August 2026 Geography Bee Quiz

Learn more about the Earth with the help of a GeoFact of the Day Geography Bee Quiz (↗) like this one! Think of this resource as free food for your mind. Whether you are preparing for a geography bee, wanting to impress folks at a trivia contest, or just yearning to learn, I hope you enjoy these morsels about the world. The answers to this quiz are listed below — enjoy and good luck!

1)      Which country's economy is more dependent on fisheries than the other two options?
A — BURKINA FASO
B — NORWAY
C — BOLIVIA

2)      What Central American country was formerly known as British Honduras?
A — BELIZE
B — COSTA RICA
C — PANAMA

3)      When Prophet Muhammad left Mecca, he traveled north to which now-sacred city in SAUDI ARABIA?
A — Tabuk
B — Riyadh
C — Medina

4)      Central Bengal, Eastern Bengal, Northern Bengal, and Southern Bengal are regions in which country?
A — PAKISTAN
B — THAILAND
C — BANGLADESH


























ANSWERS

Question 1:
B . . . . . Norway

Question 2:
A . . . . . Belize

Question 3:
C . . . . . Medina

Question 4:
C . . . . . Bangladesh

The Amazing Race 38, Episode 4

Season 38 Episode 4 (Wednesday, October 15th, 2025) Info: “Racers travel to illusionist Harry Houdini's birthplace, Budapest, Hungary, where a puzzling Fast Forward puts one team to the test; a horse drawn carriage has teams racing against the clock.”

In this fourth episode of The Amazing Race Season 38 (U.S. Edition), teams left Prague and boarded one of two train routes that either went through eastern AUSTRIA 🇦🇹 or western SLOVAKIA 🇸🇰 in order to reach Budapest, the national capital of HUNGARY 🇭🇺. Teams arrived at the Széchenyi Thermal Baths to search for a king chess piece. Teams then gave it to locals who were swimming and playing chess on a floating platform in a large pool. After completing this task first, Eric and Tucker encountered a Fast Forward. They decided to complete the Fast Forward and both solved a Rubik’s Cube in less than 7½ seconds after much practice. Kudos to them because I don’t remember if I ever solved a Rubik’s Cube — or maybe I completed it in several days! Due to the Fast Forward, they quickly surpassed the competition and arrived at the Pit Stop: Várkert Bazár (Castle Garden Bazaar), a neo-Renaissance style promenade near the Royal Palace and Danube riverfront in Buda. The historic site was closed in the 1980s and sat neglected until a beautiful restoration in 2014.

For arriving in first place at this Pit Stop, Eric and Tucker won a trip to BOLIVIA 🇧🇴 including stops at the city of La Paz, the largest salt flat in the world (↗) (Uyuni, also known as Tunupa), and Charquini Mountain. Meanwhile, teams carefully steered a carriage with two horses along a figure eight course in less than 45 seconds. Next, teams arrived at the House of Houdini to unlock a chained wooden container — reminiscent of Harry Houdini’s escapist stunts but without the danger. Finally, teams chose either the “Juggling Act” or “Balancing Act” Detour task. For Juggling Act, teams juggled five rings and had to keep them dangling in midair for ten seconds. For Balancing Act, teams practiced and performed a folk dancing routine. One team member balanced a bottle on his or her head, while the other teammate maneuvered a large stick. Kat had trouble completing her routine but nevertheless persisted even though she was the last performer at the Detour. Therefore, Alex and Kat arrived last at the Pit Stop and ended their Amazing Race journey.

The next episode was on Wednesday, October 22nd at 9:30 p.m. Eastern Time on CBS. The episode 5 recap will be posted in several days.

Bolivia Exports

The following produce and materials are major exports of BOLIVIA: antimony, Brazil nuts, coffee, gemstones (especially ametrine, a.k.a. bolivianite), gold, handicrafts and jewelry, iron, natural gas, petroleum, silver, soybeans and soy products, timber, tin, tungsten, and zinc ore. According to the International Monetary Fund (data.imf.org), countries and territories buying and importing most of those exports in 2016 include Brazil (top importer), the United States, Argentina, Colombia, Belgium, Japan, China, Peru, South Korea, Australia, Canada, the United Arab Emirates, the Netherlands, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Chile, Germany, Italy, India, and Spain.

Rivers Near South American Capitals

Capital cities in all varieties of countries are often located next to or close to rivers and streams. Rivers facilitate trade, convenient transportation, beautification of cities, and recreation activities for residents and tourists. Almost every capital in South America straddles a major river. At the very least, every capital in the continent has rivers, streams, and canals flowing near or within them. In the text below, every country's name has a convenient link to their posts; these links open in new tabs or windows.

