Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World

This flexible-use quiz is designed for reading comprehension assessment and activity needs in classroom, home-schooling and other settings. Questions connect to the text’s plot, characters, and themes — and align with the content and chapter organization in the rest of this study guide. Use quizzes as pre-reading hooks, reading checks, discussion starters, entrance/exit “tickets,” small group activities, writing activities, and lessons on finding evidence and support in a text.

Depth of Knowledge Levels: Questions require respondents to demonstrate ability to: 

1. Recall and Understand Content (e.g., who, what, where, when) 
2. Apply and Analyze Ideas (e.g., how and why)

1. Russia has been invaded many times through what geographic corridor?

A) North European Plain

B) The Heartland

C) Sykes-Picot Line

D) Danube Basin

2. The Russian navy has always lacked what geographic advantage? (short answer)

3. Many European countries are highly dependent on Russian exports of:

A) wheat

B) natural gas

C) oil

D) armaments

4. When Ukraine overthrew its government and turned to the West for support, Russia responded by:

A) annexing Ukraine

B) annexing eastern Ukraine

C) invading the capital, Kiev

D) annexing the Crimean Peninsula

5. The political, cultural, and economic center of China is:

A) the Tibetan Plateau

B) Xinjiang Province

C) the North China Plain

D) Hong Kong

6. What country does China claim as one of its provinces? (short answer)

7. China claims which body of water?

A) Pacific Ocean

B) Strait of Malacca

C) Gulf of Thailand

D) South China Sea

8.