Which country (including its territories) has the most time zones?
The answer may seem weird, but the reason is simple. France's overseas territories (such as Martinique or Guadeloupe) are considered parts of France, just as Hawaii is a part of the USA. As a result, France uses 12 different time zones, the most of any country in the world.
More Info:
en.wikipedia.org
What are your thoughts on this subject?
149 Comments
Empara Samuda
Incomplete question.A country as asked not including it's territories.
48
Nov 8, 2015 8:16PM
Glenn Rickert
I answered the US, and being told the answer was France, I knew it was wrong, so I researched it.
It mentioned USA with Hawaii, but it didn't mention Guam, the Philipinnes, Puerto Rico, the Northern Marianas, the Virgin Islands or the other Commonwealths. A commonwealth is not a territory. America has thousands of territories world wide, far more than any other country on the planet.
Not to mention any of the foreign countries that have US military bases on them. This fact should have been included in the question. The US has several military bases in France, (not to mention all of Europe) but there are no French military bases in the US. I thought that mabe they have some in Canada, but they actually don't. There are around 900 to 1,200 US military bases in over 50 countries worldwide. But figures are not precise as the government doesn't want you to know too much, plus not one single person knows every US military installation worldwide... That is unless you are the President of the United States or work in the Pentagon. But most figures that they lead on is around 50 countries or more. That's preposterous!
Let me mention the size of the United States, its commonwealths and territories, the countries where bases where official sources admit they exist, and how far they expand. The United States, as part of the North American Continent is longer, east to west than most every country is, especially when including Alaska and the Aleutian Islands which cover the ENTIRE NORTHERN PACIFIC OCEAN WHICH NEARLY TOUCHES RUSSIA! Though Alaska is not part of the continual US, as it doesn't border any other state, it does border the west coast line that is shared with California, Oregon and Washington. So if you put them together, then the US land mass total is third, only to Russia and Canada. The Aleutian Islands are all US territories. Besides, the furthest west of Alaska (as part of the North American Continent) is father west in the Pacific Ocean than Hawaii is, according to its line of latitude! The furthest southeast of Alaska is a time zone that BORDERS the PACIFIC TIME ZONE of California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Canada's British Columbia. and Yukon Territory (actually a province like the rest of the Canadian "states")
Every single time zone on the planet where there is land (continent) and water (island), has US military bases on them, except for the very farthest northeastern part of Siberian Russia, which is a very small area of land, where nothing lives except for intelligent and sentient snowflakes. All of western Eurpope except for Ireland has US bases, more than 90% of the middle east, eastern Eurasia (Kazakhstan and its surrounding countries) some of western South America, Australia and southeast Asia, Indonesia, and Japan have US bases there. That touches ALMOST EVERY TIME ZONE ON THE PLANET! If the time zones were constructed by the way the SUN HITS THEM instead of oddly shaped puzzle lines, then, the US would be in EVERY TIME ZONE. The only LARGE or MAJOR countries that have no US Military bases are Brazil, Mexico, China, India and Russia and its surrounding areas.
Only 11 countries have military bases in "foreign countries." These are China (1), Germany (1), Italy (3), Japan (1), Pakistan (1), Russia (9), Turkey (2), United Kingdom (16), India (1), France (15) and the United States (over 50) So, having it be "US CONTROLLED TERRITORIES" it would indeed be the United States having the most time zones. All France has is tiny little islands scattered around the oceans, a few countries in South America and Africa, and that's it. That is not FRANCE THE COUNTRY. Only TERRITORIES. The US as a country, from Maine to western Alaska covers 7 time zones, not including overseas territories.
Overseas French military bases include only the following countries and their time zones is listed here:
Burkina Faso (UTC +0)
Cameroon (UTC +1, Same as France)
Central African Republic (WAT / UTC +1, again)
Chad (WAT / UTC +1)
Djibouti (EAT / UTC +3)
Gabon (WAT / UTC +1)
Germany (CET / UTC +1, CEST / UTC +2 during the summer. One base in Mullheim)
Guinea (UTC +0)
Ivory Coast / Cote d'Ivoire (GMT / UTC +0)
Lebanon (EET / UTC +2, EEST / UTC +3)
Mali (The largest with a mere 2,000 troops) (GMT / UTC +0)
Niger (WAT / UTC +1)
Senegal (UTC +0)
Kosovo (CET / UTC +1, CEST / UTC +2)
United Arab Emerates (GST / UTC +4)
That's a total of 5 time zones
These are their territories, which the question asked for:
French Guinea (GFT / UTC -3)
French Polynesia (UTC -10, UTC -9:30, UTC -9)
Guadeloupe (ETC / UTC -4)
Martinique (ETC / UTC -4)
Mayotte (EAT / UTC +3)
New Caledonia (UTC +11)
Reunion (RET / UTC +4)
Saint Pierre & Miquelon (UTC -3, UTC -2)
A total of 7 time zones for territories, plus France itself is 8.
