Q 01/05

Which national park, widely considered the world's first, sits on top of a supervolcano?

A) Yosemite

B) Yellowstone

C) Grand Canyon

D) Glacier

Answer · why

B) Yellowstone

Yellowstone became a national park in 1872, while Wyoming and Montana were still territories rather than states.

Q 02/05

Which river is traditionally ranked the longest in the world?

A) Congo

B) Yangtze

C) Nile

D) Mississippi

Answer · why

C) Nile

The Nile is traditionally ranked longest, though some studies measure a rival as longer; Egypt's Aswan High Dam, completed in 1970, ended its annual f...

Q 03/05

Which city became Australia's capital as a Sydney–Melbourne compromise?

A) Canberra

B) Adelaide

C) Perth

D) Brisbane

Answer · why

A) Canberra

Canberra was the compromise: Australia's constitution put the capital in New South Wales but at least 100 miles from Sydney.

Q 04/05

Which country's canal lifts ships 26 metres through locks to cross between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans?

A) Nicaragua

B) Colombia

C) Panama

D) Costa Rica

Answer · why

C) Panama

Panama's canal lifts ships to Gatun Lake, a reservoir made by damming the Chagres River, so each passage spends the lake's fresh water.

Q 05/05

Which is the only named sea in the world with no land boundaries?

A) Sargasso Sea

B) Caribbean Sea

C) Tasman Sea

D) Arabian Sea

Answer · why

A) Sargasso Sea

The Sargasso Sea is bounded only by the currents of the North Atlantic Gyre, and eels from Europe and North America swim across the ocean to spawn the...