Geography · Rung 4 of 12

Europe

Europe fits on a small map and holds forty-odd countries, so the trap is in the look-alikes. Four capitals are not their country's largest city (Bern, The Hague as the seat of government, Ankara, Astana if you count Kazakhstan). There are landlocked countries: Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Czechia, Slovakia, Belarus, Serbia, North Macedonia, Moldova, Luxembourg, Andorra, Liechtenstein, San Marino, Vatican City, and two that are doubly landlocked worldwide, one of them Liechtenstein. And three straits explain a lot of history: Gibraltar, the Bosphorus and the Sound.

Where this sits

Comes after
Continents and oceans
Opens up
The world, country by country

Exercises from this rung

Generated by the app, from easiest to hardest

  1. What is the capital of Spain?

    • Reikiavik
    • Lisboa
    • Madrid
    • Bucarest

    Why The capital of Spain is Madrid. The country covers about 506 thousand km² and has 47.9 million inhabitants.

    easier

  2. Which country has this shape?

    • Portugal
    • India
    • Uruguay
    • Ukraine

    Why It is India, at 3.3 million km². A silhouette is recognised by what sticks out: peninsulas, nearby islands and the ratio of length to width.

    in between

  3. This North Atlantic island is split by the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Which is it?

    • Iceland
    • Greenland
    • Ireland
    • Newfoundland

    Why Iceland is the only place on Earth where an oceanic ridge comes to the surface: the rift between the North American and Eurasian plates crosses the island from south-west to north-east and you can walk along it. That is why there are volcanoes and geysers, and why the island grows a couple of centimetres a year.

    harder