Q 01/05

Helsinki-born artist Tove Jansson created which family of storybook characters?

A) The Moomins

B) The Smurfs

C) The Barbapapas

D) The Wombles

Answer · why

A) The Moomins

The Moomins began in 1945 with a small book about a great flood. A British newspaper group later asked Jansson for a Moomin comic strip, and it ran in...

Q 02/05

By what Swedish name was Helsinki known in English until about 1930?

A) Helsingør

B) Helsingborg

C) Helsingland

D) Helsingfors

Answer · why

D) Helsingfors

Helsingfors is still the city's Swedish name. The 'fors' means rapids: the first town of 1550 stood beside river rapids about five kilometres north of...

Q 03/05

On which sea inlet does Helsinki sit?

A) Gulf of Riga

B) Gulf of Bothnia

C) Gulf of Finland

D) Kattegat

Answer · why

C) Gulf of Finland

Gulf of Finland ice used to shut the harbour for months each winter. Icebreakers, many of them built in the city's own shipyard, now keep the lanes op...

Q 04/05

The 1975 Helsinki Accords were signed by 33 European states, the United States and which other country?

A) Japan

B) Canada

C) Australia

D) China

Answer · why

B) Canada

Canada and the United States signed alongside almost every country in Europe. The text's human-rights pledges outlasted the summit: activists in Mosco...

Q 05/05

Which king founded Helsinki in 1550?

A) Gustavus Adolphus

B) Eric XIV of Sweden

C) Gustav I of Sweden

D) Charles XII of Sweden

Answer · why

C) Gustav I of Sweden

Gustav I of Sweden, better known as Gustav Vasa, wanted a trading port to rival the Hanseatic merchants across the gulf. To fill it he simply ordered ...