2009 Geography Monstrosity

Packet by Mike Bentley, Aaron Cohen, Matt Greenbacker and Steven Wellstead

Edited by George Stevens

1. Forests in this region include the reed beech forest in its Hainich National Park as well as another, which contains the Rennsteig Path and cities like Friedrichroda and Oberhof, home to a large bobsled track. A landgrave of this region, Henry Raspe, was elected the German anti-king by Innocent IV in 1246, while earlier it was controlled by Louis the Bearded and the Ludowing family. A popular domestic tourist site in this state contains museums devoted to Frtiz Reuter and J. S. Bach, as well as ► Wartburg Castle, where Martin Luther famously translated his Bible. Besides Eisenach, other cities in this state include Meiningen, Gera and Jena. One of its cities was site to a constitution drafted by Hugo Preuss and signed by Friedrich Ebert in 1919. With capital at Erfurt and surrounded by the states Bavaria, Lower Saxony and Hessen, for 10 points, name this state of central Germany home to the city of Weimar.

ANSWER: Free State of Thuringia

2. One colonial power forced the surrender of the Kingdom of Gowa on this island through the Treaty of Bongaya, and after World War Two, Captain “Turk” Westerling waged a bloody campaign here. The area around lakes Tempe and Sidenreng in the Walennae Depression serves as the center of this island’s Bugis people, and it is also home to the Toraja ethnic group. 2000 saw the creation of the Gorontalo province from this area’s namesake North province, which holds dominion over the Talaud and Sangihe islands located northeast of this place. Its deepest lake, Lake Matano, can be found in its South province, which is also the location of its two highest peaks: Mounts Rantekombola and Rantemario. Its longest river, the Lairiang, flows through the Bada Valley on the way to the strait that borders its west side and is named after its largest city, ► Makassar. Gulfs that border this island include Bone, Tolo, and Tomini, while seas that border this island include the Banda, Flores, Molucca, and a namesake sea to the north that separates it from the Philippines. For 10 points, name this island, the fourth largest in Indonesia, also known as Celebes.

ANSWER: Sulawesi [accept Celebes before read; prompt on “Indonesia” before “area”]

3. Drunken Point is a promontory found at the southern end of this body of water, on whose shores one can find the cities of Camp Morton and Victoria Beach. Also bordering a town nicknamed “The Capital of New Iceland,” Gimli, this body of water’s extensions include the Kinwow, Washaw, and Sturgeon Bays, the latter of which is connected to Lake St. Martin by the Dauphin River. Other tributaries include the Bloodvein and Poplar rivers, as well as a namesake river that flows north into this body of water from the Norman Dam located at Kenora. Found in the northeast part of what was formerly the prehistoric ► Lake Agassiz, it is drained by the Nelson River and fed by the Red River of the North, which flows through a namesake capital city found less than 40 miles south of this lake. For 10 points, identify this Canadian lake sharing its name with the capital of Manitoba.

ANSWER: Lake Winnipeg

4. A foreign controlled part of this region is overseen by "The Fiscal Officer", while it also contains the relatively unique village of Pyla. In the wake of the so-called “Earthquake Diplomacy”, the Annan Plan was created in an attempt to eliminate this feature. The isolation of the resort town of Pyrgos is a result of this feature, as is the exclave of Kokkina, and both reside on Morphou Bay. This region was formed as a result of Operation Attila, which was prompted by The Colonels getting dissatisfied with the lack of success of Archbishop Makarios III's policy of Enosis. Partially intersecting the British-controlled Sovereign Base Area of ► Dhekelia, it has recently been possible to cross this region via an opening on Ledra Street in Nikosia. For 10 points, name this region that separates the Greek and Turkish Cypriots, sometimes named for a color shared by a country with capital at Nuuk.

ANSWER: Green Line [or Dead Zone; or Cyprus Buffer Zone; accept Attila Line before mentioned; also accept reasonable equivalents of United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus before the "Cypriots"] 5. This region’s namesake national park includes the Naukluft Mountains and it is the only place in the world home to Welwitschia mirabilis. The northern extent of this desert is a town formerly known as Mocamedes, and it includes parts of the Hardap, Khomas and Erongo regions. In this desert, with the exception of the Cunene and one other, every waterway south of its Kuiseb River terminates in a vlei or salt pan before reaching the ocean. This desert is actually fairly cool due to the Benguela Current, and the shore to its west is sometimes referred to as the Skeleton Coast. Its Sperrgebiet is a prohibited region due to the possibility of the existence of diamonds there, and this desert is home to the world’s tallest sand dunes. The northern third of this desert is known as the Kaokoveld, and cities in it include Oranjemund, Swakopmund and ► Walvis Bay. Including parts of southern Angola, for 10 points, name this desert of southern Africa, which takes its name from a nation with capital at Windhoek.