Buenos Aires, the capital of ARGENTINA
     ― Río de la Plata and Riachuelo (Río de la Matanza)

La Paz, one of the capitals of BOLIVIA
     ― Río Choqueyapu and Río Seco

Sucre, the other capital of Bolivia
     ― Río Cachimayu

Brasília, the capital of BRAZIL
     ― Ribeirão Taguatinga (stream) and Río São Bartolomeu

Santiago, the capital of CHILE
     ― Canal San Carlos (manmade canal), Río Maipo, and Río Mapocho

Bogotá, the capital of COLOMBIA
     ― Río Bogotá and Río Tunjuelo

Quito, the capital of ECUADOR
     ― Río San Pedro

Cayenne, the capital of FRENCH GUIANA (overseas territory)
     ― Canal LeBlond (manmade canal) and Rivière des Cascades

Georgetown, the capital of GUYANA
     ― Demerara River and east of Essequibo River

Asunción, the capital of PARAGUAY
     ― Arroyo Leandro Sosa (stream) and Río Paraguay

Lima, the capital of PERU
     ― Río Lurín, Río Rímac, and south of Río Chillón

Paramaribo, the capital of SURINAME
     ― Suriname River (Surinamerivier in Dutch)

Montevideo, the capital of URUGUAY
     ― Arroyo Miguelete and Arroyo Pantanoso (streams north and northwest of Montevideo)

Carácas, the capital of VENEZUELA
     ― Quebrada Caroata (stream) and Río Guaire

Former Names of Capitals

Quite a few capitals previously had different names. The following is a list of many, definitely not all, of the capitals that had different names in the past — they are categorized by continent.

AFRICA
Bujumbura, BURUNDI's former capital (Gitega is the new capital since 2019), was called Usumbura until 1962.
N'Djamena, CHAD's capital, was called Fort Lamy until 1973.
Kinshasa, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO's capital, was called Léopoldville until 1966.
Banjul, the capital of GAMBIA, was named Bathurst until 1973.
Antananarivo, MADAGASCAR's capital, was named Tananarive until 1975.
Maputo, MOZAMBIQUE's capital, was named Lourenço Marques until Mozambique's independence in 1976.
Harare, ZIMBABWE's capital, was named Salisbury until 1982.

ASIA
Tbilisi, GEORGIA's capital, was known as Tpilisi (Georgian) or Tiflis (Russian) until 1936.
Jakarta, INDONESIA's highly-populated capital, was known as Sunda Kelapa, then Jayakata, then Batavia, then Djakarta from 1949 to 1972.
Tokyo, JAPAN's capital located on the island of Honshu, was previously named Edo until 1868.
Astana, KAZAKHSTAN's capital, was known as Tselinograd, then Aqmola.
Bishkek, KYRGYZSTAN's capital, was named Pishpek until 1926 and Frunze until 1991, the fall of the Soviet Union.
Ulaanbaatar, MONGOLIA's capital, was known as Ugra until 1924.
Dushanbe, TAJIKISTAN's capital, was called Dyushambe until 1929 and received the name Stalinagrad until 1961.
Ankara, TURKEY's capital, was called Angora until 1930.
Ashgabat, TURKMENISTAN's capital, was called Poltoratsk from 1919 until 1927.

EUROPE
Belgrade, SERBIA's capital, was known as Singidunum in ancient times.
Podgorica, MONTENEGRO's capital, was known as Birziminium before the 11th century, Ribnica during the Middle Ages, and Titograd from 1946 to 1992. The capital possessed the name Podgorica in 1326 until 1946, resuming in 1992.

SOUTH AMERICA
Sucre, one of two capitals of BOLIVIA and named in honor of Antonio José de Sucre, was called Chuquisaca until 1825.

Credit goes to the New Oxford American Dictionary, 2nd Edition, which conveniently listed former capital names.

Landlocked Countries in South America

There are only two landlocked countries in South America: BOLIVIA and PARAGUAY. Landlocked nations do not border any ocean or sea.

Weekly Highlight: May 11-16

Occasionally, the GeoFact of the Day blog will show a highlight photo relating to the week.

Lake Titicaca, the highest commercially-navigable lake in the world, is arguably a one of the most spectacular sights of clear-blue water in the whole world. This high-altitude lake straddles the border of BOLIVIA and PERU.

Bolivia

Map Credit: © Maps of the World (mapsofworld.com)
Click on map to enlarge it in a lightbox window.

Officially known as the Plurinational State of Bolivia, BOLIVIA is a landlocked country located in the central region of South America. Bolivia's bordering countries are Argentina to the south, Brazil to the northeast, Chile to the southwest, Paraguay to the southeast, and Peru to the west. Paraguay is the only other South American landlocked state. Even though it is completely surrounded by land, Bolivia is close to coastal access with the Pacific Ocean. Only a small area of northern Chile and southern Peru block Bolivia from the coast. In addition, Bolivia was not always landlocked. In the late nineteenth century, the country lost its coastal area to Chile in the War of the Pacific (Guerra del Pacífico). Bolivia's currency is the Bolivian Boliviano, and its ISO 4217 currency code is BOB.

