2010 Geography Monstrosity
Round 1
Packet by Obscure Named Glacial Features of Mount Vinokurov (Mike Cheyne, Chris Chiego, Aaron Cohen, Matt Greenbacker)
Moderator's note: this set features 20-point superpowers (bold text before (*)) and 15-point powers (text before ► ). Some more difficult tossups are 15 (in extreme cases, 20) points all the way through. There are no minus-fives.
1. Eclipse Bay and Rambler Bay are both found at this island, which contains Barton Point at one end and Simpson Point at the other end. Former settlements on this island included East Point and Minni Minni, home to a small population of Ilois forcibly evicted by the British in 1971. Part of the (*) Chagos Archipelago, military sites on this island were at the center of recent allegations as its use as a ► “black site” in the war on terror. Lying about 1,000 miles south of India, this is-for 10 points-what joint British and American possession, an atoll in the middle of the Indian Ocean?
ANSWER: Diego Garcia
2. Johannes Valentinus Andrea and Silas Haslam have both written about this region, home to a well known magician named Smerdis. Its southern delta portion features a series of islands where wild horses mate and where orthodox believers built stone obelisks after escaping religious persecution. It lies near the regions of Khorasan and Erzerum, putting its location in the vicinity of northwestern Iran and eastern Turkey. Found in (*) pages 917-921 of volume XLVI of the Anglo-American Cyclopaedia, it is encountered during a discussion between the narrator and his friend Bioy Casares. For 15 points, name this fictional country found with Tlon and Orbus Tertius in a short story by Borges.
ANSWER: Uqbar
3. In the mid 19th century, this region was the home of the Yeke Kingdom, ruled by Msiri. Most of the operations of the state-run Gecamines are found in this region, which was the focus of Operation Rumpunch while it was being ruled by the (*) CONAKAT party. For a brief period it was known as Shaba and this region’s largest city was formerly known as Elisabethville. A crisis involving the secession of this region led by ► Moishe Tshombe saw the deaths of both Dag Hammarskjold and Patrice Lumumba. For 10 points, name this mineral-rich region in the southern portion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
ANSWER: Katanga
4. Operation Irma was an attempt to evacuate wounded during a military action in this city. During World War II, partisan forces in this city were led by Walter Peric, who was killed during the liberation of this city. Sites in this city include the Avaz Twist Tower and the Ferhat Pasha Mosque. The (*) Miljacka River runs through this city, control of which was the subject of the Dayton Agreement, eleven years after it hosted the ►1984 Winter Olympics. This city also contains the Latin Bridge, the site of a killing by a member of the Black Hand. For 10 points, name this city where Franz Ferdinand was assassinated, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
ANSWER: Sarajevo
5. One site in this mountain range, Kiandra, was the location of an 1859 gold rush. Rivers in it include the Tooma, found near Mount Jagungal. Lake Jindabyne was created as a part of a scheme to generate hydroelectric power from the waters of these mountains. One section of it contains Charlotte Pass, another section contains the Thredbo Ski Resort, accessible via the town of Cooma. One mountain in this range was originally confused for Mount Townsend; that mountain was the subject of a Eugene Guerard photograph and is found in a park that is the source of the (*) Murray River. Paul Strzelecki explored these mountains, naming one of them after a hero of his native country. The Great Dividing Range contains-for 15 points-what Australian mountain range home to Mount Kosciuszko?
ANSWER: Snowy Mountains (prompt on “Great Dividing Range” before read)
6. One discredited claim about this man was that he deliberately designed bridges too low to accommodate buses. This man reached his highest levels of power under William O’Dwyer and lost to Herbert Lehman in 1934 for the governorship of his state. Robert (*) Caro’s The Power Broker is a biography of this man who names a causeway connecting West Islip to such locations as Jones Beach and Fire Island. The departure of the Brooklyn Dodgers was largely due to this man, while his plans to ► build an expressway through Greenwich Village was opposed by Jane Jacobs. For 10 points, name this urban planner of New York City during the mid 20th century, best known for designing the Cross Bronx Expressway.
ANSWER: Robert Moses
7. A river named for this city is formed by the confluence of the Daule and Babahyo rivers. Visitors to this city can visit its neighborhood of Urdesa, and its airport is named after a former poet, mayor and national president, Jose Joaquin de Olmedo. This city was founded by Francisco de Orellana and contains an urban renewal project called Malecon 2000, a riverfront walkway. In (*) 1822, Simon Bolivar and San Martin held a conference in this city concerning the fate of South America; in 1820 this city declared independence from Spain, leading to a victory at the Battle of Pichincha after it allied with the ► Quito army. For 10 points, name this largest city in Ecuador.
