Q 01/05

How many states make up New England?

A) Four

B) Five

C) Six

D) Seven

Answer · why

C) Six

Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont; New York is not one of them, whatever New Yorkers say.

Q 02/05

Which English explorer coined the name 'New England' in 1616?

A) Walter Raleigh

B) Francis Drake

C) Henry Hudson

D) John Smith

Answer · why

D) John Smith

Captain John Smith used the name in his 1616 book A Description of New England; the 1620 royal charter for the Council for New England made it officia...

Q 03/05

Greater Boston's combined statistical area holds roughly what share of New England's population?

A) About a tenth

B) About a quarter

C) More than half

D) Nearly all of it

Answer · why

C) More than half

More than half: the Boston combined statistical area, which reaches into southern New Hampshire and Rhode Island, held roughly 8.5 million of New Engl...

Q 04/05

The Connecticut River, New England's longest, empties into which body of water?

A) Narragansett Bay

B) The Gulf of Maine

C) Cape Cod Bay

D) Long Island Sound

Answer · why

D) Long Island Sound

Long Island Sound: the 406-mile river rises near the Quebec border in northern New Hampshire and meets the sound between Old Saybrook and Old Lyme, Co...

Q 05/05

Which is the largest body of fresh water in New England?

A) Moosehead

B) Winnipesaukee

C) Champlain

D) Sebago

Answer · why

C) Champlain

Champlain: about 490 square miles of water straddling the New York line, it dwarfs Moosehead and Winnipesaukee, the next two largest.