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Answers for 20 September 2026

Atlas Daily #19, Sunday 20 September 2026: five places, each with clues from hardest to easiest. Try to name each place before you open the answers.

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The clues

Round 1

  1. The largest island in its sea, lying less than 150 kilometres from a superpower's coast.
  2. A 1959 revolution installed a single-party government that still rules.
  3. In 1962 the world came close to nuclear war over missiles based here.
  4. It is known for cigars rolled from tobacco grown in its western valleys.
Hint: which continent?

North America

Round 2

  1. Its borders have barely changed since 1249, making it one of the oldest nation-states in Europe.
  2. Its navigators rounded Africa's southern tip and reached India by sea in 1498.
  3. A 1755 earthquake destroyed its capital and shook Enlightenment thinking about providence.
  4. It produces about half of the world's cork.
Hint: which continent?

Europe

Round 3

  1. A cluster of volcanic islands 1,000 kilometres off its coast inspired a famous theory of evolution.
  2. Its capital is the second-highest in the world, at about 2,850 metres.
  3. The point farthest from Earth's centre is the summit of its volcano Chimborazo.
  4. It has used the United States dollar as its currency since 2000.
Hint: which continent?

South America

Round 4

  1. A medieval city whose reservoirs and canals may have supported close to a million people before it was abandoned.
  2. Its central temple, facing west, was built by a king in the early 12th century as a Hindu shrine.
  3. The complex appears on the flag of the country that contains it.
  4. The French naturalist Henri Mouhot's 1860 account drew European attention to the ruins.
Hint: which continent?

Asia

Round 5

  1. A teardrop-shaped island whose highlands produce a tea that carries its former colonial name.
  2. A 26-year civil war between the government and Tamil separatists ended in 2009.
  3. It elected the world's first female prime minister in 1960.
  4. Its ancient capitals include Anuradhapura, with a fig tree said to be over 2,200 years old.
Hint: which continent?

Asia

Answers

Round 1 answer

Cuba · North America

Clue 5: The location is Cuba.

Key West is about 145 kilometres from the northern coast. Fidel Castro's revolution took Havana on 1 January 1959, and the American embargo has been in force since 1960. The Vuelta Abajo region of Pinar del Río grows the tobacco for the island's most famous cigars.

Round 2 answer

Portugal · Europe

Clue 5: The location is Portugal.

The Algarve was taken from Moorish rule in 1249 and the frontier with Castile settled in 1297. Vasco da Gama's voyage of 1497 to 1498 opened the sea route to India and a century of Portuguese trading forts. The cork oak forests of the Alentejo still supply half of the world's cork.

Round 3 answer

Ecuador · South America

Clue 5: The location is Ecuador.

Darwin spent five weeks in the Galápagos in 1835. Because Earth bulges at the equator, Chimborazo's summit is about 2 kilometres farther from the centre than Everest's. The country dollarised in 2000 after a banking collapse and runaway inflation.

Round 4 answer

Angkor, Cambodia · Asia

Clue 5: The location is Angkor, Cambodia.

The Khmer capital sprawled over some 1,000 square kilometres, with barays and canals feeding rice fields, and lidar surveys keep finding more. Suryavarman II built the main temple around 1113 to 1150, facing west toward Vishnu's realm. It is one of very few buildings to appear on a national flag.

Round 5 answer

Sri Lanka · Asia

Clue 5: The location is Sri Lanka.

Ceylon tea took its name from the island's colonial-era name, which was dropped in 1972. Sirimavo Bandaranaike became prime minister in 1960. The Sri Maha Bodhi in Anuradhapura is said to have grown from a cutting of the tree under which the Buddha reached enlightenment.

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