100 Fun Facts About History Trivia for Kids

Who was the first president of the United States?

George Washington was the first US president, serving two terms from 1789 to 1797 after leading the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War.

In which country would you find the Great Pyramid of Giza?

The Great Pyramid of Giza is in Egypt, near Cairo. It was built around 2560 BC as a tomb for the pharaoh Khufu and was the tallest human-made structure for more than 3,700 years.

Who was the first person to walk on the Moon?

Neil Armstrong commanded Apollo 11 and stepped onto the Moon on 20 July 1969. Buzz Aldrin followed him out about 20 minutes later.

Which brothers flew the first powered airplane in 1903?

The flight took place on December 17, 1903, near Kitty Hawk in North Carolina.

Which country gave the Statue of Liberty to the United States, shipping it across the ocean in crates to be reassembled?

France's people gave the statue, designed by sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, built overseas and shipped across in crates.

In which city did Rosa Parks refuse to give up her bus seat in 1955?

Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, on 1 December 1955. Her arrest sparked the 381-day Montgomery Bus Boycott against segregated seating.

The Great Wall is a long line of old fortifications in which country?

The Great Wall is in China. It is not one wall but many, built and rebuilt over centuries; most of what visitors see today dates from the Ming dynasty (1368–1644).

Whose treasure-filled tomb did Howard Carter uncover in Egypt in 1922?

Howard Carter found Tutankhamun's tomb in the Valley of the Kings in November 1922. It was nearly intact, holding the boy king's golden mask and thousands of treasures.

Who painted the Mona Lisa?

Leonardo da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa in the early 1500s, during the Italian Renaissance. The small portrait hangs in the Louvre in Paris.

The ship Titanic sank in 1912 after hitting what?

Titanic struck an iceberg late on 14 April 1912 and sank early on 15 April, on her maiden voyage from Southampton toward New York. More than 1,500 people died.

Which ship carried the Pilgrims from England to America in 1620?

The Mayflower left Plymouth, England, in September 1620 with about 102 passengers and reached Cape Cod in November, where the Pilgrims founded Plymouth Colony.

Who built Europe's first movable-type printing press?

Johannes Gutenberg of Mainz built Europe's first movable-type press around 1440 and printed his famous 42-line Bible in the 1450s, making books far cheaper to produce.

Which Roman town vanished under ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted?

Pompeii lay under 4 to 6 metres of volcanic ash and pumice, which preserved it for archaeologists to uncover centuries later.

What was the secret network Harriet Tubman used to lead people to freedom?

Harriet Tubman used the Underground Railroad, a secret chain of guides and safe houses. After escaping slavery, she returned about 13 times and led roughly 70 people to freedom.

Who was the first woman to fly solo and nonstop across the Atlantic Ocean, in 1932, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross?

Amelia Earhart flew solo from Newfoundland to Northern Ireland on 20–21 May 1932, landing in a field after about 15 hours, five years after Lindbergh's solo crossing.

In what year did Columbus first sail across the Atlantic?

Columbus sailed from Palos, Spain, on 3 August 1492 with the Niña, Pinta and Santa María, and reached an island in the Bahamas on 12 October 1492.

The ancient Olympic Games were held at Olympia in honor of which Greek god?

The ancient Olympics honored Zeus, king of the Greek gods. Olympia held a great temple of Zeus, and on the middle day of the games 100 oxen were sacrificed to him.

Gladiators once fought in the Colosseum, a giant amphitheatre in the centre of which city?

The Colosseum stands in the centre of Rome. Opened in AD 80, it held around 50,000 spectators for gladiator fights, animal hunts and even mock sea battles.

Which US president led the country through the Civil War and issued the Emancipation Proclamation?

Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president, led the Union through the Civil War and issued the Emancipation Proclamation on 1 January 1863. He was assassinated in April 1865.

Who gave the famous 'I Have a Dream' speech to a crowd of more than 250,000 people in 1963?

