query stringlengths 20 651 | pos stringlengths 13 697 | neg stringlengths 0 1.03k | idx int64 0 52.9k | task_name stringclasses 1
value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
What product is advertised with the slogan "When you care enough to send the very best?" | Hallmark Cards
Hallmark Cards, Inc. is a private, family-owned American company based in Kansas City, Missouri. Founded in 1910 by Joyce Hall, Hallmark is the oldest and largest manufacturer of greeting cards in the United States. In 1985, the company was awarded the National Medal of Arts.
In addition to greeting card... | acquaint young gamers to the gameplay concepts. The graphics were exciting when in motion, but offered very little to engage a prospective purchaser's attention when static. Illustrators were less frequently required beyond the year 2000, when screen graphics reached parity with illustrations and could be utilized as c... | 52,700 | triviaqa-train |
The American ad writer Robert L. May introduced what popular Christmas character when he designed a new coloring book for Montgomery Ward in 1939? | campaign, staff copywriter Robert L. May created the character and an illustrated poem of Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer. The store distributed six million copies of the storybook in 1946 and Gene Autry popularized the song nationally.
In 1946, the Grolier Club, a society of bibliophiles in New York City, exhibited th... | of Christmas folklore. 2014 marked the 75th anniversary of the character and the 50th anniversary of the Rankin/Bass television special. A series of postage stamps featuring Rudolph was issued by the United States Postal Service on November 6, 2014.
Publication history.
Robert L. May created Rudolph in 1939 as an assig... | 52,701 | triviaqa-train |
In Tchaikovskys ballet The Nutcracker, who is the nutcrackers main enemy? | ) The "Trepak", or "Russian dance", is one of the most recognizable pieces in the ballet, along with the famous "Waltz of the Flowers" and "March", as well as the ubiquitous "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy". The composer's reverence for Rococo and late 18th-century music (such as by Mozart and Haydn) can be detected in ... | 's Other Adventures" theme
- Olimpiada-1980 hymn ("The golden Olympic flame")
- Vasily Solovyov-Sedoi and Mikhail Matusovsky's "Moscow Nights"
- "Lubeh"s "Guys from our neighborhood"
- Eduard Khils vocalise
- Arkady Ostrovsky and Lev OshaninMay's "May There Always Be Sunshine"
- Eduard Artemyevs composition "Campaign" ... | 52,702 | triviaqa-train |
The Saint Nicholas who served as the inspiration for Santa Claus, also known as Nicholas of Myra, hailed from what country? | Italians he is a favorite of sailors, fishermen, ships and sailing. As such he has become over time the patron saint of several cities maintaining harbours. In centuries of Greek folklore, Nicholas was seen as "The Lord of the Sea", often described by modern Greek scholars as a kind of Christianized version of Poseidon... | Santa Claus
Santa Claus, also known as Saint Nicholas, Kris Kringle, Father Christmas, or simply Santa, is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring gifts to the homes of well-behaved children on the night of Christmas Eve (24 December) and the early morning hours of Christmas Day... | 52,703 | triviaqa-train |
December 20, 1860 saw which state secede from the Union, the first of 11? | the day after South Carolina military forces attacked and captured Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation declaring an insurrection against the laws of the United States. Earlier, South Carolina and seven other
Southern states had declared their secession from the Union and fo... | - Women
- Atiye Sultan (1824-1850), Ottoman princess
- Rawya Ateya (1926–1997), Egyptian who became the first female parliamentarian in the Arab world
- Dotty Attie (born 1938), American artist, wife of David Attie and mother of Eli Attie
- Alice Attie (born 1950), American visual artist
- (born 1975), Israeli actress
... | 52,704 | triviaqa-train |
In the classic 1990 movie Home Alone, where is the McCallister family headed on vacation when 8 year old Kevin is mistakenly left behind? | Home Alone
Home Alone is a 1990 American Christmas comedy film written and produced by John Hughes and directed by Chris Columbus. The film stars Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, John Heard, and Catherine O'Hara. It is about an eight-year-old boy named Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) who is mistakenly left... | "Home Alone" is primarily a coming-of-age story about an 8-year-old boy named Kevin McCallister. He is the youngest of five children who is frequently tormented by his older brothers and sisters. After events transpire between him and his family, he wishes he had no family when his mother is punishing him for what he f... | 52,705 | triviaqa-train |
Whose ghost was the first to appear to Ebenezer Scrooge? | and workhouses are sufficient, and if not they are better off dead, thereby "decreasing the surplus population."
While he is preparing to go to bed, he is visited by the ghost of his business partner, Jacob Marley, who had died seven years earlier (1836) on Christmas Eve. Like Scrooge, Marley had spent his life hoardin... | ' Mrs. Cratchit wasn't so goody-goody, but instead was an angry, stressed-out modern-day American woman who wanted out of this harsh London 1840s life?" The main character in "Binge" is the hard-drinking, suicidal Gladys Cratchit, whose harshness to her family surpasses Mommie Dearest by a mile. The other two leads are... | 52,706 | triviaqa-train |
What was the name of Scrooge's long suffering clerk in a Christmas Carol? | Jacob Marley. Scrooge, an ageing miser, dislikes Christmas and refuses a dinner invitation from his nephew Fred—the son of Fan, Scrooge's dead sister. He turns away two men who seek a donation from him to provide food and heating for the poor and only grudgingly allows his overworked, underpaid clerk, Bob Cratchit, Chr... | Master Bates." He mends his ways after Fagin is captured in "Oliver Twist".
- Bazzard Clerk to Hiram Grewgious who writes an unproduced tragedy, "The Thorn of Anxiety". Grewgious admits that Bazzard has a strange power over him in "The Mystery of Edwin Drood".
- Belle Scrooge's former fiancée whom he had forgotten unti... | 52,707 | triviaqa-train |
Olive the Other what is a Christmas book by Vivian Walsh and J Otto Seibold? | J. Otto Seibold
J. Otto Seibold (born 1960) is an American artist and children's book creator. With no formal art training, he was able to sneak into the art world during the "outsider art" craze of the 1990s. His book "Mr. Lunch Takes a Plane Ride", published by Viking in 1993, was the first children's picture book to... | Personal life.
Vivian currently resides in the Highland Park neighborhood of Pittsburgh with her husband, designer Nick Caruso, and their daughters, Vivian (born 2013) and Marie (born 2015). Additionally, Vivian is a professor of creative writing at the University of Pittsburgh.
Bibliography.
- 2008 – "A Little Friendl... | 52,708 | triviaqa-train |
Named for the day of its discovery by Captain William Mynors, Christmas Island, a land mass in the Indian Ocean, is a territory of what nation? | Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering (19.8% of the water on the Earth's surface). It is bounded by Asia on the north, on the west by Africa, on the east by Australia, and on the south by the Southern Ocean or, depending on definition, by Antarctica.
Scientificall... | of the "Thomas" in 1615. The island was later named on Christmas Day (25 December) 1643 by Captain William Mynors but only settled in the late 19th century. Its geographic isolation and history of minimal human disturbance has led to a high level of endemism among its flora and fauna, which is of interest to scientists... | 52,709 | triviaqa-train |
Since a misprinted telephone number in 1958, NORAD, the joint US/Canadian organization that provides aerospace intrusion warning, among other actions, has spent no public money tracking what? | at Peterson Air Force Base with Cheyenne Mountain in "warm standby" staffed with support personnel.
In popular culture.
In popular culture Movies and television.
The NORAD command center located under Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado is a setting of the 1983 film "WarGames" and the television series "Jeremiah" and "Stargate... | Board has examined virtually every important joint defense measure undertaken since the end of World War II, including construction of the (DEW-line) Canadian slang -- Distant Early Warning Line of radars, the creation of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) in 1958. The bi-national operation of total N... | 52,710 | triviaqa-train |
For a point each, name the 5 countries surrounding the place where Santa Klaus is both rumored to live and is known as Father Frost, Kazakhstan. | republic with a diverse cultural heritage. Kazakhstan shares borders with Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan, and also adjoins a large part of the Caspian Sea. The terrain of Kazakhstan includes flatlands, steppe, taiga, rock canyons, hills, deltas, snow-capped mountains, and deserts. Kazakhstan ha... | her cousin Eamon near the island of Roan Inish, where the selkies are rumored to reside. It is a family legend that her younger brother was swept away in his infancy and raised by a selkie. Part of the film takes place in Donegal.
Plot.
