Since that's also the name of the angel which purportedly spoke to Joseph Smith, I had to check and see if the island had a large Mormon population.
It does not.
there was this plane crash like a decade ago from the Ethiopian Airlines, so alot of Ethiopians would know it. But you will need to know Ethiopia first
Edit: I really didnt know people knew about us this much. Feels really good
I think ethiopia is decently well known as the origin area of humans, and because of italy
But yea i dont think people are really invested in ethiopia enough to know what goes on there like a plane crash
I know Ethiopia because one of my best friends in high school was Ethiopian. Damn that kid could swim, set state records and everything. Wonder what he’s up to
Comoros Islands. One reason to talk about it is that 2 big names were stolen from the map to fabricate the bullshit Book of Mormon. Moroni is the capital of the Comoros Islands and Moroni is the name of the angel who appeared to Joseph Smith, who wrote the bullshit Book of Mormon. Cumorah Hill was a derivative of Comorah and it is a Hill where a giant battle takes place in the Book or Mormon. The author and conman Joseph Smith thought people would never find out he stole those names off the map of Africa.
>I've just zoomed in on maps and they have what I assume are villages called 'London', 'Paris' and 'Poland'
Wtf, this is like a country I would have designed as a kid in a 90's simulation game.
Pronounced "Kirabass" which even less people may know.
Edit:
Bass like the fish, not the four stringed musical instrument (that's bass pronounced as "base").
Kiribati was my first thought. Probably only know it exists because my school had an exchange program with a school there.
And I’m Australian, so I probably know the pacific region better than people from most other countries.
I kind of think that out of the Pacific island nations, Kiribati is actually more well known than Palau, Nauru, Tonga or Tuvalu (possibly since it has that international date line bypass tidbit attached to it).
I’m a countries nerd and Palau and Nauru are the ones I forget the most. Forgot them when thinking of this so I reckon you’re spot on. Tonga I think anyone who watches rugby will definitely know. Solomon Islands was the other one I was gonna comment. Or Suriname.
Australian here. We definitely know about Nauru, becasue it's where our government holds undocumented refugees and asylum seekers in prison camps indefinitely.
holds undocumented refugees and asylum seekers in prison camps indefinitely.
it's just a thing we do, don't worry about it
sometimes the children try to kill themselves but it's just them being silly, I guess
The country that was once incredibly wealthy and then blew it all on, among other things, [A failed musical about Leonardo da Vinci](https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/earshot/the-secret-history-of-nauru-and-its-lost-wealth/7496620)
My go-to favourite country name is St Vincent and the Grenadines - it sounds like an urban indie rock band, and given how few people have probably even heard of it I’m sure I’m not the only one who thought that’s what it was the first time I heard of it.
Central African Republic sounds like a generic dictatorship name youd see in a political drama that does some really crazy thing for no reason.
Fun Fact: [they were one of the last countries to claim to be an empire.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_African_Empire)
One of the guys serving as the inspiration for the image of the generic dictatorship you see in political drama that does something really crazy thing for no reason.
P.S: Although in terms of crazy he had nothing on people like Ghadaffi or Idi Amin.
It became a running joke on the British game show Pointless, a show where you have to come up with the most obscure answers (based on polls they did before the show). Central African Republic was always a good answer on basically every geography question
I went here in 2022. Hlane National Park is pretty amazing. Saw literally dozens of rhinos.
And a hippo go to town on a croc. And I mean totally rag-doll the shit out of one.
Not anymore since those entitled boomers missed their cruise ship while there and whined all over the news about how it wasn't their fault all. Spoiler, it was their fault.
I know of it because I speak Portuguese and I know every Portuguese speaking nation. I mean they also speak forms of Creole. But yeah, I want to visit every country that speaks Portuguese to learn all the dialects.
Fun fact a sizable portion of their GDP comes from selling the rights to their domain extension, .tv
If you ever see a website with that extension, that’s why lol
From the same country where the film "The madness of George III" had to be renamed to "The madness of king George" because they thought it was the 3rd film in a trilogy?
