Geography and Nature

Geography And Nature

174 practice questions, each with the answer and an explanation.

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Random questions from this topic, one at a time. You see the answer and the explanation straight after each one.

All 174 questions

  1. Complete the sentence about Johannesburg with the correct year: The main Witwatersrand gold reef was discovered in June ______ on the farm Vogelstruisfontein by Jan Gerritse Bantjes, son of Jan Bantje…
  2. Complete the sentence about Cape Town with the correct year: In ______, Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama recorded a sighting of the Cape of Good Hope.
  3. Complete the sentence about Durban with the correct year: During Christmas ______, Vasco da Gama saw the coast and named it Natal, the Portuguese word for Christmas.
  4. Complete the sentence about Durban with the correct year: From ______ onwards, indentured labourers from British India arrived in Durban, as well as later passenger Indians.
  5. Complete the sentence about Durban with the correct year: Durban was one of the host cities of the ______ FIFA World Cup, for which the Moses Mabhida Stadium was built, and is UNESCO's first City of L…
  6. Complete the sentence about Pretoria with the correct year: The elder Pretorius had become a national hero of the Voortrekkers after his victory over Dingane and the Zulus in the Battle of Blood River…
  7. Complete the sentence about Pretoria with the correct year: The peace treaty that ended the war was signed in Pretoria on 3 August ______ at the Pretoria Convention.
  8. Complete the sentence about Port Elizabeth with the correct year: Gqeberha was founded in ______ as Port Elizabeth by Sir Rufane Donkin, who was the governor of the Cape at the time.
  9. Complete the sentence about Gqeberha with the correct year: The city's name change was officially gazetted on 23 February ______.
  10. Complete the sentence about Bloemfontein with the correct year: Bloemfontein was the original farm of Johannes Nicolaas Brits, born on 21 February ______, owner and first inhabitant of Bloemfontein.
  11. Complete the sentence about Bloemfontein with the correct year: In ______, it became the Judicial capital of the Union of South Africa.
  12. Complete the sentence about Bloemfontein with the correct year: A railway line was built in ______ connecting Bloemfontein to Cape Town.
  13. Complete the sentence about East London, Eastern Cape with the correct year: A British fort, Fort Glamorgan, was built on the West Bank in ______, and annexed to the Cape Colony that same year.
  14. Complete the sentence about Pietermaritzburg with the correct year: Britain took over Pietermaritzburg in ______ and it became the seat of the Natal Colony's administration with the first lieutenant-g…
  15. Complete the sentence about Pietermaritzburg with the correct year: In ______, Natal received responsibility for its own government, and an assembly building was built along with the city hall.
  16. Complete the sentence about Pietermaritzburg with the correct year: On 1 June ______, while the young Mahatma Gandhi was on his way to Pretoria, a white man objected to Gandhi's presence in a first-cl…
  17. Complete the sentence about Kimberley, Northern Cape with the correct year: The first stock exchange in Africa was built in Kimberley as early as ______.
  18. Complete the sentence about Kimberley, Northern Cape with the correct year: Consequently, the territory known as Griqualand West was proclaimed on 27 October ______.
  19. Complete the sentence about Kimberley, Northern Cape with the correct year: Colonial commissioners arrived in New Rush on 17 November ______ to exercise authority over the territory on behalf of the C…
  20. Complete the sentence about Polokwane with the correct year: The commencement of apartheid in ______ meant that Pietersburg was clearly segregated in both residential regions and for business ventures…
  21. Complete the sentence about Polokwane with the correct year: Despite its position on the Tropic of Capricorn, the climate is tempered by its position on a plateau ______ m above sea level.
  22. Complete the sentence with the correct year: Mbombela was one of the host cities of the ______ FIFA World Cup.
  23. Complete the sentence about Nelspruit with the correct year: In October ______, the South African government renamed the city "Mbombela", the name of the local municipality.
  24. Complete the sentence about Rustenburg with the correct year: On 10 February ______, the Reformed Churches in South Africa was founded under a Syringa tree, now commemorated with a memorial.