ANSWER: Namib Desert

6. A 150 mile race created by Paul Every and nicknamed C2K sees its finish line at this location, which can be found in a namesake national park also containing the Talbingo and Tantangara Reservoirs. The journey to this place will take one by Seaman’s Hut and Rawson’s Pass, the latter of which is accessible from both Thredbo and Charlotte’s Pass. This peak’s name was transposed onto that of another when it was found out that nearby Mount Townsend was actually higher, and in 1997, a letter was officially added to its name so that it would coincide with the spelling of its namesake, whose name adorns this summit because Paul Edmund ► Strzelecki thought it resembled a namesake mound found in Krakow, Poland. Found in the Snowy Mountains of the Great Dividing Range, this is, for 10 points, what highest peak of Australia?

ANSWER: Mount Kosciuszko

7. Reservoirs found within this state include the Alcova, Pathfinder, and Fontenelle, and it also contains the headwaters of the Belle Fourche River, which exits the northeast part of this state through its Crook County. Home to Curt Gowdy State Park and Medicine Bow National Forest, this state’s capital is located next to the F.E. Warren Air Force Base at the junction of Interstates 25 and 80, the latter of which takes travelers by the cities of Green River and Rock Springs. The Bridger Wilderness Area is home to its highest point, ► Gannett Peak, and this state also features the first declared U.S. National Monument. The source of the Snake River and location of Jackson Hole, this is, for 10 points, what western U.S. state, home to Devils Tower, the Grand Tetons, and Old Faithful?

ANSWER: State of Wyoming

8. A 2001 paper by Ilmar and Jonne Kotta discusses the “vertical migrations of mysids” in this body of water, whose name was lent to a mid-90s project that involved a phase studying the “structure of phytobenthic and associated animal communities” in this body of water. The German minesweeping torpedo-boats T-52, T-58, and T-46 were destroyed in a World War I operation with the intent to enter this body of water, which is fed by the Salaca, Gauja and Lielupe rivers. Bordering the Sorve Peninsula, this body of water contains the islands of Kihnu and Ruhnu, and is connected to its larger neighbor via the Muhu Sound and Irbe Strait. Found southeast of the island of ► Saaremaa, on its shores one can find the cities of Kuressaare, Parnu, and Jurmala, while its namesake city lies on the Western Dvina or Daugava River. For 10 points, identify this arm of the Baltic Sea which takes its name from the capital of Latvia.

ANSWER: Gulf of Riga [or Rigaischer Meerbusen; or Rigas juras licis; or Liivi laht]

9. This area is home to the Zin River, which is found a short distance from the Ein Avdat, as well as Makhtesh Ramon, one of many large erosion craters unique to this region. Its eastern border contains the Arava Valley and it is home to the cities of Dimona and Arad, both of which were founded following the forced relocation of its native inhabitants to the Siyag. This region’s cities of Nitzana, Shivta and Mamshit were founded by the Nabataeans, who ruled from nearby Petra, and its city of Rahat is home to a large Bedouin population. Described as a “desolation that not even imagination can grace with the pomp of life and action” by Mark Twain in The Innocents Abroad, this region contains the town of Eilat, which gives this region access to the Gulf of Aqaba. For 15 points, identify this region home to the town of Beersheba, a desert region of southern Israel. ANSWER: Negev Desert

10. In November 2006, Basil Watson unleashed his sculpture Balanced at the Doctor’s Cave Beach resort in this country, the center of which can be found in the Bullhead Mountains. The Troy-Windsor and Quickstep Trails, as well as the Barbecue Bottom Road, take travelers through its largely uninhabited Cockpit Country, most of which is found in Cornwall County. This island was the site of Tacky’s War in the 18th century, and later, Samuel Sharpe led a slave rebellion here known as the Baptist War. The eastern part of this country is dominated by the Jim Crow Mountains, as well as another range containing its highest point, the ► Blue Mountain Peak. Containing the cities of May Pen, Ochos Rios, and Spanish Town, this nation is bordered to the east by a namesake channel separating it from Hispaniola. For 10 points, identify this Caribbean island nation, the site of Montego Bay and Kingston.

