Caribbean: Geography Quiz
What is the Caribbean?
The Caribbean, often referred to as the West Indies, is a crescent-shaped group of more than 7000 islands that stretch upwards of 2000 miles (3200 kilometers) and separate the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea to the west and south from the Atlantic Ocean to the east and north.
Out of all those islands, 13 are independent island countries:
- Antigua and Barbuda
- The Bahamas
- Barbados
- Cuba
- Dominica
- Dominican Republic
- Grenada
- Haiti
- Jamaica
- St. Kitts and Nevis
- St. Lucia
- St. Vincent and the Grenadines
- Trinidad and Tobago
One of my friends, a US Navy veteran who traveled to some of the islands, requested that I write a Caribbean geography quiz. With so many interesting islands, I just might have to write a second quiz about this area after all the quizzes my readers have requested have been completed.
The quiz answers are located immediately before the Comments section. As always, please don't look at a map of the Caribbean or do Internet research while taking this quiz.
Be sure to post your quiz score in the Comments section and, most of all, have fun!
1.
This island nation is the third most populous English-speaking country in the Americas. Once a Spanish possession known as Santiago, it became a British colony in the 1650s and gained its independence on August 6, 1962.
What is the name of this Caribbean island nation?
A. The Bahamas
B. Jamaica
C. Trinidad and Tobago
D. Barbados
2.
This Caribbean island is the smallest special municipality within the country of the Netherlands. The land area of the island, 5 square miles (13 square kilometers), consists primarily of the potentially active volcano, Mount Scenery.
The official currency of this island is the U.S. Dollar. Although the island is part of the Netherlands, and Dutch is the official language, English is the principal language spoken.
What is the name of the island?
A. Sint Maarten
B. Curaçao
C. Sint Eustatius
D. Saba
3.
The island nation of the Dominican Republic shares an island with which other island nation?
A. Dominica
B. Haiti
C. Jamaica
D. Cuba
4.
Inhabited by the Arawak Indians before Christopher Columbus set foot in on San Salvador Island in 1492, this island nation is an archipelago consisting of more than 2000 islands and cays. What is the name of the island nation?
A. The Cayman Islands
B. Barbados
C. The Bahamas
D. Trinidad and Tobago
5.
This archipelago in the Eastern Caribbean Sea is sometimes known as the “Butterfly Island” because of the shape of its two major islands, Grande-Terre and Basse-Terre.
What is the name of this archipelago, an overseas protectorate of France?
A. Guadeloupe
B. Martinique
C. Trinidad and Tobago
D. Montserrat
6.
This island nation, which obtained independence from Britain in 1962 and became a republic in 1976, is the birthplace of steel drums, carnival, calypso, and limbo.
What is the name of the island?
A. Dominican Republic
B. St. Kitts and Nevis
C. Trinidad and Tobago
D. Jamaica
7.
The Virgin Islands of the United States, formerly known as the Danish West Indies, was sold to the United States by Denmark in the Treaty of the Danish West Indies of 1916. The islands are an organized, unincorporated United States territory, with its capital and largest city Charlotte Amalie located on the island of St. Thomas.
Which of the following islands is not part of the U.S Virgin Islands?
A. St. David
B. Water Island
C. St. Croix
D. St. John
8.
Carbon-dating has proven that hunter-gathers established settlements in the island country known as the “Land of 365 Beaches” around 3100 BC. The capital city and largest port in this country is St. John’s.
What is the name of this island country?
A. St. Kitts and Nevis
B. St. Lucia
C. Barbados
D. Antigua and Barbuda
9.
Most of this island’s infrastructure supports diving and snorkeling. Although the beaches are just slivers of sand, the island’s reef-lined coast has great appeal to divers and snorkelers. World-class windsurfing is also popular.
Name this island.
A. Cayman Brac
B. New Providence Island
C. Bonaire
D. Tortola
10.
Which island, located in the southeastern Caribbean Sea, is known as the "Island of Spice" due to its production of nutmeg and mace?
A. Martinique
B. Grenada
C. Dominica
D. Puerto Rico
Do you live on any of the Caribbean islands?
If you do not live on one of the Caribbean islands, have you ever visited the Caribbean?
Quiz Answers
Question #
| Answer
|
|---|---|
1
| B: Jamaica
|
2
| D: Saba
|
3
| B: Haiti
|
4
| C: The Bahamas
|
5
| A: Guadeloupe
|
6
| C: Trinidad and Tobago
|
7
| A: St. David
|
8
| D: Antigua and Barbuda
|
9
| C: Bonaire
|
10
| B: Grenada
|
