Test your Mississippi River knowledge with our Quiz…

The mighty Mississippi River touches ten States as it moves from it’s source in Minnesota to it’s grand finale in Louisiana through the centre of the United States of America. Test your knowledge with our Mississippi River Quiz and impress your trivia team! (Answers at the bottom – but don’t cheat – it’s no fun that way!)

Question 1: How did the Mississippi River get is name?

Question 2: Name the 10 States in America that touch the Mississippi River.

Question 3: In what fictitious town on the Mississippi River did the Mark Twain character Huck Finn reside?

Question 4: How fast does the Mississippi River flow?

Question 5: How wide is the Mississippi River?

Question 6: When did the Mississippi River last change it’s course and where?

Question 7: Approximately how long is the Mississippi River?

Question 8: How many people have swum the full length of the Mississippi River?

Question 9: What percentage of North American fish species live in the Mississippi River?

Question 10: Which is longer, the Mississippi River or the Missouri River?

Well done, you didn’t cheat!

Here are your answers:

1. The word Mississippi comes from Messipi, the French rendering of the Anishinaabe (Ojibwe or Algonquin) name for the river, Misi-ziibi (Great River).
2. The Mississippi River either borders or passes through the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana.
3. Huck Finn resided in the fictitious town of St Petersburg Missouri – loosly based on the real township of Hannibal Missouri.
4. A raindrop deposited at the headwaters of the Mississippi River would take almost 82 days to meet the Gulf of Mexico at the river’s average speed of 1.2 miles per hour. That is, of course, without stops for sightseeing.
5. The river is between 20 and 30 feet wide (6-9 metres), but at its largest, the Mississippi River is more than 11 miles wide (17.7kms).
6. The Mississippi River changed course in 1876 in Vicksburg by cutting across the Desoto Peninsula under it’s own power.
7. The Mississippi River is approximately 2,381 miles long (3831.848kms)
8. Two people have swum the full length of the Mississippi River – they are: Marin Strel in 2002 and Chris Ring in 2015 – it took Martin 68 days and Chris 181 days in total.
9. 25% of all North American fish species live in the river.
10. The Missouri River is about 200 miles longer than the Mississippi River.