ANSWER: Guayaquil
8. Implementation of these structures in a neighboring country was the purpose of the Odendaal Report. One of them had its capital at Umtata. First introduced under the government of Daniel Malan, the origin for them came from (*) Henrik Verwoerd, who also passed the Group Areas Act and Population Registration Act. They included Transkei, Ciskei, and Venda, all of which were granted ► technical independence in the late 70’s and early 80’s, and their elimination was one goal of the African National Congress. For 10 points, name these areas of land designated for blacks during Apartheid era South Africa, named for a large African family of languages.
ANSWER: Bantustan(s)
9. Eli Jennings established a plantation on Swains Atoll, an island north of this group of islands. The mythology of natives on these islands includes a storm god named Afa and a spirit god named Atua. The western most of these islands is Tau, while a more populous island is Upolu. Native inhabitants of these islands use a chieftain system called the Fa’amatai. Mount Vaea overlooks the largest city on these islands, home to the burial site of (*) Robert Louis Stevenson. One country found among these islands has its capital at ► Apia; a territory here has its capital at Pago Pago. For 10 points, name this group of Pacific islands that includes “Western” and “American” sections.
ANSWER: Samoan islands
10. This state contains the Schwansen peninsula and was the subject of both the Treaty of Ribe and the November Constitution. To its east lies the island of Fehmarn and to its west lies the northern portion of Wadden Sea National Park. One city in this state that lies on the Trave River contains the Burgtor gate, along with the Salzspeicher salt warehouses. That city was a (*) free city from 1226 to 1937. This state changed hands following an 1863 succession crisis that arose after the death of Frederick VII. This state is home to the ► Kiel canal and the city of Lubeck. For 10 points, name this German state found on the border with Denmark.
ANSWER: Schleswig-Holstein
11. The Cornolla kind of this feature are located on the Kurnell peninsula and the Akrotiri kind are located on Cyprus. Jockey's Ridge State Park in North Carolina contain many of these features and one named for Pyla, located north of Bordeaux, is the largest in Europe, while the San Luis Valley contains many of these features as a result of Lake Alamosa. The Baidan Jaran desert contains a number of (*) "star" types of these features and the Navajo formation in Zion Canyon is composed of ► lithified Jurassic-era types of these features. For 10 points, identify these topological features which can be formed from gypsum, such as at White Sands National Monument.
ANSWER: sand dunes
12. One military conflict on this island took place at the Golo River. The largest city on this island contains the “Field of Gold Airport” and this island served as the base of operations for World War II’s Operation Dragoon. A 1760’s “crisis” involving this island was discussed by James Boswell in a book and played a role in the collapse of the Duke of Grafton’s government. That crisis effectively ended when the government was defeated at the Battle of Ponte Novo in which (*) Pascal Paoli’s forces were defeated, forcing him to flee ► Ajaccio and paving the way for the French to annex this island, which they currently still possess. For 10 points, name this Mediterranean island, best known as the birthplace of Napoleon.
ANSWER: Corsica
13. This nation honors the feast days of Peter and Paul with the “Fisherman’s Birthday” celebrations. Smaller islands that make up this country include Large Island, Saline Island, and Diamond Island. It contains the Tufton Hall Waterfall, which is near its largest peak, Mount Saint Catherine. Its first prime minister was overthrown while at an UN conference to discuss UFO’s. That leader had a secret police called the “Mongoose Gang” and was named (*) Eric Gairy. This country was invaded in Operation Urgent Fury, supposedly prompted by the safety of hundreds of ► medical students attending school at this nation’s capital. For 10 points, name this Caribbean nation with capital at St. George’s, which the United States invaded in 1980 to stop perceived Cuban influence.
ANSWER: Grenada
14. The children’s book A Dog Came, Too tells of “Our Dog,” which accompanied the namesake of this river on his explorations. A local name for this river is “Deh Cho” or “big river.” The namesake of this river once painted his name on a rock using a vermillion and grease mixture at Bella Coola. In 1977, Judge Thomas Berger led an inquiry named after this river which ultimately recommended that a pipeline not be built for ten years and all tribal claims had been settled. Several ships all named “Pathfinder” in various native dialects monitor this river’s shipping channel, which changes due to continual freezing. This river was originally named the (*) “Disappointment River” by its Scottish explorer namesake, who found it did not lead to the ► Pacific Ocean like he thought. For 10 points, name this river originating from the Great Slave Lake, the longest river in Canada.
