Let me ask a question to all of you; Do you know which zone Dola-kha district or Argakhachi district is located in Nepal? I am sure fewer than 1% of you can answer that correctly.
But if I ask you which zone Kathmandu is located in then almost 100% of you can answer that correctly.

So why is it that most people know the location of a particular place but maximum of them do not know the location of a another given place.
The answer to that any place or country is widely known to people in general if that particular place has a direct significance to your life. If it is not relevant that place is as good as non-existent to that person.

We know:
Kathmandu for being the Capital of our country,
Japan for the electronics and cars,
US for job or education etc

We do not know Dola-kha or Argakhanchi because most of you do not interact with anything associated with those places. LOL!

If there is a afternoon news reporting that (let's say hypothetically), a massive landslide has covered the entire country of Lesotho, then your first question probably would be "Is there really a country with that name?"

Therefore, I am not surprised when an American does not know where/what Nepal is. If I were you, I would better get used to it.