Building Walls the World Around Quiz

Answer: Qin Shi Huang

The Warring States period (roughly 475-221 BCE) made the construction of boundary walls important for defensive purposes. When King Zhen of Chin subdues the other states and became the first emperor of a unified China, he assumed the title Qin Shi Huang, which literally means First Emperor of Qin, to assert the higher status than that of the kings of whom he had previously been one. (It was a brief dynasty, lasting only until 206 BCE - his son was the last Emperor of Qin.) He is perhaps most readily identified in the popular mind as the emperor responsible for the Terra Cotta Army, but his reorganisation of the pieces of wall in his kingdom so as to remove internal barriers and increase external border control (both for defense and for purposes of taxation and migration control) was significant in establishing the nation. Most of the wall segments he constructed were made of rammed earth, not the brick and stone wall we know.

The other emperors listed all ruled at a much later time. The Mongol leader Kublai Khan declared himself emperor of China in 1271, completing the conquest in 1279. His Yuang dynasty ruled until 1368. The Ming dynasty (1368-1644) included a number of emperors who undertook major rebuilding and reinforcement of the Great Wall, and are primarily associated with creating the structure we recognise today. Xuantong Huangdì is also known as the last emperor, having been forced to abdicate in 1912.

Answer: House

There is evidence that this area has been settled since about the 4th century CE, but stone buildings were not constructed until about the 11th century. Building continued until the 15th century, when the site was abandoned around 1450. It is believed to have been a royal court, with walls around five metres high, and is thought to have been produced by the Gokomere people, ancestors of today's Shona.

The etymology of the Shona term 'zimbabwe' is uncertain, with two different suggestions both having strong support. One suggestion is that it comes from the Karanga dialect phrase 'dzimba-dza-madwe', meaning large houses of stone; the other is that it is derived from the Zezuru dialect, and comes from 'dzimba-hwe', a term usually applied to the houses or gravesites of chiefs that means venerated houses.

There are the remains of a number of other stone buildings to be found around the country of Zimbabwe, hence this UNESCO World Heritage site is usually galled Great Zimbabwe, to distinguish it from the other, lesser, sites.

Answer: Western Wall

The expansion of the Second Temple required encasing the natural hill to provide more building space, so that the top could be made into a large platform for construction. The Temple Mount is a sacred site for Jews (as the former site of the First and Second Temples, and the forecast site where the Third Temple will be constructed), but it is also one of the holiest sites in Islamic tradition, as the location of Muhammad's ascension into paradise, making it one of the most disputed spots in a region of hotly-disputed sites. Located in the Old City of Jerusalem, it is in Israeli territory, but since the time of the Crusades an Islamic trust has managed the buildings, including the Al Aqsa Mosque, and the Dome of the Rock, which stands very close to the original site of the Temple.

Answer: Croatia

The fort town of Ston was built, starting in 1368, by the Republic of Ragusa, to protect the salt pans of Dubrovnik, which were an important commercial site. Its fortified walls were extended to connect with Mali Ston, a kilometer away on the other side of the Peljesac Peninsula.

After the area was conquered by Napoleon, the walls were abandoned, and significantly dismantled so the stones could be used for other purposes. Now only about 5km of the original 7km can be seen, along with 20 of the original 40 towers.

Answer: The Green Line

The name refers to the color of the ink used to draw the line during armistice talks in 1949. Although it was clearly stated in the Armistice to be a temporary boundary, not a permanent border, it operated as the de facto border until the expansion of Israeli territory following the Six-Day War in 1967.

The newly-acquired regions, including East Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights are argued by Israelis as being necessary to create a defensible border; the people from whom they were taken, understandably, feel differently, and they are subject to bitter and often violent protests. Had the barrier followed the Green Line, it would possibly have been less controversial than it was.

However, it diverges significantly so as to include Israeli settlements in the disputed areas within it, leaving Palestinian residents separated from their neighbours by what they call 'jidar al-fasl al-'unsuri', Wall of Apartheid.

Answer: Babylon

The incorrect answers were sites of some of the other Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, but the Ishtar Gate and the (possibly apocryphal) Hanging Gardens were both located in Babylon. The earliest list of seven wonders included the Walls of Babylon, but they were later replaced by the Lighthouse at Alexandria.

