Geographical Penultimates Quiz | Difficult Geography

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. By now you probably know that Wellington is the national capital furthest south. Let's challenge you a bit. What is the national capital that is the second most southerly?

Answer: Canberra

Canberra's latitude is 35.3 degrees South.

Santiago is 33.92 degrees South

Cape Town is also 33.92 degrees South

Montevideo is 34.88 degrees South

Note that Wellington lies at 41.2 degrees South; so it is much further south than any other national capital.

2. Congratulations if you know that Sudan is no longer the largest country in Africa after the formation of South Sudan. Even more so if you know that Algeria now holds that title. However, what is now the second largest country in Africa?

Answer: Democratic Republic of the Congo

Sudan had been the largest country in Africa until 2011 when the country of South Sudan was granted independence from it. This reduced the size of Sudan by 239,285 square miles, making it the third largest African nation with a size of 728,215 square miles.

Algeria, with a size of 919,595 square miles became the largest country with the Democratic Republic of the Congo moving up to second largest (905,355 sq. mi.)

Libya (700,000 sq. mi) is fourth largest and South Africa is eighth (470,900 sq. mi). The countries of Chad, Niger, Angola, and Mali fall between Libya and South Africa in terms of land size.

3. You don't impress FT experts by knowing that the Nile is the longest river in the world. You'll be more impressive if you can name the second longest. Which river is the second longest?

Answer: Amazon

The length of rivers is oftentimes difficult to measure due to disagreements on the source of the river and changes in the river length due to meandering.

The Nile River (4404 miles) is generally regarded as the longest river with the Amazon (4345 miles) a close second.

The Mississippi-Missouri (3902 miles) is fourth longest. The Mackenzie (2637 miles) is thirteenth longest and the Danube (1795 miles) is the thirtieth longest.

4. The Amazon is the largest river in the world as measured by the amount of water it discharges into the ocean. Which river discharges the second most amount of water?

Answer: Ganges

The Amazon with an average discharge of 209,000 cubic meters of water per second is by far the river with the largest outflow.

The Ganges River system discharge about 43,950 cubic meters per second.

The St Lawrence with a rate of 16,800 cubic meters per second is thirteenth, followed very closely by the Mississippi at 16,792.

The Nile River has a paltry discharge rate of 2830 cubic meters per second - ranking it 92nd largest.

5. Bolivia's capital of La Paz is the highest national capital in the world. Which city is surprisingly the second highest capital in the world?

Answer: Quito

La Paz is 11,942 feet high, making it the highest capital in the world.

Quito, also located in the Andes, is at an elevation of 9350 feet, which makes it the second highest capital. Unlike the landlocked Bolivia, Ecuador has a large coastal city (Guayaquil) which is more accessible and at a lower altitude, making it seemingly a more likely location for the capital.

Addis Ababa at 7726 feet is the fourth highest capital city, trailing Bogota.

Kathmandu at a surprisingly low altitude of 4835 feet ranks about 18th, trailing about seven African cities.

Switzerland's capital city, Bern, is 1778 feet, behind a large number of countries that no one would consider mountainous (Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Australia among others).

6. Pretty easy to name the Sahara as the largest desert in the world, excluding the Arctic and Antarctic regions. What is the second largest desert in the world, ignoring the polar and composite Australian deserts?

Answer: Arabian Desert

Technically the Arctic and Antarctic regions are deserts and are larger than the Sahara.

The Sahara Desert is approximately 3.3 million square miles.

The Arabian Desert is 2.33 million square miles.

The Gobi Desert is 1.295 million square miles.

The Kalahari Desert is 900,000 square miles.

The Great Victoria Desert in Australia 134,653 square miles.

Some sources consider the Australian Desert as a single, somewhat disjoint, entity , which would make it the largest desert after the Sahara. However, experts generally consider Australia to have several smaller deserts (Great Victoria, Simpson, and Western Deserts being the major ones).

7. OK you know Greenland is the largest island in the world that is not also a continent. What is the second largest island?

Answer: New Guinea

Greenland is 822,000 square miles.

New Guinea is the next largest at 303,000 square miles.

Borneo is about 289,000 square miles.

Baffin Island is 196,000 square miles

Iceland is 39,000 square miles.

8. The Great Barrier Reef is by far the longest coral reef in the world. Which, somewhat surprising, place is the second longest reef?

Answer: Red Sea Coral Reef

The Great Barrier Coral Reef is 1553 miles long.

