Global Runners-Up Trivia Quiz

Answer: Lake Victoria

Of the five largest fresh-water lakes in the world, three of them are in North America. Lake Superior takes the gold at 31,820 sq. miles (depending on rainfall). Lake Huron (23,010) and Lake Michigan (22,400) come in third and fourth respectively. But to find the silver medalist you have to go all the way to Africa, where Lake Victoria takes a healthy second at 26,828 sq. miles.

Answer: Amazon

Although it lies spread out like an alluvial fan compared with the narrow and fairly straight Nile basin, geologists agree the Amazon comes in second at about 3,976 miles. The Yangtze in China measures 3,917, with the Mississippi at 3,902 a close fourth. The Ganges that flows across the subcontinent of Pakistan and India falls way short at about half that distance.

Answer: Yellow

The Yellow River, also called the Huang He, runs almost parallel to the Yangtze in China, coming in with a close second at 3,395 miles. Third place, believe it or not, goes to the little-known Mekong, which begins in southern China and runs 2,705 miles through Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. (Not bad for a waterway that ends up in a rice delta.) The Volga is a distant fourth a 2,266 miles.

The Indus doesn't stand a chance.

Answer: Congo

The Congo may not look like much, but it starts in the very heart of Africa and travels over 2,900 miles to the Atlantic Coast. (A real "heart of darkness" one might say). The Niger isn't far behind at 2,611 mi., and the Zambezi comes in fourth at 1,673 mi.

The "great, gray, green, greasy" Limpopo is a mere 1,100 miles in length. Still these "smaller" African waterways could put up a pretty stiff competition against the "long" rivers of Europe. Perhaps Africa has more room?

Answer: Danube

Before some western cartographer had the bright idea to include Russia on the map, the Blue Danube (1,795 miles) was held to be the longest in Europe. Now it has to settle for second place. The Russian watercourses again capture third and fourth place--the Dnieper at 1,421 mi. and the Don at 1,162 mi.--leaving the mighty Rhine a distant fifth at 768 miles.

Answer: Paraná

The Columbia River isn't in South America. It flows out of Canada and turns west to form the border between Washington and Oregon States in the U.S. DISQUALIFIED! Meanwhile the legitimate contenders rank thus: The Orinoco begins in the Republic of Colombia (spelled with an "o" not a "u") and cuts 1,300 miles through the heart of Venezuela (fourth place); The Madeira--the river not the wine-- feeds 2,100 miles into the Amazon in Brazil (third place); and the silver medal goes to the Paraná River (pa-rahn-yah), which empties into the Rio de la Plata above Buenos Aires after traveling 3,033 miles through Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina.

Answer: Mackenzie

The Mackenzie River starts in southern Alberta and flows 2,637 miles northwest into the Beaufort Sea (bow-fort not byew-fert, it's French). The Yukon, the St. Lawrence, and the Rio Grande, at about 1,900 miles each, are in a dead heat for third, with the Yukon about 80 miles in the lead. Rainfall and a photo finish will have to decide fourth place between the other two.

Answer: K2

Of the 30 highest mountain peaks in the world, all of them (I repeat--ALL of them!) are in the Himalaya-Karakoram range in south central Asia. No wonder it's called "the Roof of the World". At 28,251 feet, K2 on the China-Pakistan border is less than 800 feet short of Mt. Everest though it gets only a fraction of the glory. Tirich Mir is also in Pakistan (25,289 ft). Aconcagua in Chile/Argentina sits at 22,841 ft. Machu Picchu is not a mountain - it's a spectacular Inca ruin set 8,000 feet up in the Peruvian Andes.

Answer: Dykh-Tau

The highest peak in what is now considered Europe is Mr. Elbrus in the Russian Caucasus. It reaches 18,510 feet. Second place goes to Dykh-Tau or Dykhtau, also in the Caucasus at 17,077 ft. Mount Blanc in the French Alps takes the bronze medal for 15,781 ft. The Matterhorn in Switzerland comes in fourth at 14,692 ft. The Jungfrau takes a close fifth.

Answer: Tonga Trench

Second place goes to Horizon Deep in the Tonga Trench near New Zealand at -35,702 feet below sea level. It's almost as deep as Mariana, and certainly deep enough to conceal Mt. Everest with over a mile of water to spare. Third place goes to Galathea Deep (-34,580 ft) in the Philippine Trench, an 800-mile-long ditch east of Luzon. Fourth place goes to the Russian-named Kuril-Kamchatka (-34,449 ft) which stretches from the Peninsula of that name to Hokkaido, Japan. What about that Puerto Rico Trench, you say? It's called Milwaukee Deep at -28,373, and it IS the deepest point in the Atlantic. So that should count for something.