World History Quiz
Mongols, Incas, Mughals, Bismarck and Atatürk: 15 questions that circle the globe and the centuries.
Which empire did Genghis Khan found in 1206, which grew into the largest contiguous land empire in history?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
The Mongol Empire
Genghis Khan united the nomadic tribes of the Mongolian steppe in 1206, and within a few decades his successors ruled from Korea and China to Persia and eastern Europe.
At its height the Mongol Empire covered around 24 million square kilometres (9 million square miles), roughly 16 percent of the world's land area.
Which civilization built the mountaintop city of Machu Picchu in Peru in the 15th century?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
The Inca
Machu Picchu was built around 1450 as an estate for the Inca emperor Pachacuti, high above the Urubamba valley, and was abandoned about a century later during the Spanish conquest.
The Spanish never found the site, which is why its stonework survived almost intact until Hiram Bingham brought it to world attention in 1911.
Which empire reached its peak under Suleiman the Magnificent in the 16th century?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
The Ottoman Empire
Suleiman I ruled the Ottoman Empire from 1520 to 1566, conquering Belgrade, Rhodes and much of Hungary and reforming the empire's laws, which earned him the title the Lawgiver at home.
The Ottoman Empire lasted more than 600 years, from around 1299 until it was dissolved in 1922.
The Meiji Restoration of 1868 set which country on the path to becoming a modern industrial power?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Japan
The Meiji Restoration returned power to the emperor, ended the rule of the shoguns and launched rapid westernisation, so that within four decades Japan had defeated Russia in war.
The young Emperor Meiji moved the capital from Kyoto to Edo, which was renamed Tokyo, meaning eastern capital.
In which year was the Republic of Turkey proclaimed, with Mustafa Kemal Atatürk as its first president?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
1923
The Republic of Turkey was proclaimed on 29 October 1923 after the War of Independence, replacing the Ottoman sultanate that had been abolished the previous year.
Atatürk, a surname meaning Father of the Turks, was granted to him by the Turkish parliament in 1934.
Which empire was ruled from the island city of Tenochtitlan when Hernán Cortés arrived in 1519?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
The Aztec Empire
Tenochtitlan, built on an island in Lake Texcoco, was the capital of the Aztec Empire under Moctezuma II, and its fall to Cortés and his indigenous allies in 1521 ended Aztec rule.
Mexico City was built directly on top of the ruins, and the main Aztec temple was rediscovered under the city centre in 1978.
Which Mughal emperor built the Taj Mahal as a tomb for his wife Mumtaz Mahal?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Shah Jahan
Shah Jahan commissioned the white marble mausoleum at Agra after Mumtaz Mahal died in childbirth in 1631, and the main tomb was completed around 1643 with the complex finished in the following decade.
Shah Jahan was deposed by his son Aurangzeb in 1658 and spent his last years imprisoned in Agra Fort, within sight of the Taj Mahal.
Which revolution of November 1917 brought Lenin and the Bolsheviks to power in Russia?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
The October Revolution
The Bolsheviks seized the Winter Palace in Petrograd on 7 November 1917, which was 25 October in the old Julian calendar Russia still used, and the uprising has been known as the October Revolution ever since.
The earlier February Revolution of 1917 had already toppled Tsar Nicholas II and installed the Provisional Government that Lenin overthrew.
The two Opium Wars of the 19th century were fought between China and which European power?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Britain
Britain went to war in 1839 after Chinese officials destroyed opium that British merchants were smuggling into China, and the Treaty of Nanking in 1842 ceded Hong Kong Island and opened five ports to British trade.
France joined Britain in the Second Opium War of 1856 to 1860, which ended with the burning of the Old Summer Palace in Beijing.
Which country, in 1893, became the first in the world to give all adult women the vote in national elections?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
New Zealand
New Zealand's Electoral Act received royal assent on 19 September 1893 after a petition campaign led by Kate Sheppard, and women voted in the general election that November.
Kate Sheppard appears on New Zealand's ten dollar note, one of the few suffragists anywhere to feature on a national banknote.
Which Prussian statesman engineered the unification of Germany, proclaimed in 1871?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Otto von Bismarck
Bismarck used three short wars against Denmark, Austria and France to bring the German states together under Prussia, and the German Empire was proclaimed in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles on 18 January 1871.
Bismarck also created the world's first state pension and health insurance schemes in the 1880s, partly to undercut the socialists.
Which dynasty, which ruled China from 1644, was the last imperial dynasty before the republic was declared in 1912?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Qing
The Manchu Qing dynasty took Beijing in 1644 and ruled for 268 years until the Xinhai Revolution forced the six-year-old emperor Puyi to abdicate in February 1912.
Puyi later served as the puppet ruler of Japanese-controlled Manchukuo and ended his life as a gardener in Communist Beijing.
Which 1494 treaty divided newly discovered lands outside Europe between Spain and Portugal along a line in the Atlantic?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Treaty of Tordesillas
Signed on 7 June 1494, the Treaty of Tordesillas set the line 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde islands, giving Portugal the lands to the east and Spain those to the west.
The line ran through what became eastern Brazil, which is why Brazil speaks Portuguese while the rest of South America speaks Spanish.
Which Caribbean nation declared independence from France on 1 January 1804 after the only successful slave revolution in history?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Haiti
The revolution that began in 1791 in the French colony of Saint-Domingue ended with the defeat of Napoleon's army, and Jean-Jacques Dessalines proclaimed the independent state of Haiti in January 1804.
Toussaint Louverture, the revolution's most famous leader, was captured by the French and died in a prison in the Jura mountains in 1803.
Which 1648 peace settlement ended the Thirty Years' War and is often seen as the birth of the modern system of sovereign states?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Peace of Westphalia
The Peace of Westphalia consisted of treaties signed at Osnabrück and Münster in October 1648, ending a war that had devastated the Holy Roman Empire and killed millions in central Europe.
The negotiations took place in two separate cities because the Catholic and Protestant delegations refused to meet under the same roof.
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All History quizzes →About the World History Quiz
In 1494 two countries drew a line down a map and divided the unexplored world between them. In 1893 one small nation let every adult woman vote for the first time anywhere. In 1912 an empire that had ruled China for 268 years simply ended. World history is full of moments like these, and this quiz collects fifteen of them.
The questions roam across every continent and most eras: the Mongol conquests, the Inca and Aztec empires, Suleiman's Ottomans, the Taj Mahal, the Opium Wars, Bismarck's new Germany, the Meiji Restoration and the treaties that redrew Europe. It suits anyone who wants a fair test of general history knowledge, with three genuinely tough questions at the end for the well read.
You will find 15 multiple choice questions here, each with four options. Difficulty: Medium. Most people finish in about 6 minutes, and every answer comes with a short explanation and one extra fact worth keeping.
How to play
Read the question and pick one of the four answers. The correct answer is revealed straight away with a short explanation, then press Next question to keep going. At the end you get your score out of 15 and a full review of your round. Play again any time and the questions arrive in a fresh order. There is no timer and no account.
Good to know before you play
Does the World History Quiz focus on any one region?
No. It deliberately spreads its 15 questions across Asia, Europe, the Americas, the Caribbean, Africa and the Pacific, from the 13th century to the 20th.
What difficulty is the World History Quiz?
Medium overall. Five questions are easy, seven need a reasonable grasp of world history and three, on treaties and independence movements, are aimed at history buffs.
Are there other world history quizzes on trivia.net?
Yes. If you enjoy this one, try the Ancient Rome, Renaissance, Vikings, French Revolution and Cold War quizzes for a deeper look at single eras.
Answer key: all 15 questions with explanations
- Which empire did Genghis Khan found in 1206, which grew into the largest contiguous land empire in history?
The Mongol Empire Genghis Khan united the nomadic tribes of the Mongolian steppe in 1206, and within a few decades his successors ruled from Korea and China to Persia and eastern Europe. At its height the Mongol Empire covered around 24 million square kilometres (9 million square miles), roughly 16 percent of the world's land area. - Which civilization built the mountaintop city of Machu Picchu in Peru in the 15th century?
The Inca Machu Picchu was built around 1450 as an estate for the Inca emperor Pachacuti, high above the Urubamba valley, and was abandoned about a century later during the Spanish conquest. The Spanish never found the site, which is why its stonework survived almost intact until Hiram Bingham brought it to world attention in 1911. - Which empire reached its peak under Suleiman the Magnificent in the 16th century?
The Ottoman Empire Suleiman I ruled the Ottoman Empire from 1520 to 1566, conquering Belgrade, Rhodes and much of Hungary and reforming the empire's laws, which earned him the title the Lawgiver at home. The Ottoman Empire lasted more than 600 years, from around 1299 until it was dissolved in 1922. - The Meiji Restoration of 1868 set which country on the path to becoming a modern industrial power?