Martin Luther King Jr. gave the 'I Have a Dream' speech on 28 August 1963 from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

Who was awarded the first US patent for the telephone in 1876?

Alexander Graham Bell received US patent 174,465 for the telephone on 7 March 1876. Three days later he made the first call to his assistant: 'Mr. Watson, come here.'

In which year did the Great Fire of London break out in a bakery on Pudding Lane?

The Great Fire of London began on 2 September 1666 in Thomas Farriner's bakery on Pudding Lane and burned for four days, destroying about 13,000 houses and old St Paul's.

Which famous queen was the last active pharaoh of the Ptolemaic Kingdom?

Cleopatra ruled from 51 to 30 BC, the last of a Ptolemaic line that was Greek rather than Egyptian in origin.

In which year did the Berlin Wall come down?

The Berlin Wall came down on 9 November 1989, when East Germany opened its border crossings. It had divided the city since August 1961, for 28 years.

Which English king sealed Magna Carta at Runnymede in 1215?

King John sealed Magna Carta at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215 under pressure from rebel barons. Its name is Medieval Latin for 'Great Charter'.

In what year did the Second Continental Congress adopt the Declaration of Independence?

The Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on 4 July 1776 in Philadelphia, two days after voting to break from Britain. July 4 became the US national holiday.

Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, was launched in 1957 by which country?

The Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 on 4 October 1957. The beach-ball-sized satellite circled Earth every 96 minutes, and its name simply means 'satellite' in Russian.

Which Native American people joined the Pilgrims' three-day feast at Plymouth in 1621?

Their farming and hunting had produced much of the bounty; along with wild turkey, the meal likely included fish, eels and shellfish.

Which Roman leader was assassinated by a group of senators on the Ides of March in 44 BC?

Julius Caesar was stabbed to death on 15 March 44 BC at the Theatre of Pompey in Rome by senators led by Brutus and Cassius, who feared he would become king.

Marco Polo, who travelled the Silk Road and met Kublai Khan, came from which Italian city?

Marco Polo came from Venice, the trading republic on the Adriatic. He left in 1271 as a teenager and spent about 17 years in Kublai Khan's empire before returning in 1295.

Which teenage French heroine led soldiers to lift the siege of Orléans in 1429?

Joan of Arc, then about 17, reached Orléans on 29 April 1429 with the French relief army; the English abandoned the siege on 8 May, nine days later.

In 1773, American colonists boarded ships in Boston Harbor and dumped 340 chests of what into the water?

The colonists, some disguised as Mohawks, dumped East India Company tea into Boston Harbor on 16 December 1773 to protest the Tea Act; emptying every chest took about three hours.

The Magellan expedition of 1519 to 1522 was the first voyage ever to do what?

The expedition was the first to sail around the world. Magellan was killed in the Philippines in April 1521; Juan Sebastián Elcano brought the last ship, Victoria, back to Spain in September 1522.

Anne Frank became famous around the world for writing what while hiding in a secret annex in Amsterdam?

Her last entry was written on 1 August 1944, days before the family was arrested.

Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in prison before becoming the first Black president of which country?

Nelson Mandela became South Africa's first Black president in May 1994 after 27 years in prison, 18 of them on Robben Island; he served one term, until 1999.

Which modern capital stands on the ruins of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec island capital captured by the Spanish in 1521?

Mexico City's historic centre sits on Tenochtitlan's ruins; the Spanish and their Tlaxcaltec allies took the city in 1521.

The Rosetta Stone, in the British Museum since 1802, unlocked which ancient writing?

The same decree is carved on it three times, in hieroglyphs, Demotic and Ancient Greek.

The Vikings, famous for their fast longships, originally came from which part of the world?

The Vikings came from Scandinavia, today's Norway, Sweden and Denmark, raiding and trading from about 793 to 1066; their longships carried oars as well as a sail, so they could move without wind.

