. It is also the southernmost, with its capital at Pago Pago.
Q 20Which country owned the Caribbean island of Saint Barthélemy from 1784 until 1878?
Sweden
Sweden got the island from Louis XVI in return for trading rights in Gothenburg, then sold it back to France. The capital, Gustavia, still bears a Swedish king's name.
Q 24The French islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon lie just off the coast of which Canadian island?
Newfoundland
Newfoundland is their nearest neighbour, yet the islands are French soil where the euro is the official currency and residents hold European Union citizenship.
Q 25Which Caribbean island, the A of the ABC islands, became a country within the Dutch Kingdom in 1986?
Aruba
Aruba lies just 29 kilometres north of Venezuela's Paraguaná peninsula, and its politicians had pressed for a separate status since the 1940s.
Q 26Which Dutch Caribbean island with its capital at Willemstad gave its name to an orange liqueur?
Curaçao
Curaçao was part of the Netherlands Antilles until 2010. Its namesake liqueur is flavoured with the dried peel of the laraha, a citrus fruit grown on the island.
Q 27Mount Scenery, the highest point in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, is on which Caribbean island?
Saba
Saba consists largely of that one dormant volcano, which rises 870 metres above the sea, far higher than anything in the famously flat European Netherlands.
Q 28Which Pacific island group with its capital at Avarua shares citizenship with New Zealand?
Cook Islands
The Cook Islands run their own government from Rarotonga, the main island, while most islanders also hold New Zealand citizenship.
Q 29Niue governs itself but shares citizenship with New Zealand under which constitutional arrangement?
Free association
Free association lets Niue, nicknamed the Rock of Polynesia, run its own government while Niueans remain citizens of New Zealand.
Q 30Which Australian territory in the Indian Ocean is famous for the annual mass migration of red crabs?
Christmas Island
Christmas Island was named by Captain William Mynors, who came upon it on Christmas Day 1643. Its crabs carpet the ground in their millions on the way to the sea.