Tough A River Runs Through It Quiz | 10 Questions

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. We start our world tour in the Americas, on the mighty Saint Lawrence River. The photograph shows the river passing through which provincial capital on its 745-mile journey from Lake Ontario to the Atlantic Ocean?

Answer: Quebec City

Although home to less than a third the number who live in Montreal, the largest city in the province of Quebec, Quebec City has been the provincial capital since 1867. Indeed, it is one of Canada's oldest settlements, having been founded by Samuel de Champlain in 1608.
Quebec City was the capital of French Canada from 1608 to 1627 and again from 1632 to 1763, when it became the capital of the whole of New France. The British made Quebec City the capital of their province of Lower Canada from 1852-56 and of the Province of Canada from 1859 until 1866.

2. Which major South American city, 1,700 feet above sea level and pictured here in the summer sun with the Andes Mountains in the background, is divided by the fast-flowing Mapocho River?

Answer: Santiago, Chile

The Mapocho River is formed high in the Andes by the joining of the San Francisco and Molina rivers and then flows 70 miles south and west, dividing the Chilean capital of Santiago before its rendezvous with the Malpo River.
Founded in 1541, Santiago stands in Chile's central valley in the foothills of the Andes with an average elevation of 1,705 feet above sea level. The capital of Chile since colonial times, Santiago is the ideal destination if you want to visit both the mountains and the Pacific Ocean, either of which is easily reachable for a day trip from the city.

3. The mighty Volga River, Europe's longest at 2,294 miles, flows south through Russia to the Caspian Sea. Which city on its banks is home to the world's tallest statue of a woman (pictured)?

Answer: Volgograd (Stalingrad/Tsaritsyn)

Rising in the Valdai Hills northwest of Moscow it flows in a generally southerly direction to the Caspian Sea 2,294 miles away. On the way, it passes through some of Russia's largest cities -- all four options are home to more than a million people. Founded in 1589 and named Tsaritsyn until 1925, when it was re-designated as Stalingrad, it has been called Volgograd since 1961.

The local residents have expressed a wish for it to return to Stalingrad, though, so watch this space. The skyline of the city is dominated by "The Motherland Calls", a statue unveiled in 1967 to commemorate the WWII Battle of Stalingrad. Standing 285 feet (87m) tall, it was the world's tallest statue when built, and more than 45 years later it still remains the tallest depicting a female. Just in the bottom right corner of the photo you can see the towers of the city's other notable landmark, All Saints Church.

4. The mighty Congo river flows 2,920 miles through ten countries on the way from its source in Lake Tanganyika to the Atlantic Ocean. Which city (pictured) formerly called Leopoldville, is the largest on the river's south bank?

Answer: Kinshasa

Founded by Henry Morton Stanley in 1881, the city we know as Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, was named Leopoldville in honour of King Leopold II of Belgium.
This city of between nine and ten million people (2012 estimates) stands on the south bank of the Congo, almost directly across the river from Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of Congo. Although Brazzaville was founded only two years after Kinshasa, it has grown much more slowly and had a population of only 1.3 million in 2007. Kinshasa is the world's second-largest Francophone metropolitan area, after only Paris. (Estimates suggest that the population of Kinshasa will exceed Paris by 2020).
Research in 2014 traced Leopoldville as the original source of the HIV virus in the 1920s.

5. The Rhine flows 766 miles northwards from Switzerland to the North Sea. Which city that is home to a major U.S. Army base (and whose famous Kurhaus (spa house) is pictured here) stands on the north bank of the Rhine?

Answer: Wiesbaden

A city of more than 270,000 (2013 estimates) and the capital of the federal state of Hesse, Wiesbaden is one of Europe's oldest spa towns. The name actually means "meadow baths". Today it is internationally famous for both its hot springs and its architecture.
Wiesbaden stands on the north bank of the Rhine at the confluence with the Main. On the opposite side of the river is the city of Mainz, the Rhineland-Palatinate state capital.

