News and information can be shared around the world in an instant. But what if the information superhighway didn’t exist? Test your knowledge of the world’s geography, using Rest of World’s global coverage as your guide.
1. Uber and Bolt recently became battlegrounds for controversy over a beauty pageant contestant as Nigerians and South Africans started booking hoax rides in the other country.
Though people weren’t booking real rides, how long would a car ride from Cape Town to Lagos take?
- 94 hours (nearly 4 days of nonstop driving)
- 59 hours (2.5 days)
- 121 hours (5+ days)
2. Microsoft is building a data center in Mekaguda, a tiny village in Telangana, India; locals allege it’s dumping industrial waste into a nearby water body.
The state of Telangana is in the southern part of India. What’s the largest city in that state?
- Bengaluru
- Kolkata
- Hyderabad
3. In Kathmandu, the provincial government mandated that all new taxis be electric, and the Ethiopian government banned the import of gas and diesel vehicles to boost EV adoption.
An EV ride is more eco-friendly, but it’s nearly impossible to drive from Addis Ababa to Kathmandu. What’s the fastest flight between the two cities?
- 19.5 hours
- 11 hours
- 26 hours, 5 minutes
4. Where did TSMC, a massive semiconductor maker and Asia’s most valuable company, build its U.S. factory?
- Austin, Texas
- Spokane, Washington
- Phoenix, Arizona
5. People working in the arts — from writers in Singapore to digital artists in Latin America — are pushing back against the use of their work to train AI models.
How long would it take the writers in Singapore to get to the artists in Buenos Aires?
- 16-hour direct flight
- About 27 hours, with a connection
- 41 hours, or about two days with multiple connections
6. Getir was once a global delivery darling, valued close to $12 billion, but after laying off thousands of staff, the company scaled back operations from everywhere other than this one country — also home to their headquarters.
- Turkey
- Serbia
- Poland
7. Indigenous influencers in central-west Brazil document and celebrate their culture online, but recently have clashed with Google’s sensitive content policies.
If these creators wanted to protest the platform’s rulings at the nearest Google office, which direction should they drive?
- Northwest
- East
- Southeast
The answers
1. A
94 hours (nearly 4 days of nonstop driving)
The drive from Cape Town to Lagos is a little over 7,000 kilometers (4,350 miles). It would be the equivalent of road tripping across the United States, then driving halfway back. Alternatively, a flight could take you as little as 10 hours, but there are no direct flights between the two cities!
2. C
Hyderabad
Hyderabad is known for its IT industry, and is home to some 11 million people. It trails behind New Delhi, though: The nation’s capital is projected to become the most populous city in the world by 2028.
3. B
11 hours
According to Google Flights, there’s one route with an ultrafast Dubai layover, but most connecting flights are in New Delhi, Doha, and Jeddah, and last quite a bit longer. You might be better off just driving.
4. C
Phoenix, Arizona
TSMC recently relocated hundreds of Taiwanese workers and their families to Arizona. But instead of a gleaming new facility, these workers found an active construction site, and a company struggling to bridge cultural and professional norms.
5. B
About 27 hours, with a connection
There are no direct flights between Southeast Asia and Latin America. The shortest, most direct route from one region to the other is from Singapore to Santiago, Chile, but the duration is still more than 22 hours!
6. A
Turkey
By mid-2024, Getir announced that it was closing operations in the U.S., Germany, the U.K., and the Netherlands.
7. C
Southeast
Google has six offices in Latin America. From the Xingu, the area where these influencers live, the closest Google office is in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, at just under 1,800 kilometers (1,118 miles) southeast by car.
