Georgia, Jewel of the South Online Quiz | Georgia

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. The colony of Georgia, as originally established prior to statehood, was intended as a buffer zone to protect the English in the Carolinas from the Spanish, who held Florida. For the most part, what type of people were imported from England to settle in the coastal area between these two opposing factions?

Answer: debtors and criminals

According to Wikipedia: "A group of philanthropists organized themselves to establish a colony where the 'worthy poor' of Britain could re-establish themselves..." This was partly done to help the poverty stricken to re-establish themselves; partly to aid England in traded goods; and partly to offset feared advances toward the Carolinas by the Spanish.

Source: Wikipedia

2. Rome, Sparta, Athens, Berlin, Cairo, Bremen, Smyrna, Dublin and Vienna: these are just some of the names of cities and towns in Georgia that have roots in other parts of the world. Which ones had their names deliberately mispronounced, due to World War II anti-war sentiments?

Answer: Berlin, Bremen and Cairo

Berlin (pronounced in Georgia as BUR-lin), Bremen (pronounced BREE-men) and Cairo (pronounced Karo - just like the syrup), originally were pronounced more or less correctly. The deliberate mispronunciation came about as anti-Axis power backlash. The fine folks of those places just did NOT wish to be associated, even remotely, with the Nazi or Fascist movements in Europe.

(Just in case you wanted to know; my hometown is Rome, Ga. and it's kind of difficult to mispronounce that even though it was Axis-related as well.)

3. Those pesky 'redskins'! They just WOULD NOT cooperate with the early European settlers. Some of my ancestors ran some of my OTHER ancestors away from their homes, all for the sake of gold. The first major gold rush in the United States was near which north Georgia city?

Answer: Dahlonega

The name "Dahlonega", in the native tongue of the Cherokee who lived there first,(remember them?) meant "yellow". Originally spelled "Talonega", by the Georgia General Assembly in 1833, the name was changed to Dahlonega to more fully reflect its native tongue: "Da-lo-ni-ge-i".

(I suppose that it was some consolation to the Cherokee that while they were banished to walk on the Trail of Tears to Oklahoma and then back east to a reservation in North Carolina, their language was at least left more or less intact in their original homeland.)

4. Georgia has had five official capitals since its original inception as a British Crown colony, with the modern capital being Atlanta. Which of the following cities has NOT been one of Georgia's capitals?

Answer: Macon

Milledgeville was also the state capital on two separate occasions, and while Macon did serve an interim period as a meeting site for state government, it was never actually the capital.

(Heard's Fort and Ebenezer functioned in much the same capacity as Macon as well, without either ever having actually been the permanent seat of government.)

Source: Wikipedia

5. The state of Georgia was the last of the original 13 colonies, but was one of a handful of states to be admitted to the Union TWICE! (This, of course, was due to the re-admittance of the southern states after the War Between the States.) Georgia was admitted to the United States for the FIRST time in which numerical order?

Answer: 4th state in 1788

On January 2, 1788, Georgia was admitted to the Union for the first time. After its secession during the time of the U.S. Civil War, Georgia became the last southern state to gain re-admittance to the Union on July 15, 1870.

6. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, Georgia's population was nearly ten million people.

Answer: True

In 2010, it was 9,687,653, to be exact, which was more than double its population of the 1970s.

Along with a growing population, Georgia's total gross state product was a whopping $403 billion in 2010. (I would like my share now, please!)

7. Hard to believe? Believe it, it really happened! Which U.S. congressman, who represented my home district, lost his life when an airplane in which he was a passenger was shot down by the Soviets over the sea of Japan in 1983?

Answer: Lawrence "Larry" McDonald

Larry McDonald, a Democratic member of the House of Representatives, had been aboard Korean Air Lines flight 007, when it was shot down by the Soviets on September 1, 1983. At first, the Soviets disclaimed involvement; eventually they stated that they did indeed shoot it, since they believed it guilty of espionage. (I wonder if they considered the irony of it being flight 007?)

The 269 people onboard all died.

Source: Wikipedia

I remember disembarking from an airplane in San Bernardino, California only hours later, to be greeted with the news that our congressman had just been killed. At first I didn't believe the story either, but sadly it proved to be true.

8. One cannot really discuss Georgia in detail without including some type of weather report. Generally speaking, what type of climate does MOST of Georgia have?

Answer: humid, subtropical

According to Wikipedia, my home of Floyd County, (Rome), has held the state record for the coldest temperature ever recorded in the state at -17 F (-27.2 C). The hottest temperature has been 112 F (44.4 C), recorded at one of the old state capitals, Louisville (pronounced Lew-is-ville).

And yes, it gets gooey all OVER the state in the summertime. It can get so sticky and humid that I refer to it as the "velcro-armpit syndrome". Sh-th-thu-uu-ck... Ugh!

9. The only North American marsupial is the Virginia opossum. Georgia has its own 'possum, directly related to its northern cousin. What is the name of Georgia's official 'possum mascot?

Answer: Pogo

Cartoonist Walt Kelly visited the Okeefenokee Swamp in southeast Georgia in 1942 and felt inspired to create a comic strip based on its denizens. Pogo 'Possum made his debut in comic books in the early 1940s and became nationally syndicated in newspaper comics in 1949. A classic line from Pogo: "We have met the enemy and he is us". The strip made fun of many people and events, whether they were politicians, actors, rich, famous, or even the not-so-famous.

In 1992 the Georgia General Assembly voted Pogo as the State 'Possum.

Source: Wikipedia

10. Ahhh! My favorite city in Georgia. Maybe it's because of the location, maybe because the city is so beautiful, maybe its just because of the wonderful people who live there... no matter. I LOVE this town! It is simply my favorite place to visit, anywhere in the state. (They'd love to see you, too!) So tell me, what is the name of this Atlantic coastal city that was given as a Christmas present to a U.S. president?

Answer: Savannah

On December 22, 1864, the city of Savannah, Georgia was "given" to U.S. President Abraham Lincoln as a Christmas present.

Union General William T. Sherman wired Lincoln with the message, "I beg to present you, as a Christmas gift, the city of Savannah, with 150 heavy guns and plenty of ammunition, and also about 25,000 bales of cotton".

Source: Wikipedia

(A city to pretty to be destroyed, even by its enemies!)

Source: Author logcrawler

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor Pagiedamon before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Georgia, Jewel of the South Trivia Quiz

Of course, you'd think that from the title of this quiz I will be touting all the wonderful things about my home state. Well I will be, but there will be some not-so-flattering subjects covered as well.

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