1800s to 1890s Trivia

1. What did Sir William Herschel discover on February 11, 1800?

From Quiz It Happened in 1800

Answer: Infrared radiation

Infrared are wavelengths that are longer than those of visible light and cannot be seen by the human eye. Sir William Herschel discovered this light had lower energy than red light, which is why it's called infrared. Infrared is now used in science, military, commercial, and medical fields.

From Quiz Remember the Eighties (1880s)

Answer: South Africa

The nation that we know today as South Africa has had a rocky history. The area had originally been colonized by the Dutch East India Company, who established a trade colony in the area known as the Cape of Good Hope (Cape Town). The name "Boer" was a Dutch/Afrikaans word that meant "farmer". The British and the Dutch would fight over control of the colony between 1795 and 1806. Once the British had firm control over the colony, the Dutch colonists (Boers) migrated into territory to the northeast of Cape Town, most notably to areas known as the Orange Free State and the Transvaal Republic. The British sought to tighten their control over the region which sparked the Boer Wars. The First Boer War began on December 16, 1880 and concluded on March 23, 1881. The British suffered an embarrassing defeat which gave the Boers stronger control over their territories. The Second Boer War was fought between 1899 and 1902 and resulted in a British victory, which reestablished British control over the region. South Africa later became an independent Dominion on May 31, 1910.

From Quiz During, But Not About: USA's Ninth Presidency

Answer: Senate printers

The issue came between the Whigs and Democrats. At this time, documents were printed by private printers, who were either supporters or critics of a political party. The filibuster came with the incoming Whig party majority and a desire to replace the Democrat-leaning printers of the time. The Whigs won the debate on March 11, six days after the filibuster had occurred.

From Quiz Ten Score Years Ago - 1816

Answer: Gioachino Rossini

The opera was based off Pierre Beaumarchais' comedy of the same name. The opening night was not a success. Most of the audience had been friends and supporters of Giovanni Paisiello, Rossini's bitter rival. Paisiello also had written an opera for "The Barber of Seville" and had friends protest this one. However, Rossini's quickly became very popular and is today a classic.

From Quiz What Do You Know About 1814?

Answer: Norway

For most of the early part of the 19th century, the Kingdom of Sweden had been fighting alongside the United Kingdom against Napoleon's French forces and their allies, the Kingdom of Denmark and Norway. The various parties met in the city of Kiel, the capital of what was then the Duchy of Holstein, the northernmost territory of the Holy Roman Empire. (In 1866, most of the Duchy of Holstein joined with the southern part of the Duchy of Schleswig to become Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost of the sixteen states in modern Germany.) The 1814 treaty saw the North Sea archipelago of Heligoland (today part of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein) pass from Denmark to Britain. Denmark, meanwhile, gained the Baltic Coast territory of western Pomerania from Sweden. In return, Denmark ceded to Sweden most of Norway. Denmark did, however, retain possession of the former Norwegian overseas territories of Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands, the latter two of which are still Danish possessions.

From Quiz Party Like It's 1899

Answer: Murder

The President in question was William McKinley. In 1901 he was assassinated in Buffalo, New York.

From Quiz Remember the 1890s ?

Answer: Oscar Wilde - The Picture of Dorian Gray

All born in Dublin except Spike Milligan (Ahmednagar, India). George Bernard Shaw wrote five novels, but had far more success as a playwright. James Joyce was only 8 years old in 1890 and his first novel, "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man", was not published till 1916.

From Quiz Dateline: 1821

Answer: John Keats

John Keats (1795-1821) was one of England's greatest Romantic poets. He started to study medicine, then decided to become a poet when his first poem was published in 1816. He died of tuberculosis (called 'consumption' in those days). On his tomb is inscribed "Here lies one whose name was written in water".

From Quiz Dateline: 1808

Answer: Finland

From Quiz Dateline: 1846

Answer: Neptune

The new planet was discovered in England on September 23. Urbain Le Verrier had figured out that Neptune existed the previous year due to unexpected/unexplained changes in the orbit of Uranus.

From Quiz Dateline: 1811

Answer: Venezuela

The revolutionary forces were led by Francisco de Miranda, with Simon Bolivar as one of his lieutenants.

