Beyond the answers - interesting background to this quiz

A vast strip of land south of the Sahara

Senegal sits in the Sahel, the semi-arid belt that runs across Africa between the Sahara desert to the north and the savannas to the south. The word itself comes from Arabic and means "shore" or "coast", a reference to the desert's edge. Rainfall in the region is highly variable, which has shaped the farming and herding traditions of the countries it passes through, from Senegal and Mali to Niger and Chad.

A decade that reshaped the world economy

The Great Depression began in 1929 and dominated the 1930s, making it the deepest economic downturn of the twentieth century. It started in the United States after a severe stock market crash and spread quickly through global trade and finance. Banks failed, industrial output fell sharply and unemployment reached levels that many countries had never seen before.

An early European chapter of our own species

"Cro-Magnon" is the name given to early modern humans whose fossils were found in a rock shelter in southwestern France. They are classified as European early modern humans, distinct from older species such as Homo habilis. The name comes from the site itself, and the finds helped shape how scientists understood the spread of our species across Europe.

Coffee's long journey from plant to cup

Coffee is one of the most traded agricultural products in the world, and Brazil has been the largest producer for many decades. The plant is native to tropical Africa, but it thrived in Latin America after being introduced there during the colonial era. Vietnam has grown into a major producer as well, largely through robusta beans used in instant coffee and blends.

The lake that holds a piece of ancient history

Lake Tanganyika lies in Central Africa and is shared by several countries, including Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi and Zambia. It is one of the deepest lakes on Earth and one of the oldest, which helps explain its extraordinary number of fish species found nowhere else.