MCC’s 3rd Annual Geography Quiz
Geography Awareness Week 2008
(The Americas)
Human Geography Questions:
1. Geographers’ love to explore unique places. Which of the following cities host the American Royal
Barbeque every fall? This food festival is the world’s largest barbeque contest and is known as the
“World Series of Barbeque.”
a. Houston, TX
b. Kansas City, MO
c. Lynchburg, TN
d. Memphis, TN
2. A major focus of Geography is the study of the relationship between culture and the physical
environment. This U.N. World Heritage site is the location of a buffalo jump where Native
Americans killed American Bison by chasing them off a precipice.
a. Bliss Landing, British Columbia, Canada
b. Cahokia Mounds, Illinois, United States
c. Going-to-the-Sun Road, Montana, United States
d. Head-Smashed-In, Alberta, Canada
3. This World Heritage site is controlled by Chile. When you visit you will be astonished by its
monolithic human figures carved from rock called moai. These monumental statues reflect the
technological advancement of the native Rapanui. Don’t try to take a chip of these statues home
though, fines will cost you thousands of dollars and you will be banned from returning.
a. Easter Island
b. Falkland Islands
c. Galapagos Islands
d. Machu Picchu
4. Geographers often refer to this location as a case study in less developed countries. Unfortunately,
it has the highest infant mortality rate (80.3 per 1000 live births) and the lowest life expectancies in
the Americas (51 for males, 53 for females).
a. Bolivia
b. Cuba
c. Guyana
d. Haiti
5. The Amish started migrating to North America in the early 1700s and many Cultural Geographers
study them because they illustrate how relocation diffusion distributes folk culture. Which of the
following States has the largest Amish population?
a. Indiana
b. Iowa
c. Ohio
d. Pennsylvania
6. The Travel Channel and other popular networks have been “living with” various folk cultures like the
Zoe who practice this economic system in the area between the Amazon River and Surinam’s
southern border. Geographers fear that this interaction threatens the survival of traditional Zoe
customs and may lead to practices that are less responsive to the local environment.
a. Hunting and gathering
b. Pastoral nomadism
c. Slash-and-burn subsistence farming
d. Wet rice subsistence farming
7. Economic Geographers have determined that this country leads the world in per capita banana,
pineapple, and butterfly exports to the U.S. It also ranks first in the application of pesticides per
hectare.
a. Brazil
b. Costa Rica
c. Ecuador
d. Panama
8. Most of the public buildings in this beautiful Brazilian city were designed by acclaimed architect
Oscar Niemeyer. The city’s Urban Geography was planned by Lúcio Costa and an aerial view
reveals that he designed the city’s cultural landscape to resemble a plane or a cross. Political
Geographers know that it is also a forward-thrust capital.
a. Brasilia
b. Rio de Janeiro
c. Salvador
d. Sao Palo
9. MCC’s Interim President, Larry Tyree is a native of this city, America’s first European settlement. It
was founded in August, 1559 but within a month it was destroyed by a hurricane and eventually
abandoned. It is where the first Roman Catholic Mass in the future United States was held and
often called the “city of five flags” because it has been ruled by Spain, France, England, the
Confederacy, and the U.S.
a. Pensacola, FL
b. Roanoke Island, NC
c. Sarasota, FL
d. St. Augustine, FL
Physical Geography Questions:
10. A large population surrounding the tallest mountain in the Americas relies on water supplies from its
melting glaciers. Since 1850, glaciers from this mountain have retreated 20%. What is the highest
elevation in the Americas?
a. Cerro Aconcagua
b. Denali (Mount McKinley)
c. Mount Whitney
d. Nevado Huascaran
11. This earthquake caused a tsunami with waves that approached 80 feet. Where and when in the
twentieth century did the largest earthquake occur?
a. 1960 Chilean earthquake
b. 1964 Alaskan earthquake
c. 1906 San Francisco earthquake
d. 1970 Ancash earthquake in Peru
12. This location is near an island that saw fighting during World War II. Typically, this location receives
precipitation five or six days a week with only 8 to 10 clear days a year. It is also the easternmost
point by longitude in the Americas.
a. Pochnoi Point, Semisopochnoi Island, Alaska, USA
b. Point Udall, St. Croix, US Virgin Islands
c. Ponta do Seixas, Brazil
d. West Quoddy Head, Maine, USA
13. In response to climate fluctuations, icefields and glaciers grow and shrink in length, width, and
depth. The name of the largest continuous icefield outside of the polar regions is the:
a. Hang Ten Icefield , USA/Canada
b. Bonnet Icefield, Canada
c. Juneau Icefield, Alaska, USA
d. Southern Patagonian Icefield, Argentina and Chile
14. This lake includes a small population of people that live on a group of artificial islands made of
floating reeds. It is also the highest navigable lake in the Americas.
a. Lake Tahoe on the California/Nevada border.
b. Lake Titicaca, Bolivia/Peru
c. Great Salt Lake, USA
d. Lake Winnipeg Basin, Canada
15. Home to over 30 million people and 22% of the world’s fresh surface water, this basin has a
collection of lakes and connecting channels that form the largest fresh surface water system on
Earth.
a. Lake Winnipeg Basin, Canada
b. Great Salt Lake Basin, USA
c. Lake Titicaca Basin, Bolivia/Peru
d. The Great Lakes Basin of Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, Canada/USA
16. Coastal areas of this subtropical region may receive no precipitation all year; however the locals
gather water using advection fog harvesters. This region is known as the:
a. Sechura desert, Peru
b. Northern Sinaloa, Mexico
c. Atacama Desert, Chile
d. Barrow, Alaska, USA
17. The lowest location in the Americas is also in the same region where scientists have found dinosaur
bones from a Titanosaurs (a group of plant-eating dinosaurs). What is the lowest surface in the
Americas?
a. Bad Water, California, USA
b. Laguna del Carbon, Argentina
c. Salton Sea, California, USA
d. Laguna Salada, Mexico
18. This rainforest is home to over half of the planets remaining rainforests and is the most species rich
biome in the world. It has also seen significant deforestation primarily due to human settlement and
development of the land.
a. cloud forest of Monteverde, Costa Rica
b. Rainforests of Panama
c. Amazon Rainforest, Brazil
d. Olympic Rainforest, Washington, USA
Geographic Techniques Questions:
19. With less than 3 people per square mile, this nation is the least densely populated in the Americas.
Suriname
20. The U.S. Census Bureau computes the country’s population center at the time of each census.
When the first U.S. Census was taken in 1790 the population center was in Chesapeake Bay east
of Baltimore, Maryland. By the 2000 census the population center had moved west-southwest to
this State.
Missouri