The Pamir Knot, from which several great ranges of Asia radiate, is popularly known as

The correct answer is A, the Malacca Strait. It runs for about eight hundred kilometres between the Malay Peninsula and the Indonesian island of Sumatra, joining the Andaman Sea with the South China Sea, and is the longest strait in the world as well as one of the busiest shipping lanes, carrying a large share of the oil that moves from West Asia to East Asia. Singapore sits at its southern end. B is wrong because the Sunda Strait, between Java and Sumatra, is short and shallow and is remembered for the Krakatoa eruption. C is wrong because the Denmark Strait lies between Greenland and Iceland, outside Asia. D is wrong because the Bering Strait, between Asia and North America, is important for being narrow, not long.

The correct answer is D, Kanchenjunga. It stands on the border of Sikkim in India and the Taplejung district of eastern Nepal, and is the highest peak within India as well as the third highest in the world. Its name means the five treasures of the snow, after its five summits, and it is worshipped in Sikkim as a guardian deity. A is wrong because Makalu lies on the Nepal and Tibet border, east of Everest. B is wrong because Manaslu lies wholly within Nepal, in the Gorkha district. C is wrong because Dhaulagiri also lies wholly within Nepal, west of the Kali Gandaki gorge. Note the separate fact that K2 in the Karakoram is the highest peak in the territory claimed by India, while Kanchenjunga is the highest in the area under Indian administration.

The correct answer is C, Nepal. Nepal touches five Indian states, namely Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Sikkim, which is the largest number of States for any neighbour of India. The boundary is open, so people and goods cross it freely under the treaty of 1950. A is wrong because the border with China runs along Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh, together with the union territory of Ladakh, which gives fewer States. B is wrong because Pakistan borders Gujarat, Rajasthan and Punjab among the States, with Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh as union territories. D is wrong because Myanmar borders only Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram. Bangladesh, by contrast, shares the longest land boundary of India in kilometres, while Afghanistan has the shortest. Learn the two lists separately, the number of States a neighbour touches and the length of the boundary, because papers mix them.

The correct answer is B, the Ural. Asia and Europe lie on one landmass, and geographers mark the dividing line along the Ural mountains and the Ural river, then the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus and the Black Sea. Russia therefore lies in both continents, with the larger part in Asia. A is wrong because the Alps are a young fold range wholly within Europe, separating Italy from France, Switzerland and Austria. C is wrong because the Atlas mountains lie in north-west Africa, in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. D is wrong because the Andes run along the western edge of South America and form the longest mountain chain on a continent. The Ural are old, worn fold mountains, rich in iron, and their low height is why the boundary they mark is a convention rather than a barrier.

The correct answer is C, Lake Baikal. Lying in southern Siberia in a rift valley, Baikal is the deepest lake on the earth and holds the largest volume of fresh water of any lake, roughly a fifth of the unfrozen fresh water on the surface of the planet. It is also one of the oldest lakes and has unique species such as the Baikal seal. A is wrong because the Caspian Sea is the largest lake by area but is saline and far shallower. B is wrong because Lake Balkhash in Kazakhstan is a shallow lake, remarkable for being fresh at one end and salty at the other. D is wrong because the Dead Sea is famous for lying at the lowest land surface on the earth and for its salinity, not for depth. Pair each superlative with its lake to avoid the usual confusion.