Countries and Continents Questions and Answers – Page 18

The correct answer is Afghanistan. The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was formally established on 8 December 1985 in Dhaka, Bangladesh, with seven founding members: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Maldives. Afghanistan was not part of this original grouping and joined SAARC only much later, at the organisation's 14th summit held in New Delhi in 2007, becoming its eighth and, so far, final member. This chronological detail, the gap of more than two decades between SAARC's founding and Afghanistan's accession, is precisely why Afghanistan is the correct exception here rather than a founding member. Bangladesh is incorrect as the 'NOT a founder' answer because it was, in fact, one of the seven original signatories in 1985, and Dhaka itself was the host city where the SAARC Charter was adopted. Bhutan is incorrect for the same reason: it was a founding member in 1985 alongside its Himalayan neighbours India and Nepal. Nepal is likewise incorrect because it too was among the original seven founders and has hosted the SAARC Secretariat in Kathmandu since the organisation's establishment. A very common exam confusion is treating today's eight-member SAARC as if it always had eight founding members, causing candidates to overlook that Afghanistan's membership is a comparatively recent addition rather than part of the original 1985 charter. The revision takeaway is a simple memory anchor: the original seven founders can be grouped as 'India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Maldives,' with Afghanistan added only in 2007 to make the present total of eight.

The correct answer is West Bengal. The Sundarbans, formed at the delta of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers where they empty into the Bay of Bengal, is the largest mangrove forest in the world and is split between southwestern Bangladesh and the southern part of the Indian state of West Bengal. The larger share of the forest lies within Bangladesh, and this portion is separately inscribed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site under the name 'The Sundarbans', while the Indian portion is separately recognised as the Sundarbans National Park, itself a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987. The forest is globally significant as the habitat of the Bengal tiger and numerous other species adapted to its brackish tidal ecosystem. Odisha is incorrect because, although it lies along India's eastern coastline and hosts other important wetland ecosystems such as Chilika Lake, it does not contain any part of the Sundarbans, which lies further north along the coast. Assam is incorrect because it is a landlocked northeastern state without a coastline and therefore cannot host a coastal mangrove delta system like the Sundarbans. Tripura is incorrect for a similar reason: it is a small northeastern state bordering Bangladesh on land but has no coastal or deltaic mangrove ecosystem of this kind. A frequent exam confusion arises from students knowing that several eastern and northeastern Indian states border Bangladesh and assuming any of them could share the Sundarbans, when in fact only West Bengal's southern coastal districts, such as South 24 Parganas, actually contain this ecosystem. The revision takeaway is to anchor the Sundarbans firmly to the Bangladesh-West Bengal coastal delta, distinct from Tripura or Assam's land borders and from Odisha's separate coastal wetlands.

The correct answer is Myanmar. Bangladesh has exactly two land-border neighbours: India, which surrounds it on the west, north and east, and Myanmar, with which it shares a comparatively short border in the southeastern Chittagong Hill Tracts and Cox's Bazar region. This Myanmar border has gained considerable current-affairs significance in recent years because of the large-scale movement of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar's Rakhine State into Bangladesh, particularly since the major exodus of 2017, making the frontier a frequent subject in both geography and international-affairs sections of competitive exams. Bangladesh's border with India, by contrast, is the longest of the two by far and is one of the most heavily fenced international borders in the world. Bhutan is incorrect because Bangladesh does not share any direct border with Bhutan; substantial Indian territory, including parts of West Bengal, lies between them. Nepal is incorrect for the same reason: despite being a fellow SAARC member and geographically not far away, Nepal is separated from Bangladesh by the narrow Indian Siliguri Corridor and the state of West Bengal, so the two countries are not physically contiguous. China is incorrect because although China lies north of the wider region and borders both Nepal and Bhutan, it is far removed from Bangladesh and shares no boundary with it at all. A common exam confusion is assuming that because Bangladesh is almost entirely enclosed by India, it must have no second land neighbour, overlooking the Myanmar frontier in the far southeast. The revision takeaway is to remember Bangladesh's border profile as exactly two countries, India (long, encircling) and Myanmar (short, southeastern), while Bhutan, Nepal and China remain non-contiguous with it despite regional proximity.

