Club Quiz Answers

[carolegif]

Last night at our club quiz there was a doubt over some answers.

1. Which is the biggest island in the world? Several of us said Greenland, but were told that it was Australia.

2. What was the first proper bicycle known as? Again, several of us said "Boneshaker", but were told that it was the Penny Farthing. We thought that the Penny Farthing was much later in bicycle history terms?

Can any of you help please? It didn't affect the outcome luckily!

Thanks

carolegif

[john@hillwal]

Technically Australia is a continental land mass. Sounds like a poorly worded question to me.

[CLOWN TICKLE]

boneshaker was first, australia is and is a continent

penny f was first with a pedal

[Clayhead]

Someone has come up with the now-accepted definition of an island that excludes continents, so the correct answer should be Greenland.

[carolegif]

Thnak you both! It seems that continents cannot be islands then!!

carolegif

[Munden]

So what continent is New Zealand and Papua new Guinea, Samoa, etc in? is it not Australasia? If so, then surely Australia should be the largest island!!!

[Solon]

The answer to Munden's dilemma is that "Australasia" is not a continent but a region of Oceania encompassing Australia, New Zealand, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term was coined in 1756 by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes from the Latin for "south of Asia" to differentiate it from Polynesia (to the east), the southeast Pacific (Magellanica) and Micronesia (to the northeast).