The Ishtar gate was built around 575 BCE at the order of Nebuchadnezzar II, and was originally constructed of glazed bricks, with rows of gold-painted bas-relief sculptures of animals symbolizing the deities to whom the gate was sacred: dragons for Marduk, bulls for Adad, and lions for Ishtar.

The blue glaze was meant to suggest lapis lazuli, a semi-precious stone that would not have weathered well. A reconstruction can be seen in the Pergamon Museum of Berlin.

Answer: Troy

There were a number of different cities built at the site now known as Hisarlik. The tell (an artificial mound created by the accumulation of refuse from people living in the same place for hundreds of years) shows evidence of habitation since about 3000 BCE.

The layer called Troy VII, dating from around 1300 BCE to 950 BCE, is the one that is thought to be the city referred to by Homer. (This is, however, disputed by experts, some of whom still believe there was no single city, but that Homer was conflating a number of different historical wars in the region in the city he referred to as Ilium.

This is not the place for that argument.) The walls in this layer had a stone base that was over four metres (13 feet) thick and up to nine metres (30 feet) high, with brick walls and towers on top of that. According to Homer, the walls were so strong, and the city so well prepared for a defensive siege, that Troy held out for over nine years, and was only captured by subterfuge - the famous Trojan Horse that was used to sneak troops inside the walls. For further details, see Book II of Virgil's 'Aeneid', where the city is called Troy.

Answer: Berlin

After World War II, Germany was divided into four occupation zones, each controlled by one of the Allied Powers: the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and the Soviet Union. Since Berlin was the capital of the Allied administration, it was similarly divided into four regions, even though the city was completely located in the Soviet Union's sector.

This later evolved into a West zone that combined the US, UK and French areas, and an East zone the corresponded to the Soviet one. As international tensions grew, East and West Germany were separated by barbed wire fences starting in 1952.

In 1961 the Berlin Wall was built to control travel within the city, as West Berlin had become a major route for emigrants seeking to leave East Germany.

The wall also isolated West Berlin from the surrounding East German territory. (Lots of Cold War politics being skipped over here.) The process of the reunification of Germany is seen by many as starting on 9 November 1989, when people first started tearing down portions of the Berlin Wall following the announcement that the control points had been opened. On 3 October 1990 East Germany was officially dissolved, and Europe once again had a single German state.

Answer: No

The wall was built entirely in territory that has always been considered English. Its western end is about a kilometre (half a mile) south of the border, while its eastern end was over 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of the border. The wall ran about 120 km from near the village of Bowness-on-Solway in the west to Wallsend on the River Tyne in the east. Actually, evidence suggests it was built from east to west, so started on the Tyne and ended at the Firth of Solway.

The building materials used for Hadrian's Wall varied along its length, depending on what was locally available - some stretches were originally turf, but were later rebuilt in stone. The style of fortification also varied, as different legions undertook the construction task. The original plan was for the stone wall to incorporate a castle every Roman mile (roughly 1.5 km) where troops could be stationed, and a fort with fighting troops every five Roman miles (7.5 km). The terrain made it impossible to execute this exactly (which must have really frustrated the engineers!). The north side of the wall was lined with a steep ditch, while for most of its length a road ran along the south side. On the south side of the road was a large ditch (about six metres wide and three metres deep) called the Vallum, which had a mound on either side, which was constructed after the wall had been completed. The Vallum is thought to have established a kind of civilian-free zone, providing military control over the actual wall.

Answer: Cusco, Peru

The name Sacsayhuaman (only one of the many ways you will see it written), is thought to be derived from the Quechan word 'waman', which refers to a falcon or similar raptor. It is sometimes translated as Royal Eagle. The walls were built by carefully shaping the stones so that they fit together perfectly, and stayed firmly locked without the use of any type of mortar (even through the earthquakes common in the region).

The area was first described for Europeans by Pizarro, who was in Cusco to 'liberate' gold from the Temple of Coricancha, which he described as Atahualpa's ransom.

It is recorded as having been used to defend the city during a siege, in 1536, which was followed by the destruction of much of the original complex. This occurred both during the fighting, and because the stones were removed for use in other construction projects.

The impressive central plaza can still be seen, along with fragments of the walls.