Geography brain-teasers

You are used to geography quizzes, right? What is the capital of … Name three rivers … and so on. Boooo!!

Down with those kinds of quizzes, I say! You are more capable than just memorizing things. Yes!

This quiz is not about recalling, but about understanding and making connections. One part is a set of questions and the other is a crossword. Answer these questions, solve the crossword and send them to the Deccan Herald office in Bangalore, marked to “Student Edition” and we will publish some of the answers on the TIIGS geography blog.

The answers will be published on 2 September.

For the first five (5) complete and correct entries for the questions, and first five complete crosswords, we will send you a nice certificate! Winners will be announced on 9 September in this column.

Now gather your friends, get psyched up, open that atlas, and … start!

1. Find any four places that are along 23½°N latitude, but in different countries (and different continents, if you can). Find the altitudes of these places and arrange them in order of longitude going East from 0° longitude. This should give you some idea of how 23½°N goes up and down!
2. Look at a map of Africa’s climates and vegetation. Describe (in 4–5 lines) the pattern you see, but begin with 0° latitude. List any 3 factors that cause this pattern and say how each factor works (in 1–2 sentences).
3. With which countries does India share borders and which of these are sources of conflict for India?
4. Find North and South Vietnam, East and West Yemen, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), Rhodesia, South Sudan, and Yugoslavia. What are the results of your search? Why did you get those results? (You will have to do some history research to answer this.)
5. Cartography is the science and art of making maps. I always tell students, “If you want 100% job security, become a cartographer!” Do you support this statement or not? In either case, why? (If you gave correct answers to question 4, it will be easier to answer this one. Answer in 1 or 2 sentences.)
6. This one’s easy! Look at the stories in the latest issue of your favourite newspaper. Make a list of countries named in these stories. Which of these (if any) are islands, peninsulas, or landlocked (i.e., no coast line at all)?
7. One of my friends told me this riddle: There is a house. It has four walls. All walls face the same direction. Every wall has a window. A bear walks by the house. What is the colour of the bear and why?

If you send answers and they are correct/acceptable, they will be posted in a later blog post.

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Want a blank outline map of the world to work with? Get it from here.

Here is a geography crossword puzzle for you to solve. It is a PDF. Download it, print it, and solve it. (Solution to the crossword puzzle will be posted in a later blog post.)

Instructions on how to solve the crossword puzzle (if you are new to crosswords, read this first):

1. Read the clue to words, phrases, abbreviations, etc. across or down.
2. Every clue has the number of the cell in which the answer begins and goes across (horizontally) or down (vertically).
3. The number in parentheses at the end of each clue is the number of letters in the solution. If the solution has more than one word, you will see something like: 3, 2, 5 (1st word has 3 letters, 2nd word has 2 letters, 3rd word has 5 letters). If it is a hyphenated word, the clue may show (3–4), 3 letters hyphen 4 letters. The answer will be written as if it is one word without the hyphen.
4. Blanks between words are not used in the solution. A three-word solution will be written as if it is one word, without spaces.
5. Only one letter per blank cell.

You can find most answers in some of the previous geography blog posts here (and in the Deccan Herald Student Edition’s weekly geography columns. For some others, you may have to do some research.

Deadline for your answers: 30 August 2013.

Send your answers by email or enter them in the comments box below. Be sure to include (1) your name, (2) class, (3) school name, and (4) your e-mail address (enter this in the box that says “email”).