When ancient Egyptians made a mummy, they wrapped the dried body in many layers of what?

Egyptian embalmers wrapped the dried body in hundreds of metres of linen strips, tucking small amulets between the layers to guard the dead person from evil.

A boy training to be a knight started as a page at about seven; what was he called from age 14?

A squire is what the page became at 14, serving a knight until his own knighting, when he was dubbed on the shoulders with a sword.

Samurai were sword-carrying warriors who served lords in which country long ago?

Japan's samurai were a professional warrior class who served as retainers to the lords, and their curved swords were so prized that some were given names.

Which American inventor is famous for the light bulb and the phonograph?

Thomas Edison ended up with more than 1,000 US patents, covering electric power distribution and early motion pictures as well as the bulb and phonograph.

In Greek legend, soldiers hid inside a giant wooden horse to sneak into which city?

The Greeks left the wooden horse outside Troy and the Trojans pulled it inside their walls, thinking it a gift; the hidden soldiers crept out at night and opened the gates. A 'Trojan horse' now also means sneaky malware.

Machu Picchu, a stone city high in the mountains of Peru, was built by which people?

The Inca built Machu Picchu around 1450, probably as an estate for the emperor Pachacuti; its stones were cut so precisely that many fit without mortar, and the site sits about 2,430 metres above sea level.

The cracked Liberty Bell, a symbol of American independence, is in which city?

The Liberty Bell hangs in Philadelphia, near Independence Hall. It cracked the first time it was rung after arriving from London in 1752, and local founders Pass and Stow recast it with their names on it.

Who became the first person to travel into space, in 1961?

Yuri Gagarin orbited Earth once aboard Vostok 1 on 12 April 1961, a flight of about 108 minutes; he ejected and parachuted to the ground separately from the capsule.

Which nurse, 'The Lady with the Lamp', cared for wounded soldiers in the Crimean War?

Florence Nightingale nursed British soldiers at Scutari during the Crimean War (1854–56), walking the wards at night with a lamp; she later used charts and statistics to show how hygiene saved lives.

Which Frenchman invented a system of raised dots that lets blind people read by touch?

Louis Braille, blinded after an accident in his father's workshop at age three, worked out his six-dot code in 1824 when he was 15, adapting a military 'night writing' system.

Which Norwegian explorer led the first team to reach the South Pole, in December 1911?

Roald Amundsen's five-man team reached the South Pole on 14 December 1911 using sled dogs and skis, about five weeks before Scott's British party; in 1926 he flew over the North Pole in the airship Norge.

Which Scottish scientist discovered penicillin in 1928 after mould grew in a lab dish?

Alexander Fleming found penicillin in September 1928 at St Mary's Hospital, London, after returning from holiday to find Penicillium mould had killed the bacteria around it on a culture plate; he shared the 1945 Nobel Prize.

Stonehenge, a ring of giant standing stones, is in which country?

Stonehenge stands on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England. Its outer ditch was dug around 3000 BC, and the circle of 30 sarsen uprights with lintels on top was raised about 2500 BC.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is a tilting bell tower in which country?

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is in Italy, in Tuscany. Building began in 1173, and the tower started tilting within five years because the soft ground beneath it could not hold its weight.

The Great Sphinx of Giza has a human head and the body of which animal?

The Great Sphinx has a lion's body with a human head, carved from limestone bedrock around 2500 BC, likely for the pharaoh Khafre. Its nose was chipped off deliberately long before Napoleon, whose cannons are a myth.

Mount Rushmore, with four presidents' faces carved in granite, is in which state?

Mount Rushmore is in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Each head is about 60 feet (18 metres) tall; sculptor Gutzon Borglum worked on it from 1927 until his death in 1941, and his son Lincoln finished it.

In Roman legend, which animal nursed the twin babies Romulus and Remus?

In the legend, a wolf found the abandoned twins by the Tiber and suckled them in her cave, the Lupercal, until a shepherd took them in. Romans dated the founding of their city to 753 BC.

