History Around the World 6 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Stephen Harper

Stephen Harper is the first leader of the recently-formed Conservative Party to become Prime Minister of Canada. Born in 1959, he is the first Canadian PM born in the second half of the 20th Century. He is the first Protestant in Canada's top job since Lester B. Pearson left office in April 1968. A serious ice hockey fan (specifically the Toronto Maple Leafs), he is writing a book on the history of the game.
The alternatives are all former Canadian Prime Ministers. Liberal Paul Martin was PM from December 2003 until February 2006, when he was succeeded by Harper. Liberal Jean Chretien preceded Martin, holding office for just over a decade, from November 1993-December 2003. Progressive Conservative Kim Campbell was Canada's first female PM and the last conservative prior to Harper. She held office for only a few months, from June-November 1993.

Answer: Benito Mussolini

Born in the small town of Predappio in central Italy, Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini became Italian Prime Minister in 1922 and adopted the title 'Il Duce' three years later. Of the alternatives, Stalin was born in December 1878, Churchill in November 1874, and Hitler in April 1889.

Answer: Queen Victoria

The official London residence of the British monarch, Buckingham Palace is one of the city's major tourist attractions. Outside the palace gates stands the Victoria Memorial, erected in 1911 in honor of the first monarch who lived in the palace.

Built in 1703, Buckingham House was purchased as a private residence by King George III in 1761. It became the official royal residence on the ascension of Queen Victoria in 1837.

Answer: Massachusetts

The 41st US President, George Herbert Walker Bush, was born in Milton, Massachusetts on June 12, 1924. Shortly after his birth, his family relocated to Greenwich, Connecticut. He began his schooling in Connecticut, but attended High School in Andover MA. Although offered a place at Yale, he instead elected to fight in WWII following the attack on Pearl Harbor. After the war, he accepted his place at Yale. He graduated with a degree in economics and played first base in the first two College World Series.

Answer: Cambodia

Born in 1925, Pol Pot was the leader of the communist Khmer Rouge in what is now Cambodia. He acquired the leadership of the Kampuchea Communist Party in 1962 and in 1975 became Prime Minister (ie Dictator) of Cambodia. The official name of the country during his reign was changed to Democratic Kampuchea and it is estimated that more than 25% of the country's population died from something other than natural causes during his time in control. In 1979, Pol Pot was overthrown by his own organization.

He lived the rest of his life under house arrest and died in mysterious circumstances, thought probably poisoned, in 1998.

Answer: Richard II

Princess Isabella of Valois, the daughter of King Charles VI of France, was born in 1389, during The Hundred Years' War. Her marriage to the widowed 29-year old King Richard II of England in October 1396, when Isabella was only 6 years old, was intended to ease tensions between the countries.
Three years after their marriage, Richard was imprisoned and murdered, and the new king (Henry IV) decided that Isabella should marry his son, the future Henry V. However, she refused and eventually she was allowed to return to France, where she married her cousin, Charles, Duke of Orleans, in 1406. She died in childbirth aged 19.
In 1420, Isabella's sister, the 19-year old Catherine of Valois, married King Henry V of England. The youngest of Henry VIII's wives was Katherine Howard, who was somewhere between 15 and 20 when they married in 1540. (The exact date of her birth is unknown.) John was another English king who married a young French girl named Isabella -- Isabella of Angouleme was 12 when she married King John of England in 1200.

Answer: Xia

There is some doubt as to whether the Xia Dynasty really existed, but there is archaeological evidence that seems to confirm that it did. The Xia dynasty began with the 45-year reign of Emperor Yu the Great. The 17th and last Xia emperor was Jie, whose reign lasted 52 years. Only the reign of the 11th Xia emperor, Bu Jiang (59 years), exceeded either of these two for longevity. The alternatives are three more early Chinese dynasties.

The Shang Dynasty succeeded the Xia in 1600 BC and lasted for more than 500 years.

The Zhou Dynasty overlapped with the Shang and is the longest lasting of all, ruling from 1122-256 BC. The Han Dynasty followed the short-lived Qin in 206 BC and ruled for the next 400 years.

Answer: Arizona

The admission of Arizona as the 48th state on February 14, 1912 completed the map of what we know as the continental USA.

Arizona was preceded just over a month earlier, on January 6, by New Mexico. The only other state to join the Union in the 20th century was Oklahoma, in 1907. Utah was the last of the 19th century admissions, in 1896.

Answer: 1st Battle of the Marne

Although it lasted for only one week, the 1st Battle of the Marne was one of the most significant in the entire war. The German offensive that had opened the war had almost reached Paris. Victory by the counter-attacking Franco-British forces at the Marne ended German hopes for a quick victory and set the stage for four years of trench warfare.
The alternatives are three more WWI Western Front battles. The 1st Battle of Ypres, also known as The Battle of Flanders, began on October 19, 1914 and lasted around a month. The 1st Battle of the Somme, also known as The Somme Offensive, which lasted from July-November 1916, is one of the bloodiest battles in history, with more than 1.5 million casualties. The Battle of Arras lasted just over a month beginning on April 9, 1917.

Answer: 1488

Curiously, Diaz sailed around both the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Agulhas, the southernmost point of Africa, without even knowing he had done so. Following the west coast of Africa south, he stopped at Walvis Bay (in modern-day Namibia). Continuing south, he was caught in a storm that lasted 13 days.

When the storm ended, he turned east, expecting to hit land, not having realized that he had sailed beyond the tip of the continent. He eventually turned north and made landfall at Mossell Bay, between modern-day Cape Town and Port Elizabeth, on March 12, 1488. It was on the return voyage, in May 1488, that Diaz finally found the Cape of Good Hope, naming it 'The Cape of Storms'.