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Islands
Land Surrounded by Water
How islands form and which ones people misplace.
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What is the largest island in the world?
Islands of the Pacific
The Pacific is scattered with thousands of islands, most of them tiny and a long way from anywhere. These ten cover the ones with the best stories attached.
About this topic
Polynesian navigators crossed thousands of kilometres of open Pacific in double-hulled canoes, reading swells and stars, centuries before Europeans managed anything comparable. The islands they reached range from single coral platforms barely above the waves to New Guinea, which is big enough to hold glaciers near the equator. These ten questions move from the Aleutians in the far north to Pitcairn in the far south, taking in phosphate mining, a mutiny and a set of stone statues that nobody has fully explained.
Questions & answers
Islands of the Pacific: all 10 questions and answers
Every question in this quiz is listed below with its correct answer and the reasoning behind it. Play first if you would rather not see the answers — or read through as a study sheet.
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1Easter Island, home of the moai statues, is administered by which country?
- A Peru
- B New Zealand
- C France
- D Chile Correct
Answer: D. Chile
Why: Chile annexed the island in 1888 and governs it as part of the Valparaíso region. Its Polynesian name is Rapa Nui, and it sits roughly 3,500 kilometres from the South American mainland.
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2Which island is divided between Indonesia and Papua New Guinea?
- A Timor
- B Sulawesi
- C New Guinea Correct
- D Borneo
Answer: C. New Guinea
Why: The border runs almost dead straight down the 141st meridian, a line drawn by colonial powers with no reference to the ground. New Guinea is the second largest island in the world.
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3Tahiti is the largest island of which territory?
- A the Cook Islands
- B French Polynesia Correct
- C New Caledonia
- D Wallis and Futuna
Answer: B. French Polynesia
Why: Tahiti holds Papeete, the territorial capital. French Polynesia is made up of 118 islands and atolls arranged in five separate archipelagos.
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4Guam is an unincorporated territory of which country?
- A the United States Correct
- B France
- C New Zealand
- D Australia
Answer: A. the United States
Why: Guam is the largest of the Mariana Islands and has been under American administration since 1898, apart from a period of Japanese occupation in the Second World War.
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5Guadalcanal, scene of a long 1942 campaign, belongs to which island group?
- A the Gilbert Islands
- B the New Hebrides
- C the Bismarck Archipelago
- D the Solomon Islands Correct
Answer: D. the Solomon Islands
Why: The Solomon Islands lie east of Papua New Guinea and became independent in 1978. The fighting on and around Guadalcanal lasted six months and cost both navies heavily.
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6Which Pacific country is a single raised coral island that was mined for phosphate for most of the twentieth century?
- A Niue
- B Tonga
- C Nauru Correct
- D Tuvalu
Answer: C. Nauru
Why: The phosphate came from seabird droppings built up over a very long period, and mining stripped much of the interior back to bare limestone pinnacles. Nauru is the smallest republic in the world by area.
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7Which island chain arcs between Alaska and the Kamchatka Peninsula?
- A the Mariana Islands
- B the Aleutian Islands Correct
- C the Kuril Islands
- D the Ryukyu Islands
Answer: B. the Aleutian Islands
Why: The chain runs for roughly 1,900 kilometres and separates the Bering Sea from the open Pacific. Two of its islands, Attu and Kiska, were occupied by Japanese forces in 1942.
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8Fiji's two largest islands are Vanua Levu and which other?
- A Viti Levu Correct
- B Taveuni
- C Kadavu
- D Ovalau
Answer: A. Viti Levu
Why: Viti Levu holds the capital, Suva, and most of the population. The word levu means large in Fijian, which makes the naming fairly self-explanatory.
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9Bora Bora and Moorea belong to which archipelago?
- A the Marquesas
- B the Tuamotus
- C the Gambier Islands
- D the Society Islands Correct
Answer: D. the Society Islands
Why: James Cook named the group during his first Pacific voyage. Bora Bora is a textbook case of a volcanic peak ringed by a barrier reef, partway to becoming an atoll.
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10Pitcairn Island was settled in 1790 by mutineers from which ship?
- A HMS Endeavour
- B HMS Victory
- C HMS Bounty Correct
- D HMS Beagle
Answer: C. HMS Bounty
Why: Nine mutineers and their Tahitian companions burned the ship in the bay to avoid being spotted. Pitcairn is still a British overseas territory and remains one of the hardest inhabited places to reach.
Frequently asked questions about Islands of the Pacific
How many questions are in Islands of the Pacific?
Islands of the Pacific has 10 questions and takes about 7 minutes to finish. It is rated Medium and sits in our Islands category.
How is Islands of the Pacific scored?
Each of the 10 correct answers adds 10 XP, up to 100 XP for a clean run. Wrong answers cost you nothing, and your full question-by-question review is shown at the end.
Are the answers to Islands of the Pacific explained?
Yes. All 10 questions carry a written explanation of why the correct answer is right, so the quiz works as a study sheet as well as a test.
Can I replay Islands of the Pacific?
Yes, as often as you like. The questions and the answer options are reshuffled on each run, and you can use Practice Mistakes afterwards to retry only the ones you missed. No account is needed to play.
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