The teddy bear is named after which US president?

The name came from a 1902 bear hunt in Mississippi, and the toy was created at almost the same time by Morris Michtom in the US and Richard Steiff in Germany.

Which Tudor king famously had six wives?

Henry VIII married six times between 1509 and 1543. His first wife, Catherine of Aragon, had been married to his older brother Arthur, who died in 1502; two later wives, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, were beheaded.

Which American founding father flew a kite in a storm in 1752 to study lightning?

Benjamin Franklin flew the kite in Philadelphia in June 1752, reportedly with his son William's help, drawing a spark from a key on the wet string to show lightning is electricity; the lightning rod followed.

Laika, sent into orbit by the Soviet Union in 1957, was what kind of animal?

Laika was a dog, a stray from the streets of Moscow. She flew aboard Sputnik 2 on 3 November 1957 and became the first animal to orbit Earth; she died within hours from overheating.

Who founded the Mongol Empire in 1206 after uniting the tribes of the steppe?

Genghis Khan, born Temüjin, was proclaimed ruler of all the Mongols at a kurultai in 1206; by his death in 1227 his empire stretched from the Pacific to the Caspian, and it grew into history's largest contiguous land empire.

Who was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize?

Marie Curie shared the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics with Pierre Curie and Henri Becquerel for work on radioactivity, then won the 1911 Chemistry prize alone; she named polonium after her native Poland.

Where do the giant stone figures called moai stand?

The moai stand on Easter Island, called Rapa Nui by its people, a Chilean island in the Pacific. Nearly 900 were carved from volcanic tuff between about 1250 and 1500, and most have full torsos, not just heads.

The Panama Canal lets ships cut between the Pacific Ocean and which other ocean?

The Panama Canal links the Pacific with the Atlantic, via the Caribbean Sea. It opened on 15 August 1914 and saves ships the long, stormy trip around Cape Horn at the southern tip of South America.

The 1941 surprise attack on Pearl Harbor hit a US naval base in which present-day state?

Pearl Harbor is on Oahu in Hawaii, then a US territory and a state since 1959. Japanese planners called the raid Operation Z; the attack on 7 December 1941 brought the United States into the Second World War.

Allied soldiers stormed the beaches of Normandy on D-Day in June of which year?

D-Day was 6 June 1944. Some 156,000 Allied troops landed on five Normandy beaches code-named Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword, the largest seaborne invasion ever mounted.

Sacagawea, a Shoshone teenager, guided which expedition across the West to the Pacific?

Sacagawea joined Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery in 1805, carrying her baby son Jean Baptiste on her back; when a boat tipped in May 1805 she rescued papers and instruments, and she helped the expedition trade for Shoshone horses.

What nickname was given to the prospectors who flooded into California during the Gold Rush?

They were the Forty-niners, named for 1849, the peak year of arrivals. Gold had turned up at Sutter's Mill in January 1848, and about 300,000 people poured in, half by sea and half overland.

The Taj Mahal, a white marble tomb built by Emperor Shah Jahan, is in which country?

The Taj Mahal stands in Agra, India, on the Yamuna river. Shah Jahan ordered it after his wife Mumtaz Mahal died in 1631; it took about 22 years to complete, and he was later buried beside her.

Which Mexican general led the 13-day siege of the Alamo in 1836?

General Antonio López de Santa Anna, then Mexico's president, besieged the Alamo from 23 February to 6 March 1836. Around 200 defenders, including Davy Crockett and James Bowie, held the San Antonio mission against some 1,500 troops.

Paul Revere's ride on the night of April 18, 1775 warned that whose troops were coming?

Revere warned that Britain's troops were marching from Boston to seize colonial arms at Concord. Two lanterns in Old North Church signalled their route by water, William Dawes rode too, and fighting began at Lexington the next morning.

Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in the Americas, was in which colony?

Jamestown was founded in the Virginia colony on 14 May 1607 by settlers of the Virginia Company of London. Their voyage from London took about four months, with stops in the Canary Islands and Puerto Rico.

In 1947, Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color line playing for which team?

Jackie Robinson debuted for the Brooklyn Dodgers on 15 April 1947 as the first Black player in the modern major leagues. His number 42 was retired across all of Major League Baseball in 1997.

The Eiffel Tower in Paris was built as the centrepiece of what kind of event in 1889?

The Eiffel Tower was built as the entrance arch to a world's fair, the 1889 Exposition Universelle marking the French Revolution's centenary. At about 300 metres it was the world's tallest structure until the Chrysler Building passed it in 1930.

The Globe Theatre, built in London in 1599, staged plays by which playwright?

The Globe was built by William Shakespeare's company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, and staged many of his plays. It burned down on 29 June 1613 when a stage cannon fired during Henry VIII set the thatched roof alight.

The Black Death of the 1300s most likely spread across the sea on fleas living on what?

Fleas carrying the plague bacterium Yersinia pestis rode on black rats aboard merchant ships, reaching Sicily in 1347. The Black Death killed between 30 and 60 percent of Europe's people.

Which artist painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel between 1508 and 1512?

Michelangelo painted the ceiling for Pope Julius II, working on scaffolding from 1508 to 1512. It shows nine scenes from Genesis, including the Creation of Adam, with God and Adam reaching toward each other.

Hannibal of Carthage crossed the Alps in 218 BC with which surprising animals?

Hannibal took 37 war elephants over the Alps in 218 BC to strike Rome from the north; most survived the crossing but died that winter, and by 217 BC only one, named Surus, was left.

Napoleon was finally defeated in June 1815 at which battle?

Waterloo, fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, was Napoleon's last engagement; he gave up his throne four days later.

Which Paris fortress-prison did revolutionary crowds storm on 14 July 1789?

The Bastille, a medieval fortress used as a royal prison, held only seven inmates on 14 July 1789, but crowds stormed it for its gunpowder and as a symbol of royal power; Bastille Day is France's national holiday.

In 1610, Galileo used his telescope to spot four moons circling which planet?

Galileo saw Jupiter's four largest moons, Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto, in January 1610 and published the find in Sidereus Nuncius; no other moon of Jupiter was found until Amalthea in 1892.

In what year did the United States buy the huge Louisiana Territory from France?

The United States bought the Louisiana Territory from France in 1803 for about fifteen million dollars, roughly eighteen dollars per square mile; the 828,000 square miles nearly doubled the size of the young country.

The Terracotta Army was buried to guard the tomb of which ruler, China's first emperor?

Qin Shi Huang, who unified China in 221 BC, had thousands of life-size clay soldiers buried near his tomb at Xi'an. Farmers digging a well stumbled on them in 1974, more than 2,000 years later.

Which Greek philosopher tutored the young Alexander the Great?

Aristotle tutored Alexander from 343 BC, when the prince was 13, at the Temple of the Nymphs at Mieza; in return Philip II rebuilt Aristotle's home town of Stagira, which he had destroyed.

Which Spartan king led the famous 300 at the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC?

Leonidas I of Sparta held the pass at Thermopylae for three days in 480 BC. When a traitor revealed a mountain path, he sent most of his 7,000 Greeks away and died fighting beside his 300 Spartans and 700 Thespians.

In 1927, Charles Lindbergh flew solo nonstop from New York to Paris in which plane?

Lindbergh's single-engine Spirit of St. Louis, named for his St. Louis backers, flew from Roosevelt Field to Paris in 33.5 hours on 20–21 May 1927, winning the $25,000 Orteig Prize; it had no front window, so he used a periscope.

In 1869 a golden spike finished the first transcontinental railroad in which territory?

