The Islands Quiz

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AND a quiz with a travel theme.

Here’s the Islands Quiz from the June e-newsletter, and here’s the link to subscribe.

Islands Quiz

1.  Where am i?

I’m on an island off the coast of Dakar, in Senegal. It is one of the western most points of Africa and is well known for its links to the slave trade.

a) Treasure Island
b) Isla de Los Muertos
c) Île de Gorée
d) Guadalupe

(Answers below)

2.  Before the International Date Line was moved you could travel from island to island within these two countries and you could lose a day or gain a day.

Measurement of time and measurement of longitude are similar – measuring the amount of time it takes for the earth to spin. Due to the international effort in solving the problem on measuring longitude and the scale of the enterprise, it represented one of the largest scientific endeavours in history. Two solutions were developed – one required a clock that could survive the rigors of the sea, and the other four hours’ worth of lunar charts each time you wanted a reading. By convention the Prime Meridian, which passes through the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, England, was allocated the position of zero degrees longitude. On the opposite side of the world is the International Date Line, 180 degrees and you either lose a day or gain a day when you cross this line.

Italian author Umberto Eco wrote a fictional account of the search for a method to measure longtitude, and how it is connected to the International Date Line in The Island of the Day Before. A non-fiction account is in ‘Longitude’.

Where would you have to go if you wanted to be the first country to welcome the New Year? There are two correct answers.

3.  Alcatraz was a Federal Penitentiary located in the (San Francisco Bay) until it closed for prison business in 1963. Which of the following were never inmates at the prison on Alcatraz?

a) Al Capone
b) George ‘Machine Gun’ Kelly
c) Robert ‘The Birdman’ Stroud
d) Roy Gardner
e) Charles Manson
f) James ‘Whitey’ Bulger
g) Mickey Cohen
h) Ronald Biggs, the Great Train Robber
i) Mark ‘Whitey’ White

4.  Among other things, these islands are known for producing very good Scotch, for tweed, for croft houses and for the song ‘Mull of Kintyre’. Islay, Jura, Mull, Skye and Harris & Lewis are all part of which island group, off the west coast of Scotland?

a) The Orkneys
b) The Hebrides
c) Shetland Isles
d) Channel Islands
e) Scotch Islands

5.  Haida Gwai lies off the coast of British Colombia, Canada and was previously known as Queen Charlotte Islands. The islands lie just off the north west coast, almost touching the Alaskan peninsular. The islands are famous for their pristine and unique ecosystem. Which famous explorer does Canada’s Haida Gwai islands have in common with Tahiti, Hawaii, Kiribati & Tierra del Fuego?

a) Christopher Columbus
b) Captain James Cook
c) Marco Polo
d) William Dampier
e) Henry Hudson

6.   Which is closer to the equator – the Galapagos Islands off Ecuador, Port of Spain Stadium on Trinidad and Tobago Islands, Malabo Airport in Equatorial Guinea or Singapore Port?

7.   Located in the Atlantic ocean the Canary Islands are an autonomous community belonging to Spain. Even more than Ile du Gorée the islands played a part in the slave trade. They were on the sailing route from Africa to the Caribbean. Christopher Colombus was also a frequent visitor – stopping xx times on his expeditions from Spain to the Americas.

For the last few decades the Canary Islands are better known as a tourist destination for Europeans wanting to get some sun in the winter months.

Where did the name ‘Canary Islands’, or ‘Las Canarias’ originate?

a) Named after the first Spanish ship to visit the Islands – ‘La Canaria Amarilla’.
b) The islands are named after the birds that are found in large numbers throughout the archipelago.
c) From the great number of dogs to be found on the islands.
d) It stems from an legend about a mine that exploded in the 1600’s, ‘when the canary didn’t sing’.
e) It is because there is a mountain that is looks yellow, when viewed from a distance.

8.  Las Islas Juan Fernandez is better known as the archipelago where Andrew Selkirk was marooned in the early 1700’s. Andrew Selkirk was a Scots sailor who sailed with the English explorer and privateer William Dampier. Daniel Defoe moved the location to the Caribbean, changed the name of the main character, gave him a friend and published the very famous book about it – hence the colloquial name – Robinson Crusoe Island.

In the book written by Daniel Defoe, what was the name of Robinson Crusoe’s friend?

a) Samuel Davidson
b) Mrs Thursday
c) Kangaroo Jack
d) Samuel L Jackson
e) Man Friday

9.  France’s Île de la Cité is one of two islands in the Seine that flows through Paris. Everything is close by, the Louvre is in walking distance, the Musee D’Orsay and if you don’t mind a big walk Galeries Lafayette.

Its ancient history dates from Roman times. Clovis established a Merovingian palace on the island, which became the capital of Merovingian Neustria. and some words you don’t hear very often, unless you are a French historian. Sounds very much like Game of Thrones, … who knew?

Fact: All road distances in France are calculated from the 0 km point located in the Place du Parvis de Notre-Dame, the square facing Notre-Dame’s pair of western towers.

What is the familiar name of the church on the Île de la Cité?

a) Sagrada Familia
b) St Pauls Cathedral
c) Cathedral of Saint-Charles-Borromée
d) Notre Dame Cathedral
e) Saint-Louis-en-l’Île

10.  Which is the most remote island archipelago in the world, if measured in distance from the nearest country?

a) Diego Garcia (South Indian Ocean)
b) Tristan da Cunha (South Atlantic)
c)  Cocos & Keeling Islands (South Indian Ocean)
d) Falkland Islands (South Atlantic)
e) Easter Island (Pacific)

*  *  *

Answers:

1. c) Île de Gorée
2. Either Samoa or Kiribati: bonus points for being able to pronounce Kiribati.
3. c) Ned Kelly; f) Charles Mason; i) Ronald Biggs; j) Mark ‘Whitey’ White.
4. b) The Hebrides
5. b) Captain James Cook
6. Galapagos 0°40′S is just closer than Singapore Port 1° 15′ 50.40″ N. Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago – Latitude: 10° 39′ 24.88″ N; 61° 31′ 35.34″ W; Malabo Airport, Equatorial Guinea 3.7578° N, 8.7161° E
7. c) From the great number of dogs to be found on the islands. In fact this is not proven, but it is the most likely reason. Canaries (birds) are named after the islands.
8. e) Man Friday
9. d) Notre Dame Cathedral
10. b) The most remote archipelago and the most remote inhabited island is apparently Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic Ocean, 2,434 km from Saint Helena, 2,816 km from South Africa, and 3,360 km from South America.

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