How I Memorized Every Country in The World in Just 1 Week

This week, I used Countries of the World Quiz to help me learn the names of every country in the world. Was I successful? Let’s find out.

I initially took the quiz to test the knowledge that I would be going into this challenge with. There are 196 countries in the world and I could only name less than half of them.

I was surprised to see how easy it was to improve, though. After days of progress, I worked my way up to being able to name all the countries in the Americas, Europe and Asia! I still struggled with Oceania and Africa, though. There are so many little countries here. 

By the end of the week, I could name every single country in the world. I was super proud of myself. 

I focused by efforts moving left to right on the map. So, I started really trying to learn the Americas. This was definitely the easiest for me, because it is the closest to where I live geographically and I already has some prior knowledge on this region from high school, because I was very interested in Latino cultures. The hardest for me to learn were the very tiny countries that you barely see on a map, like St. Lucia, St. Vincent and St. Kitts. 

When taking the quizzes, I also sometimes referenced a labelled map when I didn’t know any more countries. Doing this repeatedly helped me memorize those countries, to the point that I no longer needed a map. 

I came up with little connections to a bunch of countries that helped me memorize them. They could be song lyrics, youtube videos, people I have met, simply the way the word looks, famous people from that country, or some type of memory or connection that I have to that country. Here is a list of some of those connection I made, to help me remembers countries:

El Salvador – Went from being the dangerous country in the western world to the safest.
Panama – where the main characters of Prison Break escaped to

Antigua and Barbuda – sounds like “Antique” and “Bermuda triangle”
Bahamas – Where I visited in grade 8
Barbados – where Rihanna is from
Cuba – Fidel Castro, where my dad likes to visit, I visited twice
Dominica – Sounds like Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic – Where Romeo Santos is from. I like their accents.
Jamaica – Where the YouTuber HeyParis is from
Saint Lucia – I saw a guy on Instagram talking about being raised in Saint Lucia
Argentina – Some Nazis went here after WWII
Bolivia – Sounds like the name Olivia
Colombia – Where Sofia Vergara is from
Ecuador – Sounds like the word “equator”
Suriname – sounds like the word “Surname”
Albania – There was a guy in my homeroom in highschool from Albania
Andorra – I didn’t know that there was a country between Spain and France. Its pretty cool.
Armenia – Where the Kardashian’s father is from
Austria – where Hitler is from
Azerbaijan – My friend visited this country after Christmas 2024. 
Belgium – I mix up their flag with the german flag
Bosnia and Herzegovina – where my best friend in high school was from
Bulgaria – In season 2 of the TV show, Rise of Empires Ottomon, there was a spy that claimed to be from bulgaria, but she was really from Romania
Croatia – I knew a girl in high school from Croatia
Cyprus – The image on their flag reminds me of a pork-chop
Estonia – I didnt know this country existed until I started this challenge. Their flag is very unique.
Georgia – My great-grandparents lived here before they moved to Canada. They have really cool dances and hats.
Greece – Many people from my high school were from here. Greek mythology
Hungary – Sounds like the word “hungry”
Iceland – Its called Iceland, but its green. The opposite of Greenland.
Ireland – Connor McGreggor
Italy – pizza and pasta
Liechtenstein – very small country that I didnt know existed until I started this challenge
Malta – When I studied abroad in the UAE, I met a girl from here. They have a very interesting culture, because they speak a mixture of Italian and Arabic
Moldova – Andrei from 90 Day Fiance is from this country
Monaco – this video. LOL

Montenegro – I played an app that is like a kids-version of Among Us and it had voice chat. There was someone on the game from Montenegro

North Macedonia – Alexander the Great was Macedonian

Portugal – This is where Ronaldo is from
Romania – this is where Vlad the Impaler is from and this is where Andrew Tate lives
San Marino – a very small country inside of Italy where rich people go

Vatican – Where the pope lives. A micro-nation inside of italy

Afghanistan – They recently changed their government and their flag
Bahrain – the only shia-majority gulf country
Cambodia – My mom visited this place when she was in the army
Indonesia – where my friend is from. I met her during my time abroad in the UAE and she worked at the international exchange office. I would love to visit
Iraq – where one of my closest friends is from
Jordan – Petra. My dad visited this place when I was in highschool. We planned to take a trip here after I graduated high school, but I graduated in 2020, so we couldnt travel due to COVID
Kuwait – Probably the hottest country in the world. I met some kuwaitis in the UAE and they said it was even too hot for locals
Lebanon – I’ve heard that the people from this country are very beautiful
Malaysia – similar to indonesia
Maldives – A beautiful vacation spot that many people in Dubai visit, because it is close
Mongolia – Ghengis Khan!!
Oman – I went here on a field trip with my class when I studied abroad in the UAE. I loved it. I would definitely go again

Philippines – My friend is from here. Karaoke is common in their culture.
Qatar – where the 2022 world cup
Saudi Arabia – where mecca and medina are. I have also been here and would definitely go again
Singapore – “No, im singaporean”

Sri Lanka – they have a cool flag
Syria – where some of my friends are from. They recently beat their old oppressive government. I am very happy for them.
Taiwan – I lived here when I was a kid
United Arab Emirates – Where I studied abroad!
Uzbekistan – met some people from here in Dubai
Marshall Islands – My friend’s last name is Marshall
Burkina Faso – sounds like the word “bikini”
Egypt – pyramids
Guinea – my friend Khadijah is from this country. Also reminds me of the animal Guinea Pig
Madagascar – the movie
Mali – its in my name A(mali)a
Mauritania – people travel here to learn the quran
Seychelles – sounds like the word “seashells”
Sierra Leone – diamonds. Also, my grandma’s husband once got a phone-call out of sierra leone. My grandma saw it, got angry, and said “who is sierra and why is she calling you???”.  

Somalia – rhymes with my name

I wonder, readers, how many countries do you think you could name if you took this quiz right now? If you took the quiz, what was your score? How much do you think you would improve in 1 week?

Keep up with my next blog to see how I progress!