Q 01/05

The Atlantic ranks where among the world's five oceans by size?

A) Third largest

B) Fourth largest

C) Second largest

D) Largest

Answer · why

C) Second largest

It covers about 17% of Earth's surface and roughly a quarter of its water area.

Q 02/05

The Atlantic takes its name from which figure in Greek mythology?

A) Atlas

B) Poseidon

C) Oceanus

D) Triton

Answer · why

A) Atlas

Herodotus wrote of the 'Sea of Atlas' around 450 BC, meaning the waters beyond the Pillars of Hercules and the Atlas Mountains.

Q 03/05

British and American speakers jokingly call the North Atlantic what?

A) The moat

B) The ditch

C) The puddle

D) The pond

Answer · why

D) The pond

The understatement dates to 1640, when Charles I's Secretary of State wrote of the 'great Pond'.

Q 04/05

English cartographers of the Age of Discovery also called the Atlantic by what name?

A) Iberian Sea

B) Great Western Ocean

C) Sea of Darkness

D) Ocean of Columbus

Answer · why

B) Great Western Ocean

The southern Atlantic was separately known as the Aethiopian Ocean until the mid-19th century.

Q 05/05

Which line divides the Atlantic into its northern and southern halves?

A) The Prime Meridian

B) The Tropic of Cancer

C) The Mid-Atlantic Ridge

D) The Equator

Answer · why

D) The Equator

The basin itself is an elongated S-shape running between Europe and Africa on one side and the Americas on the other.