Sinai Peninsula
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50 free Sinai Peninsula trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
The Sinai Peninsula is a wedge of desert and granite between two arms of the Red Sea, and few places its size have mattered to so many people. Pharaohs sent mining expeditions here, pilgrims have climbed its most famous mountain for well over a thousand years, and in the twentieth century armies crossed it again and again. This quiz collects the best fun facts about the Sinai Peninsula: the geography of its coasts, gulfs and peaks, the stories the Bible sets here, the ancient monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai and the treasures in its care, and the wars and peace deals that decided who governs the land today. There are questions on reefs, shipwrecks and rare wildlife too. It suits travellers planning a trip to the Red Sea coast, students of Middle Eastern history, and anyone who likes a surprising fact. Every answer comes with a short explanation.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The Sinai Peninsula is the only part of Egypt on which continent, reached by crossing the Suez Canal?
Asia
Asia claims Sinai, making Egypt a country that straddles two continents. The peninsula is a land bridge of about 60,000 square kilometres between the two.
Q 02According to the Bible, what did Moses receive from God on Mount Sinai, known in Arabic as Jabal Musa?
The Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments are why the peak draws pilgrims: Jabal Musa means 'Mountain of Moses', and many visitors climb through the night to watch sunrise from the top.
Q 03Christian tradition says angels carried what to the top of Mount Catherine, Egypt's highest mountain, in the Sinai?
A martyr's body
A martyr's body, that of Catherine of Alexandria, was by legend set on the summit and later found by a monk. The peak stands taller than its famous neighbour, Mount Sinai.
Q 04Saint Catherine's Monastery in the Sinai, lived in since the 6th century, encloses which plant from the Bible?
The burning bush
The burning bush seen by Moses is claimed to stand inside the walls. Built between 548 and 565, this is the world's oldest continuously inhabited Christian monastery.
Q 05Ancient Egyptians called the Sinai Peninsula the 'Ladders of' which gemstone, mined there from the First Dynasty onward?
Turquoise
Turquoise drew Egyptian expeditions into Sinai for thousands of years, with miners working the deposits a season at a time at sites such as Wadi Maghareh.
Q 06Which Sinai Peninsula resort, nicknamed the 'City of Peace', hosted the COP27 climate conference in 2022?
Sharm El Sheikh
Sharm El Sheikh earned the title from the many peace summits held there. It was a fishing village and naval base before the hotels arrived.
Q 07Israel captured the whole Sinai Peninsula from Egypt during which 1967 conflict, before returning it by 1982?
Six-Day War
The Six-Day War saw Israeli forces hold all of Sinai by the fourth day. The Suez Canal on its western edge then stayed shut to shipping for eight years.
Q 08Which sea explorer found the wreck of SS Thistlegorm off the Sinai Peninsula in the 1950s, guided by local fishermen?
Jacques Cousteau
Jacques Cousteau raised a motorcycle, the captain's safe and the ship's bell from the wartime freighter, sunk by German bombers in 1941. It is now a celebrated dive site.
Q 09The Sinai baton blue, found only on mountain thyme near Saint Catherine in Egypt, is a tiny species of which insect?
Butterfly
Butterfly it is, and one of the world's smallest: the Sinai baton blue lays its eggs on a single plant, Sinai thyme, and lives nowhere else on Earth.
Q 10Egyptian engineers breached Israel's Bar Lev Line sand wall on Sinai's canal bank in 1973 using what?
Water cannons
Water cannons, made from hoses fixed to dredging pumps, washed gaps through a wall up to 25 metres high. Israeli planners had expected any breach to take at least a day.
Q 11Which nomadic desert people, including the Tarabin and Muzeina tribes, are the Sinai Peninsula's historic inhabitants?
Bedouin
Bedouin tribes long had the desert largely to themselves. Large numbers of Egyptians from the Nile Valley and Delta later moved in to work in tourism.
Q 12The 1978 accords that led Israel to leave the Sinai Peninsula were negotiated at which American presidential retreat?
Camp David
Camp David hosted twelve days of secret talks in the Maryland hills, and the two leaders who negotiated there shared that year's Nobel Peace Prize.
Q 13Which Egyptian president won back the Sinai Peninsula by signing a 1979 peace treaty with Israel in Washington?
Anwar Sadat
Q 21Which Byzantine emperor ordered Saint Catherine's Monastery built at the foot of Mount Sinai in the 6th century?
Justinian I
Justinian I wrapped the new monastery around an older chapel, one that had been ordered by Helena, mother of the emperor Constantine.