The correct answer is the Taka (BDT), the sole official currency of Bangladesh, issued and regulated by the Bangladesh Bank, the country's central bank established in 1972 soon after independence. Unlike Bhutan's Ngultrum, the Taka is not pegged one-to-one to the Indian Rupee; instead, it operates under a managed float regime, meaning its exchange rate is influenced by market forces within a range monitored by the central bank rather than fixed rigidly to another currency. The name 'Taka' itself has pre-independence roots, having also been used informally for the rupee in Bengali-speaking regions well before 1971. The Indian Rupee is incorrect because, despite the extensive trade and remittance flow between the two countries, Bangladesh maintains its own fully sovereign currency and does not use or peg to the Indian Rupee as its official tender. The Myanmar Kyat is incorrect because it is the separate currency of Myanmar, Bangladesh's only other land-border neighbour besides India, and has no circulation or legal role inside Bangladesh. The Malaysian Ringgit is incorrect because Malaysia lies in maritime Southeast Asia, far from Bangladesh, and its currency has no historical or geographic connection to Bangladesh's monetary system; it functions here purely as an implausible but exam-style distractor. A frequent point of confusion is conflating Bhutan's Ngultrum, which is genuinely pegged to the Indian Rupee, with Bangladesh's Taka, which is not pegged at all, leading candidates to wrongly extend the 'peg' idea to every South Asian neighbour of India. The revision takeaway is to keep these separate: Bhutan's Ngultrum is INR-pegged, but Bangladesh's Taka floats independently under its own central bank.

The correct answer is Dhaka, the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, situated on the banks of the Buriganga River in the central part of the country. Dhaka has served as the political and administrative capital since Bangladesh's independence in 1971, continuing an administrative importance it held even earlier as the capital of East Pakistan and, briefly in Mughal history, as the provincial capital of Bengal under the name Jahangirnagar. Chittagong is incorrect because although it is Bangladesh's second-largest city and its principal sea port, handling the bulk of the country's maritime trade, it has never functioned as the national capital. Khulna is incorrect because it is a significant industrial and port city in the southwest, close to the Sundarbans, but it holds only divisional administrative status, not national capital status. Sylhet is incorrect because it is an important northeastern city known for tea gardens and a large diaspora population abroad, but like Khulna it is a divisional headquarters rather than the seat of the national government. A common exam confusion arises because Chittagong's economic weight as the chief port sometimes leads students to assume it must also be the capital, similar to how Mumbai is sometimes mistakenly guessed as India's capital because of its economic prominence. The revision takeaway is to fix Dhaka firmly as the political capital, Chittagong as the port and trade hub, and Khulna and Sylhet as important but non-capital divisional cities, ensuring the four are never confused in an objective question.

The correct answer is China. Although Bhutan and China share a direct northern border along the Tibet Autonomous Region, the two countries have never established full formal diplomatic relations, and Bhutan does not maintain an embassy in Beijing nor China one in Thimphu. Relations between the two are managed instead through periodic border talks and technical-level engagement, largely because several stretches of their shared boundary remain undemarcated and disputed, most prominently in the Doklam area, where a prolonged India-China-Bhutan standoff occurred in 2017. Bhutan's foreign policy, closely coordinated with India under their 2007 Friendship Treaty, has traditionally been cautious about opening formal ties with China until border questions are resolved. Nepal is incorrect because Bhutan, despite not sharing a physical border with Nepal, does maintain diplomatic and cultural engagement with it as a fellow South Asian and SAARC country. Bangladesh is incorrect because Bhutan has full diplomatic relations with Bangladesh; notably, Bhutan was the first country in the world to recognise Bangladesh's independence in 1971, making their bilateral relationship historically close. Myanmar is incorrect because, although it is a less prominent partner for Bhutan, it is not the country most notably lacking formal ties with Bhutan in exam context, and this option is included mainly as a plausible-sounding regional distractor rather than a factually strong contender. A common exam confusion is assuming that sharing a land border automatically implies diplomatic relations, which fails specifically in the Bhutan-China case, one of the very few instances in the world of two bordering states without any formal diplomatic channel. The revision takeaway is to remember Bhutan-China as an exception: a shared border without embassies, contrasted with Bhutan's close, treaty-backed relationship with India and its recognition-based friendship with Bangladesh.

The correct answer is Bhutan. Gangkhar Puensum, standing at 7,570 metres, lies in northern Bhutan near its border with China's Tibet Autonomous Region, and it is widely recognised by mountaineering authorities as the highest mountain in the world that has never been climbed to its summit. Several expeditions attempted the peak in the 1980s from both the Bhutanese and Tibetan sides, but none reached the top, and in 1994 Bhutan formally banned mountaineering on peaks above 6,000 metres, partly out of respect for local spiritual beliefs that regard high mountains as the abode of protective deities, effectively closing off Gangkhar Puensum to future summit attempts. Nepal is incorrect because, although Nepal is home to the world's tallest mountain, Mount Everest, and several other very high, extensively climbed peaks, Gangkhar Puensum itself lies entirely outside Nepalese territory. China (Tibet) is incorrect because while the mountain sits very close to the China-Bhutan border and some approach routes have historically come from the Tibetan side, the summit and the greater share of the massif lie within Bhutan, which is internationally credited as its location. India is incorrect because India, despite having several high Himalayan peaks of its own in regions like Sikkim and Uttarakhand, does not contain Gangkhar Puensum, which lies further north and belongs to Bhutan. A common exam confusion arises from mixing up 'highest mountain in the world' (Everest, Nepal-China border) with 'highest unclimbed mountain in the world' (Gangkhar Puensum, Bhutan), a distinction examiners often use to trip up candidates who read questions too quickly. The revision takeaway is to firmly separate these two superlatives: Everest is the tallest overall, Gangkhar Puensum is the tallest unclimbed, and the two lie in entirely different countries.

