Q 01/05

By 1920, roughly what share of Earth's land area did the British Empire cover?

A) About 2 per cent

B) About 8 per cent

C) About 25 per cent

D) About 75 per cent

Answer · why

C) About 25 per cent

About 25 per cent: at roughly 35.5 million square kilometres in 1920, it was the largest empire in history, bigger even than the Mongol Empire at its ...

Q 02/05

The British Empire was famously described as 'the empire on which the sun never' does what?

A) Rises

B) Sets

C) Shines

D) Rests

Answer · why

B) Sets

The sun never sets on it because some territory was always in daylight, a boast first made about Spain's empire under Charles V and Philip II and appl...

Q 03/05

Which explorer did Henry VII commission in 1496 to find a Northwest Passage to Asia?

A) Francis Drake

B) Martin Frobisher

C) John Cabot

D) Humphrey Gilbert

Answer · why

C) John Cabot

John Cabot, an Italian-born navigator sailing from Bristol, reached North America in 1497, though exactly where he landed is disputed; the fate of his...

Q 04/05

Which Elizabethan scholar and adviser to Elizabeth I is credited with coining the term 'British Empire'?

A) Richard Hakluyt

B) John Dee

C) Francis Bacon

D) Christopher Marlowe

Answer · why

B) John Dee

John Dee, Elizabeth I's astrological and scientific adviser, argued for a maritime empire in 1577, though Welsh scholar Humphrey Llwyd is also credite...

Q 05/05

Which Elizabethan courtier sponsored the Roanoke Colony on the coast of present-day North Carolina?

A) Humphrey Gilbert

B) John Smith

C) Walter Raleigh

D) Francis Drake

Answer · why

C) Walter Raleigh

Walter Raleigh held the royal charter, and when John White's relief voyage reached Roanoke in 1590 the settlers had vanished, leaving 'CROATOAN' carve...