The story is told from the point of view of Fiona (Jeni Courtney), a young girl who... | 52,711 | triviaqa-train |
March 9, 1959 saw the introduction of what Mattel favorite, an 11.5 inch tall fashion doll which saw controversy when a later talking model exclaimed such phrases as Will we ever have enough clothes?, and Math class is tough!? | for the Caucasian Barbies, new ones were created. In addition, facial features, skin tones, hair texture, and names were all altered. The body shapes looked different, but the proportions were the same to ensure clothing and accessories were interchangeable. In September 2009, Mattel introduced the So In Style range, w... | of Mattel Designers to keep making the dolls smaller and yet maintain the use of real hair and clothes. Mattel also released a series of 4 2 inch tall kiddles dressed up in animal costumes and called Animiddles. Ride and Run Skediddle sets consisting of a Skediddle walking doll and specially designed riding toys they c... | 52,712 | triviaqa-train |
On January 16, 2001, President Bill Clinton awarded what former president a posthumous Medal of Honor, the only president to have received one? | order forbidding multiple medals of any type for the same action). Butler's award for Veracruz (like the vast majority during that occupation) was essentially a service medal rather than for valor, per se. Notably, Butler even claimed that the award was undeserved, and returned it to the Department of the Navy.
Recipi... | Illinois.
In April 1997, Nancy Reagan joined President Bill Clinton and former Presidents Ford and Bush in signing the Summit Declaration of Commitment in advocating for participation by private citizens in solving domestic issues within the United States.
Nancy Reagan was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the... | 52,713 | triviaqa-train |
July 27, 1940 saw the introduction of what beloved cartoon character in the 8:15 short A Wild Hare? | A Wild Hare
A Wild Hare, reissued as The Wild Hare, is a 1940 "Merrie Melodies" cartoon supervised by Tex Avery (credited as Fred Avery on the original issue). The short subject features Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny, the latter making what is considered his first official appearance.
Title.
The title is a play on "wild ha... | Disney, he worked as an animation checker on several of their short subjects (mostly involving Donald Duck), before working on their first feature-length film, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (1937).
He subsequently joined Warner Bros. for his first stint at the studio, which was spent working mostly under Chuck Jone... | 52,714 | triviaqa-train |
Fans of the band The Clash should know that what word meaning 'citadel' in Arabic refers to any walled enclosure but is mostly used for a specific area of Algiers? | October and April. The precipitation is higher than in most of coastal Mediterranean Spain, and similar to most of coastal Mediterranean France, as opposed to the interior North African semi-arid or arid climate.
Snow is very rare; in 2012, the city received , its first snowfall in eight years.
Local architecture.
Ther... | Mahendraparvata was discovered in 2013.
Terms and phrases.
- Angkor (អង្គរ) is a Khmer word meaning "city". It is a corrupted form of "nokor" which derives from the Sanskrit "nagara".
- Banteay (បន្ទាយ) is a Khmer term meaning "citadel" or "fortress" that is also applied to walled temples.
- Baray (បារាយណ៍) literally m... | 52,715 | triviaqa-train |
Petaloudes Valley, whose name translates to Valley of the Butterflies in Greek is a tourist attraction of what 'wondrous' Dodecanese island? | to establish the term when they named the islands under their control "Rhodes and the Dodecanese" ("Rodi e Dodecaneso"), adding Leipsoi to the list of the major islands to make up for considering Rhodes separately.
By 1920, the name had become firmly established for the entire island group, a fact acknowledged by the ... | one of the largest and most beautiful on the island. The interior is decorated with murals and wood carvings.
Next to the church is the municipal library, in an impressive building featuring classic Greek columns. The main road is lined with shops and restaurants. Kremasti has a beach on the Aegean Sea. It is not far f... | 52,716 | triviaqa-train |
The historic Charles Bridge that crosses the Vlatava river connects which city's castle to its old town? | Old Town (Prague)
The Old Town of Prague () is a medieval settlement of Prague, Czech Republic. It was separated from the outside by a semi-circular moat and wall, connected to the Vltava river at both of its ends. The moat is now covered up by the streets (from north to south-west) Revoluční, Na Příkopě, and Národní—w... | and its business route begins along US 136. Entering the town from the west along 7th Street, the highway passes between two pillars which mark the northeastern corner of Rees Park.
The routes continue east past an old school which hides the city's water tower. The tower was the second largest elevated storage tank in ... | 52,717 | triviaqa-train |
The Hiram Bingham luxury train has what magnificent location as its destination? | Hiram Bingham III
Hiram Bingham III (November 19, 1875 – June 6, 1956) was an American academic, explorer and politician. He made public the existence of the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu in 1911 with the guidance of local indigenous farmers. Later, Bingham served as a member of the United States Senate for the state of... | Hiram Bingham High School
Hiram Bingham High School (HBHS) is a secondary school in Rongorongo, Beru Island, Kiribati, serving forms 1-7. It is affiliated with the Kiribati Uniting Church (formerly the Kiribati Protestant Church or KPC). It has boarding facilities.
History.
Reverend William Goward created the school in... | 52,718 | triviaqa-train |
The 2000-yr old Banaue rice terraces built largely by hand in the Ifugao mountains that cover 4000 square miles are in which country? | moving south to colonize Luzon in the Philippines, bringing rice cultivation technologies with them. From Luzon, Austronesians rapidly colonized the rest of Island Southeast Asia, moving westwards to Borneo, the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra; and southwards to Sulawesi and Java. By 500 BC, there is evidence of intensive ... | score low in the integrity criterion of UNESCO. The Banaue Rice Terraces are however a National Cultural Treasure under Ifugao Rice Terraces, together with the other rice terraces clusters.
National Cultural Treasures Cordillera Rice Terraces Officially On the World Heritage List.
- Batad Rice Terraces (in Banaue, Ifug... | 52,719 | triviaqa-train |
Of the twenty two members of the Arab league, only three maintain diplomatic relations with Israel. They are Egypt, Palestine and what other country? | Israel
Israel (; ; ), also known as the State of Israel, is a country in Western Asia, located on the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the Red Sea. It has land borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the northeast, Jordan on the east, the Palestinian territories of the West Bank... | and strengthened diplomatic relations between Egypt, Israel, and the United States.
The purpose of this agreement, in the eyes of the Egyptians, was to gain back as much of the Sinai Peninsula (which had been occupied by Israel since 1967) as they could through diplomacy. Although the agreement strengthened Egypt's rel... | 52,720 | triviaqa-train |
A rock called Heel Stone that measures 16 feet above the ground and whose previous names include Friar's Heel and Sun-stone lies outside the main entrance to what monument? | of the posts (and possibly four) were in an east-west alignment which may have had ritual significance. Another Mesolithic astronomical site in Britain is the Warren Field site in Aberdeenshire, which is considered the world's oldest Lunar calendar, corrected yearly by observing the midwinter solstice. Similar but late... | circle. It has been known by many names in the past, including "Friar's Heel" and "Sun-stone". At summer solstice an observer standing within the stone circle, looking northeast through the entrance, would see the Sun rise in the approximate direction of the heel stone, and the sun has often been photographed over it.
... | 52,721 | triviaqa-train |
Tourists to the town of Oświęcim in Poland are most likely headed to see what? | Oświęcim
Oświęcim (; ; ) is a town in the Lesser Poland () province of southern Poland, situated west of Kraków, near the confluence of the Vistula ("Wisła") and Soła rivers. The town is commonly known for being the site of the Auschwitz concentration camp (the camp is also known as KL or KZ Auschwitz Birkenau) during ... | concerning to the acquisition of Oświęcim, which could take place in early 1405. The Duke of Oświęcim, while traveling from Gliwice to Cieszyn, was killed in the town of Rybnik by a certain Martin Chrzan. The murder was most likely made at the request of Jan II of Iron, Duke of Racibórz, who, after replaced Duke Przemy... | 52,722 | triviaqa-train |
When the pioneering English settler John Smith explored the coastline of the region north of Virginia in 1614, what did he call the area? | had been Virginia north of the 40th parallel became known as New England, according to books written by Captain John Smith, who had made a voyage there.
In 1624, the charter of the Virginia Company was revoked by King James I and the Virginia Colony was transferred to royal authority in the form of a crown colony. Subs... | Thomas Dermer
Thomas Dermer (c. 1590 in Plymouth, England – died in the summer of 1620, in Virginia) was a 17th-century navigator and explorer. Thomas Dermer explored the eastern coastline of America from 1614 to 1620. He was associated with Captain John Smith, The Newfoundland Company, Sir Ferdinando Gorges, Jamestown... | 52,723 | triviaqa-train |
If all the languages of the world are listed by the highest number of speakers, what is the first name that is not an official language of the UN? | another, in the world as Bolivia gives primacy to Spanish and India gives primacy to Hindi.
Political alternatives.
The selection of an official language (or no official language) is often contentious. An alternative to having a single official language is "official multilingualism", where a government recognizes multi... | Cree language
Cree (also known as Cree–Montagnais–Naskapi) is a dialect continuum of Algonquian languages spoken by approximately 117,000 people across Canada, from the Northwest Territories to Alberta to Labrador. If classified as one language, it is the aboriginal language with the highest number of speakers in Canad... | 52,724 | triviaqa-train |
In the list of 25 countries ordered by the highest number of Spanish speakers, what is the only name that is not from the western hemisphere? | to other countries in the world.
Estimates of the numbers of second language and foreign-language English speakers vary greatly from 470 million to more than 1 billion, depending on how proficiency is defined. Linguist David Crystal estimates that non-native speakers now outnumber native speakers by a ratio of 3 to 1. ... | percent, is one of the highest in the Western Hemisphere.
Etymology.
In 1498, Christopher Columbus gave the island the name "San Martín" (Saint Martin). However, the confusion of numerous poorly-charted small islands in the Leeward Island chain meant that this name ended up being accidentally transferred to another isl... | 52,725 | triviaqa-train |
The Propylaea, which has now come to mean any gateway, was originally an entrance to what magnificent ancient construction? | is to the profile of columns, which narrow from base to top. However, the narrowing is not regular, but gently curved so that each columns appears to have a slight swelling, called "entasis" below the middle. The "entasis" is never sufficiently pronounced as to make the swelling wider than the base; it is controlled by... | plus the plural of πύλη "pyle" "gate," meaning literally "that which is before the gates," but the word has come to mean simply "gate building."
Propylaea of the Athenian Acropolis.
The monumental gateway to the Acropolis, the Propylaea, was one of several public works commissioned by the Athenian leader Pericles in or... | 52,726 | triviaqa-train |
What city that is home to Africa's tallest building (the Carlton Centre) is the largest city in the world not on a lake, navigable river or by the coast? | Carlton Centre
The Carlton Centre is a skyscraper and shopping centre located in downtown Johannesburg, South Africa. At , it has been the tallest office building in Africa since 1973. The Carlton Centre has 50 floors. The foundations of the two buildings in the complex are in diameter and extend down to the bedrock, b... | List of tallest buildings on the Gold Coast
These are lists of the tallest buildings on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. In accordance with CTBUH guidelines, heights are measured to the structural height, which includes architectural elements, such as spires, but not communications antennas. Structures are not in... | 52,727 | triviaqa-train |
The name of what able-bodied ethnic group from the mountain regions of Nepal means 'people of the east' in Tibetan? | be dialects of a single language, especially since they all share the same literary language, while Dzongkha, Sikkimese, Sherpa, and Ladakhi are generally considered to be separate languages.
Although some of the Qiang peoples of Kham are classified by China as ethnic Tibetans, the Qiangic languages are "not" Tibetic, ... | in India is given at 94,203, and 13,514 in Nepal. One example of this is the city of Leh in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, with a population of 27,513. The people of Leh are ethnic Tibetan, speaking Ladakhi, an East Tibetan language. Along with this, there are several Tibetan villages in northern Nepal. These r... | 52,728 | triviaqa-train |
What region of China that has a border checkpoint called Posto Fronteiriço das Portas do Cerco ('Frontier Post of the Border Gate' in Portuguese) is both the first and last European colony in that country? | administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau.
China emerged as one of the world's earliest civilizations, in the fertile basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. For millennia, China's political system was based on hereditary monarchies, or dynasties, beginning with the semi-legendary Xia dynasty in 21st ce... | of its National Committee, which was held in Beijing between January 30 and February 7, 1956.
Ho participated in and contributed to the resolution of various disagreements between Portugal and China. The first major confrontation was the Sino-Portuguese military confrontation in 1952 at the Portas do Cerco border gate.... | 52,729 | triviaqa-train |
The visa that makes travel easy within twenty-six countries of Europe takes its name from an agreement signed in 1985 in what city of Luxembourg? | a member of the Benelux Economic Union and was one of the founding members of the European Economic Community (now the European Union). It also participates in the Schengen Group (named after the Luxembourg village of Schengen where the agreements were signed), whose goal is the free movement of citizens among member s... | . There has been a visa-free regime for diplomatic and official passports from 2005. An agreement is being prepared to facilitate visas for group travel and for certain categories of citizens (businessmen and tourists). On 21 December 2010, an agreement was signed mutually simplifying trips by citizens of both countrie... | 52,730 | triviaqa-train |
What Bolivian city lies beneath a mountain dubbed the Cerro Rico ('rich mountain') named so for its famed mines that were a major source of silver for the Spanish Empire of the New World? | rich deposits of Mexico's Guanajuato region, but it was the opening of the silver mines in Mexico's Zacatecas and Potosí in Upper Peru (modern-day Bolivia) in 1546 that became legendary. During the 16th century, Spain held the equivalent of US$1.5 trillion (1990 terms) in gold and silver received from New Spain. These ... | neighborhood of Prenzlauer Berg.
Public Works.
In 1982, Nicolaus Schmidt created the Cerro Rico Aktion with 100,000 tin cans. In this work, the artist created an outdoor installation inspired by his interest in Third World affairs. Via public media, people were asked to collect tin cans so that the artist and his team ... | 52,731 | triviaqa-train |
Mashair Railway that opened in 2010 connecting the sites of Mina, Muzdalifah and Mount Arafat serves the visitors of what city? | Arafat on the required day invalidates the pilgrimage.
Since late 2010, this place is served by Makkah Metro. On a normal Hajj, it would be around to walk.
In literature.
The hill is referenced in James Joyce's novel "Finnegans Wake".
See also.
- Du'a Arafah
- Hijaz Mountains
External links.
- Muslim pilgrims gather at... | -Speed Railway
In 2018, Haramain High-Speed Railway was launched connecting the Two holy cities of Makkah and Medina together. The railway consists of 35 trains and it is capable to transport 60 million passengers. Every train is as fast as 300km per hour and travels over the distance of 450 km.
Transportation Rail Al... | 52,732 | triviaqa-train |
The Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya is contiguous with what famed national park of Tanzania? | Maasai Mara
Maasai Mara National Reserve (also known as Maasai Mara, Maasai Mara and by the local people as The Mara) is a large game reserve in Narok County, Kenya, contiguous with the Serengeti National Park in Mara Region, Tanzania. It is named in honor of the Maasai people (the ancestral inhabitants of the area) an... | by 60 percent when the British evicted them to make room for settler ranches, subsequently confining them to present-day Samburu,Laikipia,Kajiado and Narok districts. Maasai in Tanganyika (now mainland Tanzania) were displaced from the fertile lands between Mount Meru and Mount Kilimanjaro, and most of the fertile high... | 52,733 | triviaqa-train |
What second-most populous nation in Africa is also the most populous landlocked nation in the world? | peoples in the south, though in both regions Arabic and Arab culture predominates. In Sudan, although Arabic and Arab culture predominate, it is mostly inhabited by groups that originally spoke Nilo-Saharan, such as the Nubians, Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa, who, over the centuries, have variously intermixed with migrants ... | List of companies of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a country located in the African Great Lakes region of Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world. With a population of over 75 million, the Democratic Republic... | 52,734 | triviaqa-train |
The Wagah border often called the 'Berlin wall of Asia' is the only road border crossing between what two countries? | Wagah-Attari border ceremony.
Wagah-Attari border ceremony Border crossing.
The border crossing draws its name from Wahga village, near which the Radcliffe Line, the boundary demarcation line dividing India and Pakistan upon the Partition of British India, was drawn. At the time of independence in 1947, migrants from I... | are organised at Mahavir/Sadqi border near Fazilka and Hussainiwala/Ganda Singh Wala border near Firozpur.
Overview.
This ceremony takes place every evening immediately before sunset at the Wagah border, which as part of the Grand Trunk Road was the only road link between these two countries before the opening of the A... | 52,735 | triviaqa-train |
Which city's site was said to have been chosen by monks following the principles of feng shui for King Taejo, founder of the Joseon/Choson dynasty in 1394? | - 太祖至仁啓運聖文神武大王
- King Taejo Kangheon Jiin Gyewun Seongmun Shinmu the Great of Joseon
- 태조강헌지인계운성문신무대왕
- 太祖康獻至仁啓運聖文神武大王
- Emperor Taejo Jiin Gyewun Eungcheon Jotong Gwanghun Yeongmyeong Seongmun Shinmu Jeong'ui Gwangdeok of the Korean Empire
- 태조지인계운응천조통광훈영명성문신무정의광덕고황제
- 太祖至仁啓運應天肇統廣勳永命聖文神武正義光德高皇帝
Legacy.
The tomb of his... | been completed.
History.
History 14th—16th centuries.
Gyeongbokgung was originally constructed in 1394 by King Taejo, the first king and the founder of the Joseon dynasty, and its name was conceived by an influential government minister named Jeong Do-jeon. Afterwards, the palace was continuously expanded during the re... | 52,736 | triviaqa-train |
The script of Thuluth, a variety of Islamic calligraphy, is seen on the flag of what country? | in Thuluth. Later copies were written in a combination of Thuluth and either Naskh or Muhaqqaq. After the 15th century Naskh came to be used exclusively.
The script is used in the Flag of Saudi Arabia where its text, "Shahada al Tawhid", is written in Thuluth.
Style.
An important aspect of Thuluth script is the use of ... | Thuluth
Thuluth ( "sols", Turkish: "Sülüs", from "" "one-third") is a script variety of Islamic calligraphy invented by Ibn Muqlah Shirazi. The straight angular forms of Kufic were replaced in the new script by curved and oblique lines. In Thuluth, one-third of each letter slopes, from which the name (meaning "a third"... | 52,737 | triviaqa-train |
What NATO country with a unique geographic position is the only one with no standing army? No navy either! | List of countries without armed forces
This is a list of countries without armed forces. The term "country" here means sovereign states and not dependencies (e.g., Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Bermuda), whose defense is the responsibility of another country or an army alternative. The term "armed forces" refers to a... | worried that maintaining a large standing army would be a dangerous and expensive undertaking. In his principal argument for the ratification of the proposed constitution, he argued that only by maintaining a strong union could the new country avoid such a pitfall. Using the European experience as a negative example an... | 52,738 | triviaqa-train |
Because of changes in the political geography of Africa in 2011, what is now the largest country in that continent? | is the world's largest exporter of bauxite. As the growth in Africa has been driven mainly by services and not manufacturing or agriculture, it has been growth without jobs and without reduction in poverty levels. In fact, the food security crisis of 2008 which took place on the heels of the global financial crisis pus... | Geography of Cameroon
At , Cameroon is the world's 53rd largest country. It is slightly larger than the nation of Sweden and US state of California. It is comparable in size to Papua New Guinea. Cameroon's landmass is , with of water.
The country is located in Central and West Africa, bordering the Bight of Biafra, bet... | 52,739 | triviaqa-train |
The Kagera river that became known for carrying bodies from the Rwandan Genocide in 1994 is the largest single inflow into what body of water? | feeds Lake Rweru, and the Ruvubu of Burundi. It is unknown which of these two feeder rivers is the longer and hence the ultimate source of the Nile. From the confluence, the Kagera flows north along the Rwanda-Tanzania border, over Rusumo Falls and through Akagera National Park. It then takes a turn to the east, follow... | Rusumo Bridge
Rusumo Bridge is an international bridge across the Kagera River linking Rwanda and Tanzania.
History.
Designed by Luigi Corradi and assembled previously in Turin, Italy. The bridge was completed in 1972 as a single-deck steel bridge over a span of . The structure was the first road bridge across the Kag... | 52,740 | triviaqa-train |
Cape Churchill in Wapusk National Park, Canada is renowned as the best location in the world to view what? | the world to view and photograph wild polar bears. The only way people can access Cape Churchill is by helicopter or Tundra Buggy.
The park was the subject of a short film in 2011's "National Parks Project", directed by Hubert Davis and scored by Kathleen Edwards, Matt Mays and Sam Roberts.
Overview.
Wapusk is the Cree... | Owl River (Manitoba)
The Owl River is a river in the Hudson Bay drainage basin in Census division 23 in Northern Manitoba, Canada. It flows from Fly Lake to Hudson Bay.
The river is crossed at the community of Herchmer, the location of Herchmer railway station, by the Hudson Bay Railway. Herchmer railway station is ser... | 52,741 | triviaqa-train |
The economic grouping acronym BRIC that referred to Brazil, Russia, India and China was changed to BRICS in 2011 to include what country? | China as the sole representative of China in the United Nations and as one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. China was also a former member and leader of the Non-Aligned Movement, and still considers itself an advocate for developing countries. Along with Brazil, Russia, India and So... | . BRIC is a grouping acronym that refers to the countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China.
Rationale.
The economic strengths of these two countries are considered complementary, in particular China is perceived to be strong in manufacturing and infrastructure while India is perceived to be strong in services and inf... | 52,742 | triviaqa-train |
With an average ground level of 1.5 meters above sea level, what Asian island nation is the lowest country in the world? (hint: it is also the smallest Asian country in both population and land area) | populations, although some, like Indonesia and Japan are notable exceptions.
Some island countries are centred on one or two major islands, such as the United Kingdom, Trinidad and Tobago, New Zealand, Cuba, Bahrain, Singapore, Iceland, Malta, and Taiwan. Others are spread out over hundreds or thousands of smaller isla... | Krapanj
Krapanj is an island of Croatia in the central Dalmatian county of Šibenik-Knin.
Krapanj is one of the smallest inhabited islands of the Adriatic Sea covering 0.36 km². It is also the most densely inhabited island and has the lowest elevation (1.5 m above sea level). Krapanj is 300 m offshore at its closest poi... | 52,743 | triviaqa-train |
What wild American feature begins at Springer Mountain in Georgia and ends at Katahdin in Maine for a total distance of 2,175 miles? | United States.)
Maine's Moosehead Lake is the largest lake wholly in New England, since Lake Champlain is located between Vermont, New York and Quebec. A number of other Maine lakes, such as South Twin Lake, are described by Thoreau in "The Maine Woods" (1864). Mount Katahdin is both the northern terminus of the Appala... | in the fall of 1986, intending to major in either electrical engineering or computer science. She settled on electrical engineering, recollecting that it seemed like the most difficult major. During her freshman year she worked as an undergrad research assistant "manufacturing test silicon wafers for graduate students"... | 52,744 | triviaqa-train |
Francophonie is an international organization of 56 member states where there is a notable affiliation with the French language. What is the largest country in this group? | where the language has evolved the most in recent years. Some vernacular forms of French in Africa can be difficult to understand for French speakers from other countries, but written forms of the language are very closely related to those of the rest of the French-speaking world.
Geographic distribution Americas.
Fren... | Organisation internationale de la Francophonie
The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), sometimes shortened to the Francophonie ( ), but also called International Organisation of La Francophonie in English language context, is an international organization representing countries and regions where Frenc... | 52,745 | triviaqa-train |
The artificial Gatun Lake that was created between 1907 and 1913 forms a major component of what water body? | and the United States entered into the Thomson–Urrutia Treaty, in which the United States agreed to pay Colombia $25 million: $5 million upon ratification, and four-$5 million annual payments, and grant Colombia special privileges in the Canal Zone. In return, Colombia recognized Panama as an independent nation.
Histor... | lake was created by the construction of the Gatun Dam across the Río Chagres between 1907 and 1913. Once created, Gatun Lake was the largest man-made lake in the world, and the dam was the largest earth dam. The river drains northwest into the Caribbean. The Kampia and Madden Lakes (also filled from the Río Chagres) pr... | 52,746 | triviaqa-train |
A funnel cloud is nothing but condensed water droplets associated with a rotating column of wind which extends from the base of a cloud without touching the ground. If it touches the ground, what is it called? | of a bow echo, within the portion of the line that bows out the most. Tornadoes can be found along waves within a line echo wave pattern, or LEWP, where mesoscale low pressure areas are present. Some bow echoes in the summer are called derechos, and move quite fast through large sections of territory. On the back edge ... | swimmer.
- 4 August - Carlos Almeida, swimmer.
- 30 September - Bruno Filipe Lopes Correia, footballer
Deaths.
- 21 May – Francisco Miguel Duarte, writer (b. 1907)
- 26 August – Carlos Paião, singer and songwriter (b. 1957) | 52,747 | triviaqa-train |
Primorsky Stairs, a stairway of 192 steps immortalized in film lore, is a formal entrance from the direction of the Black Sea into which European city? | , Constanța, Odessa, Sevastopol, Yalta, Kerch, Gelendzhik, Novorossiysk, Sochi, Sukhumi, Poti, Batumi, Rize, Trabzon, Giresun, Ordu, Samsun, Zonguldak, and Istanbul.
The Black Sea is bordered by Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Georgia, and Russia. It has a positive water balance; that is, a net outflow of water per... | in China.
- The Haiku Stairs, on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, are approximately 4,000 steps which climb nearly . Originally used to access longwire radio radio antennas which were strung high above the Haiku Valley, between Honolulu and Kaneohe, they are closed to hikers.
- The Flørli stairs, in Lysefjorden, Norway, hav... | 52,748 | triviaqa-train |
Juba is the capital of what autonomous African region that became an independent country on 9th July, 2011? | Arabic known as Juba Arabic. Sudan supports South Sudan's request to join the Arab League. Juba Arabic is a lingua franca in South Sudan.
Demographics Population.
Demographics Population 2008 census.
The "Fifth Population and Housing Census of Sudan", for Sudan as a whole, was conducted in April 2008. The census counte... | Middle Juba
Middle Juba (, , ) is an administrative region ("gobol") in southern Somalia. With its capital at Bu'aale, it is located in the autonomous Jubaland region.
Middle Juba is bordered by the Somali regions of Gedo, Bay, Lower Shebelle (Shabellaha Hoose), Lower Juba (Jubbada Hoose), and the Indian Ocean. The reg... | 52,749 | triviaqa-train |
The plateau 'Cappadocia' with its spectacular landscapes, caves, and fairy chimneys is a popular tourist attraction of which country? | Cappadocia
Cappadocia (; also Capadocia; , "Kappadokía", from , , "Kapadovkia", ) is a historical region in Central Anatolia, largely in the Nevşehir, Kayseri, Kırşehir, Aksaray, and Niğde Provinces in Turkey.
