Alive in the 20th Century! Trivia Quiz

Answer: North Carolina

At the turn of the century, the world advanced into the Edwardian Era. Following the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, the world opened up. The Commonwealth of Australia was created, Bulgaria became a country, and Cuba gained independence. Mount Vesuvius erupted in 1906, the same year as the San Francisco Earthquake.

Elsewhere, major scientific advances were made-- Einstein proposed his theory of relativity while Marconi created the radio. In 1903, the first Ford car was produced. The Wright Brothers, out in Kitty Hawk, NC, flew a heavier-than-air craft for the first time and revolutionized world travel. Despite a great deal of skepticism, the Wrights piloted for crowds later in the decade, spurring the creation of further aircraft ultimately leading to the massive liners of today.

Answer: The Panama Canal

The world changed a great deal during the 1910s, especially with the advent of the First World War in Europe. Political unrest was afoot and society took a turn; Russia became the Soviet Union after revolt while China became a Republic. The Titanic sunk in the North Atlantic in 1912 while Machu Picchu was rediscovered in the Andes of Peru the year prior. The Modernist movement, meanwhile, gained ground in the arts.

In Central America, construction finally came to a head on the Panama Canal, a thoroughfare linking the Pacific and the Atlantic at one of the narrowest points between the Americas. The 77 kilometer system of locks ended a need to travel for months south around the tip of South America to transport goods and became a true engineering marvel.

Answer: Jazz

The Roaring Twenties were indeed the Jazz Age, during which the stylings of jazz music became a touchstone for all arts of the time. A rebellious style known for syncopated beats and swing, it caused Modernist writers like Fitzgerald to write "The Great Gatsby", artists like Salvador Dali to paint surreal works, and for the first time, filmmakers to create Expressionist films. This was a time where the sights and sounds of the advancing world were making magic for the middle and lower class.

The twenties saw Egypt become independent; King Tut's tomb was found. Prototypes for television units were invented while commercial radio stations cropped up. And people were dancing! The Charleston was created in this decade. Of course, in 1929 the Stock Market crashed and sent the world into a Depression.

Answer: The banning of alcohol

The thirties was a tough decade for most considering the severe lack of jobs and the impossible economy. Many nations faced an overwhelming amount of lower-class citizens and food shortages. World War II broke out in 1939 and, by the end of it in the 1940s, the economy was on the mend. India, meanwhile, sought independence while Hitler gained power. The Hindenburg was destroyed in 1937 while the Golden Gate Bridge and the Empire State Bulding were constructed.

In spite of all of this, the Prohibition started in the United States in the 1920s, illegalizing all forms of alcohol across the country, ended in 1933 with the twenty-first constitutional amendment-- but not after a relatively interesting wave of debauchery and corruption. In other forms of enjoyment, Disney started making animated feature films; "The Wizard of Oz" was also released in Technicolor.

Answer: Normandy

In the late 1930s, the world broke into another World War which lasted until 1945. Before that happened, however, the Axis and the Allies fought all through Europe, Asia, and the Pacific. Normandy in particular was a famous battle-- shots of soldiers landing on Omaha Beach are forever engrained in the mind when thinking of war in France. This was a decade of Holocaust and atomic bombs.

While many technological advancements in this decade were a result of the war, other facets of life advanced as well. Women, previously domestic, took jobs in factories during the wartime and paved the way for further rights. Disillusionment and cynicism after the war led people into uncertain times; the film noir and hard-boiled detective fiction emerged with the Cold War.

Answer: Polio

The 1950s, while remembered for the changes created post-war, was also a time of fierce advancement, especially considering the Red Scare and the interest in space and what lay ahead for our planet. Jonas Salk created a vaccine for polio in 1955, almost eradicating it; TVs started appearing in more and more homes around the world; the Soviets sent satellites into space; the structure of DNA was established.

While the Korean War was waged in Asia, the Soviet Union expanded until Stalin's death in 1953. Meanwhile, rock and roll and pop music took the world by storm; Elvis entered the building.

Answer: Apollo 11

The space race came to a head in 1969 when, after years of planning and the establishment of NASA in the 1950s, man finally step foot on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission. At the same time, due to the continued acceptance of television as a major entertainment medium, people could watch the landing from the comfort of their own homes.

Back on Terra Firma, the sixties were a time of immense social change; revolutions and free love reigned supreme as hippies and counter-culture groups rebelled against different adversaries. Race and sex opened up and Martin Luther King Jr. gave his speech in Washington D.C. while the Vietnam War raged in Asia. China revolted while the United States worried about Cuban missiles. The Beatles took the world by storm; Kerouac and Ginsberg forever shaped beat culture. It was a groovy decade.

Answer: Blockbusters

The 1970s brought new expectations to entertainment. With colour television now present and an increased movie-going public, movies like "Jaws" (1975) and "Star Wars" made millions upon millions creating new expectations for cinema (and subsequently video games, music, etc. in later decades).

Meanwhile, the Cold War continued on amidst an oil crisis in the early 1970s. The Watergate Scandal occurred in the States while the Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher, took office in Britain. The world went into an economic recession in the midst of these changes and, coupled with energy concerns, forced a new approach to the future. This decade was also a first for computers and arcade games. The Sears Tower became the tallest skyscraper. "Doctor Who" gained popularity, as did Monty Python.

Answer: World of Warcraft

With an increase in industry and technology in the eighties, the world moved forward with advances in many fields from entertainment (with video games and music television) to computer tech (home computers and the internet). At the same time, public health and safety was placed in the forefront. Basic rights for women, different races, and homosexuals opened up while the Cold War finally came to an end (with the Berlin Wall falling in 1989).

Not all events were positive. The world faced the AIDS epidemic head on while the Exxon Valdez dropped oil in the North Pacific. Mt. St. Helens blew its top; John Lennon was shot and killed in New York City; the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded during launch.

Answer: Dolly

Getting closer to the new millennium, the 1990s pushed people full-steam-ahead into the future. Scientific advances in cloning, medicine, and technology increased to the point of no return; the internet gained ground and, by the end of the decade, computers started to replace televisions as primary disseminators of media. Dolly the Sheep was cloned from a somatic cell in Scotland in 1996, surviving for six years.

At the same time, the world saw the Gulf War, the Kosovo War, and the Rwandan Genocide. Terrorist attacks were on the rise worldwide, and scandals and conflicts rocked international politics. Oil spills and natural disasters plagued the decade, but the economy was on the rise (especially after recession in the early 1980s). With new tech we saw new products from Game Boys to Discmans to Tamagotchis. Our International Space Station started to get built. "Titanic" was released, topping all box office charts for over a decade. Oh yeah, and we had Brit Fever again. Seems to happen once every couple decades.