Q 01/05

How is the name Kiribati pronounced?

A) Kirr-i-batch

B) Kirr-i-bah-tee

C) Kirr-i-bass

D) Kee-ree-bah-tee

Answer · why

C) Kirr-i-bass

In Gilbertese the letters -ti stand for an [s] sound, so Kiritimati is pronounced "Christmas".

Q 02/05

The name Kiribati is the local-language rendering of which English word?

A) Gilberts

B) Kingsmill

C) Christmas

D) Equator

Answer · why

A) Gilberts

The archipelago was named for British captain Thomas Gilbert, who sighted some of the islands in 1788.

Q 03/05

Kiribati comprises 32 atolls plus one remote raised coral island called what?

A) Malden

B) Nauru

C) Banaba

D) Kanton

Answer · why

C) Banaba

Formerly Ocean Island, it was mined for phosphate until the deposits ran out before independence.

Q 04/05

What is Kiribati's highest point, found on its one raised island?

A) 81 m

B) 27 m

C) 3 m

D) 55 m

Answer · why

A) 81 m

Everywhere else the country is low-lying atoll, which is why sea-level rise is an existential threat.

Q 05/05

Kiribati's islands are spread over roughly how much ocean?

A) 500,000 km2

B) 1.2 million km2

C) 3.4 million km2

D) 2.5 million km2

Answer · why

C) 3.4 million km2

The land itself totals just 811 km2, and the country straddles both the equator and the 180th meridian.