| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| This desert's Makgadikgadi [[mahk-gahd-eek-GAH-dee]] salt pan was a lake until approximately 10,000 years ago, and this desert still hosts large subterranean water reserves like Dragon's Breath Cave. Indigenous populations living east of this desert's Okavango inland delta speak Jul'hoan [[jool-HO-ahn]], a dialect of Khoisan. For the point, name this large desert in southern Africa covering much of Botswana and Namibia. | Kalahari Desert |
| After passing through the vale Polabí, this river receives the river Orlice [[or-LEE- tseh]] near the city of Hradec Králové [[HRAH-dets krah-LOH-veh]]. This river rises in the Krkonoše [[kreh-koh-NOH-sheh]] Mountains of Bohemia, near the Czech-Polish border. The cities of Berlin and Prague reside within this river's sizeable drainage basin, which covers most of the former state of East Germany. For the point, name this central European river which empties into the North Sea after passing through Hamburg. | Elbe [[EL-buh]] River (or Labe River) |
| This island includes Nanwan Monkey Island, which is actually a peninsula. This island's largest body of water is the artificial reservoir of Songtao. This island's major waterways include the Xinwu [[SHIN-WOO]] and Nandu Rivers. This island is governed from the city of Haikou [[HAI-KOH]], which sits on the nearby island of Haidian [[HAI- DYAHN]]. For the point, name this island, which makes up a province of the southern coast of mainland China. | Hainan |
| The Kalambo River ends in a 772-foot single-drop waterfall feeding into this lake. This lake's primary outflow is the Lukuga River, which traverses the northern edge of the Katanga Plateau. Lake Kivu drains into this lake via the Ruzizi, this lake's primary inflow. This lake is shared by Burundi, Zambia, Tanzania, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. For the point, name this second-largest lake in the world by volume, the largest rift lake in Africa. | Lake Tanganyika |
| This archipelago's largest island is separated from the islands of Picton, Lennox, and Nueva by the Beagle Channel, named for the ship Charles Darwin used to traverse the region. This archipelago is bounded to the south by the Drake Passage, beyond which is Antarctica, and to the north by the Straits of Magellan, which separates this archipelago from the rest of Patagonia. For the point, name this archipelago shared by Argentina and Chile at the southern tip of South America. | Tierra del Fuego |
| This island is home to statues of little men with mushrooms on their heads known as harubangs. The mainland city of Mokpo operates a ferry to this island. This island's highest point is Hallasan, which is home to the Jonjaamji Pagoda. This island's primary port is the city of Seogwipo [[SUH-GWEE-POH]]. For the point, name this island off the southern coast of South Korea, a popular honeymoon destination. | Jeju Island |
| This archipelago was home to the Talaiotic Culture, who constructed the Taula Monument. This archipelago's capital city is Palma, and this archipelago is divided into the Gymnesian Islands and the Pine Islands. This archipelago forms an autonomous community and province of Spain. For the point, name this archipelago located southeast of Catalonia which includes Ibiza [[ee-BEE-thah]], Menorca, and Mallorca [[mah-YOR-kuh]]. | Balearic Islands (or Islas Baleares) |
| As this river passes by the town of Sioma, it forms the Ngonye Falls. Features of this river include the Kariba and Cahora Bassa dams. This river passes over the Devil's Cataracts on its way to the Indian Ocean and includes Africa's largest waterfall, the Victoria Falls. For the point, name this southern African river that forms the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. | Zambezi River |
| Along with Haryana, a state named for this region is served by the capital city Chandigarh [[chahn-DEE-gahr]], while Lahore [[luh-HORE]] is the capital and main city of another state named for this region. This region's namesake language is the only tonal Indo- European language and was used to write the Adi Granth. For the point, name this region divided by India and Pakistan, the homeland of Sikhism. | Punjab |
| This region is home to the Bingtuan paramilitary group, which was originally founded to protect against Soviet aggression. This region was home to the Dzungars before a Qing [[CHING]] genocide occurred. This region is located north of Tibet and contains the Tarim Basin. Administered from the city of Ürümqi, for the point, what is this autonomous region of western China, the ethnic homeland of the Uyghur [[WEE-guhr]] people? | Xinjiang [[SHIN-JYAHNG]] Uyghur Autonomous Region (or Xinjiang Province; accept Sinkiang; prompt on "XUAR") |
