40 World History Trivia Questions for Kids

1. The carved building fronts at ancient Petra were cut into cliffs of which rock?

2. On which Indonesian island was the great monument of Borobudur built?

3. In which country can you find the prehistoric paintings of Lascaux cave?

4. Which large animals are especially famous in the ceiling paintings at Altamira in Spain?

5. The painted rock shelters of Bhimbetka are in which country?

6. Which Spanish city is home to the historic Alhambra palace complex?

7. The tall carved stone monuments of ancient Aksum stand in which African country?

8. Ancient Nalanda in India was especially known as a centre for what?

9. What shape are the best-known pointed roofs of the trulli houses in Alberobello, Italy?

10. Where did a Roman hypocaust send warm air to heat a room?

11. In the ancient Persian qanat system, water travelled mainly through what?

12. What were chinampas, used by farmers around ancient Mexico's lakes?

13. The great mounds of Cahokia in North America were made mainly from what?

14. Which curved