Flash Check — 80 Questions

1. What is the capital of Bhutan, and to which currency is the ngultrum pegged? — Thimphu; pegged 1:1 to the Indian rupee.
2. Name Sri Lanka's official/legislative capital, distinct from its commercial capital, Colombo. — Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte.
3. How many members does SAARC have, and which was the most recent to join? — Eight; Afghanistan, which joined in 2007.
4. How many members does ASEAN have as of late 2025, and which country most recently joined? — Eleven; Timor-Leste, admitted in October 2025.
5. Name three currencies that carry a name derived from "rupee," besides the Indian rupee. — Pakistani rupee, Sri Lankan rupee, Nepalese rupee, Mauritian rupee, or Seychellois rupee (any three).
6. Which two countries are classified as "doubly landlocked" — landlocked and surrounded entirely by other landlocked countries? — Liechtenstein and Uzbekistan.
7. What is the currency of Brunei, and to which other currency is it pegged? — Brunei Dollar, pegged 1:1 to the Singapore Dollar.
8. Name the capital of Kazakhstan and the two earlier names it has carried since 1997. — Astana; earlier known as Akmola (before 1998) and Nur-Sultan (2019–2022).
9. Which country's capital is Naypyidaw, and which former capital did it replace? — Myanmar; replaced Yangon in 2005.
10. What is the official name Turkey requested the UN and other bodies use from 2022 onward? — Türkiye.
11. Name the currency of Israel and the disputed status of its capital. — Israeli New Shekel; Jerusalem is claimed as the capital, but most countries maintain embassies in Tel Aviv.
12. Which Gulf country's currency, the dinar, is described as the world's highest-valued currency unit? — Kuwait.
13. How many member states does the European Union have after Brexit, and when did the UK's withdrawal transition fully end? — 27 members; the transition ended 31 December 2020.
14. How many EU members currently use the euro, and name two that do not. — 20; any two of Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Sweden.
15. Which country most recently adopted the euro, and when? — Croatia, on 1 January 2023.
16. Name two European micro-states that use the euro without being EU members, via formal agreement. — Any two of Andorra, Monaco, San Marino, Vatican City.
17. Name two territories/countries that use the euro unilaterally without any formal agreement or EU membership. — Montenegro and Kosovo.
18. What is the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and its currency? — Sarajevo; Convertible Mark.
19. Which country adopted "Czechia" as its official short-form English name, and in what year? — Czech Republic, in 2016.
20. Name the two African CFA franc zones, the central bank behind each, and one member country of each. — West African CFA Franc (BCEAO) — e.g. Senegal; Central African CFA Franc (BEAC) — e.g. Cameroon.
21. How many countries use the West African CFA franc, and how many use the Central African CFA franc? — Eight (West) and six (Central).
22. What is Nigeria's capital, and which larger, more famous city do people often mistake for it? — Abuja; Lagos.
23. Which country's political capital moved from Bujumbura to Gitega in 2019? — Burundi.
24. What is the currency of Zimbabwe as introduced in April 2024, and what does the acronym stand for? — ZiG (Zimbabwe Gold), traded under the ticker ZWG.
25. Name the two capitals of Côte d'Ivoire and which one is official. — Yamoussoukro (official, since 1983) and Abidjan (de facto/economic capital).
26. Which African country's capital is split between Dodoma (official) and Dar es Salaam (commercial, former capital)? — Tanzania.
27. Name the currency used by Cabo Verde and São Tomé and Príncipe, and what it is pegged to. — Cape Verdean Escudo and the Dobra respectively, both pegged to the euro.
28. What is the currency of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and how does it differ from its neighbour, the Republic of the Congo? — Congolese Franc (DRC) versus the Central African CFA Franc used by the Republic of the Congo.
29. Which country recently renamed itself from Swaziland, and why? — Eswatini, in 2018, by royal decree of King Mswati III, partly to avoid confusion with Switzerland.
30. Name South Africa's three capitals and the government function each hosts. — Pretoria/Tshwane (executive/administrative), Cape Town (legislative), Bloemfontein/Mangaung (judicial).
31. Which country uses the Balboa, pegged 1:1 to the US dollar, with the US dollar also circulating? — Panama.
32. Name the six independent countries that share the East Caribbean Dollar. — Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
33. Which two Central American/South American countries fully replaced their own currency with the US dollar? — Ecuador (2000) and El Salvador (2001).
34. What is Belize's capital, and how does it differ from the country's largest city? — Belmopan is the capital; Belize City is the largest city and former capital.
35. Name Bolivia's two capitals and which one hosts the Supreme Court. — La Paz (seat of government) and Sucre (constitutional/judicial capital, seat of the Supreme Court).
36. Which South American country's National Congress sits in a different city from the national capital, and what is that city? — Chile; the National Congress sits in Valparaíso, while Santiago is the national capital.
37. Name the twelve countries of South America. — Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela.
38. What was Brazil's capital before Brasília, and in what year did the move happen? — Rio de Janeiro; the move happened in 1960.
39. Name Venezuela's currency and the redenomination it underwent in 2021. — Bolívar, redenominated as the Digital Bolívar in 2021.
40. Which Pacific country has no officially designated capital city? — Nauru (Yaren district is commonly listed for convenience, but not formally designated).
41. Name three Oceania countries that use the Australian dollar as their own currency. — Any three of Kiribati, Nauru, Tuvalu.
