Q 01/05

The Mississippi traditionally begins at which Minnesota lake?

A) Itasca

B) Bemidji

C) Leech

D) Winnibigoshish

Answer · why

A) Itasca

Itasca lies just 1,475 feet above sea level, so the river has less than a third of a mile to fall over a journey of about 2,300 miles.

Q 02/05

Which is the only US river longer than the Mississippi?

A) The Ohio

B) The Missouri

C) The Rio Grande

D) The Yukon

Answer · why

B) The Missouri

The Missouri is about 100 miles longer than the river it flows into, yet it is the one called the tributary; together they form a 3,710-mile system, t...

Q 03/05

Counted with its longest tributary, the Mississippi is the world's fourth-longest river system; which river ranks third?

A) The Nile

B) The Amazon

C) The Yangtze

D) The Congo

Answer · why

C) The Yangtze

The Yangtze is a couple of hundred miles longer; the American system only comes this close because it is measured from its farthest headwaters in Mont...

Q 04/05

The name Mississippi comes from Misi-ziibi, a phrase in which Native American language?

A) Lakota

B) Cherokee

C) Ojibwe

D) Choctaw

Answer · why

C) Ojibwe

Ojibwe speakers called it Misi-ziibi, and their name stuck for the whole river because the French first reached it in its upper reaches, in Algonquian...

Q 05/05

What does the name Misi-ziibi, from which 'Mississippi' derives, mean?

A) Winding River

B) Muddy Water

C) Long Snake

D) Great River

Answer · why

D) Great River

Great River, or simply big river, is what the two words say: misi for big, ziibi for river. The grander 'Father of Waters' is a nickname, not the lite...