How many continents are there, by the usual count?
Seven — though the count differs by country.
Geography
Countries and capitals, oceans and rivers, mountains and cities — the shape of the world and where things sit upon it.
244 questions · tap a question to reveal the answer
What do you call the line where the sky appears to meet the sea?
The horizon — and how far away it is depends on your height.
Which is the largest ocean?
The Pacific — bigger than all the land on Earth put together.
Which animal has the thickest fur of any mammal?
The sea otter — up to a million hairs per square inch, and no blubber.
Which country has the most time zones?
France — twelve, once its overseas territories are counted.
Which is the driest desert on Earth?
The Atacama — parts of it have no recorded rainfall.
Which is the longest river in the world?
The Nile — on the usual measurement - though it is argued about.
Which sea is the saltiest, so salty that people float?
The Dead Sea — nearly ten times saltier than the ocean.
What is the tallest mountain above sea level?
Everest — though measured from its base, Mauna Kea is taller.
Which is the only continent with no permanent human residents?
Antarctica — only rotating crews at research stations.
Which country is home to the kiwi bird?
New Zealand — flightless, and it lays an enormous egg.
Which sea creature has eight arms and can change colour?
The octopus — and it is thought to be colourblind.
Which is the smallest country in the world?
Vatican City — about 0.44 square kilometres.
In which city is the Eiffel Tower?
Paris — built for the 1889 World's Fair.
Which country is famous for the kangaroo?
Australia
In which country would you find the pyramids of Giza?
Egypt — near Cairo.
What is the capital of England?
London
Which country is shaped like a boot?
Italy
What is the capital of France?
Paris
Which desert animal stores fat in its hump?
Camel — fat, not water, in the hump.
What is the largest country in the world by area?
Russia — spanning eleven time zones.
What is the coldest continent?
Antarctica — records below minus 80 Celsius.
Which country is famous for sushi?
Japan
Which country has the maple leaf on its flag?
Canada
What is the top of a mountain called?
The summit — or peak.
What is the name of the pirate flag with skull and crossbones?
Jolly Roger
Which is the highest capital city in Europe?
Andorra la Vella — at around 1,000 metres.
What do the very largest ocean animals eat?
Tiny drifting plankton — Krill and plankton - the biggest animals eat the smallest.
Which continent lies entirely in the southern hemisphere?
Antarctica — Africa and South America both straddle the equator.
Which ocean is still getting wider?
The Atlantic — a few centimetres a year, while the Pacific shrinks.
Why do island birds so often lose the ability to fly?
There is nothing to escape from — Flight is expensive, and with no ground predators it is dropped.
Which country gave the Statue of Liberty to the USA?
France — in 1886.
Which eruption was heard furthest away?
Krakatoa — in 1883 - heard 4,800 km away in Australia.
Which sea has no coastline at all?
The Sargasso Sea — The Sargasso - bounded by currents rather than land.
Which sea creature can reverse its own ageing?
A jellyfish — Turritopsis - it can revert to its juvenile form and begin again.
Why was Washington DC built where it is?
As a compromise between north and south — A deal - the south got the capital, the north got its debts assumed.
Which city has a country inside it?
Rome — the Vatican sits entirely within it.
Which country sits astride a mid-ocean ridge?
Iceland — it is being pulled apart down the middle.
Which butterfly migrates across a continent over generations?
The monarch — no single butterfly makes the whole round trip.
Which country drinks the most coffee per person?
Finland — roughly twice the Italian figure.
Which giant lizard shares its name with an island in Indonesia?
Komodo dragon
Why is the sea salty when the rivers feeding it are not?
Rivers carry a little salt in, and only water leaves — Only water evaporates, so the salt stays behind and builds up.
Why does a river meander instead of running straight?
A slight bend erodes its outer edge and deepens — Any small curve amplifies itself - and eventually cuts itself off.
What was Tokyo called before 1868?
Edo — renamed 'eastern capital' when the emperor moved there.
What is the largest desert in the world?
