April 2026 Geography Bee Quiz

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

1)      True or false: according to 2018 data from UNESCO's Institute for Statistics, LESOTHO's youth literacy rate is 95.2%.

There is a town named Bratsberg near the center of ____________________.
A — NORWAY
B — GERMANY
C — LATVIA

3)      Which of the following is not a city in Lebanon?
A — Beirut
B — Tyre
C — Riyadh
D — Tripoli

4)      Being home to an interesting red-and-white 1800s lighthouse (↗) and having a namesake current, Cape Agulhas is located southeast of Cape Town, SOUTH AFRICA. The southernmost point of Africa, this cape is known as a separation point between the Atlantic Ocean and __________ Ocean.























ANSWERS

Question 1:
True

Question 2:
A . . . . . Norway

Question 3:
C . . . . . Riyadh which is in Saudi Arabia (↗); Tripoli (D) is a city in Lebanon and also in Libya (↗)

Question 4:
Indian

Independence Day in Latvia

People all across LATVIA are celebrating their country's Independence Day today. Latvia achieved independence from the German Empire in 1918. Happy Independence Day!

Struve Geodetic Arc

What is the Struve Geodetic Arc, a UNESCO World Heritage Site spanning across the countries of BELARUS, ESTONIA, FINLAND, LATVIA, LITHUANIA, MOLDOVA, NORWAY, RUSSIA, SWEDEN, and UKRAINE? The UNESCO World Heritage Site webpage (↗) provides an interactive map and description:

The Struve Arc is a chain of survey triangulations stretching from Hammerfest in Norway to the Black Sea, through 10 countries and over 2,820 km. These are points of a survey, carried out between 1816 and 1855 by the astronomer Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struve, which represented the first accurate measuring of a long segment of a meridian. This helped to establish the exact size and shape of the planet and marked an important step in the development of earth sciences and topographic mapping. It is an extraordinary example of scientific collaboration among scientists from different countries, and of collaboration between monarchs for a scientific cause. The original arc consisted of 258 main triangles with 265 main station points. The listed site includes 34 of the original station points, with different markings, i.e. a drilled hole in rock, iron cross, cairns, or built obelisks.

Surveyors from around the world and other people involved in geodesy and geography might consider adding a [probably expensive] trip through Eastern Europe onto their travel "Bucket List"! The UNESCO description is available under license Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Intergovernmental Organization 3.0 license (↗).

Latvia Exports

According to National Geographic MapMaker (mapmaker.nationalgeographic.org), the following items are major exports of LATVIA: dairy products, dolomite, electronics, equipment and machinery, grain, limestone, metal, peat, pharmaceuticals, potatoes, processed food, railroad cars, textiles, wood, and wood products. According to the International Monetary Fund (data.imf.org), countries and territories buying and importing most of those exports (February 2017 statistics) include Lithuania (top importer), Russia, Estonia, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, the United Kingdom, the United States, Norway, Finland, the Netherlands, France, Czech Republic, Turkey, Belgium, Italy, China, the United Arab Emirates, and Belarus.

Latvia Endangered Species

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ for LATVIA in Eastern Europe lists two critically endangered species and four endangered species. There are fortunately no extinct species in Latvia, or at least none listed by the IUCN. The European Eel (Anguilla anguilla) and European Mink (Mustela lutreola) are Latvia's critically endangered species. Across a large swath of western Russia, the European Mink may be extinct. Latvia's endangered species are the Agabus clypealis beetle, Atlantic Bluefin Tuna (Thunnus thynnus), Freshwater Mussel Pearl (Margaritifera margaritifera), and Thick-shelled River Mussel (Unio crassus).

GeoFact of the Day | Gulf of Riga and Highest Baltic Point

Two GeoFacts in one today! The Gulf of Riga is a bay situated southwest of ESTONIA and north of LATVIA. Latvia's capital, Riga, is located on the confluence of the Gulf of Riga and the Daugava River.

The highest point in the low-lying Baltic States — a region comprising Estonia, Latvia, and LITHUANIA — is Suur Munamägi, which stands over 1,000 feet in southern Estonia.

Independence Day of Latvia

Today marks the 93rd anniversary of LATVIA's independence. Latvia gained independence from Russia on November 18, 1918, but was later incorporated into the Soviet Union. Fortunately, Latvia finally received independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Bing.com marked Latvia's independence with an image of Riga, Latvia's capital. To learn more about Latvia, visit my Latvia post!

What are the Baltic States?

The three Baltic States are (from north to south) ESTONIA, LATVIA, and LITHUANIA. Estonia's capital is Tallinn, Latvia's capital is Riga, and Lithuania's capital is Vilnius.

> To learn more about Estonia, visit my Estonia post (links open in new window)!
> To learn more about Latvia, visit my Latvia post!
> To learn more about Lithuania, visit my Lithuania post!

Latvia

LATVIA is located in Eastern Europe, south of Estonia and north of Lithuania. Russia and Belarus shares the eastern border of Latvia. The capital of Latvia is Riga (Rīga). The former currency of Latvia was the Latvian Lats, which had the ISO 4217 currency code LVL. Since January 2014, Latvians are using the Euro.