Q 01/05

How many countries have a coastline on the Black Sea?

A) Six

B) Four

C) Eight

D) Ten

Answer · why

A) Six

Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine share the shore, but the drainage basin takes in parts of 24 countries.

Q 02/05

Which strait connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara?

A) The Dardanelles

B) The Bosporus

C) The Kerch Strait

D) The Strait of Otranto

Answer · why

B) The Bosporus

From Marmara the Dardanelles lead on to the Aegean; together the two are the Turkish Straits.

Q 03/05

The strait through Istanbul holds which distinction among the world's straits?

A) The narrowest for shipping

B) The longest in Asia

C) The busiest by tonnage

D) The deepest in Europe

Answer · why

A) The narrowest for shipping

Istanbul's 17 million people spread inland from both banks of it.

Q 04/05

Istanbul's strait has a name meaning cattle passage, after the myth of which woman turned into a cow?

A) Europa

B) Io

C) Callisto

D) Daphne

Answer · why

B) Io

She supposedly came ashore near present-day Uskudar, which was named Bous, the Cow.

Q 05/05

The Kerch Strait links the Black Sea to which smaller sea?

A) The Sea of Marmara

B) The Caspian Sea

C) The Aral Sea

D) The Sea of Azov

Answer · why

D) The Sea of Azov

The strait is only 3.1 km across at its narrowest and was known in antiquity as the Cimmerian Bosporus.