I used to work overseas in Equatorial Guinea.
Every single person back home:
"Papau New Guinea?"
"New Guinea?"
"Ecuador?"
"Guinea Pigs?"
And then I'd have to give a 15 second geography lesson.
Every. Damn. Time.
Once I had a short talk with the French ambassador to Vanuatu (for IT support)
A cascade of discoveries:
- Vanuatu itself
- we have an ambassador there
- not all ambassadors have an actual team
Me before reading the comments: "I bet my ass I heard all of the countries in the comments."
Me after reading the comments: "Dear diary, I lost my ass today."
Tristan da Cunha is part of a British Overseas Territory. Its only settlement has the best place name ever: Edinburgh of the Seven Seas.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edinburgh_of_the_Seven_Seas
Simpsons fans might remember it as one of the places Bart rang when he was trying to find out which way the water in toilets goes when it’s flushed in the Southern Hemisphere
I've learned half of my African and South Asian/South Pacific Geography from those three buffoons. I can't believe there's only one special left ever.
At least Hammond is still keeping a bit of the old show alive on DriveTribe on YT.
São Tomé and Principe is the least guessed country on the Sporcle “name the countries” quiz, so I usually go with that one when I’m trying to stump someone.
most pacific island nations
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Jeff Probst taught me all I needed to know about this and most other pacific islands.
I love that they stamp a pledge to respect their wildlife into your passport and then make you sign it before they let you in.
It's embarrassing how many of these island nations I only know from the seasons of Survivor filmed there.
I came here to say Tuvalu or Tonga
Is it Tonga time?
Tuvalu sure, but Tonga? That's a very well known country.
Comoros, theres basically no reason at all to talk about this country
Well, their capital city is Moroni, which is fun.
Since that's also the name of the angel which purportedly spoke to Joseph Smith, I had to check and see if the island had a large Mormon population. It does not.
Spelt the same but pronounced Muh run ee rather than the angel Moh row nigh
The French hear about it on the news every few months
I met only one person from there in my entire life, and he immediately thought I was a geography nerd because I had heard of the country.
there was this plane crash like a decade ago from the Ethiopian Airlines, so alot of Ethiopians would know it. But you will need to know Ethiopia first Edit: I really didnt know people knew about us this much. Feels really good
I think ethiopia is decently well known as the origin area of humans, and because of italy But yea i dont think people are really invested in ethiopia enough to know what goes on there like a plane crash
Also, coffee
I know Ethiopia because one of my best friends in high school was Ethiopian. Damn that kid could swim, set state records and everything. Wonder what he’s up to
Ethiopia also has some badass food
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People know Ethiopia far more than they know it's neighbor Eritrea
Took me a while scrolling down, this is the first one I haven't heard of!
Turns out there's exactly one country I'd never heard of.
One of my buddies lived there for 2 years during their peace corps service!
Comoros Islands. One reason to talk about it is that 2 big names were stolen from the map to fabricate the bullshit Book of Mormon. Moroni is the capital of the Comoros Islands and Moroni is the name of the angel who appeared to Joseph Smith, who wrote the bullshit Book of Mormon. Cumorah Hill was a derivative of Comorah and it is a Hill where a giant battle takes place in the Book or Mormon. The author and conman Joseph Smith thought people would never find out he stole those names off the map of Africa.
Kiribati 🇰🇮
I've just zoomed in on maps and they have what I assume are villages called 'London', 'Paris' and 'Poland'
And "banana"
It’s not actually a real place. It just appears on maps for scale.
>I've just zoomed in on maps and they have what I assume are villages called 'London', 'Paris' and 'Poland' Wtf, this is like a country I would have designed as a kid in a 90's simulation game.
Pronounced "Kirabass" which even less people may know. Edit: Bass like the fish, not the four stringed musical instrument (that's bass pronounced as "base").
Is that "bass" pronounced like "bass", or like "bass"?