  25. Complete the sentence about Rustenburg with the correct year: Rustenburg was the home of Paul Kruger, president of the South African Republic, who bought a 5 square kilometer farm to the north-west of…
  26. Complete the sentence about Rustenburg with the correct year: Platinum mining in Rustenburg began in ______, shortly after the discovery of the Platinum Reef by Hans Merensky, later named the Merensky…
  27. Complete the sentence about Soweto with the correct year: Formerly a separate municipality, it was incorporated in the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in ______.
  28. Complete the sentence about Soweto with the correct year: George Harrison and George Walker are today credited as the men who discovered an outcrop of the Main Reef of gold on the farm Langlaagte in F…
  29. Complete the sentence about Soweto with the correct year: William Carr, chair of non-European affairs, initiated the naming of Soweto in ______.
  30. Complete the sentence about Soweto with the correct year: Soweto became the largest Black city in South Africa, but until ______, its population could have status only as temporary residents, serving…
  31. Complete the sentence about Stellenbosch with the correct year: In ______, a fire destroyed most of the town, including the first church, all the Company property and twelve houses.
  32. Complete the sentence about Paarl with the correct year: In ______, Governor Simon van der Stel gave the title to the first colonial farms in the area to "free burghers".
  33. Complete the sentence with the correct year: Chief Dikkop, who died in ______, was the last recorded Chief of the Houtunqua.
  34. Complete the sentence about George, South Africa with the correct year: In ______ Dutch East India Company officials established an outpost for the provision of timber; its location is thought to be n…
  35. Complete the sentence about George, South Africa with the correct year: Following the British occupation of the Cape Colony in ______, a caretaker of the forests in the area was appointed.
  36. Complete the sentence about George, South Africa with the correct year: After the British occupied the colony for a second time in ______, it was decided that the Swellendam magistracy was too large a…
  37. Complete the sentence about Knysna with the correct year: Stephanus Terblans, the first European farmer to settle in the area, was given a loan permit to farm here in ______.
  38. Complete the sentence about Knysna with the correct year: In April ______, the transport brig Emu, belonging to the Cape Town Dockyard, was the first European vessel to enter the Knysna Heads.
  39. Complete the sentence about Upington with the correct year: On 13 November ______, a black policeman was killed following a disturbance at a political meeting in Paballelo, a black township on the out…
  40. Complete the sentence about Upington with the correct year: The line to Kakamas was still in use during the November ______ grape harvest season.
  41. Complete the sentence about Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal with the correct year: After three British attempts to relieve the defenders and one Boer attempt to take the town all failed, the siege was eventu…
  42. Complete the sentence about Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal with the correct year: The republic was annexed by the British in the same year and on 20 June ______ was proclaimed a township called Windsor.
  43. Complete the sentence with the correct year: A fort was built in ______ to protect the villagers from the Zulu.
  44. Complete the sentence about Richards Bay with the correct year: The town began as a makeshift harbour that was set up by Commodore of the Cape, Sir Markus Eugene Brown, during the Anglo-Zulu War of __…
  45. Complete the sentence about Richards Bay with the correct year: In ______, the South African Government under Minister of Transport Ben Schoeman decided to build a deep water harbour at Richards Bay.
  46. Complete the sentence about Richards Bay with the correct year: In January ______, there was a forced removal of local inhabitants of the Mthiyane Zulu clan.
  47. Complete the sentence about Richards Bay with the correct year: On 1 April ______, the new deep water harbour was opened with a railway and an oil/gas pipeline linking the port to Johannesburg.
  48. Complete the sentence about Mthatha with the correct year: The settlement developed during the next few years, becoming a military post for the British colonial forces in ______.
  49. Complete the sentence about Mthatha with the correct year: The town itself was founded in ______, along the banks of the Mthatha River.