42. Name three Oceania countries that use the US dollar as their own currency. — Any three of Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Palau.
43. What is the capital of Papua New Guinea, and its currency? — Port Moresby; Papua New Guinean Kina.
44. Which country is both the world's largest by land area and spans two continents? — Russia.
45. Which country is the world's smallest by land area? — Vatican City.
46. Which country has overtaken China as the world's most populous, per recent UN estimates? — India.
47. Name the world's highest capital city (by common usage) and its approximate altitude. — La Paz, Bolivia, roughly 3,640–3,650 metres above sea level.
48. Which capital city is famously below sea level? — Baku, Azerbaijan.
49. Which country became the world's newest UN member state in 2011? — South Sudan.
50. Name India's seven land-and-maritime-neighbouring relationships (six land, two maritime — noting one maritime pair). — Land: Pakistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar. Maritime: Sri Lanka, Maldives.
51. Which Indian states border China? — Jammu & Kashmir/Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh.
52. What is the name of India-China's disputed, non-formally-demarcated border line? — The Line of Actual Control (LAC).
53. Which Indian states border Bangladesh? — West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram.
54. Which ASEAN member shares a land border with India, and which Indian states does it border? — Myanmar; Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram.
55. Which of India's SAARC-member neighbours does NOT share a land border with India? — Afghanistan (and Maldives, which is a maritime-only neighbour, not a land one).
56. What is the currency of Nepal, and how is it managed relative to the Indian rupee? — Nepalese Rupee, pegged to the Indian rupee.
57. Which country's currency shares its name with North Korea's, despite the two being entirely separate, non-convertible currencies? — South Korea — both use the "won."
58. Name three countries whose currency is called the "peso." — Any three of Mexico, Philippines, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Uruguay.
59. What does the word "peso" literally mean, and from which historical coin does the currency ultimately derive? — "Weight" in Spanish; from the Spanish colonial peso de ocho ("piece of eight").
60. Which African country's capital is Windhoek, and what is its currency's relationship with the South African rand? — Namibia; the Namibian dollar is pegged 1:1 to the rand, and the rand also circulates as legal tender there.
61. Name Switzerland's capital, and the country people most often mistake for it. — Bern is the capital; Zurich is commonly mistaken for it.
62. What is the actual capital of Turkey, distinct from its largest and most famous city? — Ankara (not Istanbul).
63. Distinguish Niger from Nigeria in one line. — Niger (capital Niamey, West African CFA franc) is a separate, much less populous Sahel country from its larger southern neighbour Nigeria (capital Abuja, naira).
64. Distinguish the Republic of the Congo from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. — Congo-Brazzaville (smaller, Central African CFA franc) and Congo-Kinshasa (much larger, its own Congolese franc) — their capitals sit directly across the Congo River from each other.
65. Distinguish Mauritania from Mauritius. — Mauritania is a large West African desert country (capital Nouakchott); Mauritius is a small Indian Ocean island nation (capital Port Louis).
66. Which country adopted Bitcoin as legal tender alongside the US dollar in 2021? — El Salvador.
67. Name Malaysia's two capital-like cities and what each hosts. — Kuala Lumpur (official capital, seat of the King and Parliament) and Putrajaya (administrative capital, seat of the federal executive and judiciary).
68. What is the significance of the Prespa Agreement (2018–19) for North Macedonia? — It resolved the name dispute with Greece, leading Macedonia to rename itself North Macedonia and unlocking its NATO and EU accession path.
69. Name the country whose capital relocation from Jakarta to Nusantara is legally underway but not yet complete, and its current status as of this writing. — Indonesia; Jakarta remains the functioning capital, with Nusantara's status downgraded to a "political capital" targeted for 2028.
70. What single historical mechanism explains why "dollar," "peso," "franc," "dinar," and "rupee" each recur across so many unrelated countries? — Colonial-era monetary systems (British/American, Spanish, French, Arabic/Ottoman, and South Asian/Indian trade influence respectively) spread each currency name across the territories each power controlled or traded with.
71. Name the world's largest landlocked country, and the continent it belongs to. — Kazakhstan; Asia.
72. Which African country is entirely surrounded by a single other country, making it a full "enclave" state? — Lesotho, entirely surrounded by South Africa.
73. How many landlocked countries does South America have, and name both. — Two: Bolivia and Paraguay.
74. Which South American country lost its coastline to another country in a 19th-century war, and to whom? — Bolivia lost its coastline to Chile in the War of the Pacific (1879–83).
75. Name Oceania's only land border, and the two countries that share it. — Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, on the island of New Guinea.
76. Name all seven members of the G7. — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
77. Which body was admitted as a permanent G20 member in September 2023, and under whose presidency did this happen? — The African Union; under India's G20 presidency, at the New Delhi summit.
78. Name the four countries that became full BRICS members from January 2024, and the one additional country that joined in January 2025. — Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates (2024); Indonesia (2025).
79. Name two Commonwealth member countries that were never British colonies. — Any two of Rwanda, Mozambique, Gabon, Togo.
80. Distinguish the currencies of Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam, and state whether any are pegged to or interchangeable with each other. — Baht (Thailand), Kip (Laos), Riel (Cambodia), Dong (Vietnam) — four entirely separate, non-interchangeable currencies despite being four adjoining Southeast Asian countries.

End of Book 20 in this revision series.