Good morning
On 28 September 1066, William, Duke of Normandy, landed his army at Pevensey on the south coast of England. He had sailed across the English Channel from Normandy, in northern France, to challenge King Harold II for the English throne. Weeks later, his victory at Hastings reshaped England's language, laws and ruling class for centuries.
This morning's issue looks at rivers, flags, capitals and a very long place name.
In today's edition
- The river deeper than the Amazon
- The suburb that outranks Colombo as capital
- A city name stretching past 168 letters
- Why a flag's disc sits off-centre
- Match countries across a 3x3 grid
- Test your eye for country outlines
Congo River · Fact of the day
The Congo is the world's deepest river, not the Amazon
Most people assume the Amazon, the world's largest river, is the deepest too. The true answer is the Congo, in Central Africa. Below a stretch of rapids called Pool Malebo, soundings found depths of about 220 metres, nearly as tall as a 70-storey building.
The Amazon's deepest known point, near Óbidos in Brazil, is about 124 metres. The difference comes down to shape, not size. The Amazon spreads across a wide, flat floodplain, so its water stays shallow even where the river narrows.
The Congo, by contrast, is squeezed into a channel under 250 metres wide there, forcing the water to cut straight down into the riverbed. In that darkness lives a blind, colourless fish that has never seen daylight.
↗ Send this fact to a friend6.93° N, 80.78° E · Place of the day
Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte
Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte is a suburb of Colombo, the biggest city in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is an island nation off the southern tip of India.
Most visitors assume Colombo is the capital. It has the airport, the port and most of the country's business. But since 1982, Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte has been the official seat of government. The national Parliament sits there, not in Colombo.
The split happened because Colombo grew too crowded for its government buildings. So Sri Lanka built a new home for Parliament a few kilometres away, in a suburb most foreign visitors have never heard of. It now holds the country's biggest job.
Play today's Worldle↻ Also on the map
Bangladesh's flag disc sits off-centre on purpose On Bangladesh's flag, the red circle is not placed in the exact middle. Its centre sits at 45 percent of the flag's length, slightly closer to the flagpole than the middle would be. Designers shifted it there so the circle looks centred once the flag moves in the wind.
The Okavango Delta was the 1,000th UNESCO World Heritage site In 2014, the Okavango Delta in Botswana became the 1,000th site added to UNESCO's World Heritage List. It covers more than two million hectares, an area larger than Wales. Its rivers never reach the sea: the water spreads out and disappears into the sands of the Kalahari Desert.
Between issues
Fancy a puzzle with your morning coffee? GeoGrid gives you a 3x3 grid and asks you to name a country that fits both its row and its column, from continents to flag colours to shared borders.
Play today's GeoGridLocate the country
Today's mystery shape · 28 September 2026
Today's silhouette is waiting for your guess. Study its outline, think about which coastlines and borders might match, and take your best shot. We reveal the answer tomorrow.
Guess it on Worldle →Yesterday, revealed
Yesterday, 27 September 2026
It was Cyprus, If yesterday's shape had you second-guessing, you were not alone. Its outline trips up plenty of sharp-eyed readers. Take another look next time it comes around, and you will likely spot it faster.
13.76° N, 100.50° E · By the numbers
The world's longest official place name
Bangkok's full ceremonial name is the longest place name in the world, according to Guinness World Records. Written in English letters, it runs to 168 letters long. King Rama I gave the Thai capital this title in 1782. It was built from words in the Pali and Sanskrit languages. For comparison, a hill in New Zealand also known for its long name uses 85 letters, roughly half as many. Bangkok's own residents simply call their city Krung Thep in daily speech. The long version survives mainly in official documents and record books, a reminder that a city's everyday name and its full name can be very different things.
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See you tomorrow. The Teuteuf team
Sources: The New York Times: 'Earth's Deepest River Conceals an Evolutionary Mystery' (Asher Elbein) · Wikipedia: Capital of Sri Lanka · Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh, 'National Flag' · UNESCO World Heritage Centre: official property page, 'Okavango Delta' (Ref. 1432) · Guinness World Records: 'Longest place name'