Q 01/05

Which country, the smallest in Asia, is also the lowest-lying in the world?

A) Bahrain

B) Bangladesh

C) Maldives

D) Brunei

Answer · why

C) Maldives

The Maldives is a chain of coral islands, more than 80 per cent of which rise less than one metre above sea level, and its highest natural point is on...

Q 02/05

Which Siberian lake, the deepest on Earth, holds over a fifth of the world's fresh surface water?

A) Baikal

B) Issyk-Kul

C) Khövsgöl

D) Taymyr

Answer · why

A) Baikal

Baikal is 1,642 metres deep and 25–30 million years old, and it contains more water than all of the North American Great Lakes combined.

Q 03/05

Which salt lake between Jordan and Israel has shores that are the lowest land on Earth?

A) Sea of Galilee

B) Dead Sea

C) Lake Van

D) Lake Urmia

Answer · why

B) Dead Sea

The Dead Sea lies more than 430 metres below sea level and is 9.6 times as salty as the ocean, dense enough that swimming there feels like floating.

Q 04/05

Which peak on the China–Nepal border is called Sagarmatha in Nepali and Chomolungma in Tibetan?

A) Cho Oyu

B) Annapurna

C) Lhotse

D) Everest

Answer · why

D) Everest

Everest was named in 1865 after Sir George Everest, a surveyor who opposed the honour and said his name could not even be written in Hindi.

Q 05/05

Which landlocked country with a strong horse culture is the most sparsely populated sovereign state?

A) Mongolia

B) Kyrgyzstan

C) Tajikistan

D) Afghanistan

Answer · why

A) Mongolia

Mongolia has only about 3.5 million people spread across 1.56 million square km, and roughly 30% of them are nomadic or semi-nomadic.