Antarctica — deserts are defined by dryness.
What is the currency of the United Kingdom?
Pound sterling
Which continent is the Amazon rainforest in?
South America — mostly in Brazil.
What is the tallest mountain on Earth above sea level?
Mount Everest — 8,849 metres.
In which country is the Great Wall?
China — over 21,000 km including branches.
Which sea separates Europe from Africa?
The Mediterranean — Sea.
Which explorer is credited with reaching America in 1492?
Christopher Columbus
Which country hosts the running of the bulls in Pamplona?
Spain — every July.
Which city was Russia's capital for 200 years before Moscow?
St Petersburg — Peter the Great built it to face Europe.
Which is the longest river in South America?
The Amazon
Why is Ottawa the Canadian capital rather than Toronto?
Queen Victoria chose it as a compromise — A compromise between English and French Canada - and further from the US border.
Which African animal is known as the river horse?
Hippopotamus — Greek for river horse.
What is the largest lake in Africa?
Lake Victoria — source of the White Nile.
Which country has the most people?
India — which passed China in 2023.
Which ship carried the Pilgrims to America in 1620?
Mayflower
In which city is the Colosseum?
Rome — finished around 80 AD.
What is the world's largest island?
Greenland — Australia counts as a continent.
Who is the Greek god of the sea?
Poseidon — with his trident.
Why was Canberra built from nothing in 1913?
Sydney and Melbourne could not agree — Neither city would let the other have it, so a new one was designed.
What is the boiling point of water at sea level in Celsius?
100 — degrees Celsius.
What are the Andes?
A mountain range — along South America's west coast.
Which sea animal has a horn like a unicorn?
Narwhal — the horn is a long tooth.
Which country has used the same currency name longest?
Britain — The pound - in continuous use since Anglo-Saxon times.
What does the name Beijing mean?
Northern capital — Nanjing is the southern one.
Which country is home to the Taj Mahal?
India — in Agra.
What is the driest hot desert in the world?
The Atacama — in Chile — some spots see no rain for years.
What is Mexico City built on top of?
A drained lake — Lake Texcoco - which is why the city is sinking, fast.
Which country invented paper?
China — around 100 AD in the Han dynasty.
Which river flows through Paris?
The Seine — crossed by 37 bridges in the city.
Which country has no permanent citizens by birth?
Vatican City — citizenship goes with the job and ends with it.
In which sport is the Ryder Cup contested?
Golf — Europe versus the USA.
What is the currency of Japan?
Yen
Which is the only continent crossed by all lines of longitude?
Antarctica — every meridian passes through it.
Why is the Dead Sea disappearing?
Its river is taken upstream — The Jordan is diverted before it arrives - the shore has dropped 30m.
Which mountain range separates Europe and Asia?
The Urals — The Ural Mountains.
Which country has a red circle on a white flag?
Japan — the circle is the rising sun.
Which city hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896?
Athens — honoring the ancient games.
What is the capital of Ireland?
Dublin
Which country do the Alps NOT touch?
Spain — its range is the Pyrenees.
Which country rebuilt from poorer than Ghana to a top-15 economy?
South Korea — in a single lifetime, from the ruins of 1953.
In which country did the Olympic Games originate?
Greece — at Olympia around 776 BC.
Which is the deepest ocean trench?
The Mariana Trench — nearly 11 km down.
Why did Switzerland stay out of both world wars?
Armed neutrality since 1815 — Neutrality backed by conscription and a fortified mountain redoubt.
Which country is both in Europe and Asia?
Turkey — Istanbul spans both continents.
Which African country was formerly called Abyssinia?
Ethiopia
What is the capital of Argentina?
Buenos Aires
Which country has the most natural lakes?
Canada — over half the world's lakes.
Why is the Netherlands so flat and so wet?
A quarter of it is reclaimed seabed — About a quarter sits below sea level, kept dry by pumps.
Which country's flag features a white cross on red?
Switzerland
What is the capital of Austria?
Vienna
What is the largest rodent in the world?