| This river is navigable by ocean-going vessels for 75 miles, as far as the town of Rouen [[roo-AHN]]. Two natural islands call this river home: the Île Saint-Louis and the Île de la Cité. This river's source rises on the Langres [[LONG-ruh]] plateau 19 miles northwest of Dijon and discharges into the English Channel at the port city of Le Havre [[luh-HAH- vruh]]. For the point, name this French river which flows through the center of Paris. | River Seine (or Seine River) |
| In 1968, National Park Service director George Hartzog put an end to this national park's annual Firefall event at Glacier Point. This national park's O'Shaughnessy Dam supplies water and electricity to over two million people in San Francisco and the Bay Area. Ansel Adams photographed this national park's rock formations, including El Capitan and Half Dome. For the point, name this national park located in California's Sierra Nevada mountains. | Yosemite National Park |
| This body of water is the largest to be affected by the Bise [[BEESE]] winds. A large statue of Freddie Mercury overlooks this body of water from the town of Montreux. The French town of Thonon-les-Bains [[toh-NOHN lay-BAHN]] lies on this body of water's southern bank, in the department of Haute-Savoie [[oat-sahv-WAH]]. The Rhône River flows into and then out of this Alpine body of water. For the point, name this lake in western Switzerland also known as Lac Léman. | Lake Geneva (accept Lac Léman before mentioned) |
| This feature is deflected eastward by the Charleston Bump. The action of this feature allows tropical fruit such as citrus trees to be grown in Scotland. This feature departs from the continental shelf at Cape Hatteras, at which point it begins to cross the Atlantic. For the point, name this ocean current which takes warm water from North and Central America to northern Europe. | Gulf stream |
| This country's capital is home to the world's largest indoor Ferris Wheel as well as perhaps the highest concentration of marble-clad buildings in the world due to its "White City" project. This country's main Caspian port was formerly called Krasnovodsk. Mostly covered by the Karakum Desert, for the point, what is this central Asian country with capital Ashgabat? | Turkmenistan (or Turkmenia) |
| This country's population is centered on the Plain of the Cul-de-Sac, a fertile lowland bounded to the west by the Gulf of Gonâve [[goh-NAHV]]. Étang Saumâtre [[EH-tong saw- MAH-treh]], this country's largest lake, is home to a large number of American crocodiles. This country's capital and largest city of Port-au-Prince was originally founded by French colonists. For the point, name this country which shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic. | Republic of Haiti |
| This country controls the uninhabited Hawar Islands, which currently only support a hotel and a police station. This country was formerly home to the Pearl Roundabout, before it was destroyed by government forces cracking down on Arab Spring Protests. This country is linked to the Saudi Arabian coast by the King Fahd Causeway. For the point, name this island kingdom in the Persian Gulf, whose capital is Manama. | Kingdom of Bahrain |
| This river's Bureya tributary was blocked off by a 2018 landslide which may have been caused by a meteor impact. This river is formed from the confluence of the Shilka and the Argun Rivers near the Hulunbuir region. This river discharges into the Strait of Tartary near the island of Sakhalin. For the point, name this river which forms the northeast border of China with Russia and whose Chinese name means "Black Dragon." | Amur River (or Heilóng Jiang) |
| This city is home to the Juscelino Kubitschek [[joo-seh-LEE-noh koo-bih-CHEK]] Bridge, which crosses Lake Paranoá. This city's Metropolitan Cathedral consists of 16 hyperbolic columns arranged to resemble a crown of thorns. Oscar Niemeyer was the chief architect of most of this city's public buildings during their design and construction in the 1950s. For the point, name this city which replaced Rio de Janeiro as the capital of a Portuguese-speaking South American country in 1960. | Brasília |
| This island's southern coast is home to the resort town of Nusa Dua. Cockfighting on this island was the subject of a Clifford Geertz study on "deep play." This island is governed as its own province from the city of Denpasar and is the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands, directly east of Java. For the point, name this only Indonesian island to retain a Hindu majority population. | Bali |
| One of these buildings commissioned by Empress Maria Theresa is located in Milan and is named Teatro alla Scala. One of these buildings in France is the nearly two thousand seat Palais Garnier [[pah-LAY gahr-NYAY]]. Jorn [[YORN]] Utzon designed a harborside one of these buildings which consists of concentric concrete shells. For the point, what centers of performing arts include an example in Sydney whose shape resembles white sails? | opera house (accept Sydney Opera House before mentioned; prompt on answers such as "theatre" or "music hall") |
