Q 01/05

Which river is Europe's second longest, after the Volga?

A) The Rhine

B) The Danube

C) The Dnieper

D) The Elbe

Answer · why

B) The Danube

The Danube: since a canal joined it to the Main in 1992, river traffic can cross Europe from the North Sea to the Black Sea.

Q 02/05

Which revolutionary was born in the Volga city of Simbirsk, renamed Ulyanovsk in his honour in 1924?

A) Leon Trotsky

B) Alexander Kerensky

C) Vladimir Lenin

D) Nikolai Bukharin

Answer · why

C) Vladimir Lenin

Vladimir Lenin was born Vladimir Ulyanov in Simbirsk in 1870, and by a twist of history so was Alexander Kerensky, the head of government he overthrew...

Q 03/05

Which American river is slightly longer than the 3,500-km Volga?

A) Colorado

B) Rio Grande

C) Mississippi

D) Columbia

Answer · why

C) Mississippi

Mississippi: unlike it, the Volga never reaches an ocean, so ships from its ports get to the open sea only through canals.

Q 04/05

What affectionate name do Russian folklore and literature give the Volga?

A) Father Volga

B) Old Man Volga

C) Mother Volga

D) Sister Volga

Answer · why

C) Mother Volga

Mother Volga: in a much-loved Russian song the Cossack rebel Stenka Razin calls the river his dear mother as he hurls his captive princess into it, a ...

Q 05/05

The name Volga is thought to derive from a Proto-Slavic word meaning what?

A) Greatness

B) Wetness

C) Swiftness

D) Stillness

Answer · why

B) Wetness

Wetness: Max Vasmer's etymological dictionary ties Volga to a Slavic root for damp that survives in Russian vlaga, 'moisture', and rejects an older id...