Can You Match the City to the Country?

Zoe Samuel

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the prosperous capital of Denmark, sitting on the western edge of the Baltic, staring back at Russia sitting on the other side. Copenhagen is famous for its "Little Mermaid."

Madrid

Madrid is the capital of Spain, and it has been a major power center since the fall of Rome. Madrid was a Christian capital and a Muslim one, depending on the years, and today it's wrestling with its own political strife, trying to govern while the Catalan region tries to separate.

Chicago

Congratulations! You know where Chicago is! It is indeed an American city, near the northernmost fringe of the lower 48 states. Chicago has a long history, including a major fire, a crime wave and a proud tradition of baseball.

Toronto

Toronto is one of the most diverse cities in Canada and indeed in the world, and home to many a media business, including television production. Toronto is less than a two-hour drive from Buffalo, New York.

Lisbon

Lisbon is the capital of the tiny Iberian nation of Portugal. Portugal may seem small, but the nation once commanded a massive global empire, one which included Brazil.

Amsterdam

Located in Holland, Amsterdam is one of the most famous trading ports in all the world. Famed for its canals, red light district and flower market, Amsterdam has history going back many centuries.

Marseilles

Marseilles is a town on the French Riviera, and it is very much French. There was a time that Marseilles and the area around it were ground zero for the Cathars, a heretical group of Christians who had a crusade waged against them by the Roman church.

Monaco

That's correct! The city of Monaco is in the principality of Monaco. Monaco sits on the French Riviera, though while it has things in common with both Italy and France, it is part of neither.

Genoa

Genoa is a northern port city on the west coast of Italy, taking an active role in trade in the Mediterranean. At one time, it was one of many Italian city-states that had to rise and fall alone.

Turin

Home to a Winter Games and the famous Shroud of Turin, Turin is located in northern Italy, at the foot of the Alps. The landscape and weather start to become Swiss, but the food is still Italian.

Vaduz

Vaduz is the capital of the tiny principality of Liechtenstein. Liechtenstein abuts the eastern edge of Switzerland, and is a favorite destination of people trying to hide their income from the tax man. The nation is so small it can be crossed by car in twenty minutes, and yet it has more "brass plate" companies in it than it has people.

Zagreb

Zagreb is the capital of Croatia and its largest city. Being economically underdeveloped in comparison to more Western nations, Zagreb's medieval architecture has been beautifully preserved, making it an ideal tourist destination.

Sarajevo

Sarajevo was ground zero for the fighting in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but today it's a city prospering from the unity of Europe. Back in 1984, when Sarajevo was in the country of Yugoslavia, the Winter Olympics were held there.

Graz

Graz is a charming, medieval city in Austria. It is perhaps best known for being the major city center near where Arnold Schwarzenegger grew up.

Bremen

Squatting over the Weser River, Bremen is a medieval town with a long history of using its river for maritime trade. Of course, this same river leading to the Baltic would have led the Vikings directly to the city many centuries ago.

Hyderabad

We wouldn't blame you for missing this one, as Hyderabad is only the eigth largest city in Pakistan, and hardly on the tourist route.

Vilnius

Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, but unlike many nations on the Baltic, its capital is well inland. Vilnius is a bargain for want-to-be travelers.

Tallinn

Tallinn is the capital of Estonia. Sitting on the edge of the Baltic Sea, it's known for its nightlife.

Gothenburg

Gothenburg, Sweden, is a port city with canals that make it seem a lot like Holland. It is the second-largest city in Sweden, behind Stockholm.

Astana

Astana is the capital of Kazakhstan, home to 1990s era architecture and some breathtaking views. And, of course, it is the homeland of Borat.

Samarkand

Samarkand is a city in Uzbekistan. It is noted for its religious sites, including mosques and tombs, but most of all for being on the ancient Silk Road, connecting East and West.

Dushanbe

Dushanbe is the capital city of Tajikistan and a showcase of the nation's culture, with parks and monuments honoring their poets and other cultural heroes. Perhaps the city is best remembered in America from its brief mention in the film "Spies Like Us," where the protagonists are told to look for a contact on the road to Dushanbe.

Kabul

You are probably familiar with the name Kabul, since it is the capital of Afghanistan and thus subject to many attacks by the Taliban. Citizens are trying to rebuild.

Hyderabad

Yes, there is another Hyderabad! What are the odds, right? Well, this one is in India. Since Pakistan and India were once one nation, it makes some sense that their cultures would produce two cities of the same name. Of course, this begs the question: where would mail go when addressed to Hyderabad, when the two nations were one?

Colombo

Colombo is an ancient port city that was colonized by Portugal, the British and the Dutch over the centuries. A link in the ancient trade routes to the West, it is the capital of Sri Lanka.

Port Moresby

Port Moresby is the capital of Papua New Guinea, a nation in the extreme southeast of the map. Port Moresby features a few major cultural institutions, including a museum and the nation's parliament, which is designed around religious architectural themes.

Dunedin

Dunedin is a peculiar little port city in New Zealand. It features an odd mix of architecture, and a population with Maori and Scottish roots.

Windhoek

Windhoek is the capital of Namibia, and stands just north of a massive war monument, commemorating the 1990 revolution that gave birth to the country.

Abyei

Abyei is a city of about 20,000 on the southernmost parts of Sudan, in the middle of nowhere. It is a disputed area.

Gaborone

Gaborone is the capital of Botswana. It is home to, among other things, The Gaborone Game Reserve.

Maseru

Maseru is the capital of Losotho, a landlocked nation surrounded on all sides by South Africa.

Mbabane

Mbabane is the capital of Swaziland, but it's not actually home to the royal compound or the nation's parliament, both of which are located in a nearby town. The city hosts traditional street markets.

Lilongwe

Lilongwe is the capital of Malawi, and sits on the Lilongwe River. In the center of the city is a major new development, built by Chinese backers.

Abyei

Abyei is in the disputed region on the border of Sudan and South Sudan, so it's sort of in both countries.

Muscat

Muscat is the port capital of Oman, located on the country's northeastern border, on the Persian Gulf. The Hajar Mountains provide a beautiful backdrop.

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Image: shutterstock

About This Quiz

Geography tests were once a staple of a basic education. From the first grade to the twelfth, students were expected to know all the countries in the world, their capitals, their major ports and cultural centers. Knowing geography is one of the tools that made the Roman, Mongol and Greek empires great. There was a time when maps were scarce and expensive, and people had to just know geography, both locally and anywhere else they might go. Even in this age of smartphones with world atlases inside them, a little local knowledge can be tremendously useful. Google Maps doesn't always know every road, and sometimes it thinks roads exist that aren't there.

The world isn't what it once was. It is host to many new nations, some founded in the late 20th century, others even more recently. Some cities are ancient, with histories going back to the Silk Road or the Crusades, while others are entirely new, with megalopolises founded on the sites of old fishing villages, built to support the industries of the future. How familiar are you with these places? How many hemispheres have you been to, and how many have you observed from Google Maps? 

Do you know your cities and countries? Take this quiz and find out!

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