As a fellow global adventurer, you probably take delight, as I do, in testing your knowledge of the geographic esoterica of our planet. There’s something stimulating and gratifying in being well versed about the Earth’s places. I find that it allows me to experience the world’s wonders in my imagination, even when I can’t get to every corner I’d like to explore – and it prompts me to fantasize about where I want to go next.
How’s your traveler’s trivia? Try these, for starters:
Know which country has the most volcanoes?
Would you guess Costa Rica, Japan or Italy? None of the above?
You’re right: it’s Indonesia, by a long shot. This seismically active island nation has 129 active volcanoes. On Java alone, 120 million people live in the midst of more 30 volcanoes.
Where would you find the driest place on earth?
Would you bet on Chile’s Atacama Desert, the Northern Territories in Australia, Mongolia’s Gobi Desert in Mongolia, or the Sahara in North Africa?
You’d be correct with the first answer: at the center of the Atacama Desert, no rainfall has ever been recorded. Scientists call it an “absolute desert.” And in the wetter parts of the Atacama, only a half-inch per year is typically registered.
How about the highest place on earth that’s permanently inhabited by humans?
La Paz, Bolivia? Gorak Shep, Nepal? La Rinconada, Peru? Dartlo, Republic of Georgia?
It’s La Rinconada, perched at 16,730 feet in the Andes. Above this elevation, civilization stops: no one can adjust to the altitude year-round beyond this point.
Here’s a toughie: Tristan de Cunha Island, the most remote inhabited place on Earth, is 1,740 miles from what mainland?
— Japan
— Chile
— Australia
— South Africa
Answer: Tristan de Cunha lies 1,740 miles off the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. Fewer than 300 people live on this British outpost, and mail is delivered just a few times a year.
The four questions above were taken from the “Extreme Earth” travel quiz found on National Geographic’s website. If you enjoyed these questions, there are a bunch more Travel Quizzes available online, each 10-question set structured around a particular theme, such as International Foods or The Color Blue, as well as a whole host of individual country quizzes.
Perhaps while testing your knowledge, you’ll discover a place you’ve never even heard of that captures your imagination: How about Ammassalik? Antananarivo? Longyearbyen? Puerto Ayora? These just happen to be places you can discover with Explorers’ Corner, too. Stumped as to where they are? Click on the links and find out!
While Explorers’ Corner won’t get you to Tristan de Cunha or the dessicated core of the Atacama, you do get to travel to the ends of the earth in a whole bunch of other places. Start by wandering through our website to discover a few of them.
Peripatetically,
Wendy
