History QUIZZES

Here are some quizzes to test your knowledge about history. You'll improve your score if you read the pages in this section of Q-files before you start the quizzes.

Africa

Among the earliest forms of art in Africa are paintings left on rocks in the Sahara Desert in around 8000 BC. At this time, the Sahara was a green and fertile region. Bands of...

Age of Discovery

From the early 1400s, European explorers set sail across the world's oceans, making contact with Africa, the Americas, Asia and Oceania. We call this period, which lasted until the...

Ancient Greece

About 2500 years ago, Greece enjoyed a time of wealth, discovery and invention. It was known as the “Golden Age” of Greece. The country was divided into small states, each...

Ancient Egypt

One of the greatest and longest-lasting civilizations in history grew up on a narrow strip of fertile land along the banks of the River Nile in Egypt. The ancient Egyptians were...

Ancient Middle East

Mesopotamia, the fertile land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in what is now Iraq, was one of the first places in the world where people settled down to be farmers: around...

Archaeology

Archaeologists find out about the past by excavating (digging up) the sites of ancient buildings or settlements. They study the artefacts they find, such as tools and pottery, to...

Aztec, Inca & Maya

The civilizations of the Aztecs, Incas and Maya were the towering achievements of the peoples that arrived in Central and South America thousands of years earlier. The Olmecs...

British Empire

The discovery of the Americas by Christopher Columbus in 1492, together with Portuguese voyages around the coast of Africa opening up trade with East Asia, began the era of...

British history

The first people to arrive in Britain did so at least 850,000 years ago. At that time, Britain and Ireland were joined together with the continent of Europe (they did not become...

British kings and queens

Britain in World War I

Britain was pulled into World War I because of its alliance with France and Russia: the Triple Entente. Along with its allies it would pit its forces against Germany...

History of London

London was founded by the Romans, conquerors of Britain around 2000 years ago. Although there is evidence of scattered Celtic settlements in the area, the first major settlement...

EASY READ British history

Castles & knights

The Middle Ages, also known as medieval times, lasted from around 600 to 1500. In those days, the most powerful person in the kingdom was, of course, the king. But even he had to...

China

The Chinese civilization grew up on the banks of the Huang He (Yellow) River in northern China more than 7000 years ago. It developed in isolation from the rest of the world for...

Europe

Europe's first inhabitants were hunter-gatherers, who hunted for wild animals and picked plants to eat. By around 7000–6500 BC, some people living in southeastern Europe had...

Exploration

The voyages of exploration of the 15th and 16th centuries opened up new lands to conquer for some European powers, such as Spain, Portugal, England, France and the Netherlands...

Famous leaders

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821) was a French military and political leader who rose to power at the end of the French Revolution. He became Emperor of France in 1804, and...

Famous women

Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797) was an English champion of women’s rights. She is best known for writing A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, in which she argues for...

EASY READ Famous people

India

The Indian civilization is one of the oldest in the world. Farmers had begun to build villages in the valleys of the River Indus and the nearby River Ghaggar-Hakra (in modern-day...

Ireland

Ireland's rich history stretches back to 7500 BC, when its land was first settled. From the construction of Newgrange in 3200 BC, Irishmen have built some of the greatest ancient...

Islamic world

The Arab Empire was built up in the 7th and 8th centuries AD. Inspired by the Prophet Mohammed, the founder of the Islamic religion, the Arabs conquered vast territories. At its...

Japan

The people of ancient Japan believed their islands were created by the goddess Izanami and her brother and husband Izanagi. According to legend, Jimmu, a descendant of the Sun...

Jewish history

The Jews are an ethnic and religious group who originated in the Middle East thousands of years ago. A people called the Israelites, or Hebrews, are known to have lived in Canaan...

Latin America

From the 1500s onwards, the region now described as Latin America (South America, Mexico and Central America) was ruled by Spain, with the important exception of Brazil, which...

Mongols

Under the leadership of Genghis Khan (1162/7–1227), the Mongols became an organized army that nobody could resist. In 1211 they defeated the Jin Empire of northern China. Then...

North America

People first settled in North America between 35,000 and 15,000 years ago (the date is uncertain). During the Ice Ages, the sea level was lower than it is today. It was possible to...

Oceania

Oceania consists of the islands of Australia, New Zealand and New Guinea and the Melanesian, Micronesian and Polynesian island groups of the South Pacific. The first of these...

Pirates & galleons

A pirate is someone who takes over a ship that does not belong to them. Pirates often sailed in stolen ships across the world’s oceans, stealing other ships’ cargo, then...

Romans

The Romans came from a province of Italy called Latium. They spoke a language called Latin. From the 3rd century BC, they started to build up a huge empire. At its peak in AD 117...

Russia

The name Russia comes from the Viking people who arrived at the town of Novgorod (in northwestern Russia) in the 860s. These Vikings were known as the “Varangian Rus”. They...

Slavery

A slave, or an enslaved person, is someone who is forced to carry out some kind of work without payment and is forbidden to leave their service. In the past, slavery was both...

Southeast Asia

The early kingdoms of Southeast Asia were heavily influenced by China and India. From the 3rd century AD, traders and religious men from India introduced Hinduism and Buddhism to...

United States history

European settlers first started to arrive in eastern North America after 1600. By then, most of the Native Americans living in the region had died from diseases, which had already...

EASY READ United States history

Vikings

The Vikings, also known as Norsemen (or Northmen), were seafaring peoples from Scandinavia (modern-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden). Their English name came from the old Norse word...

The world in the 20th century

During the second half of the 19th century, nationalism (loyalty and pride that people felt for their own nation) became an important movement, especially in Europe. Italy and...

The world in the 21st century

World history

EASY READ World history

EASY READ Ancient worlds