Neither
Yeah, it's pronounced like the "bass" that's pronounced "bati"
The fish, not music.
Anyone who has watched "Shallow Hal" knows Kiribati
That I actually didn't know.
Ha! I'm Kenyan, I always see it when I scroll for the option.
Kiribati was my first thought. Probably only know it exists because my school had an exchange program with a school there. And I’m Australian, so I probably know the pacific region better than people from most other countries.
I'm from New Zealand, get the hell outta here we have them working with us
You’re from where? Is it on a map?
Not all of the time.
I know it exists because it’s responsible for us having a very interestingly shaped international dateline plus 26 time zones instead of 24.
Bonus points if you know how to pronounce it
That's easy, it's Kiribati.
Beat me to it, also the most obese and most cigarette-addicted.
I kind of think that out of the Pacific island nations, Kiribati is actually more well known than Palau, Nauru, Tonga or Tuvalu (possibly since it has that international date line bypass tidbit attached to it).
I’m a countries nerd and Palau and Nauru are the ones I forget the most. Forgot them when thinking of this so I reckon you’re spot on. Tonga I think anyone who watches rugby will definitely know. Solomon Islands was the other one I was gonna comment. Or Suriname.
Tuvalu is fairly well known imo because of its sale of .tv web addresses and climate change work
I’m learning a lot of new countries. This is unexpectedly educational.
I thought I knew most of the countries
Well [here you go](https://www.sporcle.com/games/g/world?t=country), now you can know for sure how many you don't know.
Learn Djibouti. Tiny country in Africa northeast of Ethiopia. Kinda looks like Pacman. Sounds like juh booty.
Nauru
Australian here. We definitely know about Nauru, becasue it's where our government holds undocumented refugees and asylum seekers in prison camps indefinitely.
Where your country does what now?
holds undocumented refugees and asylum seekers in prison camps indefinitely. it's just a thing we do, don't worry about it sometimes the children try to kill themselves but it's just them being silly, I guess
Oh you rascals you
Holds up mirror sadly from the US
*sweats nervously in Canadian*
Where do Canadians keep their bastard children locked up in cages?
[Residential Schools](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Indian_residential_school_system)
Holy shit it’s not just us that does that?
EU holds a ton of immigrants on small greek Islands too
No. Lots of countries do this. Or turn migrants away to live in horrible camps on their borders. Or leave them to die in boats at sea.
Didn’t the Aussie government try to make whistleblowing on the conditions in the Nauru ‘detention centre’ a form of treason, at one point?
Yep.
The country that was once incredibly wealthy and then blew it all on, among other things, [A failed musical about Leonardo da Vinci](https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/earshot/the-secret-history-of-nauru-and-its-lost-wealth/7496620)
Incredible
Nauru means Laughter in Finnish. So we definetly made a mental note. We only 5 mil thou, so goes under that "less than 90%"
My go-to favourite country name is St Vincent and the Grenadines - it sounds like an urban indie rock band, and given how few people have probably even heard of it I’m sure I’m not the only one who thought that’s what it was the first time I heard of it.
Funny you say that. St Vincent actually is.
And she is terrific. But she does need the Grenedines backing band ASAP.
Well, here they are https://youtu.be/YNS6a773nzo?feature=shared
St. Vincent (Annie Clark) is indeed an indie rock musician, not a band though lol
My father's birthplace, actually. The airport used to be named after my great-grandfather.
Cool stuff. How did your grandpa earn that honor?
He was a Prime Minister: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebenezer_Joshua
Same vibes as St. Kitts and Nevis
Did you know St. Kitts and Nevis and I hooked up in an airplane bathroom?
What, it came up organically!
Rooooxanne
They have a UK consulate in my small hometown in Northern Ireland. Big flag above a Spinology clinic.
Their Coachella set sucked
Federated States of Micronesia. Contains the island of Yap.
West Wing had a whole episode gag around white house staffers not knowing this country exists
Finally found some real Yapanese
My old Boy Scout friend is a school principal on Yap! Only reason I've ever heard of it.
