About this quiz
This quiz leaves capital cities behind and looks at the land itself: the highest mountain, the lowest shoreline, the longest drop of water and the canals that joined two oceans. The questions use measured figures rather than folklore, and where a record depends on how it is measured, the explanation says so.
Physical geography is full of numbers that shift. Surveys revise the height of mountains, and the Dead Sea keeps shrinking, so a few explanations give the year a figure was measured. Read the note after each answer, especially for the ones you miss, and treat the numbers as the best published values at the time of writing.
Measured figures behind the questions
- Mount Everest is 8,848.86 metres high, the figure agreed by Nepal and China after a joint survey in 2020.
- The shore of the Dead Sea is the lowest land-based elevation on Earth, at roughly 440 metres below sea level in 2025, and it keeps falling as the lake shrinks.
- Angel Falls in Venezuela is 979 metres high in total, with an uninterrupted drop of 807 metres.
- The Danube passes through or touches the borders of ten countries, more than most rivers.
Frequently asked questions
Where do the figures come from?
From standard reference works. The mountain, waterfall, Dead Sea and Danube figures were re-checked against reference pages on 8 November 2026.
Why do some records have caveats?
Records such as the longest river or the largest lake depend on definitions and on how a source is measured, so this quiz avoids questions with no agreed answer.
Is this quiz harder than the capitals quiz?
Slightly. It asks for measured records and places rather than names you may have met at school, but every answer is explained.