From Quiz It Happened in 1800

Answer: HMS Queen Charlotte

The HMS Queen Charlotte was designed by Edward Hunt, and first launched on April 15, 1790. Four years later, it was the flagship of Admiral Lord Howe at The Battle of the Glorious First of June during the French Revolutionary Wars. On March 17, 1800, it was the flagship of Vice-Admiral Lord Keith when it caught on fire in the Tuscan Archipelago. Keith, who was not on the ship at the time, watched it happen from land. The fire may have been started by hay being thrown on a match tub. Captain Tod and other 673 officers and men died.

From Quiz Remember the Eighties (1880s)

Answer: Charles Guiteau

James A. Garfield was inaugurated as the 20th President of the United States on March 4, 1881. Four months later on July 2, 1881, President Garfield was shot by a disgruntled lawyer and campaign worker named Charles Guiteau at a train station in Washington, D.C. The president was hit twice, but did not die right away. President Garfield eventually passed away on September 19, 1881 due to health complications as a result of the shooting. Leon Czolgosz assassinated President William McKinley in 1901. Gavrilo Princip assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in 1914 to spark World War I. John Hinckley, Jr. attempted to assassinate Ronald Reagan in 1981, but President Reagan recovered from his injuries.

From Quiz During, But Not About: USA's Ninth Presidency

Answer: Henry Clay

Kentucky senator Henry Clay had already served as Secretary of the State under John Quincy Adams over a decade before this incident. When the topic of senate printers came upon the senate, Clay had debased Blair and the "Washington Post" as infamous. King defended Blair, and Clay lost his temper with the both of them. After the meeting, King challenged Clay to the duel. Both men were arrested by the senate police before anything could come of it, and on the 14th of March, both men apologized to one another for their actions.

From Quiz Ten Score Years Ago - 1816

Answer: Maria the Mad

Queen Maria had been queen of Portugal since 1777 until her death. She was called Maria the Mad because of her religious mania and her severe depression. By the time the Napoleonic Wars came about, she was too mentally ill to rule effectively. She and her family fled to Brazil, which later became a kingdom, because of Napoleon's victories. She died there in 1816, having never returned back to Portugal after Napoleon's defeat.

From Quiz What Do You Know About 1814?

Answer: Lord George Byron

Still regarded today as one of Britain's greatest ever poets, George Gordon Byron was born in London in January 1788. The most flamboyant and adventurous of the Romantic poets, it should hardly be a surprise that Byron thought his life worthy of an autobiographical work by the time he reached the age of 26. "The Corsair", published just a week after Byron had reached that milestone, tells the thinly-disguised, heroic story of a dashing corsair named Conrad. Byron is best-remembered today for the narrative poem "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage", completed in 1818, and the satirical "Don Juan", which was still unfinished when he died of a fever in Greece at the age of just 36. The story of "The Corsair", though, has been told numerous times since in various forms. Giuseppe Verdi's three-act opera 1848 "Il Corsaro", French composer Adolphe Adam's 1856 ballet "Le Corsaire" and the 1845 Hector Berlioz overture of the same name were all based on Byron's poem.

From Quiz Party Like It's 1899

Answer: Cuba

Belize is in Central America, not the Caribbean. Spanish rule in Jamaica was brief and ended in the 1650s. Apart from a temporary reversion to Spanish rule from 1861 to 1865, the Dominican Republic was independent from Spain after 1821, albeit occasionally under the control of Haiti or the United States.

From Quiz Remember the 1890s ?

Answer: James Chadwick

Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937) born in Nelson, New Zealand. He won the 1908 Nobel Prize for Chemistry - "for his investigations into the disintegration of the elements, and the chemistry of radioactive substances". William Lawrence Bragg (1890-1971) born in North Adelaide, Australia. Shared 1915 Nobel Prize for Physics with his father William Henry Bragg - "for their services in the analysis of crystal structure by means of X-rays". Albert Einstein (1879-1955) born in Ulm, Germany. Won the 1921 Nobel Prize for Physics - "for his services to Theoretical Physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect".

From Quiz The Year 1881

Answer: William Gladstone

Britain's political leadership was more stable than that of the US at this time ... Gladstone served as PM from 1868-1874, from 1880-1885, part of 1886, and 1892-1894. Disraeli and the Marquis of Salisbury filled in the gaps. The Marquis of Salisbury was Prime Minister in 1901, the year of Queen Victoria's death. Disraeli actually died in 1881. The year 1886 saw the office of Prime Minister change hands twice, but unlike the US Presidency in 1881 only 2 men held the position: Salisbury, Gladstone and Salisbury again.

