Test Your Knowledge Of the World

To complete The Monitor's stories related to National Geography Awareness Week (Nov. 13-19), here's a quiz: 1. Name the only one of the Great Lakes that is entirely in the United States.

2. Name the fruit that is the chief agricultural export from the lowland regions of Central America.

3. What animal is used by people in Tibet as a pack animal and as a source of milk, meat, and wool? 4. What US state shares the longest border with Canada? 5. Masa, the dough traditionally used by Mexicans to make tortillas, is made from the flour of which grain? 6. What was the first national park established anywhere in the world? (Hint: It's in the US.) 7. In which US state would you expect to meet people of French descent known as Cajuns? 8. In what US state is North America's geographic center ? 9. The estimated weight of the Earth is:

A. 5.5 trillion tons

B. 6.6 sextillion tons

C. 7.7 octillion tons

D. 1.1 duodecillion tons

10. The driest spot on Earth is on which continent?

A. North America.

B. Antarctica

C. Asia

D. South America

11. The most densely populated territory in the world is:

A. Tokyo

B. Mexico City

C. Macau, China

D. Hong Kong

Extra Credit 12. What is the source of the Mississippi River? (Partial credit: In what state is it located?)

13. Why are the Western US states so square in shape? (Partial credit: Which US president decided this?)

14. What is the smallest town in the US? (Partial credit: In what region of the US is it located?)

15. The Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in Montana was created in 1935 to save which endangered species?

* Questions were drawn from the 1993-94 National Geography Bee, a program of the National Geographic Society, and from Mr. Atlas Map, resident geographer for The American Express Geography Competition. You can call Mr. Atlas Map with your questions about geography at:

(800) 395-GLOBE.

Answers: 1. Lake Michigan 2. the banana 3. the yak

4. Alaska 5. corn 6. Yellowstone 7. Lousiana 8. North Dakota 9. B (A sextillion is a 1 followed by 21 zeroes.) 10. D. The west coast of Chile between Arica and Antofagasta has a mean annual rainfall of .004 inches 11. C. Some 400,000 people live in a 6.9-square-mile area. Extra Credit: 12. Lake Itasca, in Clearwater County, Minn. 13. To expedite the dividing up of the country, President Thomas Jefferson drew the boundaries along longitude and latitude lines. 14. As of the 1990 census, Valley Park, Okla., is the smallest incorporated town, with one resident.15. It was created to save the last 73 Trumpeter swans known in the wild. Today, some 14,000 of the birds range as far as Alaska.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
QR Code to Test Your Knowledge Of the World
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/1994/1118/18172.html
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe