29 Winning Questions From the National Geographic Bee

Since 1989, students in the U.S. have competed for the top title in National Geographic's National Geographic Bee Championship. This year, 54 fourth- through eight-graders, ages 10 to 14—including eight returning national-level competitors—will compete for the top prize and $85,000 in scholarships. Could you make it to the finals? How would you do on the final questions from every tournament?

The winning question from the inaugural competition was:

Name the flat intermontane area (a wide valley between mountain ranges) located at an elevation of about 10,000 feet (3,050 m) in the central Andes.

Mount Erebus is a volcano on which continent?

What type of landform is commonly associated with orographic precipitation?

Many coastal countries have established so-called EEZs—areas extending 200 nautical miles, or 370 km, from shore over which countries have sovereign rights for resource exploration. What do the initials "EEZ" stand for?

Tagalog is one of the three main native languages of which island country in Asia?

The Tagus River roughly divides which European country into two agricultural regions?

Pashtu and Dari are the official languages of which mountainous, landlocked country in southwestern Asia?

Name the European co-principality whose heads of state are the president of France and the bishop of Urgell.

Asia's most densely populated country has about 3 million people and an area of less than 250 square miles, or 402 km². Name this country.

More than 80 million people live in the European Union's most populous member country. Name this country.

The condition characterized by unusually cold ocean temperature in the equatorial region of the eastern Pacific Ocean is known by what Spanish name?

Name two of the three largest sections of Denmark, which include its mainland peninsula and two largest islands.

Below the equilibrium line of glaciers, there is a region of melting, evaporation and sublimation. Name this zone.

Lop Nur, a marshy depression at the east end of the Tarim Basin, is a nuclear test site for which country?

Goa, a state in southwestern India, was a possession of which country until 1961?

Peshawar, a city in the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan, has had strategic importance for centuries because of its location near what historic pass?

Lake Gatún, an artificial lake that constitutes part of the Panama Canal system, was created by damming which river?

Name the mountains that extend across much of Wales, from the Irish Sea to the Bristol Channel.

A city that is divided by a river of the same name was the imperial capital of Vietnam for more than a century. Name this city, which is still an important cultural center.

The urban area of Cochabamba has been in the news recently (2008) due to protests over the privatization of the municipal water supply and regional autonomy issues. Cochabamba is the third-largest conurbation (an extended urban area) in what country?

Timis County shares its name with a tributary of the Danube and is located in the western part of which European country?

The largest city in northern Haiti was renamed following Haiti's independence from France. What is the present-day name of this city?

[Editor's note: Its former name was Cap-Français.]

Thousands of mountain climbers and trekkers rely on sherpas to aid their ascent of Mount Everest. The southern part of Mount Everest is located in which Nepalese national park?

Name the Bavarian city situated on the Danube River that was a legislative seat of the Holy Roman Empire from 1663 to 1806.

Because Earth bulges at the equator, the point that is farthest from Earth's center is the summit of a peak in Ecuador. Name this peak.

Oyala, a planned city in the rainforest 65 miles east of Bata is being built as a future capital for which country?

Mariupol, at the mouth of the Kalmius River, is a port city on which sea, an arm of the Black Sea?

A new marine sanctuary will protect sharks and other wildlife around Isla Wolf in what archipelago in the Pacific Ocean?

What large mountain system that stretches more than 1,200 miles separates the Taklamakan Desert from the Tibetan Plateau?