Lesson Y9-U06-L05

Y9-U06-L05 The Geopolitics of the Arctic Quiz: KS3 Geography, Unit 18

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

In partnership with Revision Ninja

Lesson Y9-U06-L05, The Geopolitics of the Arctic: 20 multiple choice questions for the KS3 Geography (National Curriculum), Unit 18: Year 9: Contested Worlds: Resources, Conflict and Geopolitics, written with Revision Ninja.

Host it live on the board and students join with a game code on their own devices, or revise alone with Free Play. The answers are revealed in the game.

Host this setFree Play

The 20 questions

  1. Define geopolitics in one sentence.

    • How countries share the same sports rules for international events
    • How countries agree the names of their capital cities on maps
    • How countries compete for power, land and resources
    • How countries set the exact boundaries of their national parks

  2. Name two resources that may be hidden under the Arctic seabed.

    • Oil and gas
    • Timber from the forests of the coast
    • Salt from the surface of the sea
    • Sand and gravel from the shoreline

  3. Why is melting sea ice opening new shipping routes?

    • Ice has been replaced by a new road built across the sea
    • Less ice leaves open water that ships can sail through
    • Ships are now allowed to break ice in any location they choose
    • Ships no longer need any route because the sea has dried up

  4. Name two of the five countries that border the Arctic Ocean.

    • France and Germany
    • Brazil and Argentina
    • Japan and South Korea
    • Russia and Canada

  5. Which two countries have coasts facing the Pole from the opposite side to Russia?

    • Brazil and Chile, which both border the Pacific Ocean
    • Norway and Sweden, which both border the Baltic Sea
    • Canada and Greenland, which is part of Denmark
    • Iceland and Finland, which both lie far from the Arctic

  6. How far out does a country's exclusive economic zone reach?

    • 50 nautical miles from its coast
    • 2000 nautical miles from its coast
    • 20 nautical miles from its coast
    • 200 nautical miles from its coast

  7. What is a continental shelf?

    • A fishing boat used to measure the depth of the sea
    • A high mountain range that rises from the ocean floor and reaches above the sea level
    • A type of ice that forms along the edge of the coast
    • The shallow seabed that slopes out from a country's coast under the sea

  8. How can a country claim sea beyond 200 nautical miles?

    • By buying the sea from a neighbouring country
    • By sending a ship to sail beyond the limit and planting a flag
    • By proving that its continental shelf extends further out under the sea
    • By asking the local council to extend its national border

  9. Why do Arctic claims overlap near the North Pole?

    • Facing coasts reach outwards towards the same seabed, so claims meet
    • Each country has moved its coastline further north each year
    • Each country has agreed to share the seabed equally
    • Each country has built a wall of ice across the ocean

  10. Why is the Arctic described as 'contested'?

    • The Arctic is a land area owned entirely by one nation
    • Every country has agreed to a fixed border across the ocean
    • Several countries claim the same resources, and none clearly owns them
    • No country has ever visited the Arctic or made any claim

  11. What is the main reason the Arctic is becoming more valuable?

    • Melting ice has stopped all ships from using the ocean
    • Melting ice has turned the Arctic into a tropical rainforest
    • Melting ice has removed all the minerals from the seabed
    • Melting ice uncovers resources and opens new shipping routes

  12. By roughly how much has the summer sea-ice cover shrunk since 1980?

    • About 10 percent
    • About 90 percent
    • About 40 percent
    • About 4 percent

  13. Which country's claim would most likely reach furthest towards the North Pole?

    • The USA, because its Arctic coastline lies in the far south
    • Russia, because it has the longest Arctic coastline
    • Norway, because it has the smallest coastline of the five
    • Denmark, because it has only a small part of the coast

  14. Russia mapped the Lomonosov Ridge to argue for its claim. What was the purpose?

    • To find the best place to build a new airport for ships
    • To prove that the ridge is a mountain range on dry land near the coast
    • To argue that its continental shelf reaches the North Pole
    • To show the location of its largest oil wells on land

  15. An area sits halfway between Greenland and Russia. Why might it be disputed?

    • Only the country with the largest ice sheet can claim it
    • Neither coast is near the area, so no country can claim it
    • Both coasts are a similar distance away, so both claims could reach it
    • The area is land, so sea claims do not apply to it

  16. Which is the best reason a country's claim may be stronger than another's?

    • Its ships are older than those of the other countries
    • Its coastline is nearer to the disputed area of seabed
    • Its flag is larger than the flags of the other countries
    • Its scientists have published more books about the Arctic

  17. Evaluate in one sentence: should the country with the longest coastline automatically get the most seabed?

    • Yes, because the longest coastline always decides every claim
    • Yes, because longer coastlines always produce more oil and gas
    • No, because the legal and scientific case matters as well as coastline length
    • No, because seabed can never be claimed by any country at all

  18. Which fact explains why the Arctic has become important for shipping?

    • Ships no longer need to carry any cargo across the sea, so they can sail empty
    • Ships are only used for tourism and never for goods
    • Ships can now sail on land across the frozen tundra
    • Open water lets ships take shorter, cheaper paths between continents

  19. Why is the seabed under the Arctic valuable to countries?

    • It may hold oil, gas and minerals that countries want to use
    • It is home to the largest freshwater lakes in the world
    • It is a flat plain that is ideal for growing wheat
    • It is covered in tropical coral reefs that attract many tourists from around the world

  20. Which is the best definition of a territorial claim?

    • A treaty signed by two countries to share a shipping route
    • A law that bans all ships from entering a particular sea
    • A map drawn by an explorer to show the edge of a coastline
    • A country saying that an area of land or sea belongs to it

All KS3 Geography quizzes