From Here to There Trivia Quiz

Answer: Via Aemilia

Unlike the three roads listed as wrong answers, the Via Aemilia (spelled "Emilia" in Italian) did not start from Rome, but from the town of Ariminum (present-day Rimini) on the Adriatic coast. From there it ran, mostly in a straight line, for 176 Roman miles (260 km/161.5 mi) until it reached the town of Placentia (Piacenza) on the river Padus (Po); Ariminum was connected to Rome by the Via Flaminia. Completed in 187 BC, the road was named after its builder, consul Marcus Aemilius Lepidus. Its first bridge, the Bridge of Tiberius ("Ponte di Tiberio"), is still standing, and spans the river Marecchia at Rimini. Now designated as SS (Strada Statale, "state highway") 9, the Via Aemilia runs through the Po Valley, crossing the region of Emilia-Romagna, which was named after the road; it passes through the cities of Forlì, Faenza, Bologna (the region's capital), Modena, Reggio Emilia and Parma.

The Via Cassia runs from Rome to Florence, and the Via Salaria from Rome to the port of Ascoli on the Adriatic Sea.

Answer: Dover

The name "Watling" comes from the Old English "Waeclinga", an Anglo-Saxon tribe based in the St Albans region (Herefordshire); the "street" part, on the other hand, means that the road was paved ("strata" in Latin). The Romans built this road - probably around 47 or 48 AD - on a trackway that had been used for centuries by Britain's native populations. Watling Street ran from Viroconium Cornoviorum (now Wroxeter in Shropshire) through Verulamium (St Albans) to London and the ports on the south-eastern coast, the most important of which was Dubris (modern-day Dover). According to some historians, the road continued north of Wroxeter to reach Hadrian's Wall. Watling Street is also known as the site where Boudicca, queen of the Iceni, was defeated by the Romans in 60 or 61 AD.

In the 1920s the south-eastern stretch of Watling Street became the A2, which connects London with Dover; most of the route from London to Wroxeter is part of the A5, which runs between London and the port of Holyhead in Wales.

Answer: Holy Roman

Though first mentioned in writing in 1252, the Via Regia ("Royal Highway") dates from a much earlier time, as it was originally established by the Franks around the 6th or 7th century. It was a road link rather than a single road, connecting Western and Eastern Europe for a length of over 4,500 km (2,796 mi). The main stretch of the road ran through Germany, from the Rhine through Frankfurt am Main to Leipzig. From there, the road branched out further east and north, reaching Krakow, Kiev and Moscow. West of the Rhine, the road ran through Paris and Bordeaux to the shrine of Santiago de Compostela, in northern Spain. At Leipzig, the Via Regia intersected the Via Imperii ("Imperial Highway"), which connected Rome with the Baltic coast at Stettin. These roads were important trade routes, connecting some of the major European urban centres of the time.

The Via Regia, which connects eight modern European countries, was awarded the title of Cultural Route of the Council of Europe in 2005. Various stretches of the Via Imperii are now part of several state highways in Germany, Austria and Italy.

The Holy Roman Empire was established in 962 AD by Otto I, heir of the Duke of Saxony; it was dissolved in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars.

Answer: Mesopotamia

Mentioned in the Bible's Book of Numbers, the King's Highway is one of the world's oldest trade routes. It originally started from Heliopolis in Egypt, crossing the Sinai Peninsula to Elath (present-day Aqaba) on the Red Sea, then turning northwards to Damascus and the city of Resafa on the Euphrates River, in the historical region known as Mesopotamia. This road was used for the trade of highly prized goods, such as frankincense and spices, from the Arabian Peninsula; after the Roman annexation of Arabia (2nd century AD) it was rebuilt and renamed Via Traiana Nova. In the Byzantine period, the King's Highway became an important Christian pilgrimage route; then, after the Muslim conquest of the Middle East, it became the primary pilgrimage route ("darb-al-hajj") from Syria to Mecca. In Damascus, the King's Highway connected with the Via Maris ("sea road"), which ran along the Mediterranean coast of the Levant.

