Djibouti
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50 free Djibouti trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Djibouti trivia quiz covers the small country at the mouth of the Red Sea: French Somaliland and the Territory of the Afars and the Issas, independence in 1977 and only two presidents since, the Ethiopian railway and the port that handles almost all of Ethiopia's trade, and the crowd of foreign militaries, American, French, Japanese and Chinese, camped around the capital. It also visits the country's strange landscapes: Lake Assal below sea level, the limestone chimneys of Lake Abbe, the Ardoukoba fissure and the whale sharks of the Gulf of Tadjoura. The early questions suit anyone who has heard of the Bab-el-Mandeb; the later ones test people who know what the red star on the flag stands for and who won Djibouti's only Olympic medal. Every question is multiple choice with a short explanation after you answer. Every answer has been checked against a primary source, and each question links to the page that confirms it.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Djibouti lies in which region of the continent?
The Horn of Africa
The Horn of Africa. Djibouti sits where the Red Sea opens into the Gulf of Aden, beside some of the world's busiest shipping lanes, which is why several foreign powers keep military bases there.
Q 02Which heavy-metal singer piloted a Boeing 737 from Wales to Djibouti in 2016 for the relaunch of Air Djibouti?
Bruce Dickinson
Bruce Dickinson. The Iron Maiden frontman is a qualified airline pilot, and his own firm, Cardiff Aviation, was supplying the airline's technical and management support.
Q 03What is the country of Djibouti named after?
Its capital city
Its capital city. The port came first, founded by the French in the 1880s, and the new republic took its name at independence in 1977.
Q 04Until 1967, what was the French colony that became Djibouti called?
French Somaliland
French Somaliland. After a 1967 vote to stay French, Paris renamed it the French Territory of the Afars and the Issas, partly to play down its Somali ties.
Q 05Which strait beside Djibouti links the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden?
Bab-el-Mandeb
Bab-el-Mandeb. When attacks on shipping made the strait dangerous in late 2023, many ships took the long way around Africa's Cape of Good Hope instead.
Q 06Which camp in Djibouti is the largest US military base in Africa?
Camp Lemonnier
Camp Lemonnier. American forces took over the former French camp in 2002 and use it for counterterrorism missions across the region.
Q 07Which two Asian countries each opened a military base in Djibouti in the 2010s?
Japan and China
Japan and China. Japan came first, in 2011, with its first overseas base since World War II, built to support anti-piracy patrols; China followed with a base of its own in 2017.
Q 08Which country lies closest to Djibouti across the sea, on the far side of the Red Sea's mouth?
Yemen
Yemen. The gap between them is so narrow that shipping between Europe and Asia is funnelled through a strait barely 30 kilometres wide.
Q 09Which lake in Djibouti, 155 metres below sea level, is the lowest point in Africa?
Lake Assal
Lake Assal. Because it lies below the sea, seawater seeps in underground through cracks in the rock from a nearby bay, replacing what the fierce evaporation carries off.
Q 10Lake Abbe, on Djibouti's Ethiopian border, is known for which eerie natural feature?
Limestone chimneys spewing steam
Limestone chimneys spewing steam. They formed where calcium-rich hot springs rising through cracks in the lake bed met the cold lake water.
Q 11Djibouti's two official languages are French and which other?
Arabic
Arabic. It is official alongside French, yet most Djiboutians grow up speaking Somali or Afar instead.
Q 12Which religion does Djibouti's constitution name as the religion of the state?
Islam
Islam. The same opening article that makes it the state religion also promises equality before the law whatever a citizen's faith.
Q 13As of its 2024 census, Djibouti's population holds which distinction?
The smallest in mainland Africa
The smallest in mainland Africa. Djibouti counted just over a million people in 2024, and with little farmland in its hot desert, most of them live in or around the capital.
Q 21Somali and Afar, Djibouti's main home languages, both belong to which branch of the Afroasiatic family?
Cushitic
Cushitic. The two are related but not mutually intelligible, so a Somali speaker and an Afar speaker cannot simply understand each other.
Q 22Since 1973, Djibouti's franc has been fixed at an unchanged rate against which currency?
The US dollar
The US dollar. The link dates from 1949, when France gave the colony its own franc and pegged it to the dollar rather than to the French franc.
Q 23Djibouti's 1990s civil war pitted the government against which rebel front, drawn largely from the Afar?
FRUD
FRUD. The Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy ended the war with a power-sharing deal and took seats in the government it had fought.
Q 14Djibouti lies in which famous African landform?
The Great Rift Valley
The Great Rift Valley. The crust here is slowly being pulled apart, which is why parts of Djibouti have sunk far below sea level.
Q 15The five-pointed red star on Djibouti's flag sits inside a triangle of which colour?
White
White. The design began as the banner of an independence movement and was first raised as the national flag on independence day in 1977.
Q 16On Djibouti's flag, the light blue band represents the sky and sea and also which people?
The Somalis
The Somalis. The band is paired with a green one for the earth and the Afar, so the flag gives the country's two main peoples equal halves.
Q 17Ethiopia relies on Djibouti's port because it lost its own coastline when which country broke away in 1993?
Eritrea
Eritrea. Ethiopia at first kept shipping through Eritrea's port of Assab, but their border war of 1998 closed the frontier and sent its trade through Djibouti instead.
Q 18Djibouti's electric railway, which replaced a century-old French-built line, runs to which capital city?
Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa. The new line cut the trip between Ethiopia's capital and the coast from about three days by road to roughly twelve hours.
Q 19Which French poet, long after giving up poetry, spent much of 1886 in Tadjoura trying to run rifles into Ethiopia?
Arthur Rimbaud
Arthur Rimbaud. An arms ban stalled the shipment, then one partner fell ill and another died, leaving him to take the rifles inland on his own.
Q 20Ismaïl Omar Guelleh, who became Djibouti's president in 1999, is related to his predecessor how?
He is his nephew
He is his nephew. Guelleh spent more than two decades as his uncle's chief of staff and security chief before being handpicked to succeed him.
Q 24In antiquity, Djibouti is thought to have formed part of which land known to the ancient Egyptians?
Punt
Punt. Egyptian fleets sailed there for incense, ebony and gold, and Queen Hatshepsut made the voyage famous by recording it on her temple walls.
Q 25Djibouti sits at a geological tripoint where the African and Somali plates meet which third plate?
Arabian
Arabian. It is drifting away to the northeast, and the stretching crust it leaves behind is why Djibouti is shaken by frequent small earthquakes.
Q 26Which hot wind blows off the inland desert in Djibouti's summer, pushing temperatures into the 40s Celsius?
Khamsin
Khamsin. The name means fifty, for the fifty or so days the wind is said to blow each spring in Egypt.
Q 27Juvenile specimens of which giant fish gather close to shore in Djibouti's Gulf of Tadjoura?
Whale shark
Whale shark. The youngsters come to feed on plankton close inshore, which has made snorkelling beside them one of Djibouti's signature attractions.
Q 28Mousa Ali, the highest point in Djibouti, is what kind of mountain?
A volcano
A volcano. The ground here is still restless: a brand-new volcano, Ardoukoba, burst from the earth in a week-long eruption in 1978.
Q 29Day Forest National Park, high in Djibouti's Goda Mountains, protects an ancient stand of which tree?
Juniper
Juniper. The trees survive because the heights catch far more rain than the desert below, making this the country's largest forest and one of its coolest spots.
Q 30Which plant's fresh leaves do many Djiboutians chew as a mild stimulant?
Khat
Khat. Its stimulant breaks down within days of picking, so the leaves must be chewed fresh, and neighbouring Ethiopia is one of the world's biggest growers and exporters.