Geography Quiz Arcade

Landmark Quizzes

Wonders, monuments, and famous places.

Famous landmarks and the wonders of the world — identify the monument, name the country it stands in.

Why landmarks are worth a quiz

Landmarks are an unusually efficient route into geography because they carry emotional weight. A country you have no feeling for becomes memorable once it is attached to a building you recognise, and that association tends to survive when a bare name does not.

They are also disproportionately common in general-knowledge quizzes and pub rounds, because a picture makes a better question than a word.

The games here

  • Famous Landmarks Quiz — identify the landmark, name the country.
  • Wonders of the World Quiz — the classical and modern lists.

The classical and modern lists

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World were all around the Mediterranean and the Middle East. Only one still stands — the Great Pyramid of Giza. The others are known from written descriptions, and one, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, may never have existed at all in the form described.

The New Seven Wonders, chosen by public vote in 2007, spread much wider: the Great Wall of China, Petra in Jordan, Christ the Redeemer in Brazil, Machu Picchu in Peru, Chichén Itzá in Mexico, the Colosseum in Rome and the Taj Mahal in India. Giza was given honorary status rather than competing.

That list is what most modern quizzes mean by "the wonders", so it is the one worth learning.

The landmarks people misplace

  • Machu Picchu — Peru, not Mexico or Bolivia.
  • ChichĂ©n Itzá — Mexico, not Peru. These two are swapped constantly because both are pre-Columbian stone sites in Latin America.
  • Petra — Jordan, not Egypt.
  • Angkor Wat — Cambodia, not Thailand or Vietnam.
  • Christ the Redeemer — Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
  • The Moai statues — Easter Island, which is part of Chile.
  • Stonehenge — England.
  • The Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia — both Istanbul, Turkey, and often confused with each other.

The Machu Picchu / Chichén Itzá swap is the single most common error in landmark quizzes.

Using landmarks as memory hooks

The practical value is the reverse direction. If you cannot remember where Jordan is, remember Petra and where Petra is. If Cambodia is a blank, Angkor Wat is not.

Landmarks give you a vivid, concrete anchor for countries that otherwise exist only as names, which is exactly what makes an unfamiliar country stick.

Where to go next

Click the Country on the Map lets you place the countries these landmarks belong to, which turns a recognised picture into actual geographic knowledge.

Frequently asked questions

What are the New Seven Wonders of the World?

The Great Wall of China, Petra in Jordan, Christ the Redeemer in Brazil, Machu Picchu in Peru, Chichén Itzá in Mexico, the Colosseum in Rome and the Taj Mahal in India. They were chosen by public vote in 2007, with the Great Pyramid of Giza given honorary status.

Which ancient wonder still exists?

Only the Great Pyramid of Giza. The other six are known from written descriptions, and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon may never have existed in the form those accounts describe.

Where is Machu Picchu?

Peru, in the Andes. It is frequently confused with Chichén Itzá, which is in Mexico — both are pre-Columbian stone sites in Latin America, and swapping them is the most common error in landmark quizzes.

Where are the Moai statues?

Easter Island, known locally as Rapa Nui, which is a territory of Chile in the Pacific Ocean. Its extreme remoteness is part of why the statues are so often misattributed.

Games in this category