Precolonial America
Dinosaur Discovery
Tsarist Russia
The Crusades
Darwin
100

Dartmouth sits today on the land originally stewarded by which Indigenous population?

The Abenaki people

100

On what continent have the most dinosaur fossils been found?

North America

100

What major world event caused Russian Tsardom to end?

WWI

100

How many major Crusades were there?

8

100

What was the name of the book about specifically human evolution that Darwin published ~10 years after On the Origin of Species?

Descent of Man

200

Which three staple crops are known by some Indigenous North Americans as the “three sisters”?

Corn, beans, and squash

200

The term “dinosaur” was coined in 1842 by British paleontologist Richard Owen. What mythical creature had large fossilized lizards been known as before the term came into use?

Dragons

200

Who was the last tsar of Russia?

Nicholas II

200

What was the main city in the Holy Land over which the Crusades were fought?

Jerusalem

200

What was the name of Darwin’s infamous half-cousin who is credited for the invention of eugenics, as inspired by Darwin’s theory of evolution?

Francis Galton

300

What wooden structures, primarily built using cedar wood, were constructed by Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest for housing their extended families? (not a trick question)

Longhouses

300

The fossil-hunting race of 1877–1892 between American paleontologists Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh, during which the two collectively discovered 136 new species of dinosaurs, came to be known by what name?

The Bone Wars, the Great Dinosaur Rush

300

Who officially replaced the title “tsar” with “Emperor of All Russia”?

Peter the Great

300

Which Byzantine emperor’s call for military support from the pope in 1095 is cited as a key catalyst for the First Crusade?

Alexios I Komnenos

300

In 1831, Darwin embarked on a boat voyage to assist as a naturalist for the crew’s geological survey. What was the name of the boat on which he traveled?

The HMS Beagle

400

What was the name of the organization of five North American tribes that was formed to unite nations and create a peaceful means of decision making?

The Haudenosaunee Confederacy, the Iroquois Confederacy, the League of Five Nations

400

Who was the notable 19th-century female English paleontologist known primarily for her fossil-hunting prowess and discovery and identification of an ichthyosaur skeleton?

Mary Anning

400

When did Tsar Alexander II abolish serfdom? (within 10 years)

1861

400

The fall of which county in 1144 sparked the outbreak of the Second Crusade?

Edessa

400

Darwin, who was a member of the Glutton Club (which specializes in catching and eating uncommon prey) during his days at Cambridge, was most famously unable to resist tasting which of the animals he studied during his time visiting the Galapagos Islands?

The Galapagos tortoise

500

What is the English translation of the name that many Indigenous populations in the northeast use for what we now call North and Central America?

Turtle Island

500

The first fossil formally found by a human was likely discovered by Robert Plot, but was mistakenly believed to be a giant human bone. In what year did this discovery and mistaken identification occur? (within 10 years)

1677

500

Tsar Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra had a son, Alexei, who suffered from an ailment known colloquially as the “royal disease.” What disease was that?

Hemophilia

500

When did specific Latin terminology for “crucesignatus” develop to separate crusaders from Christian pilgrims?

Around 1200

500

Contrary to popular belief, Darwin was not the only scientist at the time to independently come up with the theory of evolution by natural selection. What was the name of the other 19th century naturalist who, after his own research and expeditions, developed that same theory and exchanged communications about it with Darwin before the publication of On the Origin of Species?

Alfred Russel Wallace