In modern times, Highway 35 in Jordan follows the route of the King's Highway, crossing the country from Irbid in the north to Highway 15 (also known as the Desert Highway) in the south. This scenic highway runs through hilly terrain, passing some medieval castles built during the Crusades.

Answer: Kabul

Known in the past by various names, the Grand Trunk (GT) Road has been in existence for at least 2,500 years. It runs from the district (upazila) of Teknaf, on the border between Bangladesh and Myanmar, to Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan - for a length of about 2,400 km (1,491 mi). Before reaching its western terminus, the road passes through some major urban centres of the northern part of the Indian subcontinent: Chittagong and Dhaka in Bangladesh, Kolkata and Delhi in India, and Lahore and Rawalpindi in Pakistan.

Originally built in the 3rd century BC by Chandragupta, the founder of the Maurya Empire, the highway was an extension of a pre-existing route known as Uttarapatha ("northern road"). The road was rebuilt many times under the rulers that followed the Maurya Empire, including the British in the 19th century, who gave it the name of Grand Trunk Road or Long Walk. A major artery used for trade, military purposes and postal communication, the Grand Trunk Road is still used to this day, with large parts of it having been included in the national highway systems of India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. In 2015, the many historic sites located along the route - which include Buddhist and Hindu temples, mosques, and monumental tombs - were submitted to the Tentative List of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Baghdad and Damascus are located in Western Asia (Middle East), while Tripoli (the capital of Libya) is in Africa.

Answer: Tibet

Known in China as "chamadao", the Tea Horse Road was a network of caravan paths used from the 6th to the early 20th century for trading the tea grown on the mountains of Sichuan and Yunnan (both located in Southwest China), which was often exchanged for sturdy Tibetan ponies - hence the road's name. The two branches of this route, which stretched for thousands of kilometres through a rugged, dangerous territory, linked Yunnan and Sichuan with Tibet to the north, Burma (Myanmar) and Bengal to the south. The relevance of the Tea Horse Road went beyond the mere commercial aspect, as it was essential for cultural, religious (especially as regards Buddhism) and scientific exchanges between China and the Indian subcontinent. The tea, compressed into bricks, was carried by horses, mules and people; tea porters often carried more than their own body weight in bales of tea strapped behind their backs. In modern times, though most of the original network of trails is gone, the region crossed by the Tea Horse Road has become a tourist attraction, on account of the many historic landmarks that can be found there.

Tibet - which lies west of Sichuan - is the only autonomous region in the list; the others are all provinces located in the eastern part of China.

Answer: Kyoto

The network of roads known in Japan as Kaidō was built during the Edo period (1603 to 1867), during which the island country was ruled by the Tokugawa shogunate. The Edo Five Routes all started in Nihonbashi, the business district of Tokyo that is still used as a reference point to measure distances along Japanese highways. The building of the Edo Five Routes (Gokaidō), which connected the capital with the outer provinces of the island of Honshu, was started in 1601 as a means of increasing and then strengthening the Tokugawas' control over Japan. Government-run post stations ("shukuba") along the routes offered travellers a place to rest, while a system of check stations kept track of the traffic of people and goods, preventing illegal trade and checking travellers' permits.

With its 53 stations, the Tōkaidō ("eastern sea route"), was the most important by far of the Five Routes; it ran along the coast of eastern Honshū, passing through various provinces. Most people travelled on foot, and members of the upper classes in litters carried by bearers, as the use of horses or carts was very rare. Today, only a few sections of the original road still exist; the name, however, still denotes Japan's most heavily travelled corridor, which connects Tokyo to Nagoya, Kyoto and Osaka; two railway lines also follow this route - one of them, the Tōkaidō Shinkansen, being the world's first high-speed railway line.

