Beyond the answers - interesting background to this quiz

An island capital that grew from a pearl economy

Manama sits on the northern tip of Bahrain, a small island nation in the Persian Gulf linked to Saudi Arabia by a causeway. Long before oil, Bahrain's economy revolved around pearling, and Manama was a hub for divers and traders. The city remains the country's financial and cultural centre, and its name means "place of rest" in Arabic.

Pittsburgh: a river city with a smoky past

Pittsburgh lies in western Pennsylvania, where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers meet to form the Ohio. That confluence made it a natural site for steel production, and the industry earned the city a reputation for heavy smoke and grit. Since the steel mills declined, Pittsburgh has reinvented itself around universities, medicine and technology, though its bridges and hills still hint at the industrial era.

One river, many countries

The Mekong begins on the Tibetan Plateau and runs through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam before emptying into the South China Sea. It supports one of the world's largest inland fisheries and provides water and transport for tens of millions of people. Dams and changing flows along its course are a recurring source of tension between the countries it touches.

A mountain range where continents meet

The Caucasus Mountains stretch between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, largely within Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, with the range's highest peaks in southern Russia. The region is often treated as the boundary between Europe and Asia, which is why it appears in so many geography debates. Georgia's Mount Shkhara and Mount Elbrus, further north, are among the tallest points in the range.

Churros, chocolate and a Spanish morning ritual

Churros are fried dough pastries, piped into long ridges and dusted with sugar, and in Spain they are often eaten for breakfast or as a late-night snack. The classic pairing is a thick, dark hot chocolate for dipping, served in cafes called churrerias. The treat has spread widely, but the Spanish version is usually simpler and less sweet than the versions found abroad.