● ● ● ● ●  People and Places  ● ● ● ● ●  Bolivia's total population is about 10,725,000, based on 2015 data. Unlike most countries, some Bolivians live in two capital cities: La Paz (administrative capital) and Sucre (constitutional capital). La Paz (the word Peace in English) is the highest capital city in the world since it stands over 12,000 feet above sea level. Other Bolivian cities include Cochabamba, El Alto (immediately west of La Paz), Oruro, Potosí, and Santa Cruz. About 43 languages are spoken in Bolivia. Due to the country's linguistic and ethnic group diversity, languages such as Aymara, Ayoreo (a Zamucoan language), Chácobo, Chiquitano (Bésiro), Guaraní, Machinere, Quechua, Sirionó, Tapieté, and Uru are native official languages, which are less widely spoken than Spanish (another official language). Even extinct languages with no native speakers — Canichana, Cayubaba (Cayuvava), Pauserna-Guarasugwé, and Puquina — are designated as official languages. Bolivia's literacy rate is about 95%, a rate similar to the percentages of Paraguay and Peru but higher than Brazil (91.5%) and Guyana (85%) and lower than Argentina (98%), Chile (96.7%), and Uruguay (98.4%).

Most religious people are Christians, who are predominantly Roman Catholic and comprise about 90% of Bolivia's total population. About 350,000 or more Bolivians adhere to tenets and beliefs in ethnic religions, and over 200,000 citizens are Bahá'í believers. Bolivia boasts multiple landmarks and sites of interests, particularly statues, churches, and sites of ancient civilizations. Did you know that the Cristo de la Concordia (Christ of Peace) is the world's second-largest Jesus Christ statue, standing over 40 meters (about 133 feet) above the ground and taller than Brazil's Christ the Redeemer monument? Located on San Pedro Hill east of Cochabamba city, Bolivia's concrete behemoth is slightly shorter than Świebodzin, Poland's circa-2010 Christ the King statue. Other sites of interest include Biocentro Güembé (Santa Cruz), House of Liberty Museum (Sucre), Iglesia de San Francisco (La Paz), Mariscal Antonio Jose de Sucre suspension bridge, Metropolitan Cathedral of La Paz, Metropolitan Cathedral of Sucre, Palacio Portales (Cochabamba), Plaza 25 de Mayo (Sucre), Presidential Palace (La Paz), and the Tiwanaku ancient civilization site.

● ● ● ● ●  Land Features  ● ● ● ● ●  Bolivia is particularly known for its location along South America's major mountain range, two large salt flats, and a well-known lake. Lake Titicaca (Lago Titicaca) is the largest lake within Bolivia's border, specifically located on the western border with southern Peru. It is often known as the world's highest navigable lake at 12,500 feet in elevation, and this lake's surface area is about 8,366 square kilometers (3,230 sq. miles). Meanwhile, this lake boasts the largest volume in South America. The second largest lake and largest one completely within the country, Lake Poopó is south of Oruro and boasts a surface area of 1,339 sq. kilometers (517 sq. miles).

Stretching across southwestern Bolivia and mostly into northern Chile, the Atacama Desert serves as the home for Bolivia's two largest salt flats: Salar de Uyuni  (largest in the world) and Salar de Coipasa . Sometimes known as Uyuni Salt Flat in English, Salar de Uyuni steals the spotlight in many National Geographic photos. It is located in Potosí Department and surrounded by communities such as Ayque, Calo, Carpas, Chuvica, Coqueza, and of course Uyuni. Salar de Coipasa is sometimes filled with water and therefore also called Lago de Coipasa; it is located north of Salar de Uyuni in Oruro Department. The Abuná River (Río Abuná) forms the northern border with Brazil, while Río Iténez straddles the northeastern Bolivia-Brazil border.

Bolivia is one of seven South American countries straddling the Andes Mountains. Some of the country's major Andes sub-ranges include the Cordillera Central, Cordillera Occidental (west), Cordillera Oriental (east), Cordillera de los Frailes, and Cordillera de Lípez. Located near the northern Chilean border in Oruro Department, Nevado Sajama is Bolivia's highest peak and is currently a non-active (extinct) stratovolcano. The peak features an elevation of 6,542 meters and 21,463 feet and is the obvious highlight of Parque Nacional Sajama (Sajama National Park). Other volcanoes include Acotango (potentially active), Cerro Guacha, Cerro Lípez, Iru Phutunqu (potentially active), Paruma (potentially active), Umurata, and Zapaleri.

This post was updated with more information on April 5th, 2016.