Of the three cities listed as wrong answers, only Hiroshima is also on the island of Honshū, west of Kyoto. Sapporo is located on Hokkaido, and Nagasaki on Kyushu

Answer: Convicts

Built by convict gangs between 1825 and 1836, the Great North Road connected Sydney with the Hunter Valley, a fertile region known for its vineyards. The construction project employed road-building techniques imported from Britain, and adapted to the unique characteristics of what was known at the time as the Colony of New South Wales. The road stretches for over 260 km (162 mi) north of Sydney through rugged highland terrain. Though certainly a remarkable engineering feat at the time it was built, the road quickly fell into disuse due to a number of shortcomings - mostly related to the nature of the terrain - and the development of more convenient ways to reach the Hunter Valley. Due to its historic significance, however, the Great North Road still survives, both as part of various suburban or rural roads, and as a national landmark. The best-preserved original sections of the Road - found north of the Hawkesbury River, outside the Sydney metropolitan area - are the Devine's Hill to Mount Manning section and Mount Manning to Wollombi section, both listed in the New South Wales Heritage Register.

In 2010, the Great North Road and other ten Australian sites were inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List with the designation of "Australian Convict Sites". The Road is also included in the Australian National Heritage List (2007)

Answer: Tambo

Based on a network of roads built over the centuries by various pre-Columbian civilizations of western South America, the Inca road system - known as Qhapaq Ñan (Royal Road) - reached its maximum expansion in the 15th century. With an overall length of almost 40,000 km (24,855 mi), it extended from present-day Ecuador in the north to central Chile and Argentina in the south. One of the system's two main roads ran along the Pacific coast, while the other - the most important, which passed through Cusco, the capital of the Empire of Tawantinsuyu - ran through the high puna grassland of the Altiplano (Andean Plateau); they were connected by a network of secondary roads. Like the Roman roads, Inca roads were planned, built and maintained to very high standards, allowing people and goods to move easily through the Empire. People travelled on foot, as the use of the wheel was not yet known, while goods were carried by large flocks of llamas.

The road stations known as tambos (from the Quechua "tampu", meaning "inn") were used by travellers for lodging and storage; they were located at approximately a day's walk from each other, and probably managed by local people. Tambos came in a wide range of shapes and sizes, the larger ones offering added facilities such as artisan workshops and ceremonial spaces. Other kinds of buildings, such as relay stations for messengers (chasquiwasis) and storage silos (collcas) were also found along the roads.

Though most of this extraordinary road system fell into disuse after the Spanish conquest of Peru, and was eventually destroyed, what remains of it (about 25% of the network) was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2014.

The three words listed as incorrect choices are all of indigenous South American origin, though only "guano" definitely comes from Quechua.

Answer: Natchez Trace

In the late 18th and early 19th century, the historic forest trail known as the Natchez Trace provided the only reliable land link between the eastern states and the trading ports of Mississippi and Louisiana. Created thousands of years ago by Native Americans, who followed the trail used by bison to find salt licks, the Trace connected Natchez, on the Mississippi River, with Nashville (the capital of Tennessee), extending for about 710 km (440 mi). In the years prior to 1803's Louisiana Purchase, the Trace's rugged conditions were considerably improved; the journey from Natchez to Nashville took three to four weeks on foot, and about two weeks on horseback. The road, however, still retained a bad reputation due to its remoteness and the danger posed by gangs of highwaymen - so much that it was nicknamed "The Devil's Backbone". In later years, a series of way stations, known as "stands", was built, offering food and shelter to travellers. In October 1809, Meriwether Lewis - who had explored the newly-purchased Louisiana Territory together with William Clark - died in one of those inns, apparently by suicide. His grave, located not far from the inn where he died, was restored in the 1920s, and is now a national monument.

Later in the 19th century, the Natchez Trace was rendered obsolete by the development of new, faster roads, as well as the introduction of steamboats and railways. Today, this historic trail is commemorated by the Natchez Trace Parkway (which preserves many sections of the original footpath) and the Natchez Trace Trail, a National Scenic Trail that follows sections of the Parkway; both are maintained by the US National Park Service.

All the incorrect choices are historic trails and roads found in the US, though much further to the west.