50 Question Challenge #9, Country Shapes: answers and sources
Spoilers ahead! Play the video first. Here is every answer, the fun fact and the source we checked it against.
Scores: 0-19: Map rookie · 20-29: Shape spotter · 30-39: Map master · 40+: Human atlas. Don't forget your Couch Wager. Spotted a mistake? Email hello@ahaville.com with the question number.
Level 1: Easy
- 1
Let's start easy. Which country is this?
USA Its long, straight top edge is the 49th parallel.
- 2
Which country has this shape?
Japan About the size of Montana.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan · wikipedia.org/wiki/Montana
- 3
Name this country.
France It's nicknamed “the Hexagon”.
- 4
Whose outline is this?
Brazil It's bigger than the lower 48 US states.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazil · wikipedia.org/wiki/Contiguous_United_States
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Which country has this shape?
Mexico Its Baja peninsula is 775 miles long.
- 7
Name this one.
Greece About the size of Alabama.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Greece · wikipedia.org/wiki/Alabama
- 8
Whose outline is this?
New Zealand About the size of Colorado.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand · wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado
- 9
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Last easy one: which country?
Turkey Most of it is in Asia, a small part in Europe.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkey
Level 2: Medium
- 11
Which country has this shape?
Iceland About the size of Kentucky.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceland · wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky
- 12
Name this country.
Sweden A little bigger than California.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweden · wikipedia.org/wiki/California
- 13
Whose outline is this?
Portugal Lisbon: mainland Europe's westernmost capital.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisbon
- 14
Which country is this?
Argentina The eighth-largest country in the world.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Argentina
- 15
Which country has this shape?
Philippines It has about 7,600 islands.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippines
- 16
Name this one.
Thailand Its shape looks like an elephant's head!
- 17
Whose outline is this?
South Africa That hole is a whole country: Lesotho!
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Lesotho
- 18
Which country is this?
Saudi Arabia About three times the size of Texas.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudi_Arabia · wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas
- 19
Which country has this shape?
Peru South America's largest lake is on its border.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Titicaca
- 20
Last medium one: which country?
South Korea The island at the bottom is Jeju, its largest.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeju_Island
Level 3: Quick shapes
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Level 4: Hard
- 31
Which country has this shape?
Croatia Over 1,000 islands and islets line its coast.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Croatia
- 32
Name this country.
Hungary Lake Balaton: Central Europe's largest lake.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Balaton
- 33
Whose outline is this?
Romania Most of the Danube Delta is in Romania.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Danube_Delta
- 34
Which country is this?
Belgium About the size of Maryland.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgium · wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryland
- 35
Which country has this shape?
Uruguay About the size of Missouri.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Uruguay · wikipedia.org/wiki/Missouri
- 36
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Whose outline is this?
Jamaica The Caribbean's third-largest island.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamaica
- 38
Which country is this?
Dominican Republic It shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti.
- 39
Which country has this shape?
Nigeria Africa's most populous country.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigeria
- 40
Last hard one: which country?
Bangladesh Most of it lies on the world's largest delta.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganges_Delta
Level 5: Impossible
- 41
Which country has this shape?
Zambia Victoria Falls sits on its border.
- 42
Name this country.
El Salvador About the size of New Jersey.
- 43
Whose outline is this?
Oman Musandam, up top, is cut off by the UAE.
- 44
Which country is this?
Slovenia Its coast is only about 29 miles long.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Slovenia
- 45
Which country has this shape?
Kuwait Bubiyan is its largest island.
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Whose outline is this?
Equatorial Guinea Africa's only country where Spanish is official.
- 48
Which country is this?
Trinidad and Tobago The steelpan drum was born here.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Steelpan
- 49
Which country has this shape?
Timor-Leste The piece on the left is cut off from the rest.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Oecusse
- 50
The very last shape. Which country?
Brunei A piece of Malaysia splits it in two.
Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Brunei
The Big Aha stories
- The US town you drive to through Canada: Point Roberts is a little piece of Washington State, on the tip of a Canadian peninsula. It belongs to the US because it lies just south of the 49th parallel. To drive there from the rest of the US, you go 25 miles through Canada. From 4th grade, kids ride through Canada to school: four border crossings, there and back! Sources: wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_Roberts,_Washington
- The border through a front door: In the town of Baarle, Belgium and the Netherlands are mixed up like a jigsaw puzzle. Belgium has 22 little pieces of land there, all surrounded by the Netherlands. And inside some of those pieces sit 7 tiny Dutch ones! The border even runs through one front door, so that house has two house numbers: one in each country! Sources: wikipedia.org/wiki/Baarle-Hertog · wikipedia.org/wiki/Baarle-Nassau
Bonus question
Which of these South American countries has no coastline? We reveal the answer in the pinned comment under the video.