We are exploring the world in our homeschool co-op with students ages 10-13, using Atlas Obscura. The listings are in order of discovery. After the first session, we developed a working pattern: the kids look at a picture and try to guess where in the world it might be located. Then they are given clues about the country or city that (hopefully) lead them to the answer. (Please note: the clues are from a United States perspective, selected from general fact lists on the Internet and geared toward student interests. We do not mean to offend anyone by the riddles. In fact, if you are from this country or city and can share more interesting facts, we'd love to hear them and incorporate them!)
(The first week, the riddles identified the country and then we explored different places in the country.) LOCATION RIDDLES: 6.) People in this country consume more Kraft Macaroni & Cheese dinners than any other nation in the world.
5.) It has the world’s longest coastline.
4.) It consists of 6 different time zones.
3.) If you were to walk around the country (without sleeping, eating, or resting), it would take roughly four and a half years.
2.) It’s the second largest country in the world, but only 0.5% of the world’s population reside there.
1.) It’s in the Northern Hemisphere.
BONUS: 1.) It’s our neighbor. 2.) It was accidentally named after a Native American world for ‘village.’ Jaques Cartier, a French explorer came to the new world and met with local Natives who invited them to their village, or 'kanata.'
LOCATION RIDDLES: 1.) In 2008, it was the first country to officially recognize the rights of nature. Rather than treating nature as property, this country recognizes that nature has constitutional rights and has the “right to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles.” 2.) It is one of only two countries in South America that does not share a border with Brazil. 3.) It is named after the equator which runs through the country. It is in fact the only country in the world officially named after a geographical feature. The official name translates as “The Republic of the Equator”.
LOCATION RIDDLES: 1.) The residents of this location own one-fourth of the country’s total llama population. 2.) In Stanfield no more than 2 people are allowed to share a drink. 3.) It was attacked during World War II. Starting in 1944, the Japanese military began launching unmanned balloon bombs toward the west coast of the United States in the hopes that some would explode over inhabited areas. Around 350 bombs made it to the United States (some as far east as Iowa), but the U.S. military managed to intercept most of them. The only casualties suffered occurred in Gearhart Mountain, where six people (five of them children) on a picnic accidentally triggered one of the balloons. Their deaths are believed to be the only combat casualties on continental U.S. soil during World War II.
LOCATION RIDDLES: 1.) This country is as wide as the distance between London to Moscow. 2.) It was the second country in the world to allow women to vote. 3.) If you visited one new beach in this country every day, it would take over 27 years to see them all.
LOCATION RIDDLES: 1.) The majority of this country's inhabitants, around 70%, are under the age of 30. 2.) It is the top tourist destination in all of Africa. Each year it receives more than 10 million tourists. 3.) The blue houses of Chaouen are famous for their striking colour. Do you know why they are blue? Jewish refugees painted them this colour because they believed it kept the mosquitoes away. | NOTE: We got a kick out this factoid about blue houses. We have a lot of mosquitoes where we live! We also discovered that there is Argan oil shampoo and conditioner - and some of us use it.
LOCATION RIDDLES: 1.) This country has been through a bunch of different names throughout its history.
The North African inhabitants who first crossed the Straits of Gibraltar called it Iberia, which meant land of rivers (‘Iber’ meant river). When the Greeks invaded the peninsula, they called it Hesperia, meaning “land of the setting sun” (since it was then the westernmost point of the European continent).
When the Carthaginians came to the land around 300 BCE, they called it Ispania, which meant “land of the rabbits”. Later, the Romans took over and Latinized the name to Hispania. Over time, this changed to España. So essentially, Spain is the “land of rabbits”! 2.) There is no tooth fairy here. They have a tooth rat. 3.) 71% of this country’s population identifies itself as Catholic.
LOCATION RIDDLES: 1.) This country stands on a fault line and is plagued by earthquakes because of this; also, it is home to Europe’s only active volcanoes. 2.) Three volcanoes have erupted here in the last one hundred years – Etna, Stromboli, and Vesuvius. 3.) Much of it used to be part of ancient Greece. 4.) It is the fourth most visited country in the world.
LOCATION RIDDLES: 1.) In this country, babies are considered one year old at birth. 2.) Many roofs in this country are curved at the ends giving the appearance of a smile. 3.) More than 2 billion people have viewed the “Gangnam Style” music video of Korean K-pop artist Psy since 2011. It topped the charts in 30 countries around the world. World leaders including U.S. President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron have mimicked the dance. The song refers to the Gangnam District of Seoul. 4.) 2018 Winter Olympics.
