South American Rivers and Oceans Trivia

1. About how long is the Amazon River?

From Quiz Amazon River

Answer: 4,000 miles

The Amazon River is about 4,000 miles long. In places, the river can be one to six miles wide. The average depth of the river is approximately forty feet.

From Quiz The Amazing Amazon

Answer: Peru

The source of the Amazon River has been the object of speculation for hundreds of years, although modern resources have allowed scientists to determine the origin of what is considered the world's second-longest river with a reasonable level of accuracy. Based on recent findings, the Amazon has a number of headstream areas rather than a single source: these are the headwaters of three rivers that rise in the Peruvian Andes - the Marañón, the Apurimac, and the Mantaro. The source of the Marañón at Lake Lauricocha, in central Peru, was considered the origin of the Amazon from the early 18th century to the mid-20th century, when the Apurimac was instead identified as the Amazon's main source. However, in 2014, the Mantaro - which is about 75 km longer than the Apurimac - was acknowledged as the most distant source of the mighty river, though its flow, unlike that of the other two rivers, is not continuous throughout the year. The Mantaro's headwaters are found at Lake Junin, in central Peru, while the Apurimac rises at Nevado Mismi, a 5,597-m (18,363-ft) peak of volcanic origin; a simple wooden cross on a mountain cliff marks the origin of the river. The Apurimac, the Mantaro and other rivers form the Ucayali, the main headstream of the Amazon, which joins the Marañón at Iquitos, the largest city in the Peruvian Amazon. The waterway created by the confluence of these rivers, known in Brazil as the Solimões, is the main stem of the Amazon.

From Quiz Amazon River

Answer: 200,000 cubic meters

The Amazon River discharges about 210,000 cubic meters of water per second. Twenty percent of all the freshwater entering the oceans comes from the Amazon River.

From Quiz The Rio de la Plata

Answer: The River of Silver

Plata means 'silver' in Spanish, so the Rio de la Plata means "The River of Silver". Plates is platos (note the 'o'), plants is planta or plante, and plateau is meseta.

From Quiz Rivers of South America

Answer: Rio Negro

Rio Negro, the world's largest blackwater river, floods heavily during the rainy season, reaching a width of up to nineteen miles. Part of the Rio Negro forms part of the boundary between Colombia and Venezuela. The banks of Rio Negro, whose Native American population declined during the 17th century, support nonetheless a large fishing industry.

From Quiz Sailing on the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans

Answer: 900 km

Puerto Montt is, in a straight line, 900 km south from Valparaiso. The city was founded in 1853 when a group of Germans came to colonize the region. It is located in a bay formed with waters of the Pacific Ocean and overlooking the Osorno volcano. It is the main port in the lower end of Chile's western continental land and is considered the gateway to the Andes mountains and the Patagonia fjords. From this point on, the trips are fantastic, with indescribable colors and scenery. In addition to tourism, its economy is based on agriculture, livestock, fishing and salmon aquaculture in the fjords and the nearby Pacific Ocean.

From Quiz Rivers of South America

Answer: Manaus

Manaus, founded in 1669, owes its growth and development in the 19th century to the extraction of rubber from the Amazon forest. During the rubber boom, Manaus was one of the most corrupt and decadent cities in the New World. The profligacy featured an Opera House that cost the Brazilian public ten million dollars to build. During the boom, Manaus' rubber barons competed to outdo one another in extravagance. Today, timber, petroleum refining, and ecotourism are among the city's most important industries. Manaus is home to the Free Economic Zone of Manaus, which is politically and economically autonomous within Brazil.

From Quiz Sailing on the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans

Answer: A penal colony

Punta Arenas is today the capital of Magallanes and Antarctica Chilena, the southernmost region of Chile. It is located on the Brunswick Peninsula, on top of hills overlooking the Strait of Magellan; it was originally created to be a penal colony and also to monitor and guarantee Chile's sovereignty over the Strait. The Punta Arenas harbor was a coaling station for the steamships that transited between the Atlantic and the Pacific. The city became the point of support for immigrants who came to the region to raise sheep. The port of Punta Arenas is today used by tourism cruises and scientific expeditions.

