| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| The palo santo tree grows in this lowland natural region and produces guayacol oil, used in soaps and perfumes. This region, which takes its name from a Quechuan word for "hunting land," is bisected by the Pilcomayo River, merging in Mato Grosso do Sol with the Pantanal and ending in the south near the Pampas Grasslands. For ten points, name this semi- arid plain area in Paraguay's western half and Argentina's north. | Gran Chaco (or Dry Chaco; or Chaco Plain; do not accept or prompt on "Pampas") |
| This landmark, located in the Franconia Notch pass, was popularized by the writings of Daniel Webster and Nathaniel Hawthorne and overlooked Profile Lake on Cannon Mountain. This landmark in the White Mountains is displayed on a state quarter with the phrase "Live Free or Die." For ten points, name this landmark in New Hampshire that resembled a human face and collapsed in 2003. | Old Man of the Mountains (accept Great Stone Face; accept The Profile before mentioned) |
| This series invented the fake country of Bandiaterra in 2015, basing its shape on Japan's Yaeyama Islands, as well as the fake countries of Limberwisk and Sovonthak. This series is known for the use of the phrase the "blood of those who fight for their freedom," when analyzing country flags, and is run by Paul Barbato, nicknamed "Barby." For ten points, name this YouTube series dedicated to profiling every country on Earth. | Geography Now (or GN) |
| This territory, west of the Burin Peninsula in Fortune Bay, includes the islet of Grand Colombier, a major breeding site for the Leach's Storm Petrel. One of this territory's namesake islands is connected to Langlade through a narrow tombolo, and the flag of this territory includes miniature Norman, Breton, and Basque flags. This last vestige of New France is, for ten points, what French archipelago, south of Newfoundland? | Territorial Collectivity of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon (or Collectivité territoriale de Saint-Pierre et Miquelon; prompt on partial answers) |
| This largest city of the Erongo Region is south of the resort of Langstrand, and its airport is located near Dune 7, the tallest dune of sub-Saharan Africa. This city's harbor is enclosed by Pelican Point just north of the Tropic of Capricorn, and this city, which forms an urban area with Swakopmund, was ceded along with the Penguin Islands by South Africa in 1994. For ten points, name this largest coastal city of Namibia. | Walvis Bay (or Walvisbaai; or Ezorongondo) |
| This site, known for its petroglyphs in Khazali Canyon, takes its name from a lost city mentioned in the Koran, Iram of the Pillars. This site had one of its formations renamed the Seven Pillars of Wisdom after a book written by Lawrence of Arabia. Also called the Valley of the Moon, discovery of a Nabataean temple led to renewed interest in this non-Petra site east of Aqaba. For ten points, name this desert valley in southern Jordan. | Wadi Rum (or Wadi Ramm; accept Valley of the Moon before mentioned; accept Wādī al-Qamar) |
| This river's former St. John's Rapids were flooded by the Štěchovice [[SHTEH-koh- VIT-seh]] Reservoir, and a symphonic poem about this river, composed by Bedřich Smetana, is called Die Moldau in German. This river's 2003 flooding led to damage in the town of Český Krumlov [[CHES-kee KROOM-lof]]. This river is a major tributary of the Elbe River and drains much of Bohemia. For ten points, name this river which flows through Prague. | Vltava [[VUL-tuh-vuh]] River (accept Moldau River before mentioned) |
| This valley is connected to the Pacific Ocean via a narrow road through Topanga Canyon. This region's town of Simi Valley, north of Thousand Oaks, contains the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, and this region, which is bounded by the San Gabriel and Santa Monica mountains, contains Universal Studios Hollywood. For ten points, name this region from which the "Valley Girl" stereotype originated in Western Los Angeles. | San Fernando Valley (prompt on "the Valley") |