ANSWER: Mackenzie River
15. Hauser Ridge and Nicodemus Heights overlook this site on the west, from which one may view the Poffenberger Farm. The Middle Bridge at this site leads to Porterstown while the Smoketown Road borders the northeastern side of this site. The Mumma and Roulette Farms are located just south of the (*) East Woods at this site while a monument to the Georgians near a quarry overlooks a body of water crossed by Snavely's Ford and the Rohrbach ► Bridge. Miller's Cornfield is located just north of Dunkard Church at, for 10 points, what site controversially overlooked by a tall observation tower, a Maryland Civil War battlefield?
ANSWER: Antietam National Battlefield
16. Lake Meredith is an important water source for this region and Lake Theo contains a Folsom Society buffalo kill site. The Rita Blanco grasslands are partially located in this region and a rails-to-trails project passes through a prominent bat colony in the Clarity Tunnel in this region where the Cliffside Storage Facility is home to the US National Helium Reserve, though Deaf Smith County in this region was eventually rejected as a nuclear waste storage site. The Alibates Flint Quarries are located in this region while the (*) Cap Rock escarpment has eroded into a number of canyons, including one formed by the Prairie Dog Fork into the Palo Duro Canyon. Also containing portions of the ► Red and Canadian rivers as well as the roadside monument known as Cadillac Ranch, for 10 points identify this region containing the city of Amarillo.
ANSWER: Texas Panhandle (prompt on Panhandle, on just Texas, or on Llano Estacado)
17. Herbert Wind dubbed a section of this location after an old jazz song and one creek at this location was named for an early settler, John Rae. The entrance to this location is along Magnolia Drive and a unique accommodation here is the Crow's Nest. A cabin, a pond and a tree here are named after Dwight Eisenhower and the most abundant tree at this location is the loblolly pine, even though it features locations named (*) Flowering Crab Apple and Azalea. Featuring bridges named for Gene Sarazen, ► Ben Hogan, and Ben Nelson, for 10 points, identify this golf club located in Georgia, known for Amen Corner and hosting the Master's each year.
ANSWER: Augusta National Golf Club (Do NOT accept Augusta)
18. One major symbol of this nation is the Tree of Life, a gigantic tree found alone in its southern desert, and Umm an Nusan island is home to the ruling family's private reserve. The island of Al-Muharraq contains its international airport and a structure designed to look like a desert tent holds the stands at its Formula 500 racetrack. This nation also contains a number of burial mounds from its (*) Dilmun era. This state has a conflict with a nearby state over the Hawar islands, but recently announced plans to construct a ► causeway to that state. The King Fahd Causeway already connects Khobar in Saudi Arabia to, for 10 points, what state located west of Qatar, an island nation in the Persian Gulf?
ANSWER: Bahrain
19. This mountain's name in Sanskrit is literally "full of food". Tilicho Lake is found midway up its flanks, and it is separated from the Dhaulagiri massif by the Kali Gandaki River. A subsidiary peak of this mountain is known as "The Fang" and its South Face was not solo-climbed until 2007. Located in the Mustang district, it was the last 8,000-meter peak climbed by Ed Viesturs and it has claimed the lives of climbers Inaki Ochoa and Anatoli Bourkeev. Maurice Herzog climbed it in 1950, but since then it has proven to be the deadliest 8,000 foot peak with a 2-1 success to death ratio. For 20 points, identify this mountain massif that is also the name of perhaps the most popular trekking circuit in Nepal.
ANSWER: Annapurna (I)
20. Tell Qaramel, a site near this city, contains the remains of the prehistoric Round Tower people and the Quweiq River flows through this city, which was known as Halab in ancient times. Sometimes nicknamed "The Gray", the Khan al-Wazir is a large white and black structure in this city that functioned as an inn and this city is located amidst a system of hundreds of abandoned villages known as the "Dead Cities." Its Ottoman-era Jdeydeh quarter is a center for Christians and merchants, and its great mosque is said to contain the tomb of Zachariah. The Madrasa Halawiye was founded by an earlier ruler of this city, (*) Nur al-Din. For 15 points, identify this former Silk Road city of three million located in northwestern Syria.
ANSWER: Aleppo
TB. The Asese peninsula juts into this body of water amidst several hundred islets and contains several rare species of sawfish as well as the Solentiname Islands. Separated via the isthmus of Rivas from a nearby ocean, this lake, also known as Cocibolca or the Mar Dulce, includes the towns of San Jorge, and San Miguelito on its shores. The Conception and Maderas Volcanoes forms the island of (*) Ometepe in this lake whose largest port is Granada and the Accessory Transit Company used this body of water for transportation. Known for having an endemic but possibly extinct population of ► freshwater sharks, the San Juan River connects to the Pacific Ocean—for 10 points—what largest lake in Central America?
ANSWER: Lake Nicaragua