History Guild General History Quiz 128
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The stories behind the questions
1. What was the name of Francis Drake’s flagship on his Pacific expedition?
Golden Hind – Drake carried out the second circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition, from 1577 to 1580, and was the first to complete the voyage as captain while leading the expedition throughout the entire circumnavigation. With his incursion into the Pacific, he inaugurated an era of privateering and piracy in the western coast of the Americas—an area that had previously been free of piracy.
2. Which colonial power controlled Brazil from 1534 to 1825?
Portugal – Following the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas, the land now called Brazil was claimed for the Portuguese Empire on 22 April 1500, with the arrival of the Portuguese fleet commanded by Pedro Álvares Cabral. Colonization effectively began in 1534, under King John III of Portugal. During the Napoleonic wars the Portuguese royal court fled from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro, ruling from there for a decade. A split in the Portuguese royal family saw Brazil become independent as the Empire of Brazil under the former regent Prince Pedro de Alcântara. Royal rule continued until 1889 when the monarchy was overthrown by a military coup.
3. Which was the last Shogunate in Japan, being replaced by the Meiji Emperor in 1868?
Tokugawa – Read more about THE EDO PERIOD TO MEIJI RESTORATION IN JAPAN.
4. Which of these WW1 battles cemented the reputation of the ANZACs as tough, effective soldiers?
Third Battle of Ypres – The reputation of the Australians was burnished by the battles of Menin Road and Polygon Wood. The whole 1st and 2nd Anzac Corps came together at the battle of Broodseinde Ridge. These were all part of the opening stages of the Third Battle of Ypres.
5. Who was the only head of the USSR to have been born during its existence?
Mikhail Gorbachev – Born 2nd March 1931, Gorbachev was the eighth and final leader of the Soviet Union, from 1985 until 1991.
6. Who were the Romans fighting against when they first encountered War Elephants?
Greek King Pyrrhus – King of Epirus, he was one of the strongest opponents of early Rome, and had been regarded as one of the greatest generals of antiquity. Several of his victorious battles caused him unacceptably heavy losses, from which the term “Pyrrhic victory” was coined.
7. This ancient sculpture was created around 300 BCE in which area?
Ohio, USA – Created by the Native American cultures that constructed anywhere from tens of thousands, to hundreds of thousands of earthen mounds across the Eastern, Southeastern, and the Midwestern U.S. from 3500 BCE.
8. What did the Muslim defenders of the Holy Lands call the European Crusaders?
Franks – During the Crusades, the Muslims of the Middle East came to call the invading Western Latin Christians Franks. This name originally came from one of the largest of the Latin Christian realms in Europe, Francia, which gave its name to the Kingdom of France.
9. When did the USA conquer California?
1847 – The California Campaign was part of the Mexican–American War. Prior to the war Mexico controlled the Pacific coast of North America, with substantial settlements at San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego. The war ended with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which saw Mexico cede almost half of its previous land by area to the USA.
10. What is the name given to the periods of unrest that existed between the various Egyptian dynastic eras?
Intermediate periods – Read more about Ancient Egypt.
