African History Quiz

1. The ancient Egyptian civilisation was African and one of the world's greatest. When did it begin?

1. About 1,000 BCE
2. About 3,100 BCE
3. About 5,000 BCE
4. About 500 CE

2. The Mali Empire was one of Africa's greatest. What commodity made it fabulously wealthy?

1. Gold and salt
2. Iron and copper
3. Ivory and diamonds
4. Spices and timber

3. Timbuktu in Mali was famous during the medieval period for being:

1. A great centre of Islamic learning and trade with over 180 Quranic schools
2. A military fortress
3. A Portuguese trading post
4. The capital of the Songhai Empire

4. The Berlin Conference of 1884-85 was significant for African history because:

1. African leaders met to form a united Africa
2. European powers divided Africa among themselves without African consent
3. It ended the transatlantic slave trade
4. It recognised African sovereignty over their territories

5. Ethiopia successfully resisted Italian colonisation, defeating Italy at which famous battle in 1896?

1. Battle of Adwa
2. Battle of Isandlwana
3. Battle of Magdala
4. Battle of Omdurman

6. Who was Nelson Mandela and what was his significance?

1. South Africa's first democratically elected Black president (1994) who had spent 27 years in prison under apartheid
2. South Africa's first prime minister in 1910
3. The leader of the African National Congress who was never imprisoned
4. The president of Zimbabwe

7. What was the 'apartheid' system in South Africa?

1. A peace agreement between South African tribes
2. A policy of racial segregation and discrimination enforced by the white-minority government (1948-1994)
3. A system of self-governance for Black South Africans
4. An economic system favouring agriculture over industry

8. The Kingdom of Kush was a powerful ancient civilisation in modern-day:

1. Egypt
2. Ethiopia
3. Nigeria
4. Sudan

9. Which African country was never colonised (except for a brief Italian occupation 1936-41)?

1. Ethiopia
2. Ghana
3. Kenya
4. Nigeria

10. What was the 'Year of Africa' and why was 1960 significant?

1. The year 17 African countries gained independence from European colonial powers
2. The year apartheid began in South Africa
3. The year the African Union was founded
4. The year the Berlin Conference took place

11. Great Zimbabwe was a remarkable stone city that flourished from the 11th to 15th centuries. In which modern country is it?

1. Mozambique
2. South Africa
3. Zambia
4. Zimbabwe

12. The Rwandan Genocide of 1994 saw approximately how many people killed in 100 days?

1. 2 million
2. 200,000
3. 50,000
4. 500,000-800,000

13. Which African leader led Ghana to independence in 1957, making it the first sub-Saharan country to gain independence?

1. Jomo Kenyatta
2. Julius Nyerere
3. Kwame Nkrumah
4. Leopold Senghor

14. The Swahili Coast of East Africa was historically significant as:

1. A major trade network connecting Africa, Arabia, India, and China from the 8th century CE
2. A Portuguese military base
3. A series of Portuguese colonies
4. The centre of the Arab slave trade only

15. Which Egyptian president nationalised the Suez Canal in 1956, triggering a major international crisis?

1. Anwar Sadat
2. Gamal Abdel Nasser
3. Hosni Mubarak
4. King Farouk

16. The transatlantic slave trade operated for roughly how many years and transported how many Africans?

1. 100 years, 2 million people
2. 200 years, 5 million people
3. 350 years, 12-12.5 million people
4. 500 years, 20 million people

17. Shaka Zulu was a famous king who built which powerful African kingdom in the early 19th century?

1. The Ashanti Kingdom
2. The Ndebele Kingdom
3. The Sotho Kingdom
4. The Zulu Kingdom

18. The African Union (AU), founded in 2001 to replace the Organisation of African Unity, has its headquarters in:

1. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
2. Cairo, Egypt
3. Lagos, Nigeria
4. Nairobi, Kenya

19. What was the 'Mau Mau' uprising (1952-60)?

1. A Kenyan independence political party
2. A Nigerian resistance movement against France
3. A South African anti-apartheid armed group
4. An armed rebellion by the Kikuyu people against British colonial rule in Kenya

20. Ancient Carthage, a major power that rivalled Rome, was located in modern-day:

1. Algeria
2. Libya
3. Morocco
4. Tunisia