World Geography Quiz

About this test

Physical geography has one advantage over political geography: it barely changes. Capitals move, countries get renamed, borders shift — but the Nile has flowed the same way for millions of years, and the Andes are not going anywhere. That is why this quiz asks for no capital cities at all: it is about what stays true once the news cycle has moved on.

The sharpest trap in geography is the badly specified superlative. The largest lake in the world by surface area is the Caspian Sea, yet it is Lake Baikal that holds the greatest volume of liquid fresh water — roughly a fifth of the world's supply, thanks to a depth of over 1,600 metres. In the same way, the Amazon may or may not be the longest river depending on how you measure it, but it is unarguably the one that discharges the most water: on its own it accounts for close to a fifth of all fresh water reaching the oceans.

If you want to improve for good, drop the lists and get into the habit of reading relief and current maps. The Mediterranean climate, the coastal deserts of South America, the mild winters of Brittany: three phenomena explained by the position of mountains and the direction of sea currents, not by any line drawn on a map.

How it works

Twenty questions, four options each, ordered from the most common to the most specialised, with exactly one correct answer every time. Your score is the percentage you got right; the full breakdown appears at the end, question by question.