| In 1962, this Southern Hemisphere city was nicknamed the “City of Light” by John Glenn after residents lit up their houses during his orbit in the Friendship 7 spacecraft. This city is considered the most-isolated city in the world, with the nearest city to it located over 1300 miles away. This city boasts the Kings Park and Botanical Garden, one of the world’s pre-eminent city parks. For ten points, name this city that lies on the northern bank of the Swan River on the shore of the Indian Ocean. | Perth (or Boorloo) |
| Located at the mouth of the Swan River, what port city lies in the Perth metro area and serves Western Australia. | Fremantle (or Freo; accept Walyalup) |
| In a novel titled for one of these people set in Bulashah, the sweeper Bakha listens to a speech by Sarshar who mentions the arrival of a flushing toilet. Authors such as Arun Kamble and Namdeo Dhasal were among writers who documented these people in Marathi. Rahel and Estha form an unlikely bond with one of these people named Velutha in Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things. B. R. Ambedkar's writings fought economic and social discrimination of, for ten points, what lowest class in India's caste system? | Dalits (accept Untouchables; accept Harijans; accept Scheduled Castes; prompt on "Caste") |
| The Marathi people are largely found in the state of Maharashtra, which itself occupies a large portion of this plateau, located between the Western and Eastern Ghats and south of the Narmada River. | Deccan Plateau |
| An agreement with Tejon [[TEH-hohn]] Ranch rerouted this trail to the more scenic Tehachapi Mountains. This trail, which crosses the Bridge of the Gods, also passes through the Ansel Adams Wilderness. This trail, which is concurrent for 211 miles with the John Muir Trail, forms the "Great Western Loop" with another major trail. For ten points, name this trail that ascends the Sierra Nevadas and the Cascades, named for a nearby ocean. | Pacific Crest Trail (prompt on "Pacific") |
| Achieving the "Triple Crown of Hiking" involves completing the Pacific Crest Trail, the Appalachian Trail, and this other trail from the Mexican border in New Mexico to the Canadian border in Montana which roughly follows and is named for the principal separation of American watersheds. | Continental Divide Trail |
| A group of red-haired mummies discovered in this desert are believed to have spoken the extinct Indo-European Tocharian languages. The Gushi culture likely constructed the trading city of Gaochang [[GAO-CHAHNG]] in this desert. The nomadic Buddhist Dzungar [[DZOON-gahr]] people traveled along the Tarim Basin in this desert and conducted trade in cities such as Kashgar. For ten points, name this desert which was a significant trading center for the Uyghur [[WEE-guhr]] peoples. | Taklamakan Desert (accept Teklimakan Desert; prompt on “Tarim Basin”) |
| What Xinjiang oasis city in the Tarim Basin is one of the oldest continuously- inhabited settlements in the world and served as a major node of the Silk Road? | Kashgar (or Kashi) |
| Parts of this city are separated from the mainland by Tudor Creek and Port Reitz. The Likoni Ferry connects its namesake suburb to this city whose namesake island houses a Portuguese-era fort called Fort Jesus [[heh-SOOS]] which was built to establish influence over local trade. Moi International Airport serves this city, which includes Kilindini Harbor. Located along the Indian Ocean, for ten points, what city is the second-largest in Kenya? | Mombasa (accept Mombasa Island) |
| Many temples of this religion were established along the beaches of Nyali in Mombasa. Mauritius is the only African Union country where this is the dominant religion. | Hinduism |
| This city is the site of Hussain Sagar, a large man-made heart-shaped lake that is fed by the Musi River, and the largest monolithic Buddha statue in the world is found on an island in that lake in this city. This city is home to the Charminar, a mosque built by the Qutb Shahi dynasty in 1591. For ten points, name this city, known as the “City of Pearls,” which is the capital of Telangana and the fourth-most populous city in India. | Hyderabad (accept Buddha Statue of Hyderabad) |
| The Buddha Statue of Hyderabad is found on a concrete island called the Rock of Gibraltar in what de facto capital of Andhra Pradesh? | Amaravati |
