History
Geography
Food for Thought
Words & Language
Around the World
100

What was the name of the first artificial satellite launched into space in 1957?

What is Sputnik 1?

100

This is the largest ocean on earth.

What is the Pacific Ocean?

100

This yellow spice is commonly used to give curry its golden color.

What is turmeric?

100

This is the term for a phrase such as "deafening silence" that combines contradictory ideas.

What is an oxymoron?

100

This European country is famous for its windmills, tulips, and extensive canal systems.

What is the Netherlands? (informally Holland)

200

This was the name of the famous influenza pandemic in 1918?

What is the Spanish flu?

200

The Equator passes through this South American country whose name refers to that imaginary line.

What is Ecuador?

200

This cheese is traditionally used in a Greek salad and is often stored in brine.

What is feta?

200

What do we call a word that has the opposite meaning of another word.

What is an antonym?

200

This is the official currency of Switzerland.

What is the Swiss franc?

300

This U.S. president signed the Homestead Act of 1862.

Who was Abraham Lincoln?

300

This river flows through or along the borders of 10 countries in Europe, depending on how its route is counted.

What is the Danube?

300

This Japanese ingredient is made by fermenting soybeans with a fungus called koji.

What is miso?

300

This is what we call a person who can speak 3 languages fluently.

What is a trilingual person?

300

This island is the world's largest that is NOT considered a continent.

What is Greenland?

400

This ancient civilization developed a writing system called cuneiform.

Who were the Sumerians?

400

This U.S. state has the greatest number of active volcanoes.

What is Alaska?

400

This is the name of the process that turns milk into yogurt using beneficial bacteria.

What is fermentation?

400

This is the grammatical term for a word that modifies a verb, adjective, or another adverb.

What is an adverb?

400

This country's capital is Tbilisi?

What is Georgia?

500

This ancient empire, centered in present-day Iran, was founded by Cyrus the Great.

What is the Persian Empire?

500

This state is the only state that borders just one other state.

What is Maine?

500

This Middle Eastern dip is traditionally made from chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, and garlic.

What is hummus?

500

This word means a statement that seems contradictory but may reveal a truth, such as "less is more"?

What is a paradox?

500

This mountain range forms a traditional geographic boundary between Europe and Asia.

What are the Ural Mountains?