Q 01/05

Which two rivers are locked in a long-running dispute over the title of world's longest?

A) The Nile and the Amazon

B) The Yangtze and the Mississippi

C) The Nile and the Congo

D) The Amazon and the Yangtze

Answer · why

A) The Nile and the Amazon

The Nile is traditionally listed at about 6,650 km, but some scientists measure the Amazon as longer if you count it to the Pará estuary.

Q 02/05

Which river did Julius Caesar cross with his army, giving us the phrase for passing the point of no return?

A) Tiber

B) Rubicon

C) Po

D) Volturno

Answer · why

B) Rubicon

Roman law barred a general from leading troops into Italy, so crossing the Rubicon made Caesar an outlaw and started a civil war.

Q 03/05

By discharge volume, which river is by far the largest in the world?

A) Ganges

B) Congo

C) Amazon

D) Yangtze

Answer · why

C) Amazon

No bridge crosses the Amazon's main channel: it runs mostly through rainforest with very few roads or cities, so people cross by ferry.

Q 04/05

Florence's Ponte Vecchio was the city's only bridge to survive World War II; which river does it cross?

A) Tiber

B) Arno

C) Po

D) Adige

Answer · why

B) Arno

The Ponte Vecchio over the Arno is famous for the row of shops built along both its sides.

Q 05/05

Which Spanish explorer navigated and named South America's greatest river in 1542?

A) Francisco de Orellana

B) Francisco Pizarro

C) Hernán Cortés

D) Vasco Núñez de Balboa

Answer · why

A) Francisco de Orellana

Francisco de Orellana joined Gonzalo Pizarro's search for the rumoured Land of Cinnamon, and ended up sailing the river all the way to the Atlantic.