Q 01/05

The Mediterranean Sea lies between which three continents?

A) Europe, Africa and South America

B) Europe, Asia and North America

C) Europe, Asia and Africa

D) Asia, Africa and Australia

Answer · why

C) Europe, Asia and Africa

It is almost completely enclosed by land, with the Levant to the east, Anatolia and Southern Europe to the north and North Africa to the south.

Q 02/05

How wide is the Strait of Gibraltar at its narrowest, where it separates Spain from Morocco?

A) 40 km

B) 90 km

C) 5 km

D) 14 km

Answer · why

D) 14 km

The strait is the sea's only natural link to the Atlantic, and the ancients called its flanking rocks the Pillars of Hercules.

Q 03/05

The Mediterranean connects to the Black Sea through which strait?

A) Bosporus

B) Dardanelles

C) Strait of Messina

D) Strait of Sicily

Answer · why

A) Bosporus

The Dardanelles lead into the Sea of Marmara first; the Bosporus then cuts through Istanbul into the Black Sea.

Q 04/05

Roughly what share of the global ocean surface does the Mediterranean cover?

A) 12%

B) 0.7%

C) 3%

D) 7%

Answer · why

B) 0.7%

That is about 2.5 million square kilometres, split among fifteen marginal seas.

Q 05/05

What does 'Mediterranean' literally mean in Latin?

A) Sea of many peoples

B) In the middle of land

C) Between the tides

D) Warm water

Answer · why

B) In the middle of land

The word combines medius (middle) and terra (land), a calque of the Greek mesogeios.