Q 01/05

Which Mali Empire ruler, often called the richest person ever, made a lavish pilgrimage to Mecca?

A) Sundiata Keita

B) Mansa Musa

C) Sunni Ali

D) Askia Muhammad

Answer · why

B) Mansa Musa

Mansa Musa handed out so much gold in Cairo on his way east that he is said to have lowered its value across Egypt. His wealth came from taxing the tr...

Q 02/05

Which country, settled by freed Black Americans, later elected Africa's first female president?

A) Nigeria

B) Ghana

C) Benin

D) Liberia

Answer · why

D) Liberia

Liberia declared independence in 1847, and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the economist who became its president, went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Q 03/05

The African Renaissance Monument, a bronze built by a North Korean firm, towers over which capital?

A) Dakar

B) Banjul

C) Monrovia

D) Nouakchott

Answer · why

A) Dakar

Dakar unveiled the statue in April 2010, for the 50th anniversary of Senegal's independence from France, in front of 19 African heads of state.

Q 04/05

Ivory Coast overtook Ghana in 1978 to become the world's leading producer of which crop?

A) Coffee

B) Cotton

C) Cocoa

D) Palm oil

Answer · why

C) Cocoa

Cocoa brings in about 40% of Ivory Coast's export income, and West Africa as a whole supplies two-thirds of the beans that the world's chocolate maker...

Q 05/05

The Great Mosque of Djenné in Mali, replastered every year, is the world's largest building of what?

A) Mud brick

B) Coral stone

C) Palm timber

D) Sandstone

Answer · why

A) Mud brick

Mud brick dried in the sun forms every wall, under a coat of earth that the rains wear away. The whole town turns out for a festival to repair it, and...