The correct answer is India and China. Bhutan is a small, landlocked Himalayan kingdom whose entire land boundary is shared with only two countries: India, which lies to its south, east and west, and China, specifically the Tibet Autonomous Region, which lies to its north. This makes Bhutan one of the clearest examples in South Asian geography of a country with just two bordering neighbours, unlike Nepal or Bangladesh, which have more complex boundary profiles or coastal access. Bhutan's border with India runs along the Indian states of Sikkim, West Bengal, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, while its northern border with China remains undemarcated in several sections, contributing to periodic border tension, most notably around the Doklam plateau. Nepal and India is incorrect because Bhutan does not share any border with Nepal at all; the two countries are close geographically and culturally but are separated by a narrow strip of Indian territory, namely Sikkim, so they are not physically contiguous. China and Myanmar is incorrect because although China is indeed one of Bhutan's two neighbours, Myanmar lies far to the southeast, beyond Bangladesh and India's northeast, and shares no border with Bhutan whatsoever. India and Bangladesh is incorrect because while India is correct, Bangladesh does not touch Bhutan directly; Bangladesh is separated from Bhutan by the Indian state of West Bengal, specifically its narrow Siliguri Corridor region. A very common exam confusion is assuming that because Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh are all frequently grouped together as India's Himalayan or eastern neighbours, they must also border each other, which is false in every pairing among these three.

The correct answer is the Ngultrum (BTN), the official currency issued and managed by the Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan. A defining feature of the Ngultrum, and a favourite exam detail, is that it is pegged one-to-one with the Indian Rupee, meaning one Ngultrum always equals one Indian Rupee in value. The Nepalese Rupee is incorrect because it is the distinct currency of Nepal, Bhutan's fellow Himalayan neighbour, and although Nepal's rupee is also historically pegged to the Indian Rupee, it has no circulation or legal status inside Bhutan. The Myanmar Kyat is incorrect because Myanmar lies far to the southeast and has no monetary or peg relationship with either Bhutan or India; it is included here only as a plausible-sounding regional currency name. A frequent exam confusion is students assuming that because the Indian Rupee circulates in Bhutan, India Rupee itself must be the 'official' currency asked about in the question, when in fact Bhutan maintains its own sovereign currency, the Ngultrum, even while allowing INR use domestically; this dual arrangement is unusual and worth remembering precisely because it is unusual. The revision takeaway is a simple pairing: Bhutan issues the Ngultrum, pegged 1:1 to the Indian Rupee, and both currencies are usable within Bhutan, whereas Nepal has its own separately pegged Nepalese Rupee.

The correct answer is Thimphu, which has served as the capital of Bhutan since 1961, when the seat of government was formally shifted there from Punakha under the modernisation programme begun by the third king, Jigme Dorji Wangchuck. Thimphu sits in the western part of the country along the Wang Chhu river valley at an elevation of roughly 2,300 metres, and today it is both the political capital and the largest urban centre of Bhutan, housing the National Assembly, the royal palace complex, and most government ministries. Notably, Thimphu remains one of the very few world capitals without a single operational traffic light, a detail examiners sometimes use to build a related question. Paro is incorrect because, although it is a significant town that hosts Paro International Airport, the country's only airport and gateway for nearly all air travellers, it has never functioned as the administrative capital. Punakha is incorrect because it was the former capital of Bhutan and still serves as the winter seat of the head clergy (Je Khenpo) and the central monastic body, but it lost capital status when the government moved to Thimphu. Phuentsholing is incorrect because it is a commercially important border town adjoining Jaigaon in West Bengal, valued for cross-border trade with India, but it has no administrative capital function whatsoever. A common exam confusion arises because Punakha's Dzong is so architecturally celebrated that students sometimes wrongly assume it is still the seat of government, and because Paro's airport prominence leads some to mistake it for the capital simply because it is the first Bhutanese city most visitors encounter. As a revision takeaway, remember the sequence: Punakha was the old capital, Thimphu is the current capital since 1961, Paro is the airport town, and Phuentsholing is the border trade town.