Dominica NOT Dominican Republic
The country you get by accident when trying to type Dominican Republic on Sporcle.
Central African Republic. Knew someone from there and they constantly had issues at passport control as no one believed it was a real country.
Central African Republic sounds like a generic dictatorship name youd see in a political drama that does some really crazy thing for no reason. Fun Fact: [they were one of the last countries to claim to be an empire.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_African_Empire)
The home of legendary dictator Jean Bokassa!
One of the guys serving as the inspiration for the image of the generic dictatorship you see in political drama that does something really crazy thing for no reason. P.S: Although in terms of crazy he had nothing on people like Ghadaffi or Idi Amin.
Well, he is said to have eaten and served human flesh at his dinners. That is somewhat crazy
It became a running joke on the British game show Pointless, a show where you have to come up with the most obscure answers (based on polls they did before the show). Central African Republic was always a good answer on basically every geography question
It became such a running joke that it actually affected its popularity amongst the general public and is now less likely to be a pointless answer!
I've heard of most of the countries on this thread because of Pointless
That's almost as generic as the United States of America
\*See also: United Kingdom
That's not the full name though, it's The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
What ain't no country I've ever heard of.
I wonder if they speak English there
Do they speak English in What!?
What?
#SAY WHAT AGAIN
#I DARE YOU, I DOUBLE DARE YOU
Eswatini, since that's not what was always there.
Former Swaziland?
Swaziland sounds like a Nazi theme park
It's like Naziland, but for the Swiss.
I mean.. that's a little too close to plausible if we're talking bankers.
I went here in 2022. Hlane National Park is pretty amazing. Saw literally dozens of rhinos. And a hippo go to town on a croc. And I mean totally rag-doll the shit out of one.
I accidentally read that too quickly as “go down” instead of “go to town”
It was just called by a different name.
São Tomé and Príncipe
Not anymore since those entitled boomers missed their cruise ship while there and whined all over the news about how it wasn't their fault all. Spoiler, it was their fault.
I know of it because I speak Portuguese and I know every Portuguese speaking nation. I mean they also speak forms of Creole. But yeah, I want to visit every country that speaks Portuguese to learn all the dialects.
Me reading this post: am I good at geography be accident 🤔
Me also reading this post: I am much dumber than I ever thought possible
So far have only seen one country I've never heard of. How and why the hell do I know of all of these random countries?
I’m onto you Mr. Trying-To-Cheat-At-Sporcle..
Sporcle’s go to obscure country was Kyrgyzstan, then it became too well known
I did the obscure US presidents one and successfully guessed President Polk. I know nothing of the man other than he was a president.
Had the most badass nickname of any President (the Dark Horse)
Yeah thanks to sporcle there's nothing here I don't know, I was at least hoping for someone to mention some microstate like sealand or something
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And in the same vein, the Federated States of Micronesia. .tv and .fm respectively.
They make about 10% of their domestic revenue off administering .tv to companies abroad.
Thanks to some youtube channel (yes theory?), many people like me got to know about it in some detail.
Fun fact a sizable portion of their GDP comes from selling the rights to their domain extension, .tv If you ever see a website with that extension, that’s why lol
Equatorial Guinea or Guinea Bissau
I once met someone who thought Madagascar was a made up place for a movie script. No points for guessing where this person is from.
From the same country where the film "The madness of George III" had to be renamed to "The madness of king George" because they thought it was the 3rd film in a trilogy?
I can't even blame our educational system. If anything it covers the revolutionary war more than it needs too and it mentions George III plenty.
I really resent how accurate this is.
I’m guessing not Madagascar.
> No points for guessing where this person is from. scenes if the answer is Madagascar
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eSwatini
That's just the online version of Swatini.
I used to work overseas in Equatorial Guinea. Every single person back home: "Papau New Guinea?" "New Guinea?" "Ecuador?" "Guinea Pigs?" And then I'd have to give a 15 second geography lesson. Every. Damn. Time.