| This sea's narrow Euripus Strait passes by Chalkida [[kahl-KIH-duh]] and narrowly separates the largest island it encloses, Euboea [[yoo-BEE-ah]], from the mainland. Europe's largest passenger port, Piraeus, is located on this sea's Saronic Gulf in the Attica Region. Kuşadası [[KOO-shah-dah-seh]] and Izmir are ports on this sea where, the island of Santorini was formed by the caldera of the Minoan Eruption. For ten points, name this sea, enclosed by Rhodes and Crete in Greece. | Aegean Sea (prompt on "Mediterranean Sea") |
| Located at the center of the Cyclades archipelago just west of Mykonos in the South Aegean Sea, this island contains the oldest synagogue in Europe and is the mythical birthplace of Apollo and Artemis. | Delos |
| This region is often used as a synonym for the divergent plate boundary forming the Afar Triple Junction. The northernmost part of this region forms the Beqaa Valley in present- day Lebanon. As this region stretches into Africa, it is often the site of seismic activity, including the 1837 Galilee earthquake and the 2008 Lake Kivu earthquake. For ten points, name this series of contiguous geographic trenches, spanning from Lebanon to Mozambique. | Great Rift Valley (prompt on partial answers) |
| Lake Superior defines the northern arc of this 1200-mile long curved rift system, running southeast as far as Alabama and southwest as far as Oklahoma, the deepest, known closed-rift system. | Midcontinent Rift System (or Keweenawan Rift) |
| First federal park that includes the Valley of the Ten Peaks and the Waputik Icefields. | Banff National Park |
| National park that borders Mount Robson and includes the Snow Dome and Athabasca Falls. | Jasper National Park |
| Largest national park, named for the large bovines it protects. | Wood Buffalo National Park |
| Ontario park that runs along the Niagara Escarpment and contains one of the longest trails in Canada. | Bruce National Park |
| Atlantic Canada’s oldest national park on a namesake island in Nova Scotia that contains most of Canada’s population of lynx. | Cape Breton Highlands National Park |
| Park that features the highest tides in the world and sits on a namesake Canadian bay bordering Maine. | Fundy National Park (accept Bay of Fundy) |
| Newfoundland park that includes Western Brook Pond and Lobster Cove, as well as a namesake mountain. | Gros Morne National Park |
| Southwesternmost county containing Penzance and Land's End, with its own Celtic language. | Cornwall (or Kernow; prompt on "Cornish") |
| County whose emblem is a white rose and is formally divided into North, West, South, and East Riding sections. | Yorkshire (accept North Yorkshire; accept West Yorkshire; accept South Yorkshire) |
| County containing the White Cliffs of Dover, the closest to France. | Kent |
| Affluent, suburban county just south of London containing Runnymede and sharing its name with a kind of carriage. | Surrey |
| Home County west of London that contains Reading, Eton College, and Windsor Castle. | Berkshire [[BARK-shire]] (accept Berks) |
| Landlocked county on the border with Wales, historically known as Salop, containing the market town of Shrewsbury. | Shropshire (accept Salop; accept Shrops) |
| Largest left bank tributary which joins the Amazon at Manaus and translates as "Black River." | Rio Negro (or Guainía) |
| Largest city on the Amazon, lying near where the Solimões meets the river | Manaus |
| “City of Gold” that prompted much of the early exploration of the Amazon. | El Dorado |
| River formerly called the "River of Doubt" and renamed after an explorer and U.S. president. | Roosevelt River (or Rio Roosevelt; or Rio Teodoro) |
| Easternmost major tributary which empties into the Amazon near Belem. | Tocantins [[toh-kahn-SHEENS]] River (or Rio Tocantins) |
| Peruvian river that contains the Grand Canyon of the Amazon. | Marañón [[mar-yahn-YOHN]] River (or Rio Marañón) |
| This balneário runs along Avenida Atlântica and hosted the inaugural World Championships in beach soccer. This beach, just north of the Tropic of Capricorn, has a New York club named for it which was called the "hottest spot north of Havana" in a 1985 song by Barry Manilow. This beach's "palace" (+) hotel is widely considered one of the best in South America. Hosting the 2016 Olympic Beach Volleyball tournaments was, (*) for ten points, what famous beach in Rio de Janeiro? | Copacabana (accept Belmond Copacabana Palace) |
