Famous Leaders
In 1605, he tried and failed to blow up the British Parliament, and every November 5th, we remember.
Who was Guy Fawkes?
These 16th Century Spanish adventurers got their name from "conquering" territory in the Americas for their home country.
Who are conquistadors?
The Virginia town where the British army surrendered to American and French forces, effectively ending the Revolutionary War.
What is Yorktown?
He may have a bay named after him, but this English explorer and navigator certainly wasn't celebrated by most of his crew, who left him to die at sea on a lifeboat.
Who is Henry Hudson?
Built in the mid-1600s, this white marble mausoleum in India was built by Shah Jahan to honor his late beloved wife.
What is the Taj Mahal?
Inheriting the throne in Scotland when she was only five days old, this Catholic queen was eventually imprisoned and ordered executed by her Protestant queen cousin.
Who is Mary, Queen of Scots?
As its name suggests, this lengthy war was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history, with a death toll in the millions.
What is The Thirty Years' War?
This Canadian city was founded by explorer Samuel Champlain, the "Father of New France," who traveled the St. Lawrence River and made detailed maps.
What is Quebec?
A type of Buddhism -- also sharing a name with a peaceful Japanese garden -- whose adherents believed that wisdom came from the inside, not from outside teaching or travel to foreign lands.
What is Zen?
Giving himself the name "The Sun King," French ruler Louis XIV, built this enormous and extravagant palace and forced his noblemen to live there.
What is Versailles?
Born into a royal family on the western coast of Africa, this bold ruler famously used her servant as a chair while she negotiated eye-to-eye with Portuguese leaders.
Who is Queen Nzinga?
Not to be confused with furniture, this powerful and widespread Islamic empire ruled for centuries.
Who are the Ottomans?
On June 17, 1775, the first huge battle of the Revolutionary War took place on this high hill above Boston.
What is Bunker Hill?
This English scientist discovered the laws of gravity.
Who is Isaac Newton?
The first permanent English settlement in North America.
This King of England's reign started with a terrible coronation, which included a stubborn wife, punched and broken windows, loneliness, a barge off course, a small boat, a trip and fall, a lost jewel, a rude greeting, and an earthquake!
Who was Charles I?
This famous Dutch governor of the New Amsterdam colony lost his right leg to a cannonball in 1644 during a battle against the Spanish.
Who is Peter Stuyvesant (STY vess ant)
This city in India was the site of the notorious "Black Hole" incident of 1756, where a debated number of English captives were held in a tiny dungeon without food, drink, or sitting space.
What is Calcutta (in the region of Bengal)?
Ottoman Sultan Ahmet III gained this title for his love of Western culture -- particularly Dutch flowers.
What is the Tulip King?
In 1787, delegates for the Constitutional Convention gathered together in this red-brick building at the center of Philadelphia.
What is Independence Hall?
These warlike noblemen commanded samurai armies and ruled over different sections of Japan, each fighting against his neighbor for more power.
Who are daimyo? (DIE mee oh)
This Virginia governor, with a unique last name, sent a young George Washington to deliver a warning message to French commanders in 1753.
Who is Robert Dinwiddie?
The storming of this French royal prison on July 24, 1789, was the final victory in a revolt by the commoners against the ruling class, and is still celebrated as a holiday in France.
What is The Bastille?
Also known as "King Philip," this king of the Wampanoag tribe led a massive Native American uprising against English colonists known as King Philip's War.
Who is Metacom?
This walled and secret city-within-a-city was home to many Chinese royalty, including poetry-and-book-loving emperor Chi'en-lung (Chehn lohn).
What is the Forbidden City/Palace?