Q 01/05

Which US president explored buying the island of Cozumel from Mexico as a place to resettle freed slaves?

A) Andrew Jackson

B) Abraham Lincoln

C) James K. Polk

D) Ulysses S. Grant

Answer · why

B) Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln had his Secretary of State sound out Mexico's envoy in 1861, but President Benito Juárez dismissed the idea, and Cozumel still honours...

Q 02/05

Because rain sinks straight into porous rock, the flat Riviera Maya has no surface examples of which landscape feature?

A) Caves

B) Lagoons

C) Beaches

D) Rivers

Answer · why

D) Rivers

Rivers flow only below ground here: rainwater has dissolved channels through the rock, and divers have mapped more than 700 km of flooded passages und...

Q 03/05

The ancient Maya paved long stone causeways across the Yucatán Peninsula, yet never used which invention to carry goods?

A) The wheel

B) The canoe

C) The rope

D) The basket

Answer · why

A) The wheel

The wheel turns up on ancient Mesoamerican toys, but with no horses or oxen to pull a cart, every load travelled on human backs.

Q 04/05

The Riviera Maya takes its name from famous resort coasts in France and which other European country?

A) Spain

B) Greece

C) Italy

D) Portugal

Answer · why

C) Italy

Italy and France share the original Riviera, and tourism promoters borrowed the word in the late 1990s to rebrand a coast known only as the Cancún–Tul...

Q 05/05

Snorkelers in Akumal Bay, north of Tulum, swim beside which endangered animals that come to graze on sea grass?

A) West Indian manatees

B) Bottlenose dolphins

C) Green sea turtles

D) Spotted eagle rays

Answer · why

C) Green sea turtles

Green sea turtles come into the bay to feed, and Akumal was declared a marine refuge in 2016 to shield them from the pressure of their own popularity.