According to Herodotus, in the time of the Ionian Revolt (499 BC), the Cappadocians were reported as occupying... | Marble Cave (Crimea)
Marble Caves (, , ) is a cave in Crimea, at the lower plateau of Chatyr-Dag, mountainous massif. It is a popular tourist attraction being one of the most visited caves in Europe.
Due to its uniqueness, the Marble Cave became famous worldwide. Speleologists consider it among the top five most beaut... | 52,750 | triviaqa-train |
In Jan 2011, Sri Lanka decided to discard all references to what British colonial name of the country from its state institutions? | the island was known as Ceylon; it achieved independence as the Dominion of Ceylon in 1948.
The country is now known in Sinhala as ' () and in Tamil as ' (, ). In 1972, its formal name was changed to "Free, Sovereign and Independent Republic of Sri Lanka". Later, in 1978, it was changed to the "Democratic Socialist Rep... | be derived by examining its concepts and basic themes. The Qur'an, he argues, 'calls for rational, considered thought and interrogation not of appearances but of the deeper implications and meaning of how human beings think and act within and between all the diversity of our cultures, histories, languages and beliefs'.... | 52,751 | triviaqa-train |
The novel as well as the movie Girl with a Pearl Earring based on painter Vermeer's work was set in which Dutch city also known for its pottery? | Girl with a Pearl Earring (film)
Girl with a Pearl Earring is a 2003 romantic drama film directed by Peter Webber. The screenplay was adapted by screenwriter Olivia Hetreed, based on the 1999 novel of the same name by Tracy Chevalier. Scarlett Johansson stars as Griet, a young 17th-century servant in the household of t... | and flat—with a small nose and thin lips. The lack of idealised beauty has led to a general belief that this work was painted on commission, although it is possible that the model was Vermeer's daughter. The artist probably used a live model but, as with "Girl with a Pearl Earring", did not create the work as a portrai... | 52,752 | triviaqa-train |
Which scale that is used for measuring the intensity of an earthquake (not Richter!) quantifies its effects on humans, objects of nature, and man-made structures on a scale of I through XII with XII denoting total destruction? | Modified Mercalli intensity scale
The Modified Mercalli intensity scale (MM or MMI), descended from Giuseppe Mercalli's Mercalli intensity scale of 1902, is a seismic intensity scale used for measuring the "intensity of shaking" produced by an earthquake. It measures the "effects" of an earthquake "at a given location"... | China seismic intensity scale
The China seismic intensity scale (CSIS) is a national standard in the People's Republic of China used to measure seismic intensity. Similar to EMS-92 on which CSIS drew reference, seismic impacts are classified into 12 degrees of intensity, or liedu (, literally "degrees of violence") in ... | 52,753 | triviaqa-train |
Located just 508 miles from the North Pole, Alert is said to be the northernmost permanently inhabited place in the world. In which Canadian province/territory is it located? | Pole has been measured at by the Russian Mir submersible in 2007 and at 4,087 m (13,410 ft) by USS "Nautilus" in 1958. The nearest land is usually said to be Kaffeklubben Island, off the northern coast of Greenland about away, though some perhaps semi-permanent gravel banks lie slightly closer. The nearest permanently ... | North Pole" for entertainment purposes only; the actual North Pole is 800 miles further North. The magnetic pole wanders, and is presently 1000 miles from this spot. The "expedition" was undoubtedly a hard challenge, but the 300 mile drive took place entirely within the territory of Canada, only about 150 miles further... | 52,754 | triviaqa-train |
Which magnificent Tibetan landmark escaped damage during the Cultural Revolution of China in 1966 through the personal intervention of Zhou Enlai? | Potala Palace
The Potala Palace () in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, China was the residence of the Dalai Lama until the 14th Dalai Lama fled to India during the 1959 Chinese invasion. It is now a museum and World Heritage Site.
The palace is named after Mount Potalaka, the mythical abode of the bodhisattva Avalokite... | The Nyethang Drolma Temple survived the Cultural Revolution without much damage, and was able to preserve most of its valuable artifacts, due to the intervention of Premier Zhou Enlai at the request of the government of what is now Bangladesh.
Reting Monastery was devastated by the Red Guards during the Cultural Revolu... | 52,755 | triviaqa-train |
The Merlion, an imaginary creature with the head of a lion and the body of a fish, is used as the mascot of which tiny Asian island nation? | Merlion
The Merlion (Malay: "Singa-Laut", Chinese: 鱼尾狮, Tamil: மெர்லயன்) is the official mascot of Singapore, depicted as a mythical creature with a lion's head and the body of a fish. Being of prominent symbolic nature to Singapore and Singaporeans in general, it is widely used to represent both the city state and its... | legs.
- Hippocampus (or Hippocamp) – A Greek mythological creature that is half-horse half-fish.
- Hippogriff – A creature that has the front quarters of an eagle and hind quarters of a horse.
- Kelpie - A creature that is half horse half fish.
- Longma – A winged horse with dragon scales.
- Merlion – A creature with t... | 52,756 | triviaqa-train |
Which land-locked country has the most official languages in the world at 34 including Spanish, Aymara and Quechua? | Arabic is third with 26 countries and Spanish is fourth with 19 countries, Portuguese is the official language of 9 countries and German is official in 6. Some countries—like Australia, United Kingdom and the United States—have no official language recognized as such at national level. On the other extreme, Bolivia off... | wine industry. The land and climate are ideal for grape and wine production. The city of Tarija holds an annual Festival of Wine and Cheese.
The petroleum industry is important not only for the region but also for the country as a whole, especially the gas industry which is exported to Argentina and Brazil. The autonom... | 52,757 | triviaqa-train |
The US think tank Fund For Peace comes out with a Failed States Index every year. Which country topped the list for a fourth consecutive year in 2011? | uses color-coded maps, tables, and a four level-ranking system ("Alert," "Warning," "Moderate," "Sustainable") to determine the current conditions and negative potential in the future. All four nations on high "Alert" are a part of the African continent: Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo... | the world have improved slightly for the first time since the Syrian war began, but harmony has decreased in the US and terrorism records have increased, a Sydney-based think-tank has found.”
Forbes: “The Global Peace Index, which the Institute compiles annually, paints a sombre picture: The world has become even less ... | 52,758 | triviaqa-train |
Which tiny European nation claims itself to be the oldest recorded sovereign state and constitutional republic in the world? | during the Franco-Prussian War. Spain briefly became the First Spanish Republic in 1873–74, but the monarchy was soon restored. By the start of the 20th century France, Switzerland and San Marino remained the only republics in Europe. This changed when, after the 1908 Lisbon Regicide, the 5 October 1910 revolution esta... | being framed in anticipation of a future all-German constitution on its own political terms; but all references to a wider national German nation were removed in constitutional amendments in 1968 and 1974, and from that date the GDR maintained that from 1949 there had existed two entirely separate sovereign German stat... | 52,759 | triviaqa-train |
If water bodies were left out and only land area were considered, what is the second largest country in the world after Russia? | May 1945. In August 1945 the Soviet Army ousted the Japanese from China's Manchukuo and North Korea, contributing to the allied victory over Japan.
The 1941–45 period of World War II is known in Russia as the "Great Patriotic War". The Soviet Union together with the United States, the United Kingdom and China were cons... | area (including its waters), Canada is the second-largest country in the world, after Russia. By land area alone, however, Canada ranks fourth, the difference being due to it having the world's largest proportion of fresh water lakes. Of Canada's thirteen provinces and territories, only two are landlocked (Alberta and ... | 52,760 | triviaqa-train |
Landseer's Lions, a set of four sculptures of lions surround which London monument? | painting drives people mad when they sit by it. In 1862 Landseer painted a portrait of Louisa Caroline Stewart-Mackenzie holding her daughter Maysie,
Sculpture.
