UPSC CSE World Geography — practice questions
120 free MCQs with worked solutions. Tap any question for the answer + explanation, or practice them all in the app.
Practice UPSC CSE World Geography in the app →Columbus, sponsored by the rulers of Spain, sailed west in which year?The Inca city of Machu Picchu was rediscovered in which year?The Arawakian Lucayos lived on a cluster of islands known today as the:Which fierce tribe had expelled the Arawaks from the Lesser Antilles?Which Arawak weaving speciality captured the imagination of Europeans?The name Brazil is derived from:The Aztecs made artificial islands in Lake Mexico called:The Aztec capital Tenochtitlan was built in which year?Children of the Aztec nobility attended which school?The Mayas devised which form of writing?The first Inca, Manco Capac, set his capital at:At its peak the Inca empire stretched 3,000 miles from Ecuador to:Every Inca subject was required to speak which court language?The Inca accounting system of cords with knots was the:Prince Henry the Navigator's Portugal attacked Ceuta in which year?Columbus's expedition set sail from the port of Palos on:Which ship did Columbus himself command?Columbus sighted the island of Guanahani on:The two American continents were named after which Florentine geographer?Cortes's interpreter, fluent in three local languages, was:Which Inca ruler did Pizarro capture in 1532 and execute despite a roomful of gold?The Spanish silver mines of Potosi lie in which modern country?Canada takes its name from kanata, meaning village in the language of the:Who first sighted the islands of New Zealand in 1642?The earliest inhabitants of North America crossed from Asia over which land-bridge?The oldest artefact found in America, an arrow-point, is how old?Which animal did North American natives chiefly hunt for meat?From which settlers did the natives buy horses in the seventeenth century?Belts of coloured shells exchanged by tribes after a treaty were called:The French founded the colony of Quebec in which year?Which French philosopher admired natives as untouched by the corruptions of civilisation?The USA bought Alaska from which country?Chief Justice Marshall's judgment on the Cherokees was delivered in:Which US President ignored that judgment and had the army evict the Cherokees?The forced march of 15,000 Cherokees, in which over a quarter died, is called the:Canada was organised as a Confederation of autonomous states in:Chief Seattle wrote his famous letter to the US President in which year?Traces of gold in the 1840s started the Gold Rush in which US state?The Indian Reorganisation Act, letting natives in reservations buy land, was passed in:Canada's Constitution Act accepting aboriginal and treaty rights came in:Australia's aborigines arrived over 40,000 years ago from:James Cook reached Botany Bay in which year?The Federation of Australia with six states was formed in:Canberra comes from kamberra, a native word meaning:The radius of the earth is about:Gold mines in South Africa, the deepest mines, reach a depth of about:The deepest drill, at Kola, has reached a depth of:Gravity on the earth's surface is greater near the:The point inside the earth where earthquake energy is released is the:The point on the surface nearest to the focus is the:Which earthquake body waves arrive first at the surface?S-waves can travel only through which kind of material?P-waves vibrate in which direction relative to the wave's travel?Which type of earthquake wave is the most destructive?The shadow zone where neither P nor S-waves are recorded lies between which angles from the epicentre?The S-wave shadow zone covers a little over what share of the earth's surface?The most common earthquakes, caused by rocks sliding along a fault, are called:Earthquakes in the areas of large dams are called:The earthquake magnitude scale, expressed in numbers 0 to 10, is the:The intensity scale of earthquakes is named after which Italian seismologist?The mean thickness of oceanic crust is about:The mantle extends from Moho's discontinuity to a depth of about:The upper mantle layer whose name means weak is the:The core of the earth is mostly made of nickel and iron and is called the:The Hawaiian volcanoes are the most famous examples of which type?The Deccan Traps of Maharashtra are an example of:Continents cover what share of the earth's surface?Who, in 1596, first proposed that the Americas, Europe and Africa were once joined?Wegener named the single supercontinent:Wegener's mega-ocean, meaning all water, was called:Pangaea began to split about how many million years ago?Pangaea first broke into Gondwanaland and which northern mass?Bullard's 1964 computer fit of the Atlantic margins was tried at which depth line?The gold placer deposits of the Ghana coast are believed to come from the:Mesosaurus fossils are found only in South Africa and which other country?Wegener's polar-fleeing force relates to the:Who in the 1930s suggested convection currents operating in the mantle?Rocks of the oceanic crust are nowhere older than:Hess proposed the sea floor spreading hypothesis in which year?Plate Tectonics was put forward in 1967 by McKenzie, Parker and independently by:Plate tectonics divides the lithosphere into how many major plates?The Nazca plate lies between the Pacific plate and:The best-known example of a divergent boundary is the:The place where one plate sinks under another is called a:Which ridge has the slowest plate movement, under 2.5 cm a year?The Tethys Sea separated India from Asia until about:India collided with Asia about how many million years ago?The outpouring of Deccan Trap lava began around:Incoming solar radiation received by the earth is termed:On average the earth receives how many calories per sq cm per minute at the top of the atmosphere?The earth is farthest from the sun, at 152 million km, on which date?The earth's position nearest to the sun is called:At perihelion, how far is the earth from the sun?The red of the rising sun and the blue of the sky result from:Insolation at the surface is about 320 W per sq m in the tropics and about how much at the poles?Maximum insolation is received over which regions?Heating of air in contact with the warm ground, layer by layer, is called:Vertical heating of the atmosphere by rising air currents is called:Heat transfer through horizontal movement of air is called:The hot summer loo of northern India is the outcome of which process?Of 100 units of insolation, roughly how many are reflected back to space before reaching the surface?The reflected share of solar radiation is called the earth's:How many of the 100 units of insolation are absorbed by the earth's surface?A surplus of net radiation exists between which latitudes?The normal lapse rate of temperature with height is:Compared to land, the sea gets heated:Lines on a map joining places with equal temperature are:Which warm currents make the North Atlantic warmer, bending January isotherms north?The highest annual temperature range, over 60 C, in north-eastern Eurasia is due to:The least annual temperature range, about 3 C, is found between 20 S and:The average atmospheric pressure at sea level is:In the lower atmosphere, pressure falls by about 1 mb for every rise of:Lines connecting places having equal pressure are called:The high-pressure belts along 30 N and 30 S are the:The low-pressure belts along 60 N and 60 S are the:The force from the earth's rotation that deflects winds is the:The Coriolis force deflects wind in which direction in the northern hemisphere?The Coriolis force is maximum at the poles and absent at the:Wind blowing parallel to straight isobars, with gradient force balanced by Coriolis force, is the:Wind circulation around a low-pressure centre is called: