History Trivia for Kids
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97 free History Trivia for Kids trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Sep 2026.
40 free History Trivia for Kids questions with answers. This is easy history trivia built for kids aged 8 to 12, family game nights, and classrooms, though anyone who wants a gentle warm-up before the harder stuff will enjoy it. Every question has four choices, one right answer, and a short explanation that adds one thing worth remembering. The 97 questions roam across ancient Egypt and its mummies, Roman gladiators, Vikings and knights, explorers like Columbus, Magellan and Marco Polo, and big moments such as the Boston Tea Party, the fall of the Berlin Wall and Sputnik. Every answer has been checked against a real source, and that source is shown under each question, so parents and teachers can trust what the kids are learning.
30 of 97 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Who was the first president of the United States?
George Washington
George Washington: he chose to retire after two terms rather than seek a third, setting the precedent of a two-term presidency.
Q 02Which ancient Greek city is often called the birthplace of democracy?
Athens
Athens: its citizens could vote to banish a too-powerful politician for ten years by writing his name on pieces of broken pottery.
Q 03Who was the first person to walk on the Moon?
Neil Armstrong
Neil Armstrong: seeing the computer steer Eagle toward a boulder-strewn area, he took over the controls and flew past it to land.
Q 04Which brothers flew the first powered airplane in 1903?
The Wright brothers
The Wright brothers: they ran a bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio, and years of building bikes there gave them the mechanical skills to build a plane.
Q 05In a medieval castle, what was the deep ditch, often filled with water, dug around the walls called?
A moat
A moat: it kept siege towers and battering rams away from the walls, and when filled with water it made tunnelling underneath very hard.
Q 06In which city did Rosa Parks refuse to give up her bus seat in 1955?
Montgomery, Alabama
Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, on 1 December 1955. Her arrest sparked the 381-day Montgomery Bus Boycott against segregated seating.
Q 07Which of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World is the only one still standing?
The Great Pyramid
The Great Pyramid: it once wore a smooth white limestone casing, but most of those stones were stripped away, reportedly to build Cairo.
Q 08Whose treasure-filled tomb did Howard Carter uncover in Egypt in 1922?
Tutankhamun
Tutankhamun: his tomb stayed nearly intact because debris and workers' huts from a later pharaoh's tomb buried its entrance, hiding it from robbers.
Q 09Who painted the Mona Lisa?
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci: the portrait was little known to the public until it was stolen from the Louvre in 1911, a theft that helped make it world-famous.
Q 10The ship Titanic sank in 1912 after hitting what?
An iceberg
An iceberg: the ship carried lifeboats for only about half the people aboard, one reason about 1,500 people died.
Q 11Which ship carried the Pilgrims from England to America in 1620?
The Mayflower
The Mayflower: it reached Cape Cod, far north of the land the Pilgrims had permission to settle, so before going ashore the men signed the Mayflower Compact to govern themselves.
Q 12Who built Europe's first movable-type printing press?
Johannes Gutenberg
Johannes Gutenberg: soon after his famous Bible was printed, his investor Johann Fust called in the loans and took over the workshop.
Q 13Which Roman town vanished under ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted?
Pompeii
Pompeii: the ash that buried the town also preserved it, leaving streets and houses almost as they had been nearly 2,000 years before.
Q 21The Great Fire of London began in what kind of shop?
A bakery
A bakery: it belonged to King Charles II's own baker, and the flames went on to destroy more than 13,000 buildings.
Q 22Which famous queen was the last active pharaoh of the Ptolemaic Kingdom?
Cleopatra
Cleopatra ruled from 51 to 30 BC, the last of a Ptolemaic line that was Greek rather than Egyptian in origin.
Q 23Which European city was split into East and West by a wall during the Cold War?
Berlin
Berlin: the wall opened in 1989 after a spokesman, not fully briefed on new travel rules, said they took effect 'immediately', and crowds rushed the checkpoints.
Q 14What was the secret network Harriet Tubman used to lead people to freedom?
The Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad: after escaping slavery herself, Harriet Tubman went back about 13 times to lead family and friends to freedom.
Q 15Who was the first woman to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic Ocean?
Amelia Earhart
Amelia Earhart: when she first crossed the Atlantic in 1928, she went only as a passenger while two men flew the plane.
Q 16The ancient Olympic Games were held at Olympia in honor of which Greek god?
Zeus
Zeus: during his festival a sacred truce was announced so that athletes and pilgrims could travel to Olympia in safety.
Q 17Which giant amphitheatre in ancient Rome hosted gladiator fights?
The Colosseum
The Colosseum: sailors from the Roman navy were brought in to work its huge canvas awning, which shaded the crowds.
Q 18Which US president led the country through the Civil War and issued the Emancipation Proclamation?
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln: the proclamation declared enslaved people free only in the rebelling states, leaving slavery untouched in border states loyal to the Union.
Q 19Who gave the famous 'I Have a Dream' speech in 1963?
Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr.: singer Mahalia Jackson called out to tell them about the dream, and whether or not he heard her, he soon left his prepared text.
Q 20Who was awarded the first US patent for the telephone in 1876?
Alexander Graham Bell
Alexander Graham Bell: days after getting the patent, he made the first call, reportedly telling his assistant in another room, 'Mr. Watson, come here.'
Q 24Which English king sealed Magna Carta at Runnymede in 1215?
John
John: rebel barons forced him to agree to it, but the Pope soon annulled the charter and England fell into civil war.
Q 25Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, was launched in 1957 by which country?
Soviet Union
Soviet Union: the surprise launch shocked Americans, who feared they had fallen behind, and it set off the Space Race.
Q 26Which Native American people joined the Pilgrims' three-day feast at Plymouth in 1621?
Wampanoag
The Wampanoag: their leader Massasoit arrived with about 90 men, and they went out and killed five deer for the feast.
Q 27Which Roman leader was assassinated by a group of senators on the Ides of March in 44 BC?
Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar: he had just been named dictator for life, and senators led by Brutus and Cassius feared he would make himself king.
Q 28Marco Polo, who travelled the Silk Road and met Kublai Khan, came from which Italian city?
Venice
Venice: back home he was captured in a war with Genoa, and in prison he told his travel stories to a cellmate who wrote them down.
Q 29Which teenage French heroine led soldiers to lift the siege of Orléans in 1429?
Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc: she was later captured and burned at the stake, yet centuries afterwards the Church declared her a saint.
Q 30In 1773, American colonists dumped chests of what into Boston Harbor in protest?
Tea
Tea: some of the protesters disguised themselves as Mohawk warriors before dumping the chests into the harbor.