Q 01/05

Which country, whose own name means 'sun origin', is nicknamed the Land of the Rising Sun?

A) Indonesia

B) Japan

C) Malaysia

D) Kiribati

Answer · why

B) Japan

Japan calls itself Nihon or Nippon, and its flag, known at home as the Hinomaru or 'circle of the sun', carries the same idea as a single sun disc.

Q 02/05

Which gemstone gives Ireland its best-known nickname, an image traced to a 1795 poem by William Drennan?

A) Sapphire

B) Jade

C) Emerald

D) Opal

Answer · why

C) Emerald

The Emerald Isle owes its name to lush vegetation, a product of Ireland's mild climate and frequent rainfall.

Q 03/05

Which country is nicknamed lo Stivale, 'the Boot', because of the shape of the peninsula it occupies?

A) Spain

B) Portugal

C) Croatia

D) Italy

Answer · why

D) Italy

Italy's boot even has named parts: Calabria is the Toe, Salento is the Heel and Gargano is the Spur.

Q 04/05

Which country is nicknamed Oz and, after the ironic title of a 1964 book by Donald Horne, the Lucky Country?

A) Australia

B) New Zealand

C) Ireland

D) Scotland

Answer · why

A) Australia

Australia took the title as a compliment, but Horne meant it as a rebuke: he argued the nation had prospered on luck rather than on the strength of it...

Q 05/05

Which country did Archbishop Desmond Tutu call the Rainbow Nation after its first democratic election in 1994?

A) Mozambique

B) Sierra Leone

C) South Africa

D) Namibia

Answer · why

C) South Africa

South Africa's rainbow image grew out of Tutu's televised talk of the 'Rainbow People of God', his picture of a country united after apartheid.