From Quiz The Rio de la Plata

Answer: Both

Some geographers consider it a river. To those who do it is one of the widest rivers in the world, at well over 200 km at its mouth in the Atlantic. Other geographers consider it an estuary, due to its brackish content.

From Quiz The Amazing Amazon

Answer: decaying vegetation

Blackwater rivers typically flow through swampy, densely forested areas, where tannins from decaying vegetation leach into the slow-moving water, turning it the colour of strong black tea. Unlike black mud rivers, which owe their colour to black loam, blackwater rivers have transparent waters, though more acidic and lower in nutrients than those of whitewater rivers, which carry a lot of suspended sediment. This impacts the flora and fauna of the regions through which these rivers flow: for instance, animals that need calcium for their shells (such as snails and other molluscs) are less likely to be found in blackwater rivers. The majority of the world's blackwater rivers are found in the Amazon and Orinoco basins, as well as in the Southern US. The largest of them, the Rio Negro ("black river"), meets the Solimões, a pale, sandy-coloured whitewater river, at Manaus to form the Amazon. The two rivers run side by side for about 6 km (3.7 mi) almost without mixing - a popular tourist attraction called "Encontro das Aguas" ("Meeting of Waters"). This phenomenon is due to the differences between the two rivers in terms of speed, temperature, and sediment load - the Rio Negro, which flows south from eastern Colombia, being slower and warmer than the sediment-rich Solimões.

From Quiz Sailing on the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans

Answer: The world's southernmost city

Ushuaia is a beautiful capital city of the Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and Islas del Atlántico Sul Province in Argentina. Ushuaia is located at a large bay on the south coast of Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego on the shores of the Beagle Channel. The city was founded in 1884 by Augusto Lasserre. It has a port and today is an administrative and tourist center. Almost all cruise ships in the region stop in Ushuaia and tourists there can make very interesting trips by browsing the canal, visiting one of the world's largest penguin colonies, taking a trip on the famous End of the World train, etc.

From Quiz The Rio de la Plata

Answer: Admiral Graf Spee

The Admiral Graf Spee was pursued into the Rio de la Plata by the other three, the HMS Exeter, Ajax, and Achilles. After being damaged, it put into port at Montevideo, but was forced to leave by local officials due to political pressures. Rather than let the ship be placed into enemy hands, the captain chose to scuttle the ship.

From Quiz The Amazing Amazon

Answer: rubber

The capital of Amazonas, Brazil's largest state by area, Manaus is home to a population of over 2 million, spread over a land area of 11,401 km² (4,402 sq mi). Founded in 1669 by the Portuguese, the city was named after the indigenous Manaós people: its name means "Mother of the Gods". The rubber boom of the mid-19th century led to the growth of Manaus, which acquired imposing buildings such as its famed opera house, the Teatro Amazonas, as well as the nickname of "Paris of the Tropics". The city's moment of glory, however, did not last long: when the seeds of the rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis) - endemic to the Amazon region - were smuggled out of South America to Southeast Asia, the rubber boom came to an abrupt end, causing loss of population and widespread poverty. This sorry state of affairs lasted until the late 1950s: then, the introduction of the Manaus free trade zone in 1960 led to robust demographic and economic growth. Though two highways connect Manaus with the capitals of the neighbouring states of Roraima and Rondônia, most of the transportation from the city occurs by plane or boat because of the lack of a true road link with other parts of the vast country of Brazil. The port of Manaus is an important hub for vessels sailing down the Amazon to the Atlantic Ocean, and a thriving commercial centre for the import and export of goods. The city's cultural heritage and its unique rainforest environment also attract many tourists from all over the world. Manaus was also one of the host cities of the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics.

From Quiz Sailing on the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans

Answer: Cape Horn

Cape Horn is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago located in southern Chile. The cape marks the northern border of the Drake Passage and it is the meeting point between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. At this location between the two oceans (55°56 'South and 67°19' West), the violence of the winds, waves, currents, make one's crossing an indescribable experience. The most famous person to describe the crossing of the Cape Horn was Charles Darwin who went through there in 1832. In the "Voyage of the Beagle", the diary of the five-years expedition, Darwin detailed his experience very well when he rounded this mythical place.

From Quiz Amazon River

Answer: Stingrays

It is true that stingrays live in the Amazon River. When the Andes Mountains rose they were trapped in the river and adapted to their new environment.

From Quiz The Rio de la Plata

Answer: Yes

The Rio de la Plata is home to the La Plata Dolphin. These dolphins are very rare. The Rio de la Plata is also home to many species of fish, turtles and other marine life forms.

From Quiz Rivers of South America

Answer: Lake Titicaca

The river systems that feed into Lake Titicaca are the Ramis, Coata, Llave, Huancane, and Suchez. Additionally, the lake has 41 islands, including the Islas del Sol and de la Luna featured in Inca mythology.

From Quiz The Amazing Amazon

Answer: flooded forest

In Brazil, "várzea" refers to a freshwater swamp forest seasonally flooded by whitewater, pale-coloured and rich in sediments; the term used to describe a forest flooded by blackwater is "igapó" (Tupi for "root forest"). The inundation is caused by the abundant rains that fall in the region, especially from March to July. Though the term várzea covers a variety of habitats, about 75% of a várzea area consists of the dense canopy forest that characterizes much (about 180,000 km²/69,000 sq mi) of the Amazon basin. Annual flooding by nutrient-rich whitewater encourages the growth of plant and animal species, and provides important breeding grounds for the Amazon basin's rich wildlife, which has adapted to this unique environment in a variety of ways. Várzea areas are also favourable to human occupation, as the fertile soil of the floodplains is conducive to agriculture, and offers plenty of natural pasture to livestock. Savanna, a mixed woodland-grassland ecosystem, is found in large parts of South America, though very rarely in the Amazon Basin. The xeric shrubland is a kind of desert, which in South America is mainly present on the Pacific coast (Peru and Chile), while the taiga, or boreal forest, is only found in the Northern Hemisphere.

From Quiz Amazon River

Answer: Over 1,000

The Amazon River has over 1,000 tributaries such as Branco, Xingu, and Ucayali Rivers. Some of these rivers are more than 900 miles long and form part of the world's largest drainage basin.

From Quiz Sailing on the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans

Answer: The Hand

Punta del Este is a city located on the Atlantic Coast, in southeastern Uruguay. It is very popular for its beaches and casinos. Among its main landmarks is La Mano (The Hand), a giant sculpture made by the Chilean artist Mario Irarrazabel in 1982. The sculpture shows part of five human fingers coming out from the sand and the idea of ​​the sculptor was to warn swimmers about the danger of the waters of La Barra beach, where the sculpture is.

From Quiz The Amazing Amazon

Answer: Switzerland

Comparable in size to Switzerland, whose total surface area is 41,285 km² (15,940 sq mi), Marajó Island lies almost directly on the Equator. It is separated from the mainland of the Brazilian state of Pará by Marajó Bay, which receives the waters of the huge distributary channel known as Pará River, as well as a number of smaller rivers; all of these bodies of water are part of the Amazon delta. Most of this almost completely flat island, with its 20 large rivers, is flooded during the rainy season: because of that, many settlements are built on stilts, called "palafitas" in Portuguese. Comprising both savanna and flooded forest ecosystems, Marajó is home to a number of large "fazendas" (ranches) where domestic animals are raised - notably water buffaloes, introduced into the Amazon basin from Asia at the end of the 19th century, which now outnumber humans on the island. For over 2000 years (approximately from 400 BC to 1600 AD), Marajó was the site of a pre-Columbian society known as Marajoara culture, which collapsed for reasons that are still unclear. Extensive archaeological research on the island has revealed artifacts (especially pottery) of a high level of sophistication. Though all the countries listed as wrong answers could be labeled as affluent, they are either much larger (as in the case of France and Finland) or smaller (Andorra) than Switzerland.