Look at the total numbers of countries in the applicable UTC codes:
+0 = 5
+1 = 7
+2 = 3
+3 = 3
+4 = 2
+11 = 1
-2 = 1
-3 = 3
-4 = 2
-9 = 1
-9:30 = 1 (A half hour is cheating!)
-10 = 1
So, yes, that is a total of 12 time zones, like the answer was giving us...
BUT...
Remember, I included the military bases to get that 12 count, which the question only asked the country of France and its territories, not its military bases. With France being in UTC +1, is NOT 12, but 8.
So if you consider how the question cheated, including France's military bases along with the territories, the United States MUST BE INCLUDED with the counting of military bases in foreign countries on contenents and islands surrounding almost the entire globe for all of its time zones.
The writers of this question were not only misleading and wrong, but downright ignorant. This is why I have been avoiding Quizzclub for a few months because the questions are poorly written and misleading, poorly researched and the answer is usually COMPLETELY WRONG COMPARED TO FACTS. It's a good thing we can make comments and correct these people.
Hey, I only did my research just now. It's not like I really knew this stuff beforehand. But I knew that the US "occupied" more time zones than France did. What a shame. There goes a perfectly good string of correct answers in a row for most of you folks that actually got the answer CORRECT, when the website said that you're wrong.
They should be ashamed of themselves for this. Naughty, N-O-T-Y, Naughty!
Why did I write this big huge thing? I just like to tell the truth and educate people to the best of my ability, that's all. I'm sure many will agree with me, and at least I took the time to research it for you, instead of you having to take the few precious hours you have to spare in doing it yourself and being cheated and lied to and made to think you were wrong. Hopefully this comment brightens your day.
Have a happy New Year 2016! May all your wishes come true and you have many successes.
36
Jan 6, 2016 4:30AM
essalam.aarfan
I agree with you Empara. The question is not clear
18
Jan 2, 2016 12:01PM
Fran Donnelly
I also agree, it's ambiguous.
17
Jan 5, 2016 11:53AM
filmnut
It's just weird that you put trick questions in this game. Russia has
nine(9) time zones. If you look into the world of diplomatic relations you will see that embassies are consider to be part of the country they represent. I think you can follow my point without too much explanation.
10
Nov 13, 2015 4:11AM
José Raúl Barreras
Tricky question!
9
Nov 11, 2015 1:00AM
Dave Mackey
There's a difference between tricky and ambiguous.
9
Apr 3, 2016 1:55PM
scottthelen
This is (yet again) another trick question. If you do not have a valid trivia question, please do not contribute.
8
Dec 16, 2015 3:54PM
eugene wilson
Glenn Rickert Philippines is not a part of USA
6
Mar 18, 2016 5:42PM
Richard D. Boyle
7% correct does not represent a question that should be repeated. Too contentious.
0
Aug 3, 2021 11:48PM
Denise Currie
I got this question a couple of weeks ago on here and got it wrong, I was surpirsed that a country as small as France had more time zones than the others, which of course helped me recall it this time
0
Mar 11, 2020 10:33AM
Johnny Rock
Figured it was the least most likely answer for this one and I was right.
1
Mar 5, 2020 12:28AM
Kay Singleton Lundgren
Poorly worded question.
1
Mar 3, 2017 7:56PM
Pedro Ólafsson Riba
you got me!
1
Feb 17, 2017 6:02PM
Dolores Wieland
Empara Samuda, Seems complete to me.....No problem answering it...
0
Feb 10, 2017 10:58PM
Benito de Franceschi
Charles Rosenberg, Charles go further. How about Okinawa, American Samoa. When you count time zones the country you question( France Russia etc.) should be conteguos, not all over the map..
0
Feb 8, 2017 11:27PM
Benito de Franceschi
JD ELSMORE, Yeah, let`s have a legit question.
0
Feb 8, 2017 11:15PM
KP
The question said nothing about territories.
1
Feb 7, 2017 8:53AM
Carol Lauter
I would never have guessed France. Kind of a trick question. They should have said including territories!
1
Feb 6, 2017 7:50PM
Cathy Condon Nail
Kind of tricky. So, good one!
1
Feb 6, 2017 7:20PM
Mella Cappuccio
Excellent question, I learned something today.
1
Feb 5, 2017 5:23PM
Linda Pompa
Very surprised.Had no idea. GOOD Question.
0
Feb 5, 2017 2:35PM
Roger McCoy
You're not taking into account the U.S. territories such as Guam and Puerto Rico. Also, France has one, Guadalupe has one and Martinique has one. That's three, not 12. The question was "has" the most; not "uses" the most. You're wrong both ways.
0
Feb 4, 2017 3:27AM
Leah Colson
I wouldn't compare France's territories to Hawaii since Hawaii is a state.
0
Feb 3, 2017 1:14PM
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