In 1858 the government commissioned Landseer to make four bronze lions for the base of Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square, following the rejection of a set in... | real lion he knew were in the possession of the academy at Turin. The request proved complex, and the casts did not arrive until the summer of 1860. The lions were made at the Kensington studio of Carlo Marochetti, who also cast them. Work was slowed by Landseer's ill health, and his fractious relationship with Maroche... | 52,761 | triviaqa-train |
'Pha That Lung', a large gold-covered Buddhist stupa is regarded as the most important monument and national symbol in which landlocked Asian country? | Pha That Luang
Pha That Luang (, 'Great Stupa') is a gold-covered large Buddhist stupa in the centre of the city of Vientiane, Laos. Since its initial establishment, suggested to be in the 3rd century, the stupa has undergone several reconstructions as recently as the 1930s due to foreign invasions of the area. It is g... | the reign of King Saysethathirath. It was rebuilt Luang Stupa in 1953 and now a national monument. Its golden stupa is high and the edifice is described as a "gilded missile cluster". The gold colored central image inside the stupa is in the shape of a curve of an extended Lotus bud. The annual That Luang Festival is h... | 52,762 | triviaqa-train |
Located in Micronesia and covering just 21 square kilometres, what is the world's smallest island nation? | Micronesia is divided politically among several sovereign countries. One of these is the Federated States of Micronesia, which is often called "Micronesia" for short and is not to be confused with the overall region. The Micronesia region encompasses five sovereign, independent nations—the Federated States of Micronesi... | Västra Frölunda
Västra Frölunda, sometimes referred to as just Frölunda, is one of 21 boroughs in the city of Gothenburg, Sweden. It is located in the south western part of the city, and is the smallest of the boroughs with a population of 12,855 (2004) on 3.72 square kilometres, although the term Frölunda generally is... | 52,763 | triviaqa-train |
Distributed across the three islands of Tutuila, Ofu-Olosega, and Ta‘ū, what is the only American national park located south of the equator? | American Samoa in Tutuila was established in 1988 for preserving its perfect terrestrial and marine environment. It covers an area of and is bound on the north coast between Fagasa and Afono villages. The Rainmaker pass is located within this park with its rain forests. The Amalau valley between the Afono and Vatia vil... | the other being Jarvis Island. Its total land area is slightly larger than Washington, D.C.consisting of five rugged, volcanic islands and two coral atolls. The five volcanic islands are Tutuila, Aunu'u, Ofu, Olosega, and Ta‘ū. The coral atolls are Swains and Rose Atoll. Of the seven islands, Rose Atoll is the only uni... | 52,764 | triviaqa-train |
Which French city is home to the Palais des Papes (Palace of the Popes) where several popes and antipopes lived from the early 14th to early 15th centuries? | Avignon
Avignon (, , ; or ; ) is a commune in south-eastern France in the department of Vaucluse on the left bank of the Rhône river. Of the 90,194 inhabitants of the city (), about 12,000 live in the ancient town centre enclosed by its medieval ramparts.
Between 1309 and 1377, during the Avignon Papacy, seven successi... | .
The largest civic building built in the Gothic style in France was the Palais des Papes (Palace of the Popes) constructed between 1252 and 1364, when the Popes fled the political chaos and wars enveloping Rome. Given the complicated political situation, it combined the functions of a church, a seat of government and ... | 52,765 | triviaqa-train |
Bordered on three sides by Senegal and with a small coast on the Atlantic Ocean in the west, what is the smallest country on mainland Africa? | Agulhas in South Africa (34°51'15" S), is a distance of approximately . Cape Verde, 17°33'22" W, the westernmost point, is a distance of approximately to Ras Hafun, 51°27'52" E, the most easterly projection that neighbours Cape Guardafui, the tip of the Horn of Africa.
Africa's largest country is Algeria, and its small... | Postage stamps and postal history of Mauritania
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Mauritania.
Mauritania is a country in North Africa bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in the west, by Western Sahara in the north, by Algeria in the northeast, by Mali in the east and southeast, and by Senegal in t... | 52,766 | triviaqa-train |
The largest impact over land in Earth's recent history, how is the explosion that occurred in 1908 near the namesake river in Siberia commonly known? | (and exploding bolides) have been reported, with some occurrences causing deaths, injuries, property damage, or other significant localised consequences. One of the best-known recorded events in modern times was the Tunguska event, which occurred in Siberia, Russia, in 1908. The 2013 Chelyabinsk meteor event is the onl... | a century instead of every thousand years, as was once previously believed. The 1908 event occurred in the remote, sparsely populated Tunguska area of Siberia, Russia, and is attributed to the likely airburst explosion of an asteroid or comet that destroyed some 80 million trees over 2,150 square kilometres (830 sq mi)... | 52,767 | triviaqa-train |
Located in northeast Caribbean, what is the smallest inhabited sea island that is divided between two nations? | Saint Martin
Saint Martin (; ) is an island in the northeast Caribbean Sea, approximately east of Puerto Rico. The island is divided roughly 60/40 between the French Republic () and the Kingdom of the Netherlands (), but the two parts are roughly equal in population. The division dates to 1648. The southern Dutch part ... | Halki (Greece)
Halki (; alternatively "Chalce" or "Chalki") is a Greek island and municipality in the Dodecanese archipelago in the Aegean Sea, some west of Rhodes. With an area of , it is the smallest inhabited island of the Dodecanese. It is part of the Rhodes regional unit. It has a permanent population of 330 (incr... | 52,768 | triviaqa-train |
During the apartheid era, what was the name for the territory set aside for black inhabitants of South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) of which ten were established? | (South Sotho), Bophuthatswana (Tswana), KwaZulu (Zulu), KaNgwane (Swazi), Transkei and Ciskei (Xhosa), Gazankulu (Tsonga), Venda (Venda) and KwaNdebele (Ndebele). Four of these were declared independent by the South African government: Transkei in 1976, Bophuthatswana in 1977, Venda in 1979, and Ciskei in 1981 (known a... | . Following World War II and the introduction of apartheid, South Africa's mandate was revoked by UNGA in October 1966. In May 1967, during its fifth session, UNGA established the United Nations Council for South West Africa "to administer South West Africa until independence, with the maximum possible participation of... | 52,769 | triviaqa-train |
Which prominent mountain has three volcanic cones called Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira? | in German following the Kiswahili name components. On 6 October 1889, Hans Meyer reached the highest summit on the crater ridge of Kibo. He named it Kaiser-Wilhelm-Spitze (Kaiser Wilhelm peak). That name was used until Tanzania was formed in 1964, when the summit was renamed Uhuru Peak, meaning freedom peak in Kiswahil... | " of the Rhomb Porphyry group, dated to 460,000–360,000 years ago.
- Aphyric phonolite lavas, "commonly underlain by basal obsidian horizons", of the Lent group, dated to 359,000–337,000 years ago
- Porphyritic tephriphonolite to phonolite lavas of the Caldera Rim group, dated to 274,000–170,000 years ago
- Phonolite l... | 52,770 | triviaqa-train |
The 19th century civic planner Baron Haussman is associated with the rebuilding of which city? | of the 19th century. The agenda that emerged was a progressive doctrine that assumed better housing conditions would reform its residents morally and economically. Another style of reform – imposed by the state for reasons of aesthetics and efficiency – could be said to have begun in 1853, with the recruitment of Baron... | Lamont Young (architect)
Lamont Young (1851-1929) was an Italian architect and urban planner from the late 19th and early 20th century.
Young was born in Naples, Italy and all works and urban design associated with his name are found there. In architecture, he is primarily associated with having constructed a number of... | 52,771 | triviaqa-train |
The Lake Mungo remains consisting of two fossils known as Mungo Lady and Mungo Man are located in the World Heritage listed Willandra Lakes Region of which country? | Willandra Lakes Region
The Willandra Lakes Region is a World Heritage Site in the Far West region of New South Wales, Australia. The Willandra Lakes Region is the traditional meeting place of the Muthi Muthi, Nyiampaar and Barkinji Aboriginal tribes. The area was inscribed on the World Heritage List at the 5th Session ... | of Mungo National Park, and is one of seventeen lakes in the World Heritage listed Willandra Lakes Region. Sediments at Lake Mungo have been deposited over more than 100,000 years. There are three distinct layers of sands and soil forming the Walls around the edge of the lake. The oldest is the reddish Gol Gol layer, f... | 52,772 | triviaqa-train |
With a total drop of 948 meters (3,110 feet) in five free-leaping falls, Tugela Falls is the world's second highest waterfall. They are located in the Drakensberg (Dragon's Mountains) range in which country? | Drakensberg
The Drakensberg (Afrikaans: Drakensberge, Zulu: uKhahlamba, Sotho: Maluti) is the name given to the eastern portion of the Great Escarpment, which encloses the central Southern African plateau. The Great Escarpment reaches its greatest elevation in this region – . It is located in South Africa and Lesotho. ... | Cuquenan Falls
Kukenan Falls (or Salto Kukenan, Kukenaam, Cuquenan or similar) is the second tallest major waterfall in Venezuela after Angel Falls. It is also the second tallest free-leaping waterfall in the world. Overall, it is usually cited as the 11th highest waterfall in the world. The falls drop in a single leap... | 52,773 | triviaqa-train |
Which Spanish city, now home to a great mosque was probably the most populated city in Europe and perhaps in the world in the later half of the 10th century? | known as Al-Andalus. The Berbers of Al Andalus revolted as early as 740 AD, halting Arab expansion across the Pyrenees into France. Upon the collapse of the Umayyad in Damascus, Spain was seized by Yusuf al Fihri, until the arrival of exiled Umayyad Prince Abd al-Rahman I, who seized power, establishing himself as Emir... | in the city, as are dozens of Jama'at Khana. During the mid-twentieth century, Salamiyah saw a growth of religious diversity with the building of the first Sunni mosque, and now the city is home to almost a dozen Sunni mosques and a Ja'fari Shia mosque in the city's Qadmusite Quarter which is home to most of the city's... | 52,774 | triviaqa-train |
When combined with its headstreams the 'Peace' and the 'Finlay', what becomes the second longest river in North America at 4,241 kilometres (2,635 mi)? | Mackenzie River
The Mackenzie River (Slavey: Deh-Cho [tèh tʃʰò], "literally" big river; Inuvialuktun: Kuukpak [kuːkpɑk] "literally" great river; French: Fleuve (de) Mackenzie) is the longest river system in Canada, and has the second largest drainage basin of any North American river after the Mississippi River. The Ma... | branch of the river system of the Enz, which is then about 149 kilometres long, and thus the third longest of the Neckar tributaries after the river systems of the Kocher and the Jagst.