Capybara — of South America.
Which country prints banknotes in the most languages?
India — the rupee note carries seventeen.
Which US city is famous for jazz and Mardi Gras?
New Orleans
Which ocean lies between Africa and Australia?
The Indian Ocean
Which country produces the most coffee?
Brazil — by a wide margin.
Which African river flows through Victoria Falls?
The Zambezi
Which mountain is the tallest in Africa?
Kilimanjaro — 5,895 metres.
What is the deepest lake in the world?
Lake Baikal — in Siberia — over 1,600 metres.
Why did Turkey move its capital to Ankara in 1923?
To break with the Ottoman past — Inland, defensible, and deliberately not the imperial city.
Which country is home to the Serengeti?
Tanzania
Which sea creature can regrow lost arms?
Starfish
Which country was the first to give women the vote, in 1893?
New Zealand
Which country in Southeast Asia was never colonised?
Thailand — it played France and Britain against each other.
Which is the longest mountain range on land?
The Andes — about 7,000 km.
Which city was buried by Vesuvius in 79 AD?
Pompeii — preserved under the ash.
Which strait separates Europe from Africa at its narrowest?
Gibraltar — The Strait of Gibraltar — 13 km.
Which country's parliament is called the Bundestag?
Germany
Which continent has no rivers that reach the sea year-round?
Australia — the driest inhabited continent, and most of it drains inward.
Which country hosted the 2016 Summer Olympics?
Brazil — Rio de Janeiro.
What is the largest island in the Mediterranean?
Sicily
What is the longest river in Europe?
The Volga — in Russia.
What is the world's busiest ocean for shipping?
The Atlantic — historically the busiest lanes.
Which treaty still controls warship transit to the Black Sea?
The Montreux Convention — A 1936 treaty giving Turkey control - still doing real work today.
What is the largest hot desert in the world?
The Sahara — about the size of the USA.
Which country pioneered paying by mobile phone?
Kenya — M-Pesa, from 2007 - banking reached people banks never did.
What is the smallest ocean?
The Arctic — Ocean.
Which two countries share the longest international border?
USA and Canada — nearly 8,900 km.
Which is the highest mountain in the Alps?
Mont Blanc — 4,808 metres.
What is the largest frog in the world?
The Goliath frog — of West Africa.
Which country's flag is the only non-rectangular national flag?
Nepal — two stacked triangles.
Which two cities were joined to make Budapest?
Buda and Pest — Buda on the hills, Pest on the plain - merged in 1873.
Which sea lies between Australia and New Zealand?
The Tasman Sea — nicknamed the Ditch.
Which country runs the world's oldest continuous monarchy in Europe?
Denmark — the line runs back to Gorm the Old in the 900s.
Which novel opens 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times'?
A Tale of Two Cities — Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities.
What is the world's largest archipelago nation?
Indonesia — over 17,000 islands.
Which African country has Portuguese as its official language?
Mozambique — Angola too.
Which is the only Great Lake entirely within the USA?
Lake Michigan
Which city hosted the 1936 Olympics under Nazi rule?
Berlin — where Jesse Owens won four golds.
Which river forms much of the border between the USA and Mexico?
The Rio Grande
Why is Chile such a strange shape?
The Andes fixed its eastern limit — 4,300 km long and 180 wide, pinned between mountains and ocean.
Which country's revolution of 1917 ended tsarist rule?
Russia — the Romanovs fell.
Which desert covers much of Mongolia and northern China?
The Gobi — Desert.
Which country unified under Bismarck in 1871?
Germany — proclaimed at Versailles.
Which city gave its name to a leather, and to a colour?
Fez — fez leather, and the hat dyed with local crimson berries.
Which African capital sits at the confluence of the White and Blue Nile?
Khartoum — Sudan.
Which country is closest to being cashless?
Sweden — many shops refuse cash outright, which is now a policy worry.
What is the highest mountain in North America?
Denali — in Alaska, 6,190 metres.
Which city was the first capital of the United States?
New York — Washington took the oath there.
