Eswatini
0Loading crowd target
0Loading crowd target
6correct to beat the crowd
49 free Eswatini trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
This Eswatini trivia quiz covers the small landlocked kingdom formerly known as Swaziland: how the Swazi people got their name, the British protectorate years, independence in 1968, King Sobhuza II's record 82-year reign, his son Mswati III's absolute rule and the 2018 renaming. It takes in the Reed Dance and the Incwala, the two capitals, the currency pegged to the rand, the Sibebe monolith and Hlane's lions, the sugar economy and the sobering HIV statistics. The first questions suit anyone who noticed the name change on the map; the last ones test people who know how many wives Sobhuza had and what the flag's shield stands for. 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 49 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which anti-apartheid leader's daughters studied at Waterford Kamhlaba, a multiracial school opened in Swaziland in 1963?
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela. His daughters crossed the border to study there while he was in prison; the school had opened to teach black and white pupils side by side, in open defiance of apartheid.
Q 02Eswatini's government is described as the last of what kind in Africa?
An absolute monarchy
An absolute monarchy. Voters still elect most of the lower house, but candidates must stand as individuals because political parties are barred from the ballot.
Q 03Who became King of Eswatini in 1986?
Mswati III
Mswati III. Named crown prince at 15 while still a schoolboy, he went on studying in England during a regency and was crowned six days after his 18th birthday.
Q 04Eswatini is bordered on all sides by South Africa except to the east, where it meets which country?
Mozambique
Mozambique. The border follows the Lebombo ridge, and Eswatini's east-west railway crosses it so that the kingdom's freight can reach the docks at Maputo.
Q 05Eswatini has two capitals: Mbabane, the executive capital, and which legislative capital?
Lobamba
Lobamba. Parliament, the national museum and the royal kraal all sit in or beside this small village, while the government ministries work from Mbabane, a short drive away.
Q 06Which European power administered Swaziland from the early 1900s until its independence in 1968?
Britain
Britain. Its officials long expected to fold the territory into South Africa, and independence was not seriously considered until the 1960s, after the Swazi royal house had resisted being absorbed.
Q 07King Sobhuza II of Swaziland holds what world record?
Longest verifiable reign of any monarch
Longest verifiable reign of any monarch: he inherited the throne at four months old in 1899 and kept it until his death in 1982, a span of more than 82 years.
Q 08Who was chosen to succeed Swaziland's King Sobhuza II?
A young son
A young son. The royal council made the choice after the old king died in 1982, and the teenage prince it picked stayed at school while a regent ruled in his place.
Q 09Eswatini and the Swazi people take their name from which 19th-century king?
Mswati II
Mswati II. His regiments raided far to the north and drew many conquered peoples into one enlarged nation, which outsiders then came to call by his name.
Q 10The annual Umhlanga ceremony held in late August or early September is better known in English as what?
The Reed Dance
The Reed Dance. Up to 40,000 unmarried girls cut tall reeds and carry them to the royal residence, officially to mend its windbreak, before dancing for the royal family.
Q 11Often called the 'first fruits' festival, Eswatini's Incwala is more accurately translated as what?
Kingship Ceremony
Kingship Ceremony. Tasting the season's first fruits is only one part of a long rite of cleansing and renewal built around the king, and much of it is kept secret from outsiders.
Q 12In Eswatini, the Ndlovukati traditionally reigns alongside the king; who is she?
The Queen Mother
The Queen Mother. Her title means 'She-Elephant', and tradition casts her as a counterweight to the throne: she is the nation's spiritual head and rules as regent when there is no king.
Q 13Eswatini's currency, the lilangeni, is pegged one-to-one to which currency?
South African rand
Q 21Eswatini is the second-smallest country on the African mainland; which one is smaller still?
The Gambia
The Gambia. It is a ribbon of land along a single river, under 50 km across at its widest, which leaves Eswatini as the mainland's runner-up, just ahead of Djibouti.
Q 22Eswatini's only Winter Olympics team, at Albertville in 1992, consisted of one athlete in which sport?
Alpine skiing
Alpine skiing. Keith Fraser carried the subtropical kingdom's flag alone, racing the slalom, giant slalom and super-G; his best finish was 63rd in the giant slalom.