  50. Complete the sentence about Mthatha with the correct year: A branch of the University of Fort Hare was established in the town, and after the independence of the Transkei in ______ it became the Unive…
  51. Complete the sentence about Mthatha with the correct year: In ______, the University of Transkei with the Border Technikon and Eastern Cape Technikon were merged to form the Walter Sisulu University f…
  52. Complete the sentence about Potchefstroom with the correct year: The African National Congress decided to change the name of the municipality and some street names in ______, proposing "Tlokwe" as the…
  53. Complete the sentence about Potchefstroom with the correct year: Until ______, the towns of Potchefstroom and Winburg, along with their surrounding territories, formed a Boer Republic known as the Rep…
  54. Complete the sentence about Potchefstroom with the correct year: In October ______, following a meeting between Potgieter, Andries Pretorius, and G.
  55. Complete the sentence about Potchefstroom with the correct year: On 17 January ______, the Sand River Convention was signed by Commandant-General Andries Pretorius and a British delegation led by Majo…
  56. Complete the sentence about Sandton with the correct year: The Wilhemi family, upon return from Germany, built the 'new' ______ Driefontein Farmhouse on what is present-day Fifteenth Street, Parkmore…
  57. Complete the sentence about Sandton with the correct year: Sandton was established as a separate municipality on 1 July ______ by the office of the Administrator of the Transvaal.
  58. Complete the sentence about Table Mountain with the correct year: In ______ Vasco da Gama named the South African coastline Terra de Fume because of the smoke he saw from numerous fires.
  59. Complete the sentence about Cape of Good Hope with the correct year: In the ______ Fra Mauro map, the Indian Ocean is depicted as connected to the Atlantic.
  60. Complete the sentence about Cape of Good Hope with the correct year: Around ______ a ship, or junk, from India crossed the Sea of India towards the Island of Men and the Island of Women, off Cape Diab…
  61. Complete the sentence about Cape of Good Hope with the correct year: The Khoikhoi people lived in the cape area when the Dutch first settled there in ______.
  62. Complete the sentence about Robben Island with the correct year: Located at the entrance to Table Bay, 11 km from Cape Town, this island was 'discovered' by Bartolomeu Dias in ______.
  63. Complete the sentence about Robben Island with the correct year: In ______, the settlers of the Dutch Cape Colony placed all of their ewes and a few rams on Robben Island.
  64. Complete the sentence about Kruger National Park with the correct year: Malan of Rustenburg as chairman, which resulted in the establishment of the game law of ______.
  65. Complete the sentence about Kruger National Park with the correct year: James Stevenson-Hamilton became the first warden of the reserve in ______.
  66. Complete the sentence about Kruger National Park with the correct year: Singwitsi Reserve, named after the Shingwedzi River and now in northern Kruger National Park, was proclaimed in ______.
  67. Complete the sentence about Blyde River Canyon with the correct year: In ______, the Blyde River was renamed to the Motlatse River, and the Mpumalanga Provincial Government announced that the canyon w…
  68. Complete the sentence about Cradle of Humankind with the correct year: Declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in ______, the site is home to the largest known concentration of human ancestral remain…
  69. Complete the sentence about Cradle of Humankind with the correct year: In ______, Robert Broom found the first human fossils at Sterkfontein and began work at this site.
  70. Complete the sentence about Cradle of Humankind with the correct year: In ______, a young schoolboy, Gert Terrblanche, brought Raymond Dart fragments of a skull from nearby Kromdraai that later were i…
  71. Complete the sentence about Orange River with the correct year: The Orange river mouth is a highly biodiverse area and is home to 57 different bird species with 20 653-26 653 individual birds being re…
  72. Complete the sentence about Vaal River with the correct year: The organisation would become fully operational in ______, supplying water in bulk to the Witwatersrand.
  73. Complete the sentence about Vaal River with the correct year: Rand Water responded to water scarcity by imposing restrictions on Witwatersrand inhabitants in ______.
  74. Complete the sentence about Tugela Falls with the correct year: First, many now believe that Angel Falls is not as tall as was claimed in the initial survey carried out by American journalist Ruth Rob…
  75. Complete the sentence about Karoo with the correct year: The first of these Karoo fossils was discovered in ______ by Scotish born Andrew Geddes Bain at a road cutting near Fort Beaufort.