What is the capital of New Zealand?
Wellington — not Auckland.
What is the largest country in South America?
Brazil — nearly half the continent.
Which city's harbor holds the statue of the Little Mermaid?
Copenhagen — honoring Hans Christian Andersen.
What is the Great Wall mostly built from away from Beijing?
Rammed earth and reeds — The brick and stone stretch is Ming; the desert sections are packed earth.
Which country's kings were crowned at Reims cathedral?
France — for a thousand years.
What is the largest owl species?
Blakiston's fish owl — of East Asia.
Which capital city has changed its name most often recently?
Astana — Akmola, Astana, Nur-Sultan, then Astana again - four names since 1997.
Why can nobody agree which river is longest?
Where a river starts is a choice — Push the Amazon's source further into the Andes and it beats the Nile.
Which country's parliament meets in the Storting?
Norway
Which African lake is shared by three countries and holds the most fish species?
Lake Malawi — hundreds of cichlid species.
Which country has the highest share of renewable electricity in the Americas?
Uruguay — went from oil dependence to near-total renewables in a decade.
What is the world's saltiest sea open to the ocean?
The Red Sea — hot and nearly enclosed.
Which is the only country with a coastline on both the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf?
Saudi Arabia
Which country has three capital cities?
South Africa — Pretoria, Cape Town, Bloemfontein.
Which sea battle of 480 BC saved ancient Greece from Persia?
Salamis — the Persian fleet was crushed.
Which desert did the ancient Silk Road skirt around?
The Taklamakan — its name warns 'no return'.
Which modern country contains ancient Mesopotamia?
Iraq — the land between the rivers.
What is the fastest ocean current in the world?
The Gulf Stream
Which is the only continent with land in all four hemispheres?
Africa — it straddles both the equator and prime meridian.
What is the capital of Ethiopia?
Addis Ababa — 'new flower' in Amharic.
Which mountain range contains K2?
The Karakoram — K is for the range.
Which Viking explorer reached North America around 1000 AD?
Leif Erikson — at Vinland.
Which country suffered the worst hyperinflation ever recorded?
Hungary — in 1946 - prices doubled roughly every 15 hours.
What does the name Istanbul appear to come from?
A Greek phrase meaning 'to the city' — eis tin polin - people simply said they were going to the city.
Which island nation lies closest to the north of Madagascar?
Comoros — islands.
Which country's islands include Hokkaido and Kyushu?
Japan
Which lake is the world's largest by area (saltwater counted)?
The Caspian Sea
Why does it almost never rain in Lima?
A cold current kills the rainfall — The Humboldt Current - a capital city in a desert, permanently overcast.
Which empire's roads were traveled by chasqui runners?
The Inca — relay messengers on mountain roads.
Which sea creature has the largest eyes in the animal kingdom?
The colossal squid — eyes like dinner plates.
Which country's history includes the Meiji Restoration?
Japan — modernizing from 1868.
Which mountain is sacred in Japan and last erupted in 1707?
Mount Fuji
Which country recovered fastest from communist central planning?
Poland — the only EU economy that did not shrink in 2009.
Which civilization built the city of Teotihuacan's great pyramids' region later found by the Aztecs?
The Teotihuacanos — The Teotihuacan culture — the Aztecs found it in ruins.
Which country's old royal capital was Luang Prabang?
Laos
Which sea separates Papua New Guinea from Australia?
The Coral Sea — on the northeast.
Which city did the Hanseatic League call its leading member?
Lubeck — queen of the Hansa.
Which country's WWII resistance smuggled nearly all its Jews to Sweden?
Denmark — in October 1943.
Which African river's mouth did the Portuguese name 'mighty' — the Zaire?
The Congo — deepest river in the world.
Which naval battle of 1805 established British sea power for a century?
Trafalgar — Nelson died winning it.
Which country's civil war of 1936-39 preceded WWII?
Spain — Franco's side won.
Which strait did Ferdinand Magellan navigate at South America's tip?
