Q 01/05

What is the Rio Grande called in Mexico?

A) Río Salado

B) Río Conchos

C) Río Bravo

D) Río Colorado

Answer · why

C) Río Bravo

Río Bravo. Bravo means wild or turbulent, and Mexico kept that old Spanish name for the lower river while American settlers in South Texas made Rio Gr...

Q 02/05

The Civil War's last land battle came on the Rio Grande over a month after whose surrender?

A) Robert E. Lee

B) Joseph Johnston

C) Stonewall Jackson

D) Braxton Bragg

Answer · why

A) Robert E. Lee

Robert E. Lee. Both commanders at Palmito Ranch, near Brownsville, knew the war in the east was over when they fought on 13 May 1865; the Confederates...

Q 03/05

Which of these rivers is longer than the Rio Grande?

A) The Columbia

B) The Ohio

C) The Arkansas

D) The Yukon

Answer · why

D) The Yukon

The Yukon. It runs about 1,980 miles against roughly 1,900 for the Rio Grande, whose length shifts as its course changes; depending on how it is measu...

Q 04/05

In which US state does the Rio Grande rise?

A) Colorado

B) Utah

C) Texas

D) New Mexico

Answer · why

A) Colorado

Colorado. The river starts as a clear, snow-fed stream about 12,000 feet up near the Continental Divide, a cold mountain birth for a river best known ...

Q 05/05

Into which body of water does the Rio Grande empty?

A) The Caribbean Sea

B) The Gulf of California

C) The Pacific Ocean

D) The Gulf of Mexico

Answer · why

D) The Gulf of Mexico

The Gulf of Mexico. Dams and irrigation in both countries take so much water on the way that only a fraction of the river's natural flow ever arrives.