Arizona Highlights Trivia Quiz

Answer: Oraibi

The Hopi village of Oraibi was established around 1100 C.E. in northeastern Arizona and has been continuously-inhabited since that time. Yes, Europeans are laughing, but hey - that's old for North America! Some sources credit Oraibi as the oldest continuously-inhabited settlement in the United States, but that title is in dispute and is usually credited to the Acoma Pueblo in New Mexico, which was believed to be established slightly earlier between 1000 and 1100 C.E.

The Hopi tribe are considered a pueblo people since they live in villages, and they are descendants of the Ancestral Puebloans also known as the Anasazi (although the latter term is no longer preferred).

They live in northeastern Arizona, surrounded by the Navajo Nation.

Answer: Mead

The two largest reservoirs in the United States are partially located in Arizona: Lake Mead (which is shared with Nevada) and Lake Powell (which is shared with Utah). Both reservoirs are along the Colorado River, with Lake Mead created by Hoover Dam in 1936 and Lake Powell created by Glen Canyon Dam in 1966. Lake Mead is used to store the annual allotment of Colorado River water that is shared between California, Arizona and Mexico. Both Lake Mead and Lake Powell have suffered from a prolonged drought that has reduced their water level to the point that they have been passed by Lake Sakakawea in North Dakota as the largest reservoir in the U.S. based on actual water retention, but they still are the largest based on potential capacity.

Answer: Havasu Falls

The Grand Canyon, one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, is 277 miles (446 km) long, varies in width up to 18 miles (29 km) across and is over a mile deep in some areas. It was carved by the Colorado River over millions of years. Living at the bottom of the canyon is the Havasupai tribe who have resided there for at least 800 years.

The Havasupai tribe is small - less than 700 members and their land area is less than 300 square miles but it includes the spectacular blue-green Havasu Falls, which are a waterfall and ponds fed by Havasu Creek. Getting there can be tricky; there are no roads to drive so it involves hiking, horseback/mule riding or a helicopter trip.

Answer: Montezuma Castle

Montezuma Castle National Monument is located in central Arizona about 90 miles north of Phoenix. Built by the Ancestral Puebloans, the monument consists of cliff dwellings carved into the side of a mountain and is believed to have been constructed between 1100 and 1425 C.E.

The name is a misnomer since the Aztec ruler Montezuma had nothing to do with the dwellings, nor are they a castle but rather a vertical village. The site was one of four original National Monuments dedicated by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906.

Answer: London Bridge

London Bridge was falling down, so in the 1960s, it was purchased by the founder of Lake Havasu City and relocated to the western Arizona municipality along the Colorado River. Yes, it truly is THAT London Bridge, formerly spanning the Thames in London. It now serves as a tourist attraction for Lake Havasu City, which is popular for water sports and with college students on Spring Break.

Answer: Phoenix

Phoenix is one of the largest cities in the United States, and it is also the largest capital city in the United States; population figures change, but Phoenix is more than twice the size of Indianapolis, its nearest competitor among capital cities. The metropolitan area of Phoenix includes the suburbs of Glendale, Tempe, Scottsdale, Peoria, Mesa, Paradise Valley, Chandler and Gilbert, among others. Prior to the arrival of Europeans, the area that is now Phoenix had been inhabited by the Hohokam people.

The Hohokam disappeared from the area around 1400 C.E., and it wasn't until the 1860s that the area was resettled and was given the name of Phoenix because it had been reborn out of the ruins of the Hohokam civilization. The Desert Botanical Garden was established in 1937 and consists of over 140 acres of desert flora from around the world.

Answer: Monument Valley

Arizona is home to 21 officially-recognized Native American tribes, and their reservations make up more than one quarter of the land in the state. The Navajo (Diné) are the largest in both population and area; the Navajo are also the largest tribe in the United States, with the Navajo Nation spreading across four states (Utah, Colorado and New Mexico are the other three).

The Navajo Nation in northeast Arizona is home to several spectacular sites including Monument Valley on the AZ/Utah border. It features massive sandstone buttes and is familiar scenery to fans of westerns and "Forrest Gump".

Answer: Sedona

About a two-hour drive north of Phoenix, the city of Sedona is located in the Verde Valley in northern Arizona. It is famous for its vibrant red rocks and red sandstone formations. The rock layer is known as the Schnebly Hill Formation and only occurs in the Sedona area.

The stunning scenery has made the area popular with filmmakers, and films such as "Johnny Guitar" and "3:10 to Yuma" have had scenes filmed there. Sedona is also popular with new age practitioners who maintain that Sedona has energy vortexes that are sources of spiritual and metaphysical renewal.

Answer: Tubac

The Spanish established Tubac in 1752 as the first European settlement in Arizona. Tubac is located about twenty miles north of the Mexican border and fifty miles south of Tucson. During its early years, the settlement suffered from raids by neighboring tribes, and by the time the United States took possession of it in the mid-1800s, it was essentially a ghost town.

But when silver was discovered nearby, settlers moved in, reportedly making Tubac the largest town in Arizona in 1860. After the mining boom died out, only a small population remained in Tubac.

By the 1940s, Tubac had evolved into an artist's colony and it continues as such in the early 21st century. The Tubac Presidio State Historic Park was designated as Arizona's first State Park in 1958, and the ruins of the original Spanish presidio can be viewed there.

Answer: Picacho Peak

Picacho Peak is a uniquely-shaped 1,500 foot peak located about 40 miles north of Tucson. Tucson was actually part of the Confederacy during the American Civil War, and the westernmost battle of the Civil War, the Battle of Picacho Peak, was fought on April 15, 1862.

It really wasn't much of a battle since it just consisted of 14 Union troops versus 10 Confederate troops, and the Union troops retreated after suffering three fatalities. U.S. cavalry reinforcements arrived from California after the skirmish to recapture Tucson in May of 1862 and to drive the confederates out of Arizona.

As with most American Civil War battles, the Battle of Picacho Peak is reenacted annually.