The Strait of Magellan — The strait later named for him, 1520.
Who wrote Wide Sargasso Sea, the prequel to Jane Eyre?
Jean Rhys — in 1966.
Which country's fjord Sognefjorden is Europe's longest?
Norway — over 200 km inland.
Which sea's name comes from the Greek for 'inhospitable', later renamed 'hospitable'?
The Black Sea — Pontos Euxeinos.
Which mountain in Turkey is linked by legend to Noah's Ark?
Mount Ararat — Ararat, 5,137 metres.
Which city was the capital of the Aztec empire?
Tenochtitlan — now Mexico City.
Which country's Terracotta Army guards Qin Shi Huang's tomb?
China — about 8,000 clay soldiers.
Which pact of 1939 secretly divided Eastern Europe?
The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact — The Nazi-Soviet pact, August 1939.
What is unusual about the seaweed in the Sargasso Sea?
It never attaches to anything — Sargassum lives its whole life adrift, and a whole ecosystem lives in it.
Which city hosts the oldest continuously running film festival?
Venice — since 1932.
Which battle of 732 halted the Umayyad advance into Europe?
Tours — The Battle of Tours — Charles Martel's victory.
Which country's ancient name was Hellas?
Greece — Hellenes to this day.
Which city was the capital of the Achaemenid Persian Empire's ceremonies?
Persepolis — burned by Alexander.
Which sea did the ancient Romans call Mare Nostrum?
The Mediterranean — 'our sea'.
Which Chinese admiral led treasure fleets across the Indian Ocean in the 1400s?
Zheng He — ships far larger than Columbus's.
Which strait's name means 'gate of tears' in Arabic?
Bab-el-Mandeb — at the Red Sea's mouth.
Which pre-Columbian civilization invented a zero before Europe used it widely?
The Maya — in their calendar math.
Which German city was rebuilt around the Frauenkirche after 1945's firestorm?
Dresden — the church was rebuilt by 2005.
Which sea peoples' invasion helped end the Bronze Age around 1200 BC?
The Sea Peoples — The mysterious Sea Peoples.
What did Baghdad's translators do to Greek philosophy?
Preserved and extended it — Much of Aristotle reached Europe via Arabic translations and commentary.
Which ancient Greek city-state's council was the Gerousia?
Sparta — its council of elders.
What was wrong with the line drawn at Tordesillas?
Nobody could measure longitude — Longitude was unmeasurable at sea for another 250 years.
Which desert's 'singing dunes' span Namibia's coast?
The Namib — the world's oldest desert.
Which island did the dodo call home?
Mauritius — extinct by 1681.
Why is London milder than Newfoundland at the same latitude?
Ocean heat carried north — The Atlantic circulation delivers heat that the western Atlantic does not get.
Which deep-sea fish lures prey with a glowing rod?
The anglerfish — bioluminescent bait.
Which country's Chernozem 'black earth' is Europe's richest soil?
Ukraine — the breadbasket belt.
Which Hittite capital's archives preserved Bronze Age diplomacy?
Hattusa — in modern Turkey.
Which sea snail's venom is used in pain medication?
The cone snail — ziconotide.
Which US purchase of 1803 doubled the nation's size?
The Louisiana Purchase — Louisiana, bought from Napoleon.
Which is the deepest river gorge on Earth by some measures?
The Yarlung Tsangpo — in Tibet.
Which sea was crossed by the Polynesian voyagers to settle Hawaii?
The central Pacific — The open Pacific, navigating by stars and swells.
Whose seafloor-spreading hypothesis of 1962 underpinned plate tectonics?
Harry Hess — Hess — the ocean floor is a conveyor belt.
Which Sumerian city gave us the earliest known written epic hero?
Uruk — Gilgamesh was its legendary king.
Uruk, the archeological site known today as Warka, was an ancient city in the Near East or West Asia, located east of the current bed of the Euphrates River, on an ancient, now-dried channel of the river in Muthanna Governorate, Iraq. The site lies 93 kilometers northwest of ancient Ur, 108 kilometers southeast of ancient Nippur, and 24…
Wikipedia · UrukWhich is the only country whose flag differs on each side?
Paraguay — seal on one side, lion on the other.
Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country located in the central region of South America. It borders Bolivia to the northwest and north, Brazil to the northeast and east, and Argentina to the southeast, south, and west. Paraguay has access to the Atlantic Ocean via the Paraná–Paraguay Waterway. The country is…
Wikipedia · ParaguayWhich fish species migrates from European rivers to the Sargasso Sea to spawn?
The European eel — a lifelong mystery.
The European eel is a species of eel. Their life history was a mystery for thousands of years, and mating in the wild has not yet been observed. The five stages of their development were originally thought to be different species. They are critically endangered due to hydroelectric dams, overfishing by fisheries on coasts for human…
Wikipedia · European eelThe WASP ferry pilots of WWII served which country?
The United States — The USA — the Women Airforce Service Pilots.
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic consisting of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous states border Canada to the north and Mexico to the south, with the semi-exclave of…
Wikipedia · United StatesWhich city's library rivaled Alexandria, built at Pergamon?
Pergamon's own — Pergamon — parchment is named for it.
Pergamon or Pergamum, also referred to by its modern Greek form Pergamos (Πέργαμος), was a rich and powerful ancient Greek city in Aeolis. It is located 26 kilometres (16 mi) from the modern coastline of the Aegean Sea on a promontory on the north side of the river Caicus and northwest of the modern city of Bergama, Turkey.
Wikipedia · PergamonWhich African city was the scholarly heart of the Songhai Empire?
Timbuktu — its manuscripts survive today.
Timbuktu is an ancient city in Mali, situated 20 kilometres north of the Niger River. It is the capital of the Tombouctou Region, one of the 19 administrative regions of Mali, having a population of around one million people in the 2022 census.
Wikipedia · TimbuktuWhich ancient city's Ishtar Gate glazed lions now stand in Berlin?
Babylon — the gate rebuilt in museum halls.
Babylon was an ancient city located on the lower Euphrates river in southern Mesopotamia, within modern-day Hillah, Iraq, about 85 kilometres south of modern-day Baghdad. Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the Akkadian-speaking region of Babylonia. Its rulers established two important empires in antiquity,…
Wikipedia · BabylonWhich pigment made from crushed sea snails clothed Roman emperors?
Tyrian purple — thousands of murex per gram.
Tyrian purple, also known as royal purple, imperial purple, imperial dye, or simply tyrian, is a reddish-purple natural dye. It is secreted by several species of predatory sea snails in the family Muricidae, rock snails originally known by the name Murex. The coloured compound is 6,6'-dibromoindigo.
Wikipedia · Tyrian purpleWhich Antarctic lake, buried under 4 km of ice, was drilled in 2012?
Lake Vostok — sealed for millions of years.
Lake Vostok is the largest of Antarctica's 675 known subglacial lakes and the 16th largest lake in the world by area. Lake Vostok is located at the southern Pole of Cold, beneath Russia's Vostok Station, under the surface of the central East Antarctic Ice Sheet, which is at 3,488 m (11,444 ft) above mean sea level. The surface of this…
Wikipedia · Lake VostokWhich medieval Islamic scholar's Canon of Medicine taught Europe for centuries?
Avicenna (Ibn Sina) — Ibn Sina — the Canon ruled until the 1600s.
Ibn Sina, commonly known in the West as Avicenna, was a preeminent philosopher and physician of the Muslim world. He was a seminal figure of the Islamic Golden Age, serving in the courts of various Iranian rulers, and was influential to medieval European medical and Scholastic thought. Avicenna is considered one of the greatest thinkers…
Wikipedia · AvicennaWhich island's moai quarry is the volcanic crater Rano Raraku?
Easter Island — most moai never left the quarry.
Easter Island is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is renowned for its nearly 1,000 extant monumental statues, called moai, which were created by the early Rapa Nui people. In 1995, UNESCO named Easter Island a World…
Wikipedia · Easter IslandWhich Andean civilization preceded the Inca at Tiwanaku?