From Quiz Dateline: 1821

Answer: Saint Helena & St. Helena & St Helena & Santa Helena

He had been there in exile for six years. He died at age 51, having been sick since the previous October.

From Quiz Dateline: 1808

Answer: 'Faust'

'Faust' was the masterpiece of Goethe, a German novelist, poet and playwright who is considered the greatest German Classical author. 'Faust', a philosophical drama, was published in two parts, in 1808 and 1832.

From Quiz Dateline: 1846

Answer: Michael Faraday

Faraday, leading scientist of the day in England, lectured at the Royal Institute on the magnetic and electrical forces that hold atoms together. He was best known for his development of the electric motor.

From Quiz Dateline: 1811

Answer: Shawnee Indians

While their leader Tecumseh was away, General William Henry Harrison pounded the Shawnees in Tippecanoe, in modern-day Indiana. Harrison became a war hero and was elected President on the campaign slogan 'Tippecanoe and Tyler too' (John Tyler was his running mate).

From Quiz It Happened in 1800

Answer: Beethoven

"Symphony No. 1" was written in C major. It was dedicated to Baron Gottfried van Swieten, one of Beethoven's first sponsors. It has been said that the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Francis II was there and exclaimed, "There is something revolutionary in that music!" Beethoven gradually started losing his hearing around 1798, and as it worsened, he contemplated suicide. He was able to hear a little until he died in 1827.

From Quiz Ten Score Years Ago - 1816

Answer: Naples

The Kingdoms of Sicily and Naples had historically been referred to as the two Sicilies before their unification in 1816. The unification came about when Ferdinand I defeated Napoleon in the Napoleonic Wars and Ferdinand believed that joining his two kingdoms together would deter further French invasions.

From Quiz Party Like It's 1899

Answer: The Freedom Wars

The First Boer War was fought in 1880-1881 and the Second Boer War between 1899 and 1902, between the British and the Boers - South African settlers of Dutch descent. The methods used by Britain to subdue the Afrikaner guerrillas in the Second Boer War, which included depriving them of support by burning down their farm buildings and interning many of the women and chidren in concentration camps (as they were called at the time by the British authorities) was highly controversial, to say the least. About 20% of those sent to these camps died of starvation and disease. The death rate among young children was particularly high.

From Quiz Remember the 1890s ?

Answer: Abraham Lincoln

February 12th was declared a National Holiday in honour of Abraham Lincoln; the former president was born this day in 1809. Washington's birthday (February 22nd) was established as a federal holiday in 1885. Washington was actually born on Feb 11th according to the Julian Calendar which was in effect at the time of his birth.

From Quiz The Year 1881

Answer: Alexander II

Alexander II was assassinated by anarchists. He was a liberal reformer and freed the Russian serfs... unfortunately, the left hated him for not doing enough and the right hated him for doing anything at all. Ivan IV (the Terrible) ruled in the 1500's, Catherine in the 1700's, and Nicholas II, of course, was killed by the Bolsheviks in 1918.

From Quiz 19th Century Mania: 1800-1810

Answer: Victor Hugo & Hugo

Victor Hugo was born in 1802. He was famous for such books as "Les Misérables" and the "Hunchback of Notre Dame". During the 1840s he brought to light the poor living conditions of the French peasants.

From Quiz Dateline: 1821

Answer: Ottomans

In the battle, which occurred in modern-day Romania, the Ottomans defeated the Greeks under Alexander Ypsilanti.

This is category 23403
Last Updated Dec 13 2025 5:51 AM

= Top 5% Rated Quiz, Top 10% Rated Quiz, Top 20% Rated Quiz, A Well Rated Quiz
= added recently, = Editor's Pick = FunTrivia Editor = Gold Member
Teachers / educators: FunTrivia welcomes the use of our website and quizzes in the classroom as a teaching aid or for preparing and testing students. See our education section. Our quizzes are printable and may be used as question sheets by k-12 teachers, parents, and home schoolers.

 ·  All questions, answers, and quiz content on this website is copyright FunTrivia, Inc and may not be reproduced without permission. Any images from TV shows and movies are copyright their studios, and are being used under "fair use" for commentary and education.