Q 01/05

Somalia sits at the tip of which peninsula?

A) The Horn of Africa

B) The Arabian Peninsula

C) The Sinai Peninsula

D) The Cape Peninsula

Answer · why

A) The Horn of Africa

The Horn of Africa is named for its shape: the peninsula juts east from the continent like a horn, with Somalia's Cape Guardafui at its apex.

Q 02/05

Somalia's coastline holds what distinction in Africa?

A) Only one on two oceans

B) Shortest on the mainland

C) Longest on the mainland

D) Only one on the Red Sea

Answer · why

C) Longest on the mainland

Longest on the mainland: after the state collapsed in 1991, foreign trawlers fished its unguarded waters, and local fishermen armed themselves to boar...

Q 03/05

Which small country borders Somalia to the north-west?

A) Burundi

B) Djibouti

C) Eritrea

D) Rwanda

Answer · why

B) Djibouti

Djibouti rejected independence from France in referendums in 1958 and 1967, then voted for it by a landslide in 1977.

Q 04/05

Under traditional Somali clan law, compensation for a killing was counted mainly in which animal?

A) Camels

B) Goats

C) Horses

D) Donkeys

Answer · why

A) Camels

Camels were owed by the killer's whole clan group to the victim's clan, a shared cost meant to discourage violence and encourage peaceful settlement.

Q 05/05

What was Somalia called when its two territories united in 1960?

A) Somali Republic

B) Somali Democratic Republic

C) Federal Republic of Somalia

D) Somali Federation

Answer · why

A) Somali Republic

The Somali Republic lasted until the 1969 coup, whose leaders dissolved parliament, suspended the constitution and renamed it the Somali Democratic Re...