| This archipelago's highest point is located on Pico Island. This archipelago includes the Formigas Reef, as well as the islands of Flores and Covo. This archipelago is located northwest of the Madeira Islands and includes the islands of Terceira and São Miguel. For the point, name this Portuguese-controlled archipelago whose capital and largest city is Ponta Delgada. | Autonomous Region of the Azores |
| This city is home to the Khan el-Khalili bazaar, as well as the Citadel of Saladin, a medieval Islamic-era fortification. Al-Azhar, constructed by the fourth Fatimid Caliph, was the first Muslim place of worship constructed in this city, which is now nicknamed the "City of a Thousand Minarets." This city's Coptic Museum showcases a collection of Christian art from the Byzantine and Greco-Roman periods of Egyptian history. For the point, name this capital and largest city of Egypt. | Cairo |
| This state contains the delta formed by the Hastings and Clarence Rivers. This state forms the only land borders of the Jervis Bay Territory. This state contains the Blue Mountains as well as the Snowies, which includes Mt. Kosciuszko [[koh-SHOO-skoh]]. This state, which lies between Victoria and Queensland, is home to the city of Sydney. For the point, name this Australian state, which is named after a constituent country of the United Kingdom. | New South Wales |
| This city's "Mini-Europe," a collection of scale model European monuments, sits at the foot of the Atomium, a modernist building constructed for the 1958 World's Fair. This city's Haren neighborhood hosts the headquarters of NATO, while its "European Quarter" hosts the headquarters of the European Commission. Historically Dutch-speaking, this city's majority language is French. For the point, name this Belgian capital city, the de facto capital of the European Union. | Brussels |
| This process can occur when Zooxanthellae [[zo-oh-ZAN-thel-ee]] are killed off due to oxygen deprivation. Virtually all of the A. tenuifolia died off in Belize in the late 1990s due to this process. In 2016, it was discovered that this process had killed between 30 and 50 percent of the Great Barrier Reef. For the point, name this process caused by increased ocean temperatures and acidification, which causes certain reefs to expel algae and lose their coloration. | Coral bleaching (accept reef bleaching before mentioned) |
| This island's northern coast is home to the Castillo San Felipe del Morro, a citadel built by Spanish colonists to protect this island's main port. This island is home to the only tropical rainforest managed by the U.S. National Forest Service, El Yunque [[YOON-kay]]. In December 2020, a large radio telescope, formerly the world's largest, collapsed in this island's city of Arecibo. For the point, name this island, a U.S.-unincorporated territory governed from San Juan. | Commonwealth of Puerto Rico |
| This country is home to the archaeological site Göbekli Tepe [[gehr-bek-LEE teh- PEH]], which is also known as Potbelly Hill. This country's site of Catalhöyük [[chah-TAHL- her-yook]]may be home to the world's oldest temple complex. This country's largest city is home to a place of worship known as Sultan Ahmed, which is nicknamed for its blue interior. For the point, name this country which also contains the Hagia Sophia in its city of Istanbul. | Republic of Turkey |
| This river's largest tributaries include the Cumberland and Wabash Rivers. This river begins at the confluence of the Monongahela [[ma-non-gah-HAY-luh]] and Allegheny [[AL-eh-gay-nee]] Rivers in Pittsburgh and flows into the Mississippi at the southern tip of Illinois. The entire northern border of Kentucky is formed by this river. For the point, name this river, the namesake of a state containing the cities of Cleveland and Columbus. | Ohio River |
| Thousands of tourists are attracted every year to this island's Dunn's River Falls, located near the city of Ocho Rios. The steep karst topography of this island's Cockpit Country region provided refuge to escaped Maroons during the First Maroon War. This island's city of Port Royal was the largest port in the Caribbean until 1692, when it was destroyed by an earthquake. For the point, name this large island located west of Hispaniola and south of Cuba. | Jamaica |
| This island's highest point is the Punta La Marmora, which lies in the Gennargentu Range. This island is home to many stone circular towers known as nuraghe [[noo-RAH- gay]]. This island, which is its country's second largest, has a northern coast along the Strait of Bonifacio. This island's capital and largest city is Cagliari [[kah-LYAH-ree]]. For the point, name this Italian island which lies south of Corsica and northwest of Sicily. | Sardinia |