Where Were These Old Countries?
Founded in the late 1200s, where was the country of Abyssinia located?
- Abyssinia was the exonym or native name for the country that we now know as Ethiopia, in what is known as the Horn of Africa, located in the Northeast portion of the continent.
The Ottoman Empire was an ancient superpower that existed from the close of the 13th century AD to its dissolution in the 1920s. Which pairs of countries were once included in the area that the Ottoman Empire covered?
- The Ottoman Empire was one of the largest in history, reaching its peak during the 16th century under the rule of Suleiman I, commanding great military force, naval presence, and territorial expanse.
The Kingdom of Prussia was an important precursor to the country of modern Germany, but which neighboring country did Prussia originally contain parts of within its borders?
- Territories of Prussia included the Northeastern portion of Poland, particularly during the days of the Weimar Republic’s Prussia.
Between 1884 and 1966, Basutoland was a British colony in Africa. What country did it become after declaring independence?
- Lesotho is an interesting enclaved country, being completely surrounded by South Africa. After independence, instead of being called Basutoland, its official name is the Kingdom of Lesotho.
As a small island in the Atlantic, the Dominion of Newfoundland was its own country with self-governance from the early 1900s until 1934. What country did it end up uniting with?
- After a financial crisis rocked the small nation in the 1930s, the best course of action was to join the greater sphere of Canada, becoming the modern province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Before combining into one, Tanganyika and Zanzibar were located within the lands of which modern African country?
- Officially created in 1964, the United Republic of Tanzania was once made up of the two smaller countries of Tanganyika and Zanzibar.
Yugoslavia broke into various separate countries in the spring of 1992— which of the following countries originally contributed their land to the state before the dissolution happened?
- Initially, Yugoslavia was separated into six different republics, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, and Vojvodina.
Gran Colombia once took up a portion of Central and South America during its prominence in the 19th century. Can you name the very perimeters of the land it would have contained, based on modern countries there?
- A large part of Northern South America was part of Gran Colombia until it was dissolved in 1831, and the land was divided into separate countries.
A country in Southeast Asia, Burma was annexed by the British in the late 1880s and underwent a variety of military rulers. The country is now known by which name for the same area?
- After decades of military rule and civil wars, modern Myanmar was finally able to liberalize itself and hold successful general elections to reform the country in 2011.
Once called German South West Africa, this colony existed between 1884 and 1919 before becoming a new country on the land of which of the following?
- After Germany’s holdings of their South West Africa colony were severed by South African forces in 1915, Namibia faced a long battle for self-governance, finally becoming a fully independent African country in 1990.