ANSWER: Jamaica

11. A 1988 fire destroyed much of this city’s Chiado district, whose neighboring district contains the world’s first open air museum dedicated solely to street art, the Museu Efemero. Home to the Monsanto Forest, this city is the site of the Hieronymites Monastery, a prime example of the Manueline style, and its districts include Alfama, Bairro Alto and Belem. Afonso the Conqueror recaptured this city from the Moors in 1147, as part of the Second Crusade, and many of its buildings are in a style named after the Marquis de Pombal, who led the government response to the ► 1755 earthquake which devastated the city. For 10 points, name this city at the mouth of the Tagus River, the capital of Portugal.

ANSWER: Libson [or Lisboa]

12. A coconut palm tree and two criss-crossing national flags are three of several objects that comprise the national emblem of this country, whose twenty-one administrative divisions include Noonu, Laamu, and Alif Alif, the latter of which contains Thoddoo, the site of Buddhist ruins discovered here in 1958. Operation Cactus, a successful attempt to stop PLOTE, took place in this nation, and its largest island is Gan. The Eight Degree Channel, also known as the Minicoy Channel, separates this country from the Lakshadweep Islands, and the House of Theemuge was established here by Koimala after he ousted the ► Cholas. The current president of this nation, Mohamed Nasheed, has called for his people to fight against Global Warming out of fear that otherwise his nation might be completely submerged in the next 50 years or so, and this nation’s official language is Dhivehi. Lying in the Laccadive Sea, for 10 points, name this island nation southwest of India with capital at Male.

ANSWER: Republic of Maldives [or Dhivehi Raajjeyge Jumhooriyyaa; accept Maldive Islands]

13. The destination of 1975’s Green March, following the deployment of MINURSO here, the Houston Agreement and Baker Plan both attempted to settle the dispute over it, and a 2000-mile long structure known as The Berm has been built in this entity to limit attacks from neighboring countries. Until 1958, this territory’s northern region, known as Saguia el-Hamra and containing the rich phosphate deposits at the Bu Craa mines, was politically separate from the southerly Rio de Oro region, located between Cape Blanco and Cape Bojador. In the 1970s, during a guerilla campaign against the two occupying nations, this territory was named the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic by the nationalist ► Polisario Front, and was subsequently recognized by the Organization of African Unity in 1982. As a result of the ongoing civil war, Mauritania withdrew its claims to this region in 1979, and Morocco has occupied it ever since. With its colonial capital at Laayoune, for 10 points, identify this territory in northwestern Africa named for its location relative to a large desert.

ANSWER: Western Sahara [accept Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic before mentioned; or As-Sahra’al- Garbiyyah]

14. Remains of a Therapod discovered on one island named for this man were given the nickname "Naze" because of their discovery on the peninsula of that name. One land feature named for him expands from the Edward VII Peninsula to an anchor on one of his namesake islands, which itself is located in Graham Land and is separated from the mainland by the Prince Gustav Channel. A dependency named for this individual contains Williams Field and the Italian facility of Zucchelli Station, although it is owned by New Zealand. A ► sea named for this individual is bounded by Cape Colbeck, Cape Adare and Victoria Land, and is an extension of the southern Pacific Ocean. Discovering many of his namesake features leading an expedition on the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, he also names an island in McMurdo Sound. For 10 points, name this British explorer who gives his name to the largest ice shelf in Antarctica.

ANSWER: Sir James Clark Ross

15. This country’s oldest National Park, Henri Pittier, is found within its state of Aragua, which forms the eastern shoreline of this country’s third largest lake, Valencia. This nation’s Dunes of Coro is its only desert, and the Cariaco Basin is located off its coast. Part of the border with its western neighbor is formed by the Arauca River, which meets with this country’s chief river in the state of Apure. This nation was the home of revolutionary Francisco de Miranda, and the Battle of Carabobo led to its independence. Home to the Cordillera de la Costa and Cordillera de Merida ranges, the latter of which contains this country’s highest point, ► Pico Bolivar, this nation borders the Gulf of Paria and contains a majority of the Guyana Highlands. For 10 points, identify this South American nation home to Angel Falls and Caracas.

