Borders & Geographic Oddities Quiz – Printable Version
20 multiple-choice questions with an explained answer key, ready to print.
Print the sheet (or save it as a PDF from the print window), hand it out, then mark it together using the answer page: every answer is explained. Perfect for a party, a birthday, a classroom, a care home or a team activity.
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- How many Belgian enclaves of Baarle-Hertog are completely surrounded by the Netherlands?
- A. 22
- B. 8
- C. 12
- D. 30
- Which country is completely surrounded by South Africa?
- A. Lesotho
- B. Eswatini
- C. Botswana
- D. Namibia
- Which Russian exclave is separated from the rest of Russia and lies on the Baltic Sea?
- A. Kaliningrad
- B. Crimea
- C. Karelia
- D. Sakhalin
- Which African country forms a long narrow strip around the Gambia River?
- A. The Gambia
- B. Senegal
- C. Togo
- D. Benin
- Which South American country is landlocked despite having had a Pacific coast before the War of the Pacific?
- A. Bolivia
- B. Paraguay
- C. Uruguay
- D. Ecuador
- Which microstate is entirely enclosed within the city of Rome?
- A. Vatican City
- B. San Marino
- C. Monaco
- D. Malta
- Which Italian municipality is an enclave in Switzerland on Lake Lugano?
- A. Campione d’Italia
- B. Livigno
- C. Sanremo
- D. Aosta
- Which country owns Madha, an enclave surrounded by the United Arab Emirates?
- A. Oman
- B. Yemen
- C. Qatar
- D. Saudi Arabia
- Which Caribbean island has been shared between France and the Netherlands since 1648?
- A. Saint Barthélemy
- B. Curaçao
- C. Guadeloupe
- D. Saint Martin
- With which country does France share its longest land border?
- A. Brazil
- B. Spain
- C. Belgium
- D. Germany
- Roughly how far apart are Big Diomede (Russian) and Little Diomede (American), in the middle of the Bering Strait?
- A. Less than 4 km
- B. About 40 km
- C. About 85 km
- D. More than 200 km
- Which large lake is shared by Peru and Bolivia?
- A. Titicaca
- B. Maracaibo
- C. Poopó
- D. Atitlán
- Which river forms part of the border between Romania and Bulgaria?
- A. Danube
- B. Dnieper
- C. Vistula
- D. Volga
- Which country borders both Russia and China but has no coastline?
- A. Mongolia
- B. Kazakhstan
- C. North Korea
- D. Georgia
- Which inland sea is bordered by Kazakhstan, Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkmenistan?
- A. Caspian Sea
- B. Black Sea
- C. Aral Sea
- D. Red Sea
- Which country surrounds the two main parts of Brunei on Borneo?
- A. Malaysia
- B. Indonesia
- C. Philippines
- D. East Timor
- Which European country is almost entirely surrounded by France except for its Mediterranean coast?
- A. Monaco
- B. Andorra
- C. Luxembourg
- D. Liechtenstein
- Which South American country is landlocked between, among others, Brazil, Argentina and Bolivia?
- A. Paraguay
- B. Uruguay
- C. Ecuador
- D. Guyana
- Which country contains the autonomous region of Gorno-Badakhshan beside Afghanistan’s Wakhan Corridor?
- A. Tajikistan
- B. Uzbekistan
- C. Kazakhstan
- D. Turkmenistan
- Which state is split into two main parts by Malaysia’s Sarawak territory?
- A. Brunei
- B. Singapore
- C. East Timor
- D. Papua New Guinea
Answer key — Borders & Geographic Oddities Quiz
- A. 22Baarle-Hertog has 22 Belgian enclaves surrounded by the Dutch municipality of Baarle-Nassau.
- A. LesothoLesotho is an independent state entirely surrounded by South Africa.
- A. KaliningradKaliningrad Oblast is separated from mainland Russia and borders the Baltic Sea.
- A. The GambiaThe Gambia roughly follows the Gambia River and is almost entirely surrounded by Senegal, except for its Atlantic coast.
- A. BoliviaBolivia lost its coastline to Chile after the nineteenth-century War of the Pacific and still maintains a strong maritime identity.
- A. Vatican CityVatican City is a sovereign state enclosed within Rome. At about 0.44 km², it is the world’s smallest state.
- A. Campione d’ItaliaCampione d’Italia is an Italian enclave in the Swiss canton of Ticino on Lake Lugano.
- A. OmanMadha is an Omani enclave inside the UAE. It even contains Nahwa, an Emirati counter-enclave: geography like nesting dolls.
- D. Saint MartinSince the Treaty of Concordia (1648), the north of the island has been French and the south Dutch (Sint Maarten).
- A. BrazilBecause of French Guiana, the France–Brazil border is longer than France’s metropolitan borders with Spain or Belgium.
- A. Less than 4 kmThe two islands are only about 3.8 km apart, but the International Date Line runs between them: almost a full day's difference.
- A. TiticacaLake Titicaca straddles the Peru–Bolivia border at more than 3,800 metres above sea level.
- A. DanubeThe Danube serves as a natural border along much of the boundary between Romania and Bulgaria.
- A. MongoliaMongolia is landlocked between two giants: Russia to the north and China to the south.
- A. Caspian SeaThe Caspian is the world’s largest enclosed body of water. Its legal status and resource sharing long complicated relations among its littoral states.
- A. MalaysiaThe Malaysian state of Sarawak surrounds Brunei’s two sections on Borneo.
- A. MonacoMonaco is bordered by France on its landward sides and opens onto the Mediterranean.
- A. ParaguayParaguay has no sea coast, but the Paraguay and Paraná rivers provide a major navigable route toward the Atlantic.
- A. TajikistanGorno-Badakhshan occupies mountainous eastern Tajikistan and borders much of Afghanistan’s Wakhan Corridor.
- A. BruneiBrunei’s Temburong district is separated from the rest of the country by part of Sarawak, although a bridge now directly links the two sections.