Q 01/05

Which two English surveyors gave the famous line separating Pennsylvania from Maryland its name?

A) Robert Mason and Thomas Dixon

B) William Mason and Nathaniel Dixon

C) Edward Mason and Bartholomew Dixon

D) Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon

Answer · why

D) Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon

The pair spent four years (1763-1767) laying out the boundary; the line only became shorthand for North versus South decades later, during the Missour...

Q 02/05

Which city was the largest in the American South by population in the 2020 census?

A) Atlanta

B) Houston

C) Miami

D) Dallas

Answer · why

B) Houston

The South has been the fastest-growing region of the country, and Houston has ridden that growth to become its biggest city.

Q 03/05

Which writer claimed credit for inventing the term 'Bible Belt'?

A) Mark Twain

B) Will Rogers

C) H. L. Mencken

D) William Faulkner

Answer · why

C) H. L. Mencken

The famously acerbic Baltimore journalist used it in a 1924 Chicago Daily Tribune column and, three years later, claimed the coinage as his own.

Q 04/05

The Mississippi Delta lies between the Mississippi River and which other river?

A) Pearl

B) Tombigbee

C) Big Black

D) Yazoo

Answer · why

D) Yazoo

Despite the name, the region is not the river's actual delta but an alluvial plain far upstream, built up by ancient floods of both rivers.

Q 05/05

Which is the only state that lies entirely within Appalachia?

A) Kentucky

B) Tennessee

C) North Carolina

D) West Virginia

Answer · why

D) West Virginia

The Appalachian Regional Commission's map runs from southern New York down to Mississippi and takes in every one of the state's 55 counties.