Q 01/05

Sri Lanka lies just off the southern tip of which country?

A) Indonesia

B) India

C) Thailand

D) Pakistan

Answer · why

B) India

India. The limestone shoals of Adam's Bridge almost join the two countries, and records suggest people could cross on foot until a storm breached it i...

Q 02/05

Which city is Sri Lanka's executive and judicial capital, and its largest city?

A) Negombo

B) Colombo

C) Kandy

D) Galle

Answer · why

B) Colombo

Colombo. It grew up around a harbour that is largely man-made, built out in the colonial era, and that port still handles most of the country's foreig...

Q 03/05

Sri Lanka's parliament sits in which city, its legislative capital?

A) Negombo

B) Trincomalee

C) Matara

D) Kotte

Answer · why

D) Kotte

Kotte, in full Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte. Parliament moved there in 1982, into a Geoffrey Bawa building set on an island in a lake, on the site of a 1...

Q 04/05

Which strait separates Sri Lanka from the subcontinent to its north-west?

A) Palk

B) Sunda

C) Malacca

D) Hormuz

Answer · why

A) Palk

The Palk Strait is so shallow and reef-strewn that large ships cannot use it and have to sail the long way around Sri Lanka instead.

Q 05/05

From 1948 to 1972, Sri Lanka held which status under the British monarch?

A) Dominion

B) Protectorate

C) Crown colony

D) Mandate

Answer · why

A) Dominion

Dominion. Like Canada and New Zealand, Ceylon governed itself but kept the Crown, represented by a governor-general, until the 1972 constitution made ...