Canada - Bodies of Water Trivia

1. How did Hudson Bay get its name?

From Quiz A Tour of Hudson Bay

Answer: Explorer Henry Hudson

Hudson River and Hudson Bay were both named for early explorer, Henry Hudson. Henry Hudson had been hired by various trading companies to find new trade routes and passages. In 1609 he was sailing for the Dutch East India Company when he found what is now known as the Hudson River. The following year he was backed by an English company and spent time mapping what he thought was the famed Northwest Passage. After they were forced to spend a winter ashore, the crew mutinied and set Hudson, his son and a few loyal or sick crew men adrift in a small, open boat while the rest took the main ship back to England. The area where the mutiny occurred is now called Hudson Bay. Leith 90 explored this question before logging it into the quiz.

From Quiz Long Rivers of Canada

Answer: Mackenzie River

Canada's Mackenzie River is the second-longest river in North America after the Mississippi. Alexander Mackenzie explored the river named after him in 1789. Four years later, starting from Lake Athabasca, he followed the course of the Peace, Parsnip and Bella Coola Rivers, travelling west and south to reach the Pacific Ocean, becoming the first explorer to reach Canada's Pacific coast by an overland route.

From Quiz Canadian Waterways

Answer: Gulf of St. Lawrence

Jacques Cartier gave it the name in 1534. He arrived on the feast day of St. Lawrence.

From Quiz Rivers of Canada

Answer: Mackenzie River

The Mackenzie River was named for Alexander Mackenzie, who was the first explorer to cross North America. His task was to chart the river by the North West Company to determine if it reached the Pacific Ocean. The Mackenzie River is 4040 kilometres long.

From Quiz Lakes of Canada

Answer: Lake Superior

Lake Superior is 82,400 square kilometres in area, and is second only to the Caspian Sea in Asia.

From Quiz A Tour of Hudson Bay

Answer: Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan is landlocked by Manitoba to its east, Alberta to the west, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories to the north and the U.S. states of North Dakota and Montana to its south. The four Canadian provinces and territories that border Hudson Bay are Nunavut, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec. Jaknginger submitted this question as part of the Red Crew's journey of the Phoenix Rising's Global Tour.

From Quiz Long Rivers of Canada

Answer: St. Lawrence River

Jacques Cartier discovered the St. Lawrence River when he arrived at Stadacona now Quebec City in 1534. On his second voyage, he sailed farther down the river to Hochelaga (near what is now Montreal), but went no farther. He was convinced he had found a water route to China. The St. Lawrence measures 3,185 km (1,974 miles) long from its source to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The east end of the river, from Lake Ontario to the Gulf, forms part of the borders of Ontario, Quebec, and New York State. The Saguenay and Richelieu Rivers are in Quebec, but I have made up the Trudeau River.

From Quiz Canadian Waterways

Answer: Strait of Belle Isle

The name is derived from the French for "Beautiful Island" - Belle Isle. The Strait of Belle Isle is about 125 kilometres in length.

From Quiz Lakes of Canada

Answer: Lake Erie

Lake Erie's maximum depth is a mere 64 metres. The others stand as follows: Lake Huron - 229 m, Lake Ontario - 244 m, Lake Superior - 406 m. On the American side, Lake Michigan has a maximum depth of 282 m.

From Quiz A Tour of Hudson Bay

Answer: Flaherty Island

Flaherty Island is the largest of the approximately 1,500 islands that make up the Belcher Islands archipelago located in the southeastern region of Hudson Bay. The island is named after the U.S. filmmaker Robert J. Flaherty who directed one of the first commercially successful documentary films, "Nanook of the North" (1922). The island's principal settlement, Sanikiluaq, is an Inuit community that had a population of 1,010 per its 2021 census. After Flaherty Island, the next largest islands of the Belcher Islands are Kugong Island, Tukarak Island, and Innetalling Island. This question was belched into the quiz by Phoenix Rising teammate and Red Crew member Triviaballer as part of the team's 2022 World Tour.

From Quiz Long Rivers of Canada

Answer: Manitoba

Running a turbulent 2,600 km (1,612 miles) through the hard granite of the Canadian Shield from Lake Winnipeg to Hudson Bay, the Nelson River is a vital source of hydro-electric power for Manitoba. Discovered in 1612, it also gave hope to Arctic explorers that it might provide a water route to China.

From Quiz Canadian Waterways

Answer: St. Lawrence River

The St. Lawrence flows out of Lake Ontario at Kingston. It has the largest fresh water drainage area in the world, which includes the Great Lakes.

From Quiz Rivers of Canada

Answer: North Saskatchewan River

The North and South Saskatchewan rivers merge near Prince Albert, Saskatchewan into the Saskatchewan River.

From Quiz Lakes of Canada

Answer: Lake Winnipeg

Lake Victoria (in Africa) makes number three on the world list, while Lake Edmonton and Lake Regina are figments of my overactive imagination.

From Quiz Rivers of Canada

Answer: Fraser River

B.C. resident Fin Donnelly claimed to have swum the entire length of the Fraser River over 20 days in 1995.

From Quiz Lakes of Canada

Answer: Lake Louise

It was renamed after the daughter of Queen Victoria in 1884.

From Quiz Long Rivers of Canada

Answer: Alberta

The Peace River is one of the longest tributaries of the Mackenzie, Canada's longest river. Wood Buffalo National Park is Canada's largest and reaches across the Alberta border into the Northwest Territories.

From Quiz Canadian Waterways

Answer: From the French maps which used the French formation of Lac + name

This formation is seen wherever the names of the lakes were originally French. The Great Lakes are Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.

From Quiz Rivers of Canada

Answer: Ottawa River & Ottawa & River Ottawa

The Rideau Canal, which empties into the Ottawa River, is renowned for its winter skating path.

From Quiz A Tour of Hudson Bay

Answer: Hudson Bay has a larger shoreline

Hudson Bay has a surface area of 1.23 million sq km compared with the Bay of Bengal at 2.17 million sq km. Being surrounded almost entirely by land, the shoreline of Hudson Bay is longer than that of the Bay of Bengal. The average depth of the Bay of Bengal is 2600m - much deeper than the 100m average depth of Hudson Bay. Hudson Bay is entirely surrounded by Canada, and the Bay of Bengal touches several countries, including Sri Lanka, India, and Bangladesh. Phoenix Rising's mike32768 noticed that there are no seagulls flying over Hudson Bay - if there were, they'd be bagels.

From Quiz Canadian Waterways

Answer: Lake Winnipeg

In 1690, Henry Kelsey, exploring for the Hudson's Bay Company, was probably the first European to set eyes on Lake Winnipeg. The lake is 416 km long.

From Quiz Rivers of Canada

Answer: Montreal

The St. Lawrence River and Seaway allow ocean-going ships inland access through the Great Lakes as far as Thunder Bay in Western Ontario, and Duluth-Superior in Minnesota.

From Quiz Lakes of Canada

Answer: Manitoba

Popular myth has it that the surveyors simply stopped counting Manitoba's lakes when they hit 100,000.

From Quiz Long Rivers of Canada

Answer: North and South Saskatchewan

The North and South Saskatchewan Rivers drain an area larger than the St. Lawrence River basin of Ontario and Quebec. The name comes from the First Nations word Kisaskatchewani, meaning "swift-flowing". The rivers have been dammed at several locations, creating reservoirs and lakes. The Saskatchewan River, created where these two rivers meet, flows northeast into the Nelson River in Manitoba, and thence to Hudson Bay. The Upper Humber and Great Rattling Brook are in Newfoundland, and the Eastmain is in Quebec; I have made up their companion rivers.

From Quiz Canadian Waterways

Answer: Red River

The area around Winnipeg has suffered from extreme flooding due to the Red River. Grand Forks and Fargo, North Dakota have experienced similar disasters.

From Quiz Rivers of Canada

Answer: Niagara River & Niagara

Niagara Falls carries approximately 600,000 US gallons over the Canadian Falls per second, and 150,000 US gallons over the American Falls per second.

From Quiz Lakes of Canada

Answer: Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick

Newfoundland and Saskatchewan both have numerous lakes larger than 400 square kilometres, but Nova Scotia only has one: Bras d'Or Lake at 1091 square kilometres.

From Quiz A Tour of Hudson Bay

Answer: Wapusk National Park

Wapusk National Park is famous as the site of Cape Churchill which is widely considered to be the best spot in the world to see wild polar bears. Wapusk comprises a vast area of 11,475 sq km (4,430 sq mi) but it is remote and only accessible by helicopter or Tundra Buggy. Polar bears come ashore from Hudson Bay during the winter when the ice freezes and many pregnant females will give birth in Wapusk National Park. Also on the western border of Hudson Bay in the area known as the Hudson Bay Lowlands is Polar Bear Provincial Park which is a part of the province of Ontario. This question was pawed into the quiz by Phoenix Rising teammate and Red Crew member Triviaballer as part of the team's 2022 World Tour.

From Quiz Long Rivers of Canada

Answer: Ottawa River

Canada's Ottawa River rises in the Laurentian Highlands, flowing east to Lake Temiskaming, then south and east to the Saint Lawrence River. Its upper course in the Laurentians delights white-water rafters from around the world. Canada's capital of Ottawa, formerly Bytown, is on the river's south shore. The name Ottawa comes from the French name Outaouais, a group of fur-trading middlemen for the Hudson's Bay Company. The Saint John and Miramichi Rivers are in New Brunswick, and the Thompson River is in British Columbia.

From Quiz Canadian Waterways

Answer: Fraser River

To quote Stan- "To race the roaring Fraser to the Sea". It was named for Simon Fraser who led an expedition for the North West Company. For much of its route, the Fraser flows in a deep trench through the mountains. At Hell's Gate, the canyon narrows to only 110 feet wide. Already quite narrow, it was further narrowed and choked when blasting to build the CPR dumped debris into the canyon.

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Last Updated Apr 22 2024 11:05 AM

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