Q 01/05

French departments were sized so that any town could reach the prefecture within a day by which means?

A) On horseback

B) On foot

C) By stagecoach

D) By riverboat

Answer · why

A) On horseback

On horseback, a rider from the edge of a department was meant to reach its chief town within 24 hours, which is why most mainland departments are of s...

Q 02/05

Which Normandy department, home to Juno Beach and other D-Day landing sites, shares its name with an apple brandy?

A) Orne

B) Mayenne

C) Calvados

D) Eure-et-Loir

Answer · why

C) Calvados

Calvados makes the apple brandy that carries its name, along with butter, cheese and cider. Its Juno Beach Centre commemorates the Canadian landing of...

Q 03/05

Which ruler created the post of prefect in 1800, placing a state-appointed official over every French department?

A) Louis XIV

B) Napoleon Bonaparte

C) Charles de Gaulle

D) Maximilien Robespierre

Answer · why

B) Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon Bonaparte was still First Consul when he created the prefects, who remained each department's chief executive until 1982.

Q 04/05

Which overseas department, about one-seventh the size of European France, is home to Europe's main rocket launch site?

A) French Polynesia

B) New Caledonia

C) Saint-Pierre and Miquelon

D) French Guiana

Answer · why

D) French Guiana

French Guiana, on the coast of South America, suits rocket launches because it lies near the equator and faces open ocean.

Q 05/05

Which department on the Swiss border is named after the mountains that gave a period of the dinosaur age its name?

A) Doubs

B) Vosges

C) Jura

D) Ardennes

Answer · why

C) Jura

Jura limestone was where rocks of that age were first identified, which is how the Jurassic period got its name.