The Red Sea Coral Reef (near Egypt, Israel, and Djibouti) is 1180 miles long.

The New Caledonia Barrier Reef is 932 miles.

The Meso-american Coral Reef (Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras) is 585 miles long.

The Florida Coral Reef is 5th at 360 miles long, but is deteriorating rapidly.

9. Most school children know that Mount Everest as the tallest mountain in the world. Which mountain is the second tallest?

Answer: K2 (Godwin-Austen)

The exact height of mountains changes over time due to internal geological forces. At this time Mount Everest is measured at 29,029 feet. K2, also known as Godwin Austen, is next at 28,251 feet.

Annapurna is actually tenth tallest mountain, behind several others in the Himalayas, at 26545 feet.

Aconcagua (Argentina) is one of the higher non-Himalayan mountains at 22,838 feet.

Denali is the tallest North American mountain at 20157 feet.

10. You know that the Vatican City is the smallest country by area. But what is the second smallest country by land area?

Answer: Monaco

The Vatican City is .17 square mile in area.

Monaco is the next smallest at 0.78 square miles.

San Marino is fifth smallest at 24 square miles with the Pacific island nations of Nauru and Tuvalu falling between Monaco and San Marino in size.

Liechtenstein is the sixth smallest country at 62 square miles.

Andorra is 17th in total area at 181 square miles, after several island nations.

11. Good for you if you know that the Caspian Sea is the largest inland body of water in the world. Can you do even better by naming the next largest? What is the second largest inland body of water (measured by surface area) in the world?

Answer: Lake Superior

The Caspian Sea is approximately 143,000 square miles by surface area.

Lake Superior is the next largest lake by surface area at 31,700 square miles. Perhaps the use of the word "better" in the question helped you out

Lake Victoria is third largest at 26,590 square miles.

Lake Tanganyika is sixth largest at 12,600 square miles after Lake Huron and Lake Michigan.

Lake Baikal is the seventh largest at 12,200 square miles.

Note if these were measured by volume the Caspian Sea would still be the largest, followed in order by Lake Baikal, Lake Tanganyika, and Lake Superior - due to the greater average depth of Lake Baikal and Lake Tanganyika.

12. Most Americans know that Denali (formerly named Mount McKinley) is the tallest mountain in the United States. What is the second tallest mountain in the US?

Answer: Mount Saint Elias

Denali is 20,310 feet high.

Mount Saint Elias, on the border with Yukon territory, is 18,309 feet high.

The highest mountain in the continental US is Mount Whitney in California at 14,505 feet - lower than ten Alaskan peaks. It was purposely omitted from the possible answers.

Mount Rainier in Washington is the 17th tallest American mountain at 14,417 feet.

Pike's Peak, Colorado, is 14,115 feet, making it the 39th tallest US mountain.

Grand Teton, Wyoming, is 13,775 feet, making it the 60th tallest mountain.

13. Russia is obviously the largest country in Europe. Disregarding Ukraine, due to controversy over what exactly is Ukrainian territory, which country holds the honor as the second largest?

Answer: France

European Russia is 1.533 million square miles, although its total size is 6.6 million square miles when the Asian part is included.

France at 213,011 square miles is the next largest with Spain at 192,4776 square miles next.

Germany is 137,988 square miles, while Poland is at 120,423 square miles.

14. Hopefully you already know that the Volga is the longest river in Europe. Which river is the second longest?

Answer: Danube

The Volga is 3,690 miles in length, followed by the Danube at 2,860 miles.

The Dneiper is 4th at 1420 miles

The Rhine is 11th at 768 miles, trailing several Russian rivers.

The Rhone is actually the 30th longest European river at 506 miles.

15. The deepest ocean trench in the world is the Marianas Trench in the Pacific Ocean. Which ocean trench is now the second deepest, displacing the Philippines Trench for that honor?

Answer: Tonga Trench

The deepest ocean trenches are in the Pacific. The Mariana Trench at 36,037 feet is the deepest.

The Tonga Trench at 35,702 feet is next, followed by the Philippine Trench at 34,596 feet.

The Puerto Rico Trench in the Atlantic is 28,900 feet. The South Sandwich Trench in the South Atlantic is 27,651 feet. The Cayman Trench in the Caribbean is 25,217 feet.

Source: Author SixShutouts66

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor agony before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Geographical Penultimates Trivia Quiz

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