Q 01/05

The Spanish word 'sombrero' comes from 'sombra', which means what?

A) Shade

B) Straw

C) Sun

D) Brim

Answer · why

A) Shade

Shade is what 'sombra' means, so a sombrero is a shade-maker; in Spanish the word covers a hat of any kind, and the wide-brimmed Mexican one worn at C...

Q 02/05

In what year did the Battle of Puebla take place?

A) 1848

B) 1857

C) 1862

D) 1876

Answer · why

C) 1862

The battle was fought on May 5, 1862, outside Puebla; a year on, a larger French army took the city and marched into Mexico City.

Q 03/05

Which two European powers joined France's 1861 Mexico expedition but pulled out before the fighting?

A) Britain and Spain

B) Prussia and Austria

C) Portugal and Italy

D) Belgium and the Netherlands

Answer · why

A) Britain and Spain

Britain and Spain signed the 1861 Convention of London with France, then negotiated with Mexico and withdrew in the spring of 1862, once it was clear ...

Q 04/05

In his victory dispatch from Puebla, Zaragoza wrote that the French troops had fought how?

A) With valour

B) With cruelty

C) In disorder

D) Half-heartedly

Answer · why

A) With valour

With valour, he reported, though he added that their commander had acted clumsily; the dispatch opens with the line that the national arms had covered...

Q 05/05

Cinco de Mayo is often confused with which other holiday, the most important on Mexico's calendar?

A) Day of the Dead

B) La Candelaria

C) Mexican Independence Day

D) Revolution Day

Answer · why

C) Mexican Independence Day

Many outside Mexico mistake Cinco de Mayo for Mexican Independence Day, which marks the 1810 call to arms in Dolores; Cinco de Mayo instead commemorat...