Geography Headstreams.
The Enz bears its name without any qualifier until it reaches the town of Calmbach, where the Great Enz ("Große... | 52,775 | triviaqa-train |
The Sigsbee Deep, named for the captain of the USS Maine which exploded in the harbor of Havana in 1898 is the deepest part of which body of water? | area.
Geography.
Havana lies on the northern coast of Cuba, south of the Florida Keys, where the Gulf of Mexico joins the Atlantic Ocean. The city extends mostly westward and southward from the bay, which is entered through a narrow inlet and which divides into three main harbours: Marimelena, Guanabacoa, and Atarés. T... | Charles Dwight Sigsbee
Charles Dwight Sigsbee (January 16, 1845 – July 13, 1923) was a Rear Admiral in the United States Navy. In his earlier career he was a pioneering oceanographer and hydrographer. He is best remembered as the captain of the USS "Maine", which exploded in Havana harbor, Cuba, in 1898. The explosion ... | 52,776 | triviaqa-train |
Which Chilean city whose name comes from the Spanish for 'sandy point' is sometimes considered the southernmost city in the world? | Southernmost settlements
Southernmost settlements are cities, towns, weather stations or permanent military bases which are farther south than latitude 45°S. They are closely related to the Southern Ocean or either the Roaring Forties or Furious Fifties.
Southernmost city.
"The southernmost city in the world" is mainly... | Southern Arizona
Southern Arizona is a region of the United States comprising the southernmost portion of the State of Arizona. It sometimes goes by the name Gadsden or Baja Arizona, which means "Lower Arizona" in Spanish.
Geography.
Although Southern Arizona's boundaries are not well-defined, it is generally considere... | 52,777 | triviaqa-train |
Which South Pacific territory named for its shores' similarities to the Scottish coastline will hold a referendum on independence from France between 2014 and 2019? | were declared a French protectorate, to allow Catholic missionaries to work undisturbed. The capital of Papeetē was founded in 1843. On 24 September 1853, under orders from Napoleon III, Admiral Febvrier Despointes took formal possession of New Caledonia and Port-de-France (Nouméa) was founded 25 June 1854.
The Spanish... | ""haussaire""), who is the head of civil services, and who sits in the government of the territory.
The Nouméa Accord stipulates that the Congress will have the right to call for a referendum on independence after 2014, at a time of its choosing. Following the timeline set by the Nouméa Accord, the groundwork was laid ... | 52,778 | triviaqa-train |
Based on a 1995 realignment of the International Date Line, which Oceanic country with it's capital at South Tarawa is now the easternmost country in the world? | UTC 10:00–10:59), all three calendar dates include inhabited places. During the second hour (UTC 11:00–11:59) one of the calendar dates is limited to an uninhabited maritime time zone twelve hours behind UTC ().
According to the clock, the first areas to experience a new day and a New Year are islands that use . These ... | "westernmost" place in the world.
Another method is to use the International Date Line as the easternmost–westernmost extreme. On the equinox, the easternmost place would be where the day first begins, and the westernmost is where the day last ends.
Still another method is to first determine the geographic center of th... | 52,779 | triviaqa-train |
Which major German seaport on the Baltic sea was for several centuries the capital of the Hanseatic League and was also known as 'Queen of the Hanse'? | Hamburg
Hamburg (; ; officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg; ; Low German/Low Saxon: "Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg") is the second-largest city in Germany with a population of over 1.8 million, after the capital Berlin.
One of Germany's 16 federal states, it is surrounded by Schleswig-Holstein to the north an... | Hanseatic League
The Hanseatic League (; , , ; ; ; ) was a commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Northwestern and Central Europe. Growing from a few North German towns in the late 1100s, the league came to dominate Baltic maritime trade for three centuries along the coasts of Nor... | 52,780 | triviaqa-train |
McMurdo Station can support only 1258 residents but is still considered as the largest community in what part of the world? | McMurdo Station
The McMurdo Station is a United States Antarctic research station on the south tip of Ross Island, which is in the New Zealand-claimed Ross Dependency on the shore of McMurdo Sound in Antarctica. It is operated by the United States through the United States Antarctic Program, a branch of the National Sc... | Harbor Gateway lacks much of what makes a community a community—no central business district, no civic center or gathering place, no library branch, no police station ... no post office. Its largest park is a cemetery. And, despite the new name, mailing addresses of residents remain unchanged. They still say Torrance o... | 52,781 | triviaqa-train |
Due to its location in a time zone to the east of Europe, which French island in the Indian Ocean was the first region in the world where the euro became legal tender? | — the Indian Plate, the Capricorn Plate, and Australian Plate — separated by diffuse boundary zones.
Since 20 Ma the African Plate is being divided by the East African Rift System into the Nubian and Somalia plates.
There are only two trenches in the Indian Ocean: the -long Java Trench between Java and the Sunda Trench... | addition to the island itself, which was returned to its original Dutch name of Mauritius, and has been known as such ever since. The island remained under British control until granted independence in 1968. The British forces in the region were scaled back, command passing to Beaver, who sent ships to eliminate French... | 52,782 | triviaqa-train |
Which coast off the Atlantic Ocean of Namibia and Angola is named for the bleached whale and seal bones which covered the shore during the days of the whaling industry as well as for the shipwrecks caused by rocks? | Bushveld, and the Kalahari Desert.
The Central Plateau runs from north to south, bordered by the Skeleton Coast to the northwest, the Namib Desert and its coastal plains to the southwest, the Orange River to the south, and the Kalahari Desert to the east. The Central Plateau is home to the highest point in Namibia at K... | for surfing.
Etymology.
The area's name derives from the whale and seal bones that once littered the shore from the whaling industry, although in modern times the coast harbours the skeletal remains of the shipwrecks caught by offshore rocks and fog. More than a thousand such vessels of various sizes litter the coast, ... | 52,783 | triviaqa-train |
Cape Horn, the southernmost tip of South America is on which archipelago that translates as 'land of fire' in Spanish? | and Aves Island is controlled by Venezuela.
Other islands that are included with South America are the Galápagos Islands that belong to Ecuador and Easter Island (in Oceania but belonging to Chile), Robinson Crusoe Island, Chiloé (both Chilean) and Tierra del Fuego (split in between Chile and Argentina). In the Atlanti... | Livingston Island is situated in West Antarctica northwest of Cape Roquemaurel on the Antarctic mainland, south-southeast of Cape Horn in South America, southeast of the Diego Ramirez Islands (the southernmost land of South America), due south of the Falkland Islands, southwest of South Georgia Islands, and from the So... | 52,784 | triviaqa-train |
Completely bordered by France on three sides, what is the world's most densely populated sovereign country as well as the smallest French-speaking country? | the country's various overseas polities. It is bordered by the North Sea in the north, the English Channel in the northwest, the Atlantic Ocean in the west and the Mediterranean sea in the southeast. Its land borders consist of Belgium and Luxembourg in the northeast, Germany and Switzerland in the east, Italy and Mona... | List of companies of Belgium
Belgium is a sovereign state in Western Europe bordered by France, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, and the North Sea. It is a small, densely populated country which covers an area of and has a population of about 11 million people. Straddling the cultural boundary between Germanic and... | 52,785 | triviaqa-train |
The name of which Central Asian mountain range where Russia, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan come together and where the mighty rivers Irtysh, Ob and Yenisei have their sources literally means 'mountains of gold' in Turkic? | Altai Mountains
The Altai Mountains (), also spelled Altay Mountains, are a mountain range in Central and East Asia, where Russia, China, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan come together, and where the rivers Irtysh and Ob have their headwaters. The massif merges with the Sayan Mountains in the northeast, and gradually becomes l... | rushed to Australia to witness the splendid beauties of the Murray River and then went London to watch the grandiose of the Thames.
Then he explored the European great river the Rhine and flew to the banks of Russian rivers the Ob, the Irtysh, the NC Yenisei and the Volga. For centuries, these are the rivers where the ... | 52,786 | triviaqa-train |
Scania, Zealand and Jutland have historically been the three lands of which country/kingdom? | wife Thyra. Gorm was born before 900 and died . His rule marks the start of the Danish monarchy and royal house (see Danish monarchs' family tree.
The Danes were united and officially Christianized in 965 AD by Gorm's son Harald Bluetooth (see below), the story of which is recorded on the Jelling stones. The extent of ... | gameplay tweaks throughout the early access process. The full version of the game was released on 7 December 2015. The game was released on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on 5 April 2016.
