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50 free Southeast Asia trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Eleven countries, about 676 million people, the world's largest archipelago, the largest religious complex on Earth, the longest river in the region, the biggest lizard, the biggest flower and the most violent volcanic eruption in recorded history. Southeast Asia packs a lot in. These 50 questions range across geography (the Mekong, Hkakabo Razi, Puncak Jaya's glaciers, Tonlé Sap, the Gulf of Thailand, the Wallace Line), history (Funan, Srivijaya, the Chola raid, Angkor, Majapahit, the spread of Islam, Portuguese Malacca, the Manila galleon, Siam's escape from colonisation, ASEAN's 1967 founding, Timor-Leste in 2002), nature (Komodo dragons, Rafflesia, orangutans, Krakatoa, Lake Toba, the Coral Triangle) and culture (durian bans, sepak takraw, gamelan, Borobudur, Bagan, Naypyidaw). Every answer is cited to a page we checked and each explanation adds one more detail. Play it solo or print it for a geography round.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01How many countries make up Southeast Asia and ASEAN?
Eleven
Timor-Leste was the last to join ASEAN, in 2025; Papua New Guinea is an observer.
Q 02Which is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia?
Laos
It has three UNESCO World Heritage Sites, including Luang Prabang and the Plain of Jars.
Q 03Which is the longest river in Southeast Asia?
Mekong
It rises on the Tibetan Plateau and runs 4,900 km through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.
Q 04What is the highest mountain in Southeast Asia?
Hkakabo Razi
It rises 5,967 metres in the far north of Myanmar.
Q 05As of the early 2020s, which peak was the only place in Southeast Asia with glaciers?
Puncak Jaya
It rises 5,030 metres on the island of New Guinea, in Indonesian Papua; its small ice fields have been shrinking rapidly.
Q 06Which lake in Cambodia is the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia?
Tonlé Sap
At its maximum it covers about 16,000 square kilometres.
Q 07Which is the largest country in Southeast Asia, and the world's largest archipelago?
Indonesia
It comprises about 17,000 islands and is the region's only member of the G-20.
Q 08Roughly how many islands make up the archipelago of Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao?
7,641
They are grouped into Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao, and the country has no single majority ethnic group.
Q 09Which Indonesian island is the most densely populated large island in the world?
Java
More than a fifth of all Southeast Asians, about 143 million people, live on it.
Q 10Which is the largest ethnic group in Southeast Asia, numbering over 100 million?
Javanese
The Vietnamese (Kinh) are second with around 86 million.
Q 11Which country, then called Siam, was the only one in the region to avoid European colonisation?
Thailand
Siam was renamed Thailand after the 1932 revolution that made it a constitutional monarchy.
Q 12Which British ruler of Java publicised Borobudur to the world in 1814?
Stamford Raffles
Local Indonesians told him where the buried monument lay; the big UNESCO restoration finished in 1983.
Q 13In which city was the ASEAN Declaration signed on 8 August 1967?
Bangkok
Five foreign ministers signed it at Saranrom Palace; the ASEAN secretariat is now in Jakarta.
Q 21Which East Kalimantan city was designated in 2022 to replace Jakarta as capital?
Nusantara
Parts of Jakarta have been sinking by up to 28 centimetres a year due to land subsidence.
Q 22Which Vietnamese metropolis is the country's largest, though not its capital?
Ho Chi Minh City
Vietnam is one of two communist states in Southeast Asia and has over 102 million people.
Q 23Angkor Wat was built in the 12th century as a Hindu temple dedicated to which god?
Vishnu
From the late 13th century it became a Buddhist temple, and it appears on Cambodia's national flag.
Q 14Which country became ASEAN's 11th member in 2025?
Timor-Leste
Its capital is Dili, and it is predominantly Roman Catholic after centuries of Portuguese rule.
Q 15On what date did the eastern half of Timor become the first new sovereign state of the 21st century?
20 May 2002
Indonesia had invaded in December 1975 and declared the territory its 27th province.
Q 16Which is the only sovereign state located entirely on the island of Borneo?
Brunei
Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah has ruled the absolute monarchy since 1967.
Q 17Which Southeast Asian country is the least populated country in Asia?
Brunei
It had about 466,000 people in 2025, with the capital Bandar Seri Begawan home to roughly 64,000.
Q 18In what year did Singapore become an independent country after leaving Malaysia?
1965
It sits about one degree of latitude north of the equator, off the tip of the Malay Peninsula.
Q 19Which city serves as Malaysia's federal administrative capital?
Putrajaya
Kuala Lumpur remains the national capital and seat of the legislature.
Q 20What is the capital of Myanmar?
Naypyidaw
The planned city replaced Yangon in November 2005; its name means "abode of the king".
Q 24Which Khmer king commissioned Angkor Wat?
Suryavarman II
It is generally thought to have been intended as his mausoleum, which may explain its unusual westward orientation.
Q 25Borobudur, the world's largest Buddhist temple, is on which island?
Java
Built in the 8th–9th century, it was abandoned after Java's conversion to Islam and restored with UNESCO by 1983.
Q 26Bagan, with over 2,200 surviving temples, was the capital of which realm?
Pagan Kingdom
It was the first kingdom to unify the regions that became Myanmar, building over 10,000 temples on the plain.
Q 27Which maritime empire dominated the Malacca and Sunda straits for over five centuries?
Srivijaya
It rose as East–West trade shifted to sea routes through those straits in the fifth century.
Q 28Which Indian empire's 1025 naval raid sacked Kedah and reshaped regional trade?
Chola
The raid sacked the capital at Kedah and took its king captive.
Q 29Which empire, founded in eastern Java in 1293, was the last major Hindu kingdom?
Majapahit
Raden Wijaya used the Mongol fleet to crush Kadiri, then turned on his allies and drove them off Java.
Q 30Which European power arrived first in the region, taking Malacca in the 16th century?
Portugal
Tomé Pires wrote that whoever is lord of Malacca has his hand on the throat of Venice.