Q 01/05

Which Mexican port received the Manila galleons that carried Chinese silk across the Pacific from 1565?

A) Veracruz

B) Acapulco

C) Havana

D) Lima

Answer · why

B) Acapulco

Acapulco received the galleons for 250 years, from 1565 to 1815, and 26 of the 108 ships that sailed the route were captured or sunk in wartime. The t...

Q 02/05

Who became the world's first female prime minister by winning Ceylon's July 1960 election?

A) Gro Harlem Brundtland

B) Sirimavo Bandaranaike

C) Indira Gandhi

D) Margaret Thatcher

Answer · why

B) Sirimavo Bandaranaike

Sirimavo Bandaranaike took office in July 1960, a year after her husband, Prime Minister S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, was assassinated. She went on to se...

Q 03/05

Which Gulf state was founded on 2 December 1971, with Ras Al Khaimah joining it in February 1972?

A) Bahrain

B) Qatar

C) Yemen

D) The UAE

Answer · why

D) The UAE

The UAE began with Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain and Fujairah, and Ras Al Khaimah made it seven on 10 February 1972. Britain had hel...

Q 04/05

Which Southeast Asian nation became the first new sovereign state of the 21st century, on 20 May 2002?

A) Philippines

B) Singapore

C) Cambodia

D) East Timor

Answer · why

D) East Timor

East Timor, officially Timor-Leste, voted for independence in a 1999 UN-run referendum after 24 years of Indonesian occupation, then spent three years...

Q 05/05

Which site in Nepal, marked by a pillar Ashoka set up in the 3rd century BCE, is revered as the Buddha's birthplace?

A) Bodh Gaya

B) Lumbini

C) Sarnath

D) Kushinagar

Answer · why

B) Lumbini

The Ashokan pillar at Lumbini carries a Brahmi inscription recording the emperor's visit and naming the spot as where the Buddha was born. Bodh Gaya, ...