Q 01/05

Which country, the world's largest with no ocean coast, lies north-east of Azerbaijan across the Caspian?

A) Turkmenistan

B) Kazakhstan

C) Uzbekistan

D) Mongolia

Answer · why

B) Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan lies across the water and shares no land border with Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan counts as landlocked too, despite its long shore, because the C...

Q 02/05

Which medieval traveller described an oil spring, usually taken to be near Baku, that could fill a hundred ships?

A) Ibn Battuta

B) Zheng He

C) Marco Polo

D) Vasco da Gama

Answer · why

C) Marco Polo

Marco Polo called the oil no good to eat but good to burn, and wrote that people came from vast distances to fetch it, because the countries all aroun...

Q 03/05

Only two national capitals lie below sea level: Baku, the lowest of all, and which European city?

A) Copenhagen

B) Brussels

C) Amsterdam

D) Helsinki

Answer · why

C) Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the only other one, and Baku lies far lower: the Caspian on whose shore it stands is an inland lake, and its surface sits more than 25 me...

Q 04/05

The khazri from the north and the gilavar from the south give Baku which nickname?

A) City of Caravans

B) City of Winds

C) City of Currents

D) City of Rains

Answer · why

B) City of Winds

City of Winds: the khazri is cold and the gilavar warm, and between them they blow all year. The name Baku itself is popularly traced to an old phrase...

Q 05/05

Nearly half of all the mud volcanoes on Earth are concentrated in which country?

A) Indonesia

B) Italy

C) Trinidad and Tobago

D) Azerbaijan

Answer · why

D) Azerbaijan

They were even nominated for the New 7 Wonders of Nature; some eruptions have thrown flames hundreds of metres high.