Can you beat them?
The Middle East Map Quiz
Sixteen places on the map of the Middle East, from Turkey in the north to Yemen in the south. Each answer comes with the capital and one fact worth knowing.
- 16 questions
- About 5 minutes
- Medium
- Every question is a map
About this quiz
The quiz covers fifteen countries of the Middle East, from Egypt to Iran and from Turkey to Yemen, plus the Palestinian territories. Each explanation gives the capital and one fact about the country's place in the region, from the Strait of Hormuz to the US Navy's headquarters in Bahrain.
Most people get the big countries right. The hard part is the Gulf coast and the eastern Mediterranean, where Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Lebanon and Israel are small enough to vanish on a world map.
Read up first
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Oil, Mecca, and one ruling family. How Saudi Arabia became the swing power of the Middle East, and why 2026 is testing everything it built.
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Why is the Strait of Hormuz so hard to reopen?
Five months after Iran closed the strait, the strongest navy on earth still cannot get the oil moving. The reasons are mines, escort math, and insurance.