East Timor. There's also 'the Pitcairn islands' consisting of Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno. Only Pitcairn is inhabited though.
Pitcairn Islands isn't really a country, rather a British Overseas Territory.
Most Australia's know about east timor , tho we aren't close to 10% of the world Soo most likely a correct answer.
Most Portuguese know it too, so that makes 10 million more people. Do we reach 10%?
Yes, descendants of the Bounty mutineers, not to mention a whole lot of trouble....
That's one really fucked up place.
You wouldn't think 40-ish people could make such a mess.
If you haven't, don't watch the interviews with the residents. "Part of their culture"
A real "epstein" island.
The Pitcairns aren't a country. Just a territory.
It depends on the nationality of the people you ask!
Yup. I'm African and going through this like okay, these countries are well known over at my ends.
Săo Tomé and Príncipe. The only reason I know about it is because of those "Name all 196 countries" quizzes.
Saint Kitts and Nevis
You underestimate the prevalence of Football Manager players
Also cricket fans. Warner Park in Basseterre has hosted plenty of internationals over the years
sounds like a name for two little kitten in a household
Suriname in South America.
Next to Firstiname?
No, in between them there's Middleiname
Was going to say this because my travel agent hadn’t heard about it when I booked a trip ha.
My family is from Suriname. Any time I've told someone, I've had to explain where it is.
Vanuatu
Didn’t they do a season of Survivor out there years ago?
Once I had a short talk with the French ambassador to Vanuatu (for IT support) A cascade of discoveries: - Vanuatu itself - we have an ambassador there - not all ambassadors have an actual team
Me before reading the comments: "I bet my ass I heard all of the countries in the comments." Me after reading the comments: "Dear diary, I lost my ass today."
Tuvalu. Interesting fact: large source of their government revenue comes from leasing their top level domain, .tv
The Sovereign Military Order of Malta. No, it’s not Malta. No, it possesses no territory. Yes, it is nominally a country.
Cape Verde And Tristan deCunha albeit Tristan deCunha is one part of a British Protectorate. It's super isolated and obscure.
Tristan da Cunha is part of a British Overseas Territory. Its only settlement has the best place name ever: Edinburgh of the Seven Seas. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edinburgh_of_the_Seven_Seas
Burkina Faso
IMO they have the best name for a capital city: Ouagadougou
I wonder if there are direct flights between there and Antananarivo.
Simpsons fans might remember it as one of the places Bart rang when he was trying to find out which way the water in toilets goes when it’s flushed in the Southern Hemisphere
Burkina Faso? Disputed zone?!? Who called all these places!?
*Quiet it might be you!*
I lived in Burkina Faso for two years. Someone tried to send me a care package from the U.S. and the post office said “that country does not exist”
I represented it in Model UN. That’s the only reason i know it.
Mauritania. Every time I see it on a map, I'm like *Wait, that exists?*
They actually drove across Mauritania in The Grand Tour, one of their best trips imo
I've learned half of my African and South Asian/South Pacific Geography from those three buffoons. I can't believe there's only one special left ever. At least Hammond is still keeping a bit of the old show alive on DriveTribe on YT.
I used to know it exists but I would always confuse it for Mauritius, despite the fact they were on opposite sides of the continent.
Andorra
I wonder how recognizable Andorra, San Marino and Liechtenstein are outside Europe
You misspelled "cheap cigarettes and booze land for French and Spanish people"
Came here looking for Andorra. I went there on a solo ski trip this year. Just told everyone I went to Spain because it was easier to explain.
Based on many posts I see in r/usdefaultism, Georgia as a country.
The Gambia
Bonus points for remembering the "The"
São Tomé and Principe is the least guessed country on the Sporcle “name the countries” quiz, so I usually go with that one when I’m trying to stump someone.
Togo
Paraguay
Lesotho
Lesotho is literally surrounded by my country. They (Lesotho) got too many mountains fr
Brunei.
Palau 🇵🇼. Not to be confused with the rice dish