1. In December 2006, fishermen in the Atlantic Ocean rescued survivors from a boat thought to be headed for the Canary Islands. From what country, whose capital is Dakar, did the boat depart?
2. In October 2006, President Evo Morales announced that he would nationalize mines in his country, which is located east of Lake Titicaca. Name this country.
3. In November 2006, Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Mass near the ruins of Ephesus at one of Christianity’s holiest sites. What mostly Muslim country, whose largest city is Istanbul, did the pope visit?
4. In October 2006, a landslide victory re-elected President Lula da Silva to a second term as leader of what country, which is the largest in South America in terms of population and land area?
5. In December 2006, a court ruled that the Basarwa people, who traditionally live in the Kalahari Desert, could return to their lands that had been taken by the government of what African country whose capital is Gaborone?
6. In November 2006, the toy company Lego announced plans to move manufacturing plants to Mexico and the Czech Republic from Billund, a town in what southernmost Scandinavian country?
7. In December 2006, Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidan was crowned the 13th ruler of a country located across the Johore Strait from Singapore. Name this country.
8. In October 2006, conservation groups announced the discovery of a bird, a bright yellow and red-crowned brush-finch, in a previously unexplored section of the Andes. In what country west of Venezuela was the discovery made?
9. From 1948 until the early 1990s, the government of an African country — once part of the British Empire — enforced apartheid, a segregation policy that isolated racial groups. Name this country.
10. At war with Ethiopia from 1998 to 2000, which country that borders the Red Sea remains one of the world’s poorest nations?
ANSWERS: 1. Senegal 2. Bolivia 3. Turkey 4. Brazil 5. Botswana 6. Denmark 7. Malaysia 8. Colombia 9. South Africa 10. Eritrea
National Geographic Bee, National Geographic Society