Reception.
Reception towards "Dirt Rally" was positive.
GameStar gave the game 90% and said ""Dirt Rally" is the best rally simulation a... | 52,787 | triviaqa-train |
Which island, the third largest in the world, is divided between Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei? | of the oldest rainforests in the world. It is the centre of the evolution and distribution of many endemic species of plants and animals, and the rainforest is one of the few remaining natural habitats for the endangered Bornean orangutan. It is an important refuge for many endemic forest species, including the Borneo ... | widely spaced in others. They are not attached to the stipe, which is long and about thick, with a white ring. The spores measure 7.8–9.8 by 7.3–9.0 µm and are roughly spherical in shape. The spore print is white.
The mushroom grows in lawns, pastures and prairies. It is a saprotroph, living on decaying plant material,... | 52,788 | triviaqa-train |
Since all time zones converge at the South Pole, there is no reason for placing it in any particular time zone. But as a practical convenience, the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station keeps the time of which country? | Improvements in worldwide communication further increased the need for interacting parties to communicate mutually comprehensible time references to one another. The problem of differing local times could be solved across larger areas by synchronizing clocks worldwide, but in many places that adopted time would then di... | places on Earth, local time is determined by longitude, such that the time of day is more-or-less synchronised to the position of the sun in the sky (for example, at midday the sun is roughly at its highest). This line of reasoning fails at the South Pole, where the sun rises and sets only once per year, and all lines ... | 52,789 | triviaqa-train |
What is the exclave of Russia that is surrounded by Lithuania and Poland on the Baltic Sea? | the Kaliningrad Oblast. The Baltic states on the eastern shore were annexed by the Soviet Union. The Baltic then separated opposing military blocs: NATO and the Warsaw Pact. Had war broken out, the Polish navy was prepared to invade the Danish isles. This border status restricted trade and travel. It ended only after t... | is ice-free all year round and hence plays an important role in maintenance of the Baltic Fleet. As an exclave of Russia proper, it is surrounded by Poland (Pomeranian Voivodeship and Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship), Lithuania (Klaipėda County, Marijampolė County and Tauragė County) and the Baltic Sea. Its largest river ... | 52,790 | triviaqa-train |
What is the longest river in the world that flows entirely in one country? | over six of the main tributary rivers that drain into the Amazon. Since only four percent of the Amazon's hydropower potential has been developed in countries like Brazil, more damming projects are underway and hundreds more are planned. After witnessing the negative effects of environmental degradation, sedimentation,... | Iskar (river)
The Iskar ( ; ) is a right tributary of the Danube. With a length of 368 km it is the longest river that runs entirely within Bulgaria. Originating as three forks in Balkan's highest mountain range Rila, it flows in northern direction until its confluence with the Danube River. As it flows northwards it f... | 52,791 | triviaqa-train |
Located in Israel, what is the second-lowest lake in the world (after the Dead Sea) on whose shores much of the ministry of Jesus occurred? | from the lake.
The British and French Agreement provided that existing rights over the use of the waters of the river Jordan by the inhabitants of Syria would be maintained; the Government of Syria would have the right to erect a new pier at Semakh on Lake Tiberias or jointly use the existing pier; persons or goods pas... | Dead Sea
The Dead Sea ( lit. Sea of Salt; ) is a salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east and Israel and the West Bank to the west. It lies in the Jordan Rift Valley, and its main tributary is the Jordan River.
Its surface and shores are below sea level, Earth's lowest elevation on land. It is deep, the deepest hypersa... | 52,792 | triviaqa-train |
Meaning 'place of sunset' or 'western' in Arabic, which word is generally applied to the geographic area of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia together? | -Cantabrian refuge area of southwestern Europe was the source of late-glacial expansions of hunter-gatherers who repopulated northern Europe after the last ice age.
Northwest Africa and Morocco were slowly drawn into the wider emerging Mediterranean world by the Phoenicians, who established trading colonies and settlem... | M'semen
Msemen (Arabic: مسمن" Msemen"), is a rich traditional flatbread originally from North Africa, most common to Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. It is usually served with honey or a cup of aromatic morning mint tea or coffee. Msemen can also be stuffed with meat.
Origin name.
The original name is derived from the Ber... | 52,793 | triviaqa-train |
Which renowned 20th century physicist was so fascinated by the current day Russian republic of Tuva (because of its obscurity) that he even wrote a book called Tuva or Bust! which chronicles his attempts to travel there? | developing technologies such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and transistors. Feynman has noted that experimentalists may seek areas that have not been explored well by theorists.
Research Scope and aims.
Physics covers a wide range of phenomena, from elementary particles (such as quarks, neutrinos, and electrons) ... | Postage stamps and postal history of Tannu Tuva
The People's Republic of Tannu Tuva issued postage stamps between 1926 and 1936. They were popular with stamp collectors in the Western world in the mid-twentieth century because of the obscurity and exoticism of Tannu Tuva and the stamps' quirky, colorful designs. The va... | 52,794 | triviaqa-train |
The summit of which mountain in Ecuador is generally regarded as the spot that is farthest from the center of the Earth? | The top of Mount Chimborazo (6,268 m, or 20,560 ft, above sea level), Ecuador's tallest mountain, is the most distant point from the center of the Earth on the Earth's surface because of the ellipsoid shape of the planet.
Geography Climate.
There is great variety in the climate, largely determined by altitude. It is mi... | a mountain or other elevated place, a spot where earth and sky come closest gains status as center of the center, the axis mundi. High mountains are typically regarded as sacred by peoples living near them. Shrines are often erected at the summit or base. Mount Kunlun fills a similar role in China. For the ancient Hebr... | 52,795 | triviaqa-train |
Deluded by a legend, Francisco Orellana and Gonzalo Pizarro departed from Ecuador in 1541 in a disastrous expedition towards the Amazon Basin; they did not find any gold or lost cities but Orellana became the first person to navigate the entire Amazon River. What were they seeking? | , condemned for treason, and executed on July 8, 1538.
Expeditions with Francisco de Orellana.
Francisco Pizarro appointed Gonzalo Governor of Quito in 1541, which had been taken in 1534 by Sebastián de Benalcázar. Gonzalo went to Quito and soon heard rumors of a rich native kingdom to the east: some called it El Dorad... | Belalcázar.
First exploration of the Amazon River.
In 1540 Gonzalo Pizarro arrived in Quito as governor and was charged by Francisco Pizarro with an expedition to locate the "Land of Cinnamon", thought to be somewhere to the east. Orellana was one of Gonzalo Pizarro's lieutenants during his 1541 expedition east of Quit... | 52,796 | triviaqa-train |
The name of which vast and arid area north of the Great Australian Bight is derived from the Latin for 'no trees' and the crossing of which is a seminal experience of the Australian Outback? | the South." A line joining West Cape Howe () Australia to South West Cape, Tasmania.
"On the East." A line from Cape Otway, Victoria to King Island and thence to Cape Grim, the northwest extreme of Tasmania.
The AHS defines the bight with a smaller area, from Cape Pasley, Western Australia, to Cape Carnot, South Austra... | Colton, South Australia
Colton is a locality in the Australian state of South Australia located on the west coast of Eyre Peninsula overlooking the Great Australian Bight about north-west of the state capital of Adelaide and about north of the municipal seat of Elliston.
Boundaries created in November 1999 for “the lon... | 52,797 | triviaqa-train |
With 34.8 percent salinity, Lake Assal is considered the most saline body of water outside Antarctica. In which tiny nation in the Horn of Africa is it located? | Lake Assal (Djibouti)
Lake Assal ( , literally 'honey lake') is a crater lake in central-western Djibouti. It is located at the western end of Gulf of Tadjoura in the Tadjoura Region, touching Dikhil Region, at the top of the Great Rift Valley, some west of Djibouti city. Lake Assal is a saline lake which lies below se... | is stated to be maintaining an equilibrium.
Lake Assal is the most saline body of water on earth after Don Juan Pond with 34.8% average salt concentration (up to 40% at depth); higher than the 33.7% level in the Dead Sea. The dissolved salts include NaCl, KCl, MgCl, CaCl, CaSO and MgBr, with NaCl dominating in Lake Ass... | 52,798 | triviaqa-train |
Easter Island in the South Pacific is well-known for its numerous moai, the stone statues located along its coastline. Which country does the island belong to? | Easter Island
Easter Island (, ) is a Chilean island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. Easter Island is most famous for its nearly 1,000 extant monumental statues, called "moai", created by the early Rapa Nui people. In 1995, UNESCO named Easter Isla... | ‘the chasm of Tiki’ (Tregear 1891:151).
- According to Easter Island (Rapa Nui) legend, Hotu Matu'a, the first chief brought along a moai (other traditional sources mention two) symbolizing ancestors, which became the model for the large moai. Dr. Jo Anne Van Tilburg of the Easter Island Statue Project at UCLA says tha... | 52,799 | triviaqa-train |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.