Pacific Nations: Click the Right Name
Fourteen island nations spread across a third of the Earth's surface. Tongan kava, Samoan tattoos, Tuvaluan lagoons. Quiz the Pacific in your browser.
Play nowTongan tattoo masters still use bone combs and natural pigment to mark genealogies that go back fifteen generations. Samoa is the only country with a national greeting that doubles as a philosophy of hospitality. Vanuatu has more languages per capita than any other country on Earth — over a hundred for a population of three hundred thousand. Oceania is the smallest region by population but the most diverse by culture per square kilometre of land. This quiz includes all fourteen sovereign Pacific states, from Australia and New Zealand down to micro-nations like Nauru and Tuvalu, each with fewer than fifteen thousand citizens. The 3D globe highlights one country at a time and you click the correct name from a shuffled shortlist.
The 14 countries — Oceania
Australia
Canberra
Federated States of Micronesia
Palikir
Fiji
Suva
Kiribati
South Tarawa
Marshall Islands
Majuro
Nauru
Yaren
New Zealand
Wellington
Palau
Ngerulmud
Papua New Guinea
Port Moresby
Samoa
Apia
Solomon Islands
Honiara
Tonga
Nuku'alofa
Tuvalu
Funafuti
Vanuatu
Port Vila
Tips to play better
Three cultural groups
Melanesia (Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu) holds the larger islands and darker volcanic soils. Polynesia (Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu) spreads across the central Pacific. Micronesia (Kiribati, Marshall Islands, FSM, Palau, Nauru) covers the small atolls in the north.
Australia and New Zealand are the giants
These two account for almost all of Oceania's population and economy. Once they are off the list, every remaining round will be a small island state, which makes the difficulty curve very steep.
Atolls versus high islands
Tuvalu, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, and Nauru are atolls — flat coral rings sitting just above sea level. Fiji, Samoa, and Vanuatu are high volcanic islands with mountains. Spotting the type on the globe gives you a clue about which group the highlight belongs to.
Federated States of Micronesia
FSM is a single sovereign country made up of four state groups: Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei, Kosrae. People often mistake it for a region rather than one nation. Its capital is Palikir, on Pohnpei.
Frequently asked questions
Are Hawaii and French Polynesia in the quiz?
No. Hawaii is part of the United States, French Polynesia is an overseas collectivity of France, and New Caledonia is also French. The quiz only includes sovereign states, which leaves fourteen Pacific countries.
Why is Papua New Guinea so much larger than the others?
PNG occupies the eastern half of New Guinea, the world's second-largest island. It also has more than seven million people, far more than any other Pacific state. Culturally and linguistically it is one of the most diverse countries on Earth.
Is Tuvalu really a country?
Yes. Tuvalu is a sovereign state of around eleven thousand people across nine atolls. It is a UN member, holds international agreements in its own name, and runs the .tv internet domain that brings in significant national revenue.
What makes the Pacific quiz unusual?
The distances. From Palau to Tonga is over six thousand kilometres, similar to crossing the Atlantic. The 3D globe is the only fair way to render this region — flat maps distort the Pacific by stretching it to either edge of the projection.
Ready to test your knowledge?
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