General (and Admiral) Geography Quiz / Test | Geography

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1. Which country in South America is named for a Caracas native that led the overthrow of many Spanish colonies?

Answer: Bolivia

Sim�n Bol�var was born in Caracas in 1783. In the early 1800s, revolts against Spanish rule raged across South America, many led or inspired by Bolivar. A Republic was declared in Bolivia 1825 after armies led by Bol�var and Antonio Jos� de Sucre joined forces. Bolivar became the first President of Bolivia and Sucre was the second.

2. The name "Gibraltar" is the Spanish derivation of a name based on that of an invading general in the 8th century. What is the ethnicity of this name and of the general?

Answer: Arab

"Gibraltar" is a Spanish approximation of "Jabal Tariq" meaning "Mountain of Tariq", named for Tariq ibn Ziyad who invaded what is current-day Spain in 711. The "Mountain of Tariq" is now known as the Rock of Gibraltar. There are no surviving contemporaneous accounts of Tariq ibn Ziyad; the earliest date from the 12th century. Most say he was a slave who was freed by the Emir of North Africa and given a generalship and mission to invade the Iberian Peninsula.

3. Which Western Hemisphere country contains the State of Guerrero, named for a general in that country's war of independence?

Answer: Mexico

Acapulco is the largest and most well known city in the Mexican State of Guerrero. Vicente Guerrero was a successful general in the Mexican War of Independence (1810-1821). Guerrero served as the second President of Mexico, but only for eight months in 1829 as different factions in the new country vied for power.

4. Floyd's Bluff near Sioux City, Iowa, honors a U.S. Army Sergeant that was the only member that died during which famous expedition?

Answer: Lewis and Clark

Sgt. Charles Floyd was Quartermaster (in charge of supplies) on the Lewis and Clark Expedition to explore the upper Louisiana Purchase. Floyd died from what is now thought to have been a burst appendix and was buried atop a bluff that now bears his name overlooking the Missouri River.

5. Which controversial 19th century U.S. Army leader has counties named for him the area where he served in the states of Montana, Idaho, Colorado, South Dakota, Nebraska and Oklahoma?

Answer: George A. Custer

George Armstrong Custer was a cavalry officer in the U.S. Civil War and later became infamous in the Indian Wars on the Great Plains. Beginning in 1866 as head of the 7th Cavalry Regiment until his death in 1876, Custer led a number of campaigns against Native American tribes to force them off their traditional lands and onto reservations.

6. In 2007, Nepal named a Himalayan peak to honor the founder of the Boy Scouting movement, a retired British Lieutenant General. What is the new name of this mountain?

Answer: Baden-Powell Scout Peak

Lieutenant General Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, served in the British Army from 1876-1910. Urkema Peak (5,826 m or 19,114 ft) is approximately 100 miles west of Mt. Everest, on the border between Nepal and China. The 100 year anniversary of the World Scouting movement founded by Baden-Powell was celebrated in 2007.

7. This infamous Alaskan reef is named for an infamous 18th century British sea captain. What name is shared by this site of a 1989 ecological disaster and a 1789 deposed captain?

Answer: Bligh

Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska, was named for William Bligh, who was master of Captain James Cook's HMS Resolution during Cook's third and final voyage of discovery. Bligh was, of course, in command of HMS Bounty during the infamous mutiny. Tank Vessel Exxon Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef in 1989 spilling between 11 and 38 million gallons of oil.

8. Antarctica became the focus of worldwide attention in the 1950s. The U.S. Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (US-ACAN) named a range of mountains for which contemporaneous military and political leader?

Answer: Eisenhower

Dwight D. Eisenhower was one of the few U.S. five-star generals and gained fame as commander of Allied forces in Europe for the D-Day invasion and after. He was elected U.S. President in 1952 and was in office when the U.S. Navy's Operation Deep Freeze in Antarctica began in 1954.

9. A Caribbean island that is shared by two countries has a province named for Mar�a Trinidad S�nchez, a female soldier in one of the nation's 1840s war of independence from the other nation. Which country includes Mar�a Trinidad S�nchez Province?

Answer: Dominican Republic

Mar�a Trinidad S�nchez was a soldier fighting for the independence of the Dominican Republic from Haiti. She was incarcerated by Pedro Santana, the first President of the Dominican Republic. Santana was suspicious of his former compatriots and S�nchez was executed, becoming the first woman martyr of the new nation.

10. Which U.S. state has a city named for Prussian General Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, a hero of the American Revolution?

Answer: Ohio

Steubenville, Ohio is named for a fort that was built in 1786-87 to protect surveyors of what was then the western edge of the new country of the United States. Steuben is credted with being one of the founders of the Continental Army, teaching them necessary discipline and organization to defeat Britain, the superpower of the western world at that time.

Source: Author wjames

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor ponycargirl before going online.
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General (and Admiral) Geography Quiz

The geographic features are named for military leaders: generals, admirals and some people of lower grades.

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