LOCATION RIDDLES: 1.) It was called Persia in olden times. 2.) The people from this country don't usually have chairs and tables in their house. They usually sit down on cushions to eat. 3.) Females over the age of nine are required to wear a hijab in public.
LOCATION RIDDLES: 1.) Between the end of the seventh century and 1797, it was its own country. 2.) It is notoriously sinking by up to 2mm every year. 3.) It is not a lone example of a floating city, although it is the most well known. | QUESTIONS: What was happening in Italy when Venice became part of the country?
LOCATION RIDDLES: 1.) In one of this country’s biggest cities, they love cats so much that they are considered a bio-cultural asset of the city. A new law condemns any person killing a cat to a 10,000 euro fine, and up to 3 years in jail. There is an estimated 300,000 cats here, and they are the only inhabitants allowed on the ruins. 2.) Christopher Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci, Marco Polo and Leonardo da Vinci are from here. 3.) This country lies in southern Europe and is shaped like a boot.
LOCATION RIDDLES: 1.) The story of Pinocchio originated in this region (Tuscany). In 1883, a man born here, named Carlo Collodi, had written the book, The Adventures of Pinocchio. A local puppeteer decided to bring the character to life, and a wooden puppet version of Pinocchio was created. Legend has it, he did eventually turn into a real boy! 2.) Nearly a third of the world’s art treasures reside here. 3.) The people who live here are called Fiorentino in Italian or Florentines.
LOCATION RIDDLES: 1.) This country has legal say on what babies can be named – the law bans names that don’t denote a gender or use a family name as a first name. In 2014, the most popular children's names were Sophie/Sofie for a girl and Maximilian for a boy. 2.) Everything is closed on Sundays. Drilling is illegal on Sundays. 3.) The middle finger (flipping the middle finger is illegal). 4.) It is one of the world’s largest car producers.
LOCATION RIDDLES: 1.) There are more chickens than people in this country. 2.) They consume more tea per capita than anybody else in the world (except Ireland) 3.) Police do not carry guns except in emergencies. 4.) The class system is not determined by money, but by one's background (family, education, manners, way of speaking...). Many nouveau-riches, like pop-stars or football players, insist on their still belonging to the lower or middle class.
LOCATION RIDDLES: 1.) Among the many things the city people have left on the Tube are a samurai sword, a stuffed puffer fish, a human skull, and a coffin. 2.) Hum the children’s song: London Bridge may not have fallen down (as the song goes) but it was taken brick by brick to its new owner, Lake Havasu City in Arizona in the late 1960s. Unable to cope with London’s heavy traffic it was sold for just under $3m to the city in 1968. 3.) In the past it has been called Londonium, Ludenwic, and Ludenburg
LOCATION RIDDLES: 1.) Their drinking water is rated 3rd best in the world for being “safe and ready to drink”. 2.) It is the only country in the entire world that has voluntarily abandoned its nuclear weapons program. 3.) The oldest remains of modern humans were found here and are well over 160,000 years old.
LOCATION RIDDLES: 1.) The name means Fragrant Harbor. 2.) Official languages are Chinese and English 3.) This place has more Rolls Royce’s per person than any other city in the world. 4.) It has the most skyscrapers (classified as building with more than 14 floors) in the world; double that of its nearest rival: New York City.
LOCATION RIDDLES: 1.) The current flag was designed by a 17-year-old as a school project in 1958. He got a B-. 2.) They sell enough pizza every day to cover 100 acres. 3.) Three of the world’s five oldest rivers flow here: The New, the Susquehanna, and the French Broad Rivers are each hundreds of millions of years old. 4.) It is still a hanging offense to steal cattle or to put graffiti on someone else’s cow. 5.) It is larger than many nations of the world, including every country in Europe. 6.) It is the largest city in Texas. 7.) It is east of Austin.
