Question: In Jan 2011, Sri Lanka decided to discard all references to what British colonial name of the country from its state institutions?
Answer: Ceylon

Question: Which scale that is used for measuring the intensity of an earthquake (not Richter!) quantifies its effects on humans, objects of nature, and man-made structures on a scale of I through XII with XII denoting total destruction?
Answer: Mercalli intensity scale

Question: Located just 508 miles from the North Pole, Alert is said to be the northernmost permanently inhabited place in the world. In which Canadian province/territory is it located?
Answer: Nunavut

Question: The Merlion, an imaginary creature with the head of a lion and the body of a fish, is used as the mascot of which tiny Asian island nation?
Answer: Singapore

Question: According to UNESCO, which Ethiopian city is considered 'the fourth holy city' of Islam with 82 mosques, three of which date from the 10th century, and 102 shrines?
Answer: Harar

Question: Which land-locked country has the most official languages in the world at 34 including Spanish, Aymara and Quechua?
Answer: Bolivia

Question: The US think tank Fund For Peace comes out with a Failed States Index every year. Which country topped the list for a fourth consecutive year in 2011?
Answer: Somalia

Question: Which tiny European nation claims itself to be the oldest recorded sovereign state and constitutional republic in the world?
Answer: San Marino

Question: Out of the ten most populous islands in the world, only 2 are outside Asia. Can you name them?
Answer: Great Britain (3rd) and Hispaniola (10th)

Question: Which icon that attracted more than 6 million visitors in 2006 is the single most visited paid monument in the world?
Answer: Eiffel Tower

Question: If water bodies were left out and only land area were considered, what is the second largest country in the world after Russia?
Answer: China

Question: Landseer's Lions, a set of four sculptures of lions surround which London monument?
Answer: Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square

Question: 'Pha That Lung', a large gold-covered Buddhist stupa is regarded as the most important monument and national symbol in which landlocked Asian country?
Answer: Laos

Question: Located in Micronesia and covering just 21 square kilometres, what is the world's smallest island nation?
Answer: Nauru

Question: Distributed across the three islands of Tutuila, Ofu-Olosega, and Ta‘ū, what is the only American national park located south of the equator?
Answer: National Park of American Samoa

Question: Which French city is home to the Palais des Papes (Palace of the Popes) where several popes and antipopes lived from the early 14th to early 15th centuries?
Answer: Avignon

Question: Bordered on three sides by Senegal and with a small coast on the Atlantic Ocean in the west, what is the smallest country on mainland Africa?
Answer: The Gambia

Question: The largest impact over land in Earth's recent history, how is the explosion that occurred in 1908 near the namesake river in Siberia commonly known?
Answer: Tunguska event

Question: Located in northeast Caribbean, what is the smallest inhabited sea island that is divided between two nations?
Answer: Saint Martin

Question: Located on the Atlantic coast, what is the largest city of the Maghreb (the 5 countries constituting North Africa)?
Answer: Casablanca

Question: The name of which South American region comes from a word used by Magellan to describe the native people whom his expedition thought to be giants?
Answer: Patagonia (from Patagon)

Question: Though it was the dream of many historical rulers including Nero, the Corinth Canal was completed only in 1893. It separates the Greek mainland from which other landmass?
Answer: Peloponnesian peninsula

Question: During the apartheid era, what was the name for the territory set aside for black inhabitants of South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) of which ten were established?
Answer: Bantustan

Question: The Lake Mungo remains consisting of two fossils known as Mungo Lady and Mungo Man are located in the World Heritage listed Willandra Lakes Region of which country?
Answer: Australia

Question: With a total drop of 948 meters (3,110 feet) in five free-leaping falls, Tugela Falls is the world's second highest waterfall. They are located in the Drakensberg (Dragon's Mountains) range in which country?
Answer: South Africa

Question: Which Spanish city, now home to a great mosque was probably the most populated city in Europe and perhaps in the world in the later half of the 10th century?
Answer: Córdoba

Question: Taking its name from a Manchu word meaning 'the boundary between two countries', the Yalu river forms the border between what two countries?
Answer: China and North Korea

Question: When combined with its headstreams the 'Peace' and the 'Finlay', what becomes the second longest river in North America at 4,241 kilometres (2,635 mi)?
Answer: Mackenzie

Question: The Sigsbee Deep, named for the captain of the USS Maine which exploded in the harbor of Havana in 1898 is the deepest part of which body of water?
Answer: Gulf of Mexico

Question: Which country has the longest coastline in Africa?
Answer: Somalia

Question: Which Chilean city whose name comes from the Spanish for 'sandy point' is sometimes considered the southernmost city in the world?
Answer: Punta Arenas

Question: Which South Pacific territory named for its shores' similarities to the Scottish coastline will hold a referendum on independence from France between 2014 and 2019?
Answer: New Caledonia

Question: Based on a 1995 realignment of the International Date Line, which Oceanic country with it's capital at South Tarawa is now the easternmost country in the world?
Answer: Kiribati

Question: If you love resorts, you must have been to the Côte d'Azur. How do we know it better in English?
Answer: French Riviera

Question: McMurdo Station can support only 1258 residents but is still considered as the largest community in what part of the world?
Answer: Antarctica

Question: Due to its location in a time zone to the east of Europe, which French island in the Indian Ocean was the first region in the world where the euro became legal tender?
Answer: Réunion

Question: Which coast off the Atlantic Ocean of Namibia and Angola is named for the bleached whale and seal bones which covered the shore during the days of the whaling industry as well as for the shipwrecks caused by rocks?
Answer: Skeleton Coast

Question: Cape Horn, the southernmost tip of South America is on which archipelago that translates as 'land of fire' in Spanish?
Answer: Tierra del Fuego

Question: Completely bordered by France on three sides, what is the world's most densely populated sovereign country as well as the smallest French-speaking country?
Answer: Monaco

Question: The name of which Central Asian mountain range where Russia, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan come together and where the mighty rivers Irtysh, Ob and Yenisei have their sources literally means 'mountains of gold' in Turkic?
Answer: Altai

Question: Scania, Zealand and Jutland have historically been the three lands of which country/kingdom?
Answer: Denmark

Question: Which island, the third largest in the world, is divided between Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei?
Answer: Borneo

Question: What enters the UK on a shore east of Kingston upon Hull and then passes through France, Spain, Algeria, Mali, Burkina Faso, Togo, and Ghana, and then through Queen Maud Land to its destination?
Answer: Prime (Greenwich) Meridian

Question: Since all time zones converge at the South Pole, there is no reason for placing it in any particular time zone. But as a practical convenience, the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station keeps the time of which country?
Answer: New Zealand