ANSWER: Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela [or República Bolivariana de Venezuela]

16. The Mangyshlak one of these is located in Kazakhstan, while another one of these is home to the Tres Virgenes volcanoes and the reptile-filled San Lucan Xeric Scrub. In Turkey, the ancient region of Triopian Promontory makes up part of one of these now known as either the Resadiye or Datca. In the United States, the Rain Forests Quinault and Hoh can be found on one of these land forms in Washington State, while a notable one of these in Great Britain is located in Cornwall and known as The Lizard. The cities of Avalon and Wildwood are found on the ► Cape May one, while north of Hong Kong lies the Kowloon one of these. For 10 points, name this landform exemplified by Florida, the Yucatan and Iberia.

ANSWER: Peninsula

17. Medieval kingdoms here included Gallura, Torres and Arborea, the latter of which was defeated at the 1409 Battle of Sanluri by Martin I. Among the mountainous terrain of this island, dominant architectural structures include the distinctive nuraghe, round prehistoric towers that provided fortification, including an extensive nuraghic village located near Dorgali. This island’s highest peak is Mount La Marmora, located in the Gennargentu Massif, and the principal rivers on this island include the Tirso and Flumendosa. Scrub grasslands called maquis or macchia cover much of this island’s countryside, which is dotted with cities including Nuoro, Orisanto and Sassari. The Campidano plain is the main agricultural region, and is where the capital of ► Cagliari is located. For 10 points, name this large Mediterranean island separated by the Strait of Bonifacio from Corsica and by the Tyrrhenian Sea from mainland Italy.

ANSWER: Sardinia [or Sardegna]

18. A dispute over the ownership of a tract of land in this city was the basis for the 1899 Supreme Court Case Malony v. Adsit, which was presided over by this city’s first mayor, Arthur Delaney. Cope Park, Wickersham State Historical Site, and Perseverance Theater are sites found within this city, whose namesake and co- founder is buried within its Evergreen Cemetery. The historic site of Fort Durham is located near the mouth of the Taku River, which empties into Stephens Passage at the southern end of this city. Formerly known as Rockwell and Harrisburg, it is located at the mouth of the Mendenhall River and its downtown area can be viewed from the top of Mount Roberts. Separated from Douglas Island by the ► Gastineau Channel, this city became a capital in 1906 after being moved here from Sitka. For 10 points, identify this northernmost state capital of the United States.

ANSWER: City and Borough of Juneau

19. The Zig Zag and the Jenolan Caves are popular attractions in a mountain range of this name, and this color is sometimes used to describe a city home to Umaid Bhawan Palace, India’s Jodhpur. Another city named for this color is being built off the coast of Muscat in Oman. A parkway with this color in its name passes through a namesake mountain chain, begins in Waynesboro and connects the Shenandoah and Great Smoky National Parks. A river with this color in its name flows past the Choke Mountains, gets water from the Rahad and Dinder rivers, and flows from Lake Tana in Ethiopia before ► joining with another colored river in Khartoum. For 10 points, name this color which also is present in a section of the Appalachians stretching from Pennsylvania to Georgia, and a river which joins with the White Nile.

ANSWER: Blue

20. Among the several ecological preserves in this entity are the volcanic region of El Pinacate y Gran Desierto de Altar Biosphere Reserve, as well as the Bay and Islands of San Jorge, an important bird and marine habitat. Located in the Yaqui River valley, one in the southern portion of this polity bears the name of its nation’s first post-revolutionary president, Ciudad Obregon. Other notable population centers in this state include Heroica Nogales, located on a major international border, and Guaymas, a port and fishing resort on the ► Gulf of California. With its capital at Hermosillo, this state shares borders with Sinaloa, Baja California and Chihuahua. Also bordering New Mexico and Arizona, for 10 points, name this large state in northwestern Mexico, the namesake of a desert.

ANSWER: State of Sonora

TB. The rail lines in this city divide into roughly three sections known as “Inner Way”, “Outer Way” and “South Mound” and its name comes from a word meaning “place for drying fishing nets”. One district in this city contains Hongbo Square as well as the Ji Le Temple and this city’s is noted for its namesake Institute of Technology, opened in 1920, that was once known as the “Cradle for Engineers”. This city’s Daoli District contains its central Zhong Yang Street and this city is famous for its International Ice and Snow Scultpure Festival that resumed in 1985 following the Cultural Revolution. Lying on the Songhua River, for 15 points, identify this capital of the Heilongjiang Province, known as the “Oriental Moscow”, a city in Northeastern China.

ANSWER: Harbin