Q 01/05

The Amazon is the largest river in the world by which measure?

A) Depth

B) Discharge volume

C) Countries crossed

D) Basin population

Answer · why

B) Discharge volume

Discharge volume: it drains the world's largest river basin, gathering rainfall from both sides of the Equator.

Q 02/05

Into which ocean does the Amazon empty?

A) Atlantic

B) Pacific

C) Southern

D) Indian

Answer · why

A) Atlantic

For millions of years it flowed the other way, toward the Pacific, until the Andes rose and blocked it.

Q 03/05

Which river is usually ranked the world's longest, a title some researchers claim for the Amazon?

A) Yangtze

B) Mississippi

C) Nile

D) Yenisei

Answer · why

C) Nile

Nile: the ranking can flip because researchers disagree over which Peruvian headwater counts as the Amazon's start and which outlet marks its mouth.

Q 04/05

Why do the Rio Negro and Solimões flow side by side for kilometres before mixing?

A) An underwater ridge divides them

B) Different speeds and temperatures

C) Ocean tides hold them apart

D) A long sandbar splits the channel

Answer · why

B) Different speeds and temperatures

Different speeds and temperatures: the cooler, faster Solimões runs beside the warmer, slower Negro, whose dark colour comes from decayed plant matter...

Q 05/05

The Amazon basin's giant water lily is named after which monarch?

A) William IV

B) Louis Philippe

C) Queen Victoria

D) Isabella II

Answer · why

C) Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria: the lily's ribbed leaves inspired Joseph Paxton's lily house, which he scaled up into London's Crystal Palace.