Can you name the countries that are closest to the Equator line but don't reach it?

Distance to the Equator / Continent	Country	Latitude of the extreme point
4.2 km / South America		0 02' 20'' S
55.9 km / Oceania		0 30' 09,82'' S
72.1 km / South America		0 38' 52,46'' N
92.4 km / Asia		0 51' 13,29'' N
102.9 km / Africa		0 55' 30,75'' N
109.5 km / Africa		0 59' 04,67'' S
117.2 km / Africa		1 03' 14,07'' S
129.5 km / South America		1 09' 53'' N
129.7 km / Asia		1 09' 58,41'' N
146.2 km / Oceania		1 18' 53,39'' S
183.8 km / Africa		1 39' 09,98'' N
204.3 km / South America		1 50' 13,94'' N
234.5 km / South America/Europe		2 06' 33,38'' N
247.0 km / Africa		2 13' 17,03'' N
255.5 km / Africa		2 17' 53,12'' S

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There are 34 comments for this game.
(Warning: comments may contain spoilers)

Almost Equatorial Countries Quiz

by Patricio

Created Feb 13, 2011 in Geography
Featured Sep 1, 2012
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Archived comments: show them

	bwood1957:	Sep 1st, 2012 at 04:27 GMT		3 points
	Uh, America is not a continent...

	newenglander:	Sep 1st, 2012 at 04:35 GMT		52 points
	Equatorial Guinea: Right on the equatorish

	dumbgai:	Sep 1st, 2012 at 04:39 GMT		2 points
	@newenglander Glad to see someone else enjoys that book as much as I do!

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	Golden:	Sep 1st, 2012 at 06:41 GMT		29 points
	I've thought of every country anywhere NEAR equatorial guinea, so what is that last African one? At least I know it can't possibly actually be equatorial guinea, that one HAS to be on the equator...

	simon123123:	Sep 1st, 2012 at 06:53 GMT		9 points
	I find it interesting that the bell curve is very unpronounced on this quiz.

	scoringeagle:	Sep 1st, 2012 at 07:37 GMT		5 points
	AAARGHH!! i tried tuvalu and vanuatu, but not nauru. i tried guinea, and guinea bissau, but not equatorial guinea, and i tried DRC but not CAR. DOH! SMH.

	sconeyj:	Sep 1st, 2012 at 11:00 GMT		8 points
	I didn't know Peru had an accent over the u. Thank you Sporcle for even more geographical trivia!

	Ulkomaalainen:	Sep 1st, 2012 at 11:55 GMT		1 point
	@gscookies: read previous (archived) comments. The French holdings in Africa are not included, since they are no part of France proper but "oversee territories". French Guiana (one of the three slices of land north of Brazil and east of Venezuela - French Guiana, British Guiana (now Guyana) and Dutch Guiana (now Suriname)) however is an intergral part of France, just as Alaska belongs to the USA, and incidentally approaches the equator.

	Rayavi:	Sep 1st, 2012 at 13:16 GMT		2 points
	Equatorial Guinea not on the equator? Sheer madness! I actually thought I was being a wisenheimer by even typing that in, but it worked.

	Andy2k9:	Sep 1st, 2012 at 13:39 GMT		5 points
	Equatorial Guinea? Should be called Almost-Equatorial Guinea

	dancastro:	Sep 1st, 2012 at 13:40 GMT		4 points
	@sconeyj: in Spanish you must write Perú with an accent mark over the "u" to show that the word is stressed on the last syllabe. If you write "Peru" the stress would fall on the "e". In Spanish you can know how to pronounce a word simply by looking at it; that's impossible in English (but on the other hand, instead of the simple "go", "goes" and "went", we have dozens of different forms for each verb).

	dancastro:	Sep 1st, 2012 at 14:19 GMT		11 points
	To several comments above: Equatorial Guinea was given that name because it's much closer to the Equator than the other two Guineas; this doesn't imply that it's exactly on the Equator. Nobody will say that the "South" in South Dakota means that it's a southern state; it only means that it's more southern than North Dakota.

	eab21:	Sep 1st, 2012 at 15:06 GMT		6 points
	I think this is the first time I have ever seen Guyana, Suriname, or Rwanda guessed more than France.

	matt01:	Sep 1st, 2012 at 18:49 GMT		6 points
	Just to give people a hand before they take the quiz - Iceland is incorrect

	shakescene:	Sep 1st, 2012 at 20:39 GMT		3 points
	Old Sporclers must have had a nasty suspicion that there might be a catch, but fortunately this quiz isn't a minefield. Otherwise, given a choice between Ecuador and Equatorial Guinea, they might easily have clicked the former ("Ecuador can't be right on the Equator, must be a trick!").

	shakescene:	Sep 1st, 2012 at 23:30 GMT		2 points
	And to add to the comments about the "Equatorial" in Equatorial Guinea being relative, French Equatorial Africa (Afrique-Équatoriale Française or A.-E.F.) covered what is now Chad, the Central African Republic (then Ubangi-Shari, or Oubangui-Chari), Gabon and the Republic of the Congo (or Congo-Brazzaville, then Middle Congo or Moyen-Congo) from 1910 to 1958. It was administered separately from French West Africa (Afrique-Occidentale Française or A.-O.F.), stretching from Niger to Mauritania southwards. French Equatorial Africa's capital was Brazzaville and French West Africa's Dakar (Senegal), although Abidjan (Ivory Coast) was another important centre.

	zeppelinoid:	Sep 2nd, 2012 at 08:03 GMT		3 points
	@Ulkomaalainen: Réunion and Mayotte are both Overseas Departments of France and are therefore part of the main country having exactly the same status as French Guiana (which is much closer to the equator). I am not aware of any other French holdings in Africa.

	Ulkomaalainen:	Sep 3rd, 2012 at 10:41 GMT		2 points
	Sorry, I always forget about the tiny islands. Also Guadeloupe and Martinique are DOMs (both in the Caribbean and thus as well further from the equator). In Africa it's Mayotte and Réunion, as you say.

	grover173:	Sep 4th, 2012 at 17:07 GMT		2 points
	@bwood1957: honestly, it's who you ask. In the USA we're taught North America and South America are separate continents. Countries in other parts of the world don't necessarily teach that--in many places "America" is one continent.

	Josephklimp:	Oct 24th, 2012 at 22:47 GMT		1 point
	sao tome? it is like right by the equator

	NatAlex92:	Nov 20th, 2012 at 12:32 GMT		0 points
	@grover173 Where in the world is America one continent? I mean, by definition it COULD be one single continent, but that logic also states that Europe, Asia and Africa are one continent as well. On another note, how did so many people miss France? There's only one country in both Europe and South America.

	Probo11:	Jan 5th, 2013 at 00:52 GMT		4 points
	Five Sporcle balls because I didn't have to type any more than Papua.

	osasunaitor:	Feb 3rd, 2013 at 21:39 GMT		1 point
	It's annoying how São Tomé and Príncipe, despite being such a tiny and minuscule piece of land in the middle of the ocean, is located exactly over the equator. The São Tomé Volcano really knew where to erupt!

	skye_eg:	Apr 2nd, 2013 at 19:25 GMT		1 point
	@NatAlex92: When I lived in Greece for a year as a child, we were taught in school that America is a single continent. In many other countries too, America is viewed a single continent. What is and isn't a continent is very subjective. Some geographers say that Europe and Asia should be considered a single continent, but conventionally we're taught to regard these as two.