Brief Places Trivia Quiz

Answer: Ob

The waters of the Ob come from the Altai mountains, and flow over 3500 miles to the Gulf of Ob, an inlet of the Sea of Kara, part of the Arctic Ocean. The central section goes through widespread swamps which in spring flood to become the Vasuigan Sea, and in winter freeze solid.

The estuary also floods in winter due to the frozen sea impeding flow. What with the winter temperatures and summer mosquitoes it doesn't seem a very comfortable place.

Answer: Po

The longest river in Italy, the Po is 405 miles long, and is the dominant factor in the geography of Northern Italy. It begins in the Alps, and flows east through the major towns of Turin, Piacenza and Ferrara before emerging in the Adriatic near Venice. Due to its many alpine tributaries the Po is subject to extensive flooding, and is lined with levees along much of its length. Near Piacenza there is a dam and hydroelectric station.

Answer: Eu

Eu lies in the steep-sided valley of the Bresle River, a couple of miles from the port of Le Tréport. The town once belonged to the counts of Eu, beginning with Robert I of Normandy (father of William the Conqueror of England). The town was burnt to the ground in 1475, on the orders of Louis XI, to prevent it falling into English hands during the Hundred Years War.

Answer: Ål

Ål (pronounced Awl) is one of a number of small mountain villages with similarly short names, others being Bø, Mo, and Os. It is a great place for outdoor activities like hill walking, mountain biking and fishing.
A clue to this place name is the use of the Scandinavian letter Å, and there is in fact a village of that name in Norway.

Answer: Ox

The Ox mountains in County Sligo are called Slieve Gamph locally, and are also known as Saint Patrick's Mountains. The saint apparently built some churches on the hillsides, and several wells are named for him.

Answer: Bà

In the remote expanses of Rannoch Moor lies the shallow irregularly shaped freshwater lake called Loch Bà. It lies some ten miles north of the town of Tyndrum and the A82 passes close to the loch. The terrain here is an uninviting mixture of glacial granite boulders and boggy peat.

Answer: Ub

The waters of the river Ub flow via a chain of rivers (Tamnava→ Kolubara→ Sava→ Danube) to end in the Black Sea. The river Ub passes the small town of Ub on its way to meet the Tamnava by the village of Sarbane. Sadly it is not navigable.
In fact it is so insignificant that it is only here to make up the numbers.

Answer: K2

This mountain, the second highest in the world and the highest in the Karakoram range, had only its short name for years before it was named Mt Godwin-Austen, although many people still call it K2. It was so named because the initial stage of mapping the Karakorams was done from a distance, and the peaks named in order of their apparent height. The mountain given the codename K1 is now called Masherbrum, which is significantly lower but was nearer to the mapper.
For mountaineers it is a deadly place - one person dies on the mountain for every four who reach the summit.

Answer: Ur

The ancient Sumerian city of Ur, in modern Iraq, was extensively explored after World War I by British archaeologists Hall and Woolley. Sir Leonard Woolley's excavations between 1922 and 1934 discovered the famous ziggurat complex, houses, and many graves presumed to be royal.
Lying near the junction of the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers, and at that time on the coast, it was a very important trading place in Babylonian times. Today only the tombs and ruins remain, including the restored ziggurat.
Genesis 11.31 (KJV) says: "And Terah took Abram his son ... and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan ..."

Answer: Mu

The river Mu is a tributary of Myanmar's chief river the Irrawaddy, and has been used for irrigation since the 9th century. The Mu Valley Irrigation Project is among the largest in the country.
After the Depayin Massacre of 2003 when some 70 pro-democracy supporters were beaten and killed by men dressed as monks, their bodies were burnt and their remains dumped in this river.