| This city's May Fourth Square, known for its red spiral sculpture, honors those who protested against Japanese control of this city, granted in the Treaty of Versailles. Seized from the German Empire in 1914 as the Kiaochow [[KEE-OW-CHOW]] Bay concession, this city is home to the (+) Jiaozhou [[JEE-OW-ZHOH]] Bay Bridge, the world's longest bridge over water when it opened. Located in southern Shandong, (*) for ten points, what is this Chinese port city? | Qingdao [[CHING-DAO]] (accept Tsingtao) |
| The existence of the brine shrimp was first noted at this lake, where Hulagu Khan was supposedly buried with his fortune on Shahi Island, which has since become a peninsula. The Silveh Dam intends to restore this lake by diverting water from the Little Zab River, (+) and a bridge that crosses this largest lake in the Middle East connects its namesake capital of West Azerbaijan to the capital of East Azerbaijan, Tabriz. (*) For ten points, name this lake in Northwestern Iran. | Lake Urmia (or Lake Orumiyeh) |
| An early design of this building was compared to the bowling hat of Al Smith. Eagles adorn the exterior of the 61st floor of this building, which is found in the Turtle Bay neighborhood. Hubcaps are lined across the outside of this building which was designed by William van Alen (+) during a competition with the Empire State Building, aimed at producing the tallest building in the world. Funded by a namesake automobile (*) magnate, for ten points, what is this New York skyscraper? | Chrysler Building (accept Walter (Percy) Chrysler) |
| The Djurdjura is located in this region, which includes dozens of zawiyas in towns near Gouraya National Park. In addition to Etat Pied-Noir, this region has attempted to break from a larger Maghrebi nation whose leaders speak a Berber language. (+) The provinces of Tizi Ouzou and Bejaia make up this region, which is part of the Tell Atlas mountains. Located in Northern Algeria, (*) for ten points, what is this region on the Mediterranean Sea? | Kabylia (prompt on "Algeria" or "Northern Algeria") |
| With a Pemon name meaning "house of the gods," structures of this type include the Abismo Guy Collet, the deepest cave in South America. Many Piaroa Indians revere one of these structures called Autana as the "tree of life." One of these structures called Auyán is the location of (+) Angel Falls, which drops from a cleft near the summit. Typically composed of quartz arenite sandstone and found mostly in Guyana and Venezuela, (*) for ten points, what are these table-top mountains? | Tepuis (accept Auyán-tepui; prompt on "Mountain" or "Cerro") |
| This city was the site of an 1805 battle where Napoleon trapped an entire Austrian army led by Karl Mack von Leiberich, enabling French control of Bavaria. Views of the Zugspitze [[ZOOG-speet-suh]] can occasionally be afforded from this city's church, the world's tallest church, (+) and this city in the Swabia region was the birthplace of Albert Einstein. Located in far-eastern Baden-Württemberg, about halfway between Stuttgart and (*) Munich, for ten points, what is this German city? | Ulm (accept Battle of Ulm) |
| This city has one of the highest nominal unemployment rates in the US due to the seasonal workers that power its winter lettuce industry. This city is the least humid in the United States and, according to Guinness World Records, is the world's (+) sunniest city. This city at the end of the Gila River is separated from Baja California by the Colorado River. Located in far Southwestern (*) Arizona, for ten points, what is this U.S. city? | Yuma |
| Liquor made from this plant is called Akpeteshie or Ogog in West Africa and Tubâ or Lambanog in the Philippines. The northernmost species of this plant is its "Mediterranean dwarf" variety, which grows along the Ligurian coast, and this plant is part of the (+) Arecaceae [[ah-reh-KAY-see-ay]] family. The emblem of Saudi Arabia displays this plant above two swords, (*) while South Carolina displays its cabbage variety. For ten points, name this plant that can produce coconuts. | Palm Trees (accept European Fan Palm; accept Mediterranean Dwarf Palm; accept Sabal Palm or Sabal Palmetto; accept Cabbage Palm or Cabbage Palmetto; accept Coconut Palm; accept Arecaceae before mentioned) |
| This large freshwater body is the second-largest Scottish loch and is legendarily home to a namesake "monster." | Loch Ness (accept Loch Ness Monster; anti-prompt on "Nessie") |