Andes trivia
Andes Mini Quiz
Test your knowledge with these top questions!
Aconcagua is the Andes' highest peak. What stratovolcano on the Argentina-Chile border is the world's highest active volcano?
While Aconcagua is an extinct volcano, Ojos del Salado (68m lower) is 'active' due to fumaroles, its last eruption being ~1300 years ago.
In the 15th century, which civilization constructed the mountain citadel of Machu Picchu?
The Incas built Machu Picchu around 1450 CE, but it was abandoned just a century later during the Spanish conquest, remaining hidden from the wider world until American explorer Hiram Bingham brought it to international attention in 1911.
The Andes create a rain shadow, leading to which exceptionally arid desert on their western slopes, one of Earth's driest places?
Some weather stations in the Atacama Desert, one of Earth's driest places, have never recorded any rainfall.
High in the Andes on the Peru-Bolivia border lies the world's highest large navigable lake by volume. What is this iconic freshwater body?
Despite its extreme altitude, Lake Titicaca has hosted steamships since 1870, some of which were transported in parts by mules.
At 3,812m above sea level, Lake Titicaca is shared by which two South American countries?
Lake Titicaca isn't just South America's largest lake by volume—it's also home to the Uros people who live on floating islands made from totora reeds that they've maintained for centuries.
What is the name of the Andes' most extensive high-altitude plain, second in size only to the Tibetan Plateau, vital to Bolivia and Peru?
The Altiplano is a major center of domestication; potatoes and camelids like llamas and alpacas were first domesticated here, vital to Andean civilizations.
Stretching over 7,000 km, what is the longest continental mountain range in the world?
The Andes not only hosts the world's highest volcano, Ojos del Salado (6,893m), but also contains over 200 active volcanoes along its vast stretch through seven South American countries.