Q 01/05

Hispaniola is the second-largest island in the Caribbean, but which neighbouring island is the only one bigger?

A) Jamaica

B) Cuba

C) Trinidad

D) Barbados

Answer · why

B) Cuba

Cuba covers about 104,000 square kilometres to Hispaniola's 76,000. Hispaniola has far more people, though: it is the most populous island in the West...

Q 02/05

Columbus's flagship Santa María ran aground off Hispaniola in 1492 on which holiday, later the name of his fort?

A) Christmas Day

B) Easter Sunday

C) New Year's Day

D) All Saints' Day

Answer · why

A) Christmas Day

Christmas Day gave the fort its name: La Navidad was built from the timbers of the wreck. When Columbus sailed back the following November, he found i...

Q 03/05

Which capital, founded by Bartholomew Columbus, is the oldest continuously inhabited European city in the Americas?

A) San Juan

B) Port-au-Prince

C) Santo Domingo

D) Kingston

Answer · why

C) Santo Domingo

Santo Domingo has been lived in without a break since 1496. It is also the site of the first cathedral, university, castle, monastery and fortress in ...

Q 04/05

In which Robert Louis Stevenson adventure novel do the heroes sail from Bristol aboard a schooner named the Hispaniola?

A) Kidnapped

B) The Black Arrow

C) Weir of Hermiston

D) Treasure Island

Answer · why

D) Treasure Island

Treasure Island first ran as a magazine serial in 1881 with the subtitle The Mutiny of the Hispaniola. The schooner is chartered by Squire Trelawney a...

Q 05/05

Which horror-film monster comes from Haitian folklore, in which a sorcerer called a bokor keeps it as a slave?

A) Werewolf

B) Zombie

C) Vampire

D) Ghoul

Answer · why

B) Zombie

Zombie lore reached cinemas in White Zombie (1932), starring Bela Lugosi. The flesh-eating version came much later, largely from George Romero's Night...