The last spike was driven at Promontory Summit, Utah Territory, on 10 May 1869, joining the Central Pacific track from Sacramento with the Union Pacific line from Omaha; Leland Stanford swung the hammer.

Edward Jenner created the world's first vaccine in 1796 to protect against which disease?

Edward Jenner inoculated eight-year-old James Phipps with cowpox in May 1796 and then showed he was protected against smallpox; the word 'vaccine' comes from vacca, Latin for cow.

The 1914 assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand that led to World War I happened where?

Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were shot in their open car in Sarajevo, the Bosnian capital, on 28 June 1914 by Gavrilo Princip, a 19-year-old Bosnian Serb; Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia a month later.

In 1930, Mahatma Gandhi led a 240-mile march to the sea to protest a British tax on what?

Gandhi's Salt March from Sabarmati to Dandi took 24 days; on 6 April 1930 he picked up salt from the beach, defying the British monopoly and salt tax, and millions joined the peaceful protest.

Who were the first two climbers confirmed to reach the top of Mount Everest, in 1953?

Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the summit at 11:30 on 29 May 1953 as part of John Hunt's British expedition; the news reached London on 2 June, the morning of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation.

Who beat King Harold at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 and was crowned on Christmas Day?

William, Duke of Normandy, defeated and killed Harold at Hastings on 14 October 1066 and was crowned at Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day. Harold had beaten a Norwegian invasion at Stamford Bridge just three weeks earlier.

Cuneiform, the earliest known writing, was pressed into clay tablets by which people?

The Sumerians of southern Mesopotamia developed cuneiform around 3200 BC, pressing a cut reed into wet clay; the name comes from cuneus, Latin for 'wedge', after the wedge-shaped marks.

Ötzi the Iceman, found frozen in the Alps by hikers in 1991, lived about how long ago?

Ötzi died around 3300 BC, roughly 5,000 years ago, high in the Ötztal Alps on the Austria–Italy border. The first expert to see him guessed 'at least four thousand years' just from the style of his copper axe.

The Dead Sea Scrolls were first found in 1946–47 by Bedouin shepherds in what?

Bedouin shepherds found the first scrolls in desert caves near Qumran, above the Dead Sea's north-west shore, in 1946–47; finds in eleven caves continued until 1956. The Jewish manuscripts date from the Second Temple period.

Which Chinese court official improved papermaking in 105 CE using bark, rags and fishnets?

Cai Lun, a eunuch official at the Han court, reported his improved paper to Emperor He in 105 CE, made from tree bark, hemp, rags and old fishnets; it was far cheaper than silk or bamboo strips.

Which Norse explorer is thought to have reached North America around the year 1000?

His father, Erik the Red, had founded the first Norse settlement in Greenland, where Leif grew up before sailing west to a land the sagas call Vinland.

Mansa Musa, who made a gold-laden pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324, ruled which African empire?

Mansa Musa ruled the Mali Empire from about 1312 to 1337. On his 1324 hajj he gave away so much gold in Cairo that its price there fell for years; Mali's mines then produced much of the Old World's gold.

Which Chinese admiral led seven huge treasure-fleet voyages between 1405 and 1433?

Zheng He, a Muslim eunuch admiral of the Ming dynasty, led seven voyages between 1405 and 1433 reaching India, Arabia and East Africa; from one he brought home a giraffe, which the court took for a magical qilin.

Digs at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk, begun in 1938, uncovered an Anglo-Saxon burial inside what?

The burial lay inside a ship about 27 metres long, its timbers rotted but their outline pressed into the sand. Self-taught archaeologist Basil Brown dug it in 1939 for landowner Edith Pretty, finding gold-and-garnet treasure and the famous helmet.

Angkor Wat, the largest religious monument in the world, is in which country?

Angkor Wat is in Cambodia, near Siem Reap. King Suryavarman II built it in the early 1100s as a Hindu temple to Vishnu; it later became Buddhist and appears on Cambodia's national flag.