Countries of Oceania quiz

The 14 countries in the quiz

They’re the 14 UN member countries of Oceania, on a map of the continent. Territories and areas that aren’t asked, such as New Caledonia, Northern Mariana Islands, and Guam, are shown in gray.

8 are so small that they have a circle you can tap; at sea, tapping close to it is enough.

How to play

In Point mode we name a country and you tap it on the map; in Type mode one lights up and you type its name (accents don’t matter); and in Time trial you get 6 seconds per question. If you miss, we show you where it was, which way it lies and a hint drawn from the data: the countries it borders and its capital.

Each game has 10, 20 or all the questions, and at the end you can practice just the ones you missed. Your best score for each mode is saved in this browser only: neither we nor anyone else can see it, and there’s no sign-up.

The hardest ones

The smallest countries are the hardest, since they barely show on the map: Tuvalu (about 9 sq mi), Nauru (about 11 sq mi), and the Marshall Islands (70 sq mi). Zoom in with the buttons or two fingers to tap them.

Tips to learn them

• Australia, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand are easy to spot; the rest are archipelagos. Learn them in groups: Melanesia east of Papua (Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji), Micronesia to the north and Polynesia (Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu) to the east.
• Start with the three largest: Australia, Papua New Guinea, and New Zealand cover 99% of the area of Oceania.
• Papua New Guinea has the most neighbors: it borders 1 countries. Once you place it, you have a landmark for many more.

Playing in class

Put the map on the interactive whiteboard and play in teams: each right answer scores a point, and if one team misses, the other gets a turn.

With the Challenge your class link, everyone gets the same questions in the same order, with no accounts or passwords, and each student sees their own score, time and streak. To practice on paper, there’s a printable worksheet of the same map with an answer key.

List of all 14 countries

1. Australia Canberra
2. Federated States of Micronesia Palikir
3. Fiji Suva
4. Kiribati South Tarawa
5. Marshall Islands Majuro
6. Nauru
7. New Zealand Wellington
8. Palau Melekeok
9. Papua New Guinea Port Moresby
10. Samoa Apia
11. Solomon Islands Honiara
12. Tonga Nuku'alofa
13. Tuvalu Funafuti
14. Vanuatu Port Vila