The Tiwanaku culture — Tiwanaku, by Lake Titicaca.
The Tiwanaku polity was a Pre-Columbian polity in western Bolivia based in the southern Lake Titicaca Basin. Tiwanaku was one of the most significant Andean civilizations. Its influence extended into present-day Peru and Chile and lasted from around 600 to 1000. Its capital was the monumental city of Tiwanaku, located at the center of…
Wikipedia · Tiwanaku polityIn which city did Enheduanna, the first known named author, serve as priestess?
Ur — Sargon's daughter, priestess and poet.
Ur was a major Sumerian city-state in ancient Mesopotamia, located at the site of modern Tell el-Muqayyar in Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq. Although Ur was a coastal city near the mouth of the Euphrates on the Persian Gulf, the coastline has shifted and the site is now well inland, on the south bank of the Euphrates, 16 km (10 mi) southwest…
Wikipedia · UrWhich Antarctic explorer's ship Endurance was found in 2022?
Ernest Shackleton — Shackleton's — 3,000 m down in the Weddell Sea.
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton was an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. He was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.
Wikipedia · Ernest ShackletonWhich glacial period's end flooded the Black Sea basin, per one hypothesis?
The last Ice Age — The post-glacial flood hypothesis, around 5600 BC.
The Last Glacial Period (LGP), also known as the last glacial cycle, occurred from the end of the Last Interglacial to the beginning of the Holocene, c. 115,000 – c. 11,700 years ago, and thus corresponds to most of the timespan of the Late Pleistocene. It thus formed the most recent period of what is colloquially known as the "Ice Age".
Wikipedia · Last Glacial PeriodWhich 1846 treaty settled the Oregon boundary dispute between the US and Britain?
The Oregon Treaty — it set the border at the 49th parallel.
The Oregon Treaty was a treaty between the United Kingdom and the United States that was signed on June 15, 1846, in Washington, D.C. The treaty brought an end to the Oregon boundary dispute by settling competing American and British claims to the Oregon Country through partition. The area had been jointly occupied by both Britain and…
Wikipedia · Oregon TreatyWhich 1815 congress redrew the map of Europe after Napoleon's defeat?
The Congress of Vienna — hosted largely by Metternich.
The Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. Participants were representatives of all European powers and other stakeholders. The Congress…
Wikipedia · Congress of ViennaWhich war lasted from 1618 to 1648 and devastated much of central Europe?
The Thirty Years' War — ended by the Peace of Westphalia.
The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from the effects of battle, famine, or disease, with parts of Germany reporting population declines of more than 50%. Related conflicts…
Wikipedia · Thirty Years' WarWhich sea did the Soviet irrigation of two rivers reduce to a tenth of its volume?
The Aral Sea — the ships are still there, in desert.
Which grass species flowers once every several decades, then dies across a whole continent at once?
Bamboo — a clone flowers on the same clock wherever it stands.
Which ocean current's failure is the mechanism behind abrupt northern European cooling?
The AMOC — the Atlantic overturning circulation.
Which country's 1930s famine is remembered as the Holodomor?
Ukraine — grain requisitioning, 1932-33.
Which 1930s project mapped the Mississippi's every historical channel in colour?
Fisk's meander maps — the river's own past, layered.
Which Indus Valley city's grid, drains and granaries were found with no palace or temple?
Mohenjo-daro — and the script is still undeciphered.
Which medieval trading league ran its own fleets, laws and embargoes across northern Europe?
The Hanseatic League — a corporation with a navy.
Which Persian polymath calculated Earth's radius from a single mountain measurement?
Al-Biruni — within about one per cent, around 1020.
Which African country was never colonised, apart from a five-year Italian occupation?
Ethiopia — it defeated Italy at Adwa in 1896.
Which measurement problem did Harrison's marine chronometers finally solve at sea?
Longitude — a clock that kept time on a rolling deck.