Japan The Meiji Restoration returned power to the emperor, ended the rule of the shoguns and launched rapid westernisation, so that within four decades Japan had defeated Russia in war. The young Emperor Meiji moved the capital from Kyoto to Edo, which was renamed Tokyo, meaning eastern capital. - In which year was the Republic of Turkey proclaimed, with Mustafa Kemal Atatürk as its first president?
1923 The Republic of Turkey was proclaimed on 29 October 1923 after the War of Independence, replacing the Ottoman sultanate that had been abolished the previous year. Atatürk, a surname meaning Father of the Turks, was granted to him by the Turkish parliament in 1934. - Which empire was ruled from the island city of Tenochtitlan when Hernán Cortés arrived in 1519?
The Aztec Empire Tenochtitlan, built on an island in Lake Texcoco, was the capital of the Aztec Empire under Moctezuma II, and its fall to Cortés and his indigenous allies in 1521 ended Aztec rule. Mexico City was built directly on top of the ruins, and the main Aztec temple was rediscovered under the city centre in 1978. - Which Mughal emperor built the Taj Mahal as a tomb for his wife Mumtaz Mahal?
Shah Jahan Shah Jahan commissioned the white marble mausoleum at Agra after Mumtaz Mahal died in childbirth in 1631, and the main tomb was completed around 1643 with the complex finished in the following decade. Shah Jahan was deposed by his son Aurangzeb in 1658 and spent his last years imprisoned in Agra Fort, within sight of the Taj Mahal. - Which revolution of November 1917 brought Lenin and the Bolsheviks to power in Russia?
The October Revolution The Bolsheviks seized the Winter Palace in Petrograd on 7 November 1917, which was 25 October in the old Julian calendar Russia still used, and the uprising has been known as the October Revolution ever since. The earlier February Revolution of 1917 had already toppled Tsar Nicholas II and installed the Provisional Government that Lenin overthrew. - The two Opium Wars of the 19th century were fought between China and which European power?
Britain Britain went to war in 1839 after Chinese officials destroyed opium that British merchants were smuggling into China, and the Treaty of Nanking in 1842 ceded Hong Kong Island and opened five ports to British trade. France joined Britain in the Second Opium War of 1856 to 1860, which ended with the burning of the Old Summer Palace in Beijing. - Which country, in 1893, became the first in the world to give all adult women the vote in national elections?
New Zealand New Zealand's Electoral Act received royal assent on 19 September 1893 after a petition campaign led by Kate Sheppard, and women voted in the general election that November. Kate Sheppard appears on New Zealand's ten dollar note, one of the few suffragists anywhere to feature on a national banknote. - Which Prussian statesman engineered the unification of Germany, proclaimed in 1871?
Otto von Bismarck Bismarck used three short wars against Denmark, Austria and France to bring the German states together under Prussia, and the German Empire was proclaimed in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles on 18 January 1871. Bismarck also created the world's first state pension and health insurance schemes in the 1880s, partly to undercut the socialists. - Which dynasty, which ruled China from 1644, was the last imperial dynasty before the republic was declared in 1912?
Qing The Manchu Qing dynasty took Beijing in 1644 and ruled for 268 years until the Xinhai Revolution forced the six-year-old emperor Puyi to abdicate in February 1912. Puyi later served as the puppet ruler of Japanese-controlled Manchukuo and ended his life as a gardener in Communist Beijing. - Which 1494 treaty divided newly discovered lands outside Europe between Spain and Portugal along a line in the Atlantic?
Treaty of Tordesillas Signed on 7 June 1494, the Treaty of Tordesillas set the line 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde islands, giving Portugal the lands to the east and Spain those to the west. The line ran through what became eastern Brazil, which is why Brazil speaks Portuguese while the rest of South America speaks Spanish. - Which Caribbean nation declared independence from France on 1 January 1804 after the only successful slave revolution in history?
Haiti The revolution that began in 1791 in the French colony of Saint-Domingue ended with the defeat of Napoleon's army, and Jean-Jacques Dessalines proclaimed the independent state of Haiti in January 1804. Toussaint Louverture, the revolution's most famous leader, was captured by the French and died in a prison in the Jura mountains in 1803. - Which 1648 peace settlement ended the Thirty Years' War and is often seen as the birth of the modern system of sovereign states?
Peace of Westphalia The Peace of Westphalia consisted of treaties signed at Osnabrück and Münster in October 1648, ending a war that had devastated the Holy Roman Empire and killed millions in central Europe. The negotiations took place in two separate cities because the Catholic and Protestant delegations refused to meet under the same roof.
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