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 is the longest in Asia and the longest anywhere to flow entirely within one country?

A) Ob

B) Yellow River

C) Mekong

D) Yangtze

Answer · why

D) Yangtze

Its Chinese name, Chang Jiang, simply means Long River. Its delta produces as much as a fifth of China's GDP.

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

It carries about a fifth of all river water reaching the oceans, more than the next seven rivers combined, and pushes fresh water more than 100 km out...

Q 04/05

How many bridges cross the world's biggest river by volume along its entire South American course?

A) One

B) None

C) Three

D) Twelve

Answer · why

B) None

Most of it runs through rainforest with few roads to connect, and in the wet season it can be 48 km wide.

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

He reported being attacked by female fighters. The river rises at Mismi Peak in the Peruvian Andes and crosses Peru, Colombia and Brazil.