CDS (I) 2022 General Knowledge · Question 33 of 120

Correct — B, North Atlantic Ocean. Bermuda is a self-governing British Overseas Territory of about 54 square kilometres sitting alone in the open western North Atlantic, roughly 1,035 km east-south-east of the Outer Banks of North Carolina, with Hamilton as its capital. Nothing else is anywhere near it — no continental shelf, no island chain, just an isolated volcanic pedestal capped with coral. That isolation is the whole point of the question: Bermuda is often filed mentally under the Caribbean because of its climate, its colonial history and the Bermuda Triangle, but it lies far to the north of the Caribbean Sea, about 1,759 km north-north-east of Havana.

• (a)Caribbean Sea — The commonest wrong answer, and the reason the question is asked. The Caribbean Sea lies between the Greater and Lesser Antilles and the coasts of Central and South America; Bermuda is roughly 1,750 km north of Cuba, well outside it. Bermuda holds only associate membership of the Caribbean Community, which is a diplomatic arrangement rather than a geographical fact.
• (c)Gulf of Mexico — The Gulf of Mexico is the semi-enclosed basin ringed by the United States, Mexico and Cuba. Bermuda lies on the far side of Florida and the Bahamas from it, in open ocean.
• (d)Mediterranean Sea — Wrong ocean entirely. The Mediterranean is an inland sea between Europe, Asia and Africa; the Balearics, Malta and Cyprus are its island groups, not Bermuda.

Bermuda is an archipelago of about 180 low coral islands and islets built on the eroded rim of an extinct submarine volcano in the western North Atlantic. Settled by the English from 1609, it is Britain's oldest remaining overseas territory. Its warmth comes from the Gulf Stream, which sweeps north-east past the islands and gives Bermuda a subtropical climate at a latitude of about 32 degrees north — the same latitude as northern Africa, not the tropics.

This is a placement question, and placement questions are answered by anchoring one known point. Bermuda sits north of the tropics and well out to sea from the American mainland, so the only container big enough is the open Atlantic. The trap works through association: Bermuda is British, subtropical, tourist-facing and shares a triangle legend with Miami and Puerto Rico, so it feels Caribbean. The triangle itself is the giveaway — its three corners are southern Florida, Puerto Rico and Bermuda, which means Bermuda must be outside the Caribbean, since it is the far northern vertex.

• Bermuda is a British Overseas Territory in the North Atlantic Ocean, with a land area of about 54 sq km and Hamilton as its capital.
• It lies about 1,035 km east-south-east of the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and about 1,759 km north-north-east of Havana.
• It is not in the Caribbean Sea, although it is an associate member of the Caribbean Community.
• The islands are coral caps on an extinct volcanic seamount, and the Gulf Stream keeps their climate subtropical.
• The Bermuda Triangle is conventionally drawn between southern Florida, Puerto Rico and Bermuda.

• Filing Bermuda under the Caribbean because of climate, colonial history or the triangle legend.
• Confusing the Bahamas with the Caribbean too — they also lie in the Atlantic, north of the Caribbean Sea.
• Treating associate membership of a regional body as evidence of physical location.

As a one-line 'where is this island group' item, or embedded in a list asking which of several islands lie in a named sea or ocean.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The three commonly cited corners of the Bermuda Triangle are Bermuda, Puerto Rico and which one of the following?

  • (a)Southern Florida
  • (b)The Azores
  • (c)Cape Verde
  • (d)Newfoundland

  Answer(a) Southern Florida — the triangle is drawn between southern Florida, Puerto Rico and Bermuda, which places Bermuda at its northern vertex, outside the Caribbean.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which one of the following island groups lies in the Mediterranean Sea?

  • (a)The Bahamas
  • (b)The Balearic Islands
  • (c)The Canary Islands
  • (d)The Azores

  Answer(b) The Balearic Islands — Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera lie in the western Mediterranean off Spain; the other three groups are Atlantic.