6. The mighty Mekong crosses southeast Asia on its way to the sea. The photograph shows Pha That Luang, a huge, gold-covered Buddha stupa that dominates which city that became a national capital in 1563?

Answer: Vientiane, Laos

Perhaps Asia's most important river, the Mekong rises in the mountains of Tibet in western China and flows through Burma (Myanmar), Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam on its 2,700-mile journey to the South China Sea. The city of Vientiane, the capital and largest city in Laos, was first settled around the ninth century. Today, the city of 780,000 (2013 estimates) spreads on both sides of the Mekong river.

The "First Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge", the first bridge to span the Lower Mekong, was built in the 1990s and carries both road and rail across the river some ten miles south of Vientiane.

7. At 220 miles from the hills of Ceredigion in central Wales to the Bristol Channel, the River Severn is the longest in Great Britain. Which historic market town, home to one of England's finest public schools (pictured), has the Severn meandering around its centre?

Answer: Shrewsbury

The county town of Shropshire, Shrewsbury is a historic market town noted for its 15th and 16th Century timber-framed buildings. The red sandstone fortification of Shrewsbury Castle and the former Benedictine monastery that is Shrewsbury Abbey both date back to the late 11th Century. Founded by Royal Charter in 1552, Shrewsbury School boasts the world's oldest cross-country running club and the most successful school rowing club at the famous Henley Regatta. Famous alumni (Old Salopians) include "Monty Python" legend Michael Palin CBE, TV presenter Nick Hancock, "Private Eye" founder Richard Ingrams and Sir Colin Hugh Verel McColl, former head of MI6.

8. This American city is sometimes called "City of Bridges" -- it has a remarkable 446 of them. Which city is this, that stands at the confluence of three major rivers, and even once had its major sports stadium named to acknowledge this fact?

Answer: Pittsburgh PA

The city of Pittsburgh stands at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers where they form the Ohio River, a major tributary of the Mississippi.
The Pittsburgh Pirates MLB (baseball) team moved into PNC Park in 2001 whilst the NFL's (American football) Pittsburgh Steelers moved to Heinz Field. Prior to this, both teams had shared the picturesque Three Rivers Stadium from 1970 until 2000.

9. The two principal tributaries of the world's longest river rise one in Ethiopia and the other at Lake Victoria. Crossing more than a dozen countries on the way to the sea, they pass through many major cities. Pictured here is Blue Nile Beach, with the city where the Blue and White Nile join. Which city is this?

Answer: Khartoum, Sudan

A tripartite metropolis, divided into three by the mighty rivers that meet here, the city of Khartoum was home to some 640,000 people in 2008. The capital of Sudan, Khartoum is the country's second-largest city. The largest is Omdurman, the national centre of commerce, which lies on the western banks of the Nile, opposite Khartoum. Between the two cities, more than five million live in the metropolitan area, which is about 15% of the entire population of the world's 16th-largest country.

10. We finish on another of Europe's great rivers, the Danube, which passes through four capital cities on its 1,777-mile course from the Black Forest of Germany to the Black Sea. One of those capitals stands at the confluence of the Danube and the Sava rivers. Our picture shows one of the world's largest Orthodox churches, the Church of Saint Sava, which dominates the skyline of which city?

Answer: Belgrade

Completed in 1989, the Church of Saint Sava which holds 10,800 dominates the skyline of the city whose name translates to "White City", Belgrade. Established more than 2,000 years ago, the historic centre of Belgrade, Kalemegdan, stands on the right banks of the two rivers, the Danube and the Sava.

As it has grown to a population in excess of 1.15 million, so it has spread across the rivers to the south and east. A vital trade link between the West and the Orient, Belgrade has seen its share of battles: it has been involved in more than 100 wars and razed to the ground at least 40 times.

The capital of Yugoslavia from 1814 until that state was dissolved in 2006, it is once again the capital of Serbia.

Source: Author EnglishJedi

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor spanishliz before going online.
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Tough A River Runs Through It Quiz | 10 Questions | Geography

Many cities stand on the banks on major rivers. I'll tell you which river and you tell we which city is in the photograph.

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