Q 23Which pair of products has long led Eswatini's export earnings?
Sugar and soft-drink concentrate
South African rand. Rand notes are accepted across Eswatini alongside the lilangeni, and the one-to-one peg means the kingdom's monetary policy is in effect set by its big neighbour.
Q 14As of 2026, Eswatini is the only African country that keeps full diplomatic ties with which government?
Taiwan
Taiwan. Burkina Faso switched to Beijing in 2018, leaving the kingdom as Taipei's last African ally, and Taiwan's presidents still fly in on state visits despite Chinese pressure.
Q 15As of 2019, Eswatini had the world's highest prevalence of which disease among 15-49-year-olds?
HIV
HIV. More than one in four adults carried the virus, which left thousands of children orphaned, though by 2022 the country was making considerable progress in bringing the epidemic under control.
Q 16After breaking his own 2001 chastity decree by taking a 17-year-old bride, Swaziland's king fined himself what?
A cow
A cow. One animal was the customary penalty for breaking the rite, under which girls wore woollen tassels as a pledge of chastity; the unpopular ban was dropped a year early.
Q 17On 12 April 1973, King Sobhuza II of Swaziland did what?
Annulled the constitution and took supreme power
Annulled the constitution and took supreme power: the king scrapped the charter adopted at independence, banned organised opposition and ruled by decree for the rest of his life.
Q 18On Eswatini's flag, what does the shield's black-and-white colouring represent?
Racial harmony
Racial harmony. The two colours stand for black and white people living together in peace, a message first flown in 1967 while apartheid was being enforced just across the border.
Q 19On Eswatini's flag, what does the red band stand for?
Past battles
Past battles. The king based the design on a banner he gave Swazi soldiers in 1941 to remind them of their warrior traditions, and set the red between blue bands that stand for peace.
Q 20Sibebe Rock, near Mbabane, is billed as the world's second-largest what?
Monolith
Monolith. Only Australia's Uluru is ranked ahead of the bare granite dome, and the best way to see it is on foot: thousands of walkers climb its face each year.
Sugar and soft-drink concentrate. Preferential access to European markets made cane the great cash crop, while the concentrate trade grew out of a large American investment in the 1980s.
Q 24During apartheid, South African weekenders poured into Swaziland for which pastime?
Casino gambling
Casino gambling. It was banned across the border, so when a spa hotel with a casino opened in the Ezulwini Valley in the 1960s, the weekend crowds turned the valley into the kingdom's main tourist strip.
Q 25Mkhaya Game Reserve in Eswatini is best known for letting visitors track which endangered animals on foot?
Rhinos
Rhinos. Both black and white rhinos live at Mkhaya, which began in 1979 as a refuge for the country's last indigenous cattle and only later grew into a sanctuary for endangered wildlife.
Q 26Ezulwini, the valley that holds Eswatini's legislative capital and its main tourist strip, is known to visitors by what name?
Valley of Heaven
Valley of Heaven. The siSwati name means 'place of heaven', and the tourist trade took it at its word: the kingdom's resort industry began here in the 1960s with a spa hotel beside natural hot springs.
Q 27Which Eswatini city, formerly called Bremersdorp, is the country's main commercial and transport centre?
Manzini
Manzini. As Bremersdorp it was the colonial headquarters until it was razed in 1902; the administration moved to Mbabane, and the rebuilt town made its living from trade instead.
Q 28A convention of 1881 recognised Swazi independence even as which wider upheaval was beginning?
The Scramble for Africa
The Scramble for Africa. The guarantee was repeated in 1884 and still did not hold: by 1894 the kingdom had been placed under the protection of the neighbouring Boer republic.
Q 29King Ngwane V died in December 1899 during the Incwala, shortly after the outbreak of which war?
Second Boer War
Second Boer War. The kingdom had been a protectorate of the Boer republic next door since 1894, so the Boers' defeat in 1902 handed its administration to the victors.
Q 30Besides siSwati, which language is official in Eswatini and used for most government business?
English
English. It is the working language of government, schools and the press, even though almost every Swazi grows up speaking siSwati at home.