LOCATION RIDDLES: 1.) The deadliest job in this country is being president. Of the 45 men who’ve held the post, four have been assassinated in office— a rate of roughly 9 percent (or about one in ten) killed on the job. 2.) According to the World Giving Index, the people from this country are the most likely people in the world to help a stranger. 3.) If this state were a country, it would rank as the world’s 7th largest producer of greenhouse gases. It emits more greenhouse gases than any other state in the United States. 4.) The most popular snack foods in this state are Frito pie (a bag of Fritos mixed with chili, onions, and cheese eaten straight from the bag), peanuts in Dr Pepper, beef jerky, jalapenos, and corn dogs. 5.) Third largest city in Texas. 6.) North of Austin
LOCATION RIDDLES: 1.) We heard about this place at the Museum of Natural and Artificial Ephemera. 2.) The name of this country means ‘land of the pure’ in Persian and Urdu. 3.) It has one of the oldest civilizations in history, Mehrgarh, dating back to 6000 B.C. Mehrgarh is now seen as a precursor to the Indus Valley Civilization. 4.) It is one of the earliest sites with evidence of farming and herding in South Asia. 5.) Malala Yousafzai – defied the Taliban here and demanded that girls be allowed to receive an education. She was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman in 2012, but survived and went on to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
LOCATION RIDDLES: 1.) Shampooing is a concept originating in this country - Shampoo was invented here, not the commercial liquid ones but the method by use of herbs. The word 'shampoo' itself has been derived from the Sanskrit word champu, which means to massage. 2.) It has the largest number of vegetarians in the world. 3.) It is the world's second-largest English speaking country.
LOCATION RIDDLES: 1.) This place has been a favorite destination for more than 12,000 years! An underwater archeological dig in Spring Lake at the Headwaters of the main river here uncovered Indian artifacts dating back over 12,000 years to the Clovis Indians, the oldest known inhabitants of the western hemisphere. This is reportedly the longest continuously inhabited site in North America, according to underwater archeologist Dr. Joel Shiner. 2.) Swimming pig: Aquarena Springs 3.) South of Austin
LOCATION RIDDLES: 1.) State motto is “friendship.” 2.) In Norwegian slang, the name of this state means "crazy." 3.) In 1942, the BBC banned this song (hum it), "Deep in the Heart of Texas," in factories, as the clapping portion of the song was seen as a hazard around heavy machinery.
LOCATION RIDDLES: 1.) We’ve visited this country before. 2.) It was one of the richest countries on earth until the British invasion in the early 17th century. 3.) Chess was invented here. The original word for “chess” is the Sanskrit chaturanga, meaning “four members of an army”—which were mostly likely elephants, horses, chariots and foot soldiers. 4.) It is the 6th largest country in the world, the largest democracy and one of the oldest civilization.
LOCATION RIDDLES: 1.) Since this country has high temperatures for 7 to 8 months of the year, it only follows that many of its best attractions are indoors and air conditioned. Take Ferrari World, the only theme park that exists with their branding. The theme park includes the world’s fastest roller coaster, although the park does not allow kids to ride on it. There is also a place with skiing slopes-- complete with ski lifts—all indoors. 2.) Police in one of this country's major cities have a range of supercars at their disposal. The police do not use these cars for high-speed chases (the crime rates are very low here), but just to patrol heritage sites and tourist-friendly areas. They have 14 in all, including the exotic Bugatti, Ferrari, and Lamborghini. The fastest is the Veyron, which can go up to a staggering 253 mph (407 km/h). 3.) A major city in this country has no address system, no zip codes, no area codes and no postal system. For a package to be sent properly, the sender would have to leave proper directions to the destination of said package. 4.) It has no sewer system, instead they use poop trucks to haul the entire cities’ excrement away.
LOCATION RIDDLES: 1.) This state has the Moravian Book Shop, which stands as the oldest continuously operating bookshop in the world, founded in 1745. 2.) Peeps are manufactured in this state at the Just Born Candy factory. Every December 31st, a giant peep is dropped over the city to ring in the New Year. 3.) It has the largest number of pretzel bakeries in this country. It leads the country in a lot of things. Some include: the number of licensed hunters, pretzel bakeries, sausage production, covered bridges and rural population.
LOCATION RIDDLES: 1.) This place has been a favorite destination for more than 12,000 years! An underwater archeological dig in Spring Lake at the Headwaters of the main river here uncovered Indian artifacts dating back over 12,000 years to the Clovis Indians, the oldest known inhabitants of the western hemisphere. This is reportedly the longest continuously inhabited site in North America, according to underwater archeologist Dr. Joel Shiner. 2.) Swimming pig: Aquarena Springs 3.) South of Austin
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