From Quiz Sailing on the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans

Answer: Montevideo

Montevideo is the capital and largest city in Uruguay. It is the southernmost capital city in the Americas and is located on the northeastern shore of the Rio de la Plata estuary which at this point is about 250 km wide. Montevideo was founded in 1724 by the Spaniards who disputed the region with the Portuguese. Uruguay was the host country of the first FIFA World Cup in 1930. The Estadio Centenario, which was built for the tournament, is still one of Montevideo tourist landmarks.

From Quiz The Rio de la Plata

Answer: Pantanal

The Pantanal is one of the world's largest and most important wetland areas. The Paranaiba is a tributary of the Parana. Paraguay is a landlocked South American country, and Paramaribo is the capital of Suriname, another South American country.

From Quiz Rivers of South America

Answer: Sao Francisco River

The Sao Francisco River, the fourth longest in South America and the longest to lie completely in Brazil, is particularly important in Brazilian folklore. Stories of monsters and demons residing in the river circulate in eastern Brazil until today.

From Quiz The Amazing Amazon

Answer: dolphin

"Boto" is the name given in Portuguese to various species of dolphin native to the Amazon and Orinoco rivers and their tributaries. The Amazon river dolphin (Inia geoffrensis geoffrensis) is the largest species of river dolphin: males (which are considerably larger than females, a unique case among river dolphins) can reach a length of 2.5 m (8.2 ft), and weigh as much as 185 kg (408 lb). Like all toothed whales (dolphins, porpoises, and larger cetaceans such as sperm whales), they possess an organ located in the forehead, known as melon, used for communication and echolocation. The adults of the species - particularly the males - acquire a distinctive pink or mottled pink colour - hence their Portuguese nickname of "boto cor-de-rosa", or "pink river dolphin". Amazon river dolphins feed primarily on fish, crustaceans, and other water-dwelling animals, which they grab with their distinctive long, thin snout. Found in most aquatic habitats of the Amazon basin, they often compete with local fishermen for the same fish species - a conflict that is often fatal to the dolphins. Because of this, as well as threats to its habitat, the species is listed by IUCN as Endangered (2018). In the folklore of the peoples of the Amazon basin, river dolphins are believed to be shapeshifters who can turn into beautiful young men and women in order to seduce humans. The Amazon River and its tributaries are home to all the animals listed as wrong answers - though none of them are pink.

From Quiz Amazon River

Answer: 30 miles

During the wet season, the Amazon River can be as wide as thirty miles, but this then drains into the Atlantic Ocean.

From Quiz Rivers of South America

Answer: Aconcagua River

Despite the river's and mountain's shared name, the slopes of Mount Aconcagua and the source of the Aconcagua River are geographically separated. Mount Aconcagua is in Argentina while the Aconcagua River is created by two joining tributaries, the Juncal and the Blanco, in the Chilean Andes. The river feeds into the Pacific Ocean north of Valparaiso, Chile.

From Quiz The Amazing Amazon

Answer: cattle ranching

In the 21st century, cattle ranching is by far the human activity that poses the most danger to the Amazon rainforest. Of course, other activities (such as road construction, mining, logging, and agriculture) have also been the cause of extensive deforestation, but none of them has reached the extent of the damage done by cattle ranching, which amounts to about 80% of the deforestation in the region. Unfortunately, the activities that have led to the destruction of vast swathes of the rainforest - often referred to as the "lungs of the Earth" because of its function as an absorber of carbon dioxide - are frequently subsidized by local governments. In recent years, the cattle sector has taken the lion's share of these subsidies - especially in Brazil, where recent decisions that encourage deforestation to promote economic activity have caused friction between the government and indigenous peoples. The practice of slash-and-burn agriculture, the production of charcoal for industrial use, and soybean cultivation have also been major causes of deforestation in the Amazon basin, though on a much smaller scale if compared to cattle ranching. The extensive deforestation in the Amazon basin and other rainforest areas (such as Indonesia and Central Africa) has caused the disappearance of many animal and plant species, altering the delicate balance of this complex environment, and affecting in particular the quality of the soil. The rate of forest loss, which peaked in the early 2000s, slowed down considerably in the 2010s, but has more recently been on the increase.

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Last Updated Apr 26 2025 5:52 AM

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