History Trivia

6

His history of the invasion of Greece by the Persian Empire was the beginning of all Western history writing. What ancient Greek historian is often called the father of history?

5

One of the most evil rulers of all time lived in Romania around 1460, and was known for killing thousands of his enemies in a cold blooded manner. His name was Vlad, sometimes known as Vlad the Impaler, but the people called him by the Romanian name for t

13

The hill near Jerusalem on which Jesus was crucified has two names. What are they?

9

The British leaders Robert Walpole, Earl Grey, and Lord Melbourne, and the Americans Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, Wm. Henry Harrison, and Millard Fillmore were all associated with which political party?

18

June 6, 1944 is known as D-Day, when in the early daylight at low tide about 5,000 Allied ships invaded the coastline in what part of France?

8

In 1981, after more than 300 years of colonial presence in Central America, the British granted self-government to what country?

16

An English colonist in Virginia, John Rolfe, introduced and planted tobacco in the colonies. In 1614, he married the daughter of a local indian chief and went to England to live with her. What was her name?

17

From 1859 to 1869, the Suez Canal was designed, engineered, and constructed by a company from which country?

20

In both 1978 the Nobel Peace Prize was shared by two former political adversaries. Who were they?

17

In 1894 this French Jewish army officer was convicted of treason and sentenced to life imprisonment, but ultimately acquitted when the evidence against him was shown to have been falsified by anti-Semites. Who was he?

4

The Scots were a Gaelic tribe that migrated in the 6th century AD to the northern part of Britain, from where? Ireland, Belgium, or Holland?

2

Around 1790 Spanish explorers, and later Captain George Vancouver, discovered the San Juan Islands, located today in which state?

10

In 1492, Christopher Columbus set sail towards the west, looking for India, (or Asia), but didn't find it. However, five years later this Portuguese navigator set sail towards the East, and reached India in 1498. Who was he?

15

The first African slaves were brought to the colonies in America in 1619 by which nationality of Europeans?

18

The earliest account of European travel to the far east was provided by what Venetian traveler who explored Asia from 1271 to 1295?