Arab League quiz

What's on this map

The 22 members of the Arab League, founded in Cairo in 1945. The map runs from the Atlantic coast of Africa to the Persian Gulf, plus a few outliers people forget. Comoros, which joined in 1993, is the newest member.

Start with North Africa, west to east: Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt. Sudan sits below Egypt. Then the Horn of Africa adds Djibouti and Somalia.

The Arabian Peninsula is the core: Saudi Arabia in the middle, Yemen and Oman along the south, and the Gulf members Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates on the east coast. North of the peninsula are Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine.

The last one is far away: Comoros, an island group in the Indian Ocean between Mozambique and Madagascar. The blanks matter too: Iran, Turkey and Israel are not members.

The ones people miss

• Comoros – islands off south-east Africa, nowhere near the rest. Hook: the newest member, capital Moroni.
• Mauritania – the western end of the map, often taken for part of the Sahara blank. Hook: on the Atlantic, capital Nouakchott.
• Djibouti – a small country on the Horn of Africa. Hook: it sits at the narrow strait between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
• Bahrain vs Qatar – both small Gulf members. Hook: Qatar is a peninsula; Bahrain is an island to its north-west.
• Palestine – the West Bank and Gaza, two separate areas. Hook: between Jordan, Egypt and the Mediterranean.

How to learn it

• Do Find on the map in three sweeps: North Africa, then the Arabian Peninsula, then the countries north of it.
• Add the outliers last as a set: Djibouti, Somalia and Comoros.
• Population is worth one run: Egypt far ahead, the Gulf states and Comoros near the bottom.
• Done is a clean Name them all plus a perfect Capitals round, including Moroni and Nouakchott.