  76. Complete the sentence about Lesotho with the correct year: Basutoland emerged as a single polity under King Moshoeshoe I in ______.
  77. Complete the sentence about Lesotho with the correct year: Moshoeshoe, a son of Mokhachane, a minor chief of the Bakoteli lineage, formed his own clan and became a chief around ______.
  78. Complete the sentence about Okavango Delta with the correct year: Since ______, the protected area has been considered a Lion Conservation Unit together with Hwange National Park.
  79. Complete the sentence about Okavango Delta with the correct year: By ______, about 150 rhinocerosses were living in the northern Okavango Delta.
  80. Complete the sentence about iSimangaliso Wetland Park with the correct year: Until ______, the bay had been a home of the Tsonga people and their Tsonga fish kraal.
  81. Complete the sentence about iSimangaliso Wetland Park with the correct year: On 13 December ______, the day of the feast of Saint Lucy, Manuel Peresterello renamed the mouth area to Santa Lucia.
  82. Complete the sentence about iSimangaliso Wetland Park with the correct year: In December ______, the park was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site at an unveiling ceremony, where Nelson Mandela was t…
  83. Complete the sentence about Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park with the correct year: Since ______, the protected area has been considered a Lion Conservation Unit and a lion stronghold in Southern Africa.
  84. Complete the sentence about Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park with the correct year: The Kalahari Gemsbok National Park in South Africa was established on 31 July ______ mainly to protect the migrating gam…
  85. Complete the sentence about Table Bay with the correct year: The first European to explore the region was Bartolomeu Dias, who rounded the Cape of Good Hope in ______.
  86. Complete the sentence about Table Bay with the correct year: The first European to anchor in the bay itself was Portuguese navigator António de Saldanha in ______.
  87. Complete the sentence about Table Bay with the correct year: In ______, Dutch navigator Joris van Spilbergen renamed it Table Bay.
  88. Complete the sentence about Table Bay with the correct year: Construction of the first breakwater began in ______, with Prince Alfred ceremonially tipping the first load of rocks.
  89. Complete the sentence about False Bay with the correct year: Bartolomeu Dias first referred to the bay, in ______, as "the gulf between the mountains".
  90. Complete the sentence about False Bay with the correct year: In ______, the Dutch warship Goudvinck was stationed at the Cape and was instructed to survey False Bay, but it is not known how much was d…
  91. Complete the sentence about Mossel Bay with the correct year: In ______, another Portuguese navigator, Pedro d'Ataide, sought shelter in Mossel Bay after losing much of his fleet in a storm.
  92. Complete the sentence about Chapman's Peak with the correct year: Chapman's Peak is named after John Chapman, the pilot of an English ship becalmed in today's Hout Bay in ______.
  93. Complete the sentence about Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden with the correct year: Prior to 1 September ______, the institute was known as the National Botanical Institute.
  94. Complete the sentence about Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden with the correct year: In ______, by order of Jan van Riebeeck, a hedge of wild almond and brambles was planted to afford some protec…
  95. Complete the sentence about Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden with the correct year: The handover of ownership of the colony to Britain in ______ brought changes in the use of the Kirstenbosch ar…
  96. Complete the sentence about Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden with the correct year: The land now occupied by the Kirstenbosch Gardens was bequeathed to the nation by Rhodes, who died in ______.
  97. Complete the sentence about Addo Elephant National Park with the correct year: In ______ Deneys Reitz, in his capacity as Minister for Lands, stepped in to proclaim the area a sanctuary.
  98. Complete the sentence about Addo Elephant National Park with the correct year: Finally in ______, six Kalahari lions were introduced to the park as were the first hyaenas.
  99. Complete the sentence about Pilanesberg National Park with the correct year: The park owes its existence to a rehabilitation project which started in ______, and the subsequent Operation Genesis, whic…
  100. Complete the sentence about Mapungubwe with the correct year: Around ______, amid a dry period, the Mapungubwe elite moved to settle the top of Mapungubwe Hill, followed by the population who settled…

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