Q 22Although it stands in Egypt, Saint Catherine's Monastery in the Sinai belongs to which branch of Christianity?
Greek Orthodox
Greek Orthodox monks run it through the self-governing Church of Sinai, whose archbishop is traditionally consecrated by the Patriarch of Jerusalem.
Q 23Which unexpected building, converted from a chapel in Fatimid times, stands inside Saint Catherine's Monastery in Sinai?
A mosque
Anwar Sadat had stunned the region by visiting Jerusalem in 1977; the treaty followed 16 months later. Egypt was suspended from the Arab League for a decade over it.
Q 14Which Sinai town on the Gulf of Aqaba, called the diving capital of South Sinai, is the gateway to the Blue Hole?
Dahab
Dahab lies a few kilometres south of the Blue Hole, a sinkhole just over 100 metres deep. Its sunken tunnel, the Arch, is an extreme dive that has claimed many lives.
Q 15Which giant container ship ran aground in the Suez Canal beside Sinai in March 2021, blocking world trade for days?
Ever Given
Ever Given, almost 400 metres long, wedged itself across the channel and held up shipping until salvage crews freed it nearly a week later.
Q 16Which French diplomat founded the company that dug the Suez Canal, the channel dividing Sinai from the rest of Egypt?
Ferdinand de Lesseps
Ferdinand de Lesseps won the concession through his friendship with Egypt's ruler Sa'id Pasha. His later attempt at a sea-level canal in Panama collapsed amid disease and debt.
Q 17The Gulf of Aqaba, east of the Sinai Peninsula, has shores in Egypt, Israel, Saudi Arabia and which fourth country?
Jordan
Jordan has just 26 kilometres of coast here, its only outlet to the sea. Car ferries cross to its port from Nuweiba on the Sinai shore.
Q 18After Israel left Sinai in 1957, which organisation's Emergency Force was stationed there to keep the peace?
United Nations
The United Nations sent UNEF, its first military force of the kind, which grew to 6,000 troops. Egypt ordered the peacekeepers out in May 1967, weeks before fighting resumed.
Q 19Which shape does the Sinai Peninsula form on a map, between the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqaba?
A triangle
A triangle, with the Mediterranean along its top edge and a gulf running down each side to the southern tip at Ras Muhammad.
Q 20In the Book of Exodus, which idol did the Israelites make while Moses was away on Mount Sinai?
A golden calf
A golden calf was cast by Aaron from the people's earrings and ornaments, after they feared Moses would never come back down the mountain.
A mosque has stood within the walls for some nine centuries and is still used on special occasions, one reason the site is honoured by three faiths.
Q 24Stalin's government sold the Codex Sinaiticus, a Bible from Saint Catherine's Monastery, to which institution in 1933?
British Museum
The British Museum paid £100,000, raised by public subscription. The 4th-century manuscript holds the oldest complete copy of the New Testament.
Q 25The hoard of early manuscripts at Saint Catherine's Monastery in the Sinai is outnumbered only by which collection?
Vatican Library
The Vatican Library alone holds more early codices. Sinai's own, founded in the 6th century, is recognised by Guinness as the world's oldest continuously operating library.
Q 26The Multinational Force and Observers, which monitors the Sinai peace, is run from headquarters in which European city?
Rome
Rome hosts the director-general, while the troops are based in Sinai itself. The force was created in 1981 as a stand-alone organisation, after a threatened Soviet veto blocked the usual peacekeeping route.
Q 27Which country paid for most of the Suez Canal Bridge, opened in 2001 to link mainland Egypt with the Sinai Peninsula?
Japan
Japan covered 60 percent of the cost, and the crossing is also called the Japan-Egypt Friendship Bridge. Its two towers are shaped like Pharaonic obelisks.
Q 28Lake Bardawil, a salty lagoon on the Sinai Peninsula's north coast, is named after which Crusader king of Jerusalem?
Baldwin I
Baldwin I fell ill on a raid into Egypt in 1118 and died on the Sinai coast while being carried back to Jerusalem.
Q 29Ras Muhammad, the marine park at the Sinai Peninsula's southern tip, is said to be named for a cliff resembling what?
A bearded face
A bearded face in profile is the usual story: 'Ras' is Arabic for head, and bands of hard rock form the nose and chin of the cliff.
Q 30The medieval fortress on Pharaoh's Island, just off Sinai in the Gulf of Aqaba, officially carries which sultan's name?
Saladin
Saladin gives his name to the citadel, though some historians doubt he actually fortified the island. Despite its other name, Coral Island, the rock is solid granite.