Beyond the answers - interesting background to this quiz

The pyramids are older than you think

Egypt's pyramids were built as royal tombs, and the most famous of them stand at Giza, on the edge of modern Cairo. The Great Pyramid was constructed for the pharaoh Khufu, and it remained the tallest structure built by humans for thousands of years. What surprises many people is how far back this happened: the Giza pyramids were already ancient monuments when Cleopatra ruled Egypt.

A race to patent the telephone

Alexander Graham Bell is credited with inventing the telephone in 1876, but he was not working in a vacuum. Several inventors were exploring ways to transmit speech electrically at the same time, and Bell's patent filing famously collided with a rival claim from Elisha Gray on the very same day. Bell's background in teaching deaf students and his interest in sound gave him a useful head start.

The Amazon crosses more than one country

The Amazon River begins in the Andes and empties into the Atlantic, and its basin spreads across several South American nations. Colombia is one of them: the river forms part of the country's southern border region. Brazil and Peru are the other two countries most closely associated with the Amazon, which carries more water than any other river on Earth.

Two small capitals with long histories

Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, and Valletta, the capital of Malta, are both small by capital-city standards but rich in history. Vilnius grew around a castle and became a major centre of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, with an old town full of churches and courtyards. Valletta was built by the Knights of St John and is so densely packed with monuments that the whole city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Alps belong to many countries

The Alps stretch across eight countries, and Italy is one of them, with the range forming much of its northern border. Italy's Alpine regions include famous peaks and valleys, and the mountains have shaped travel, farming and even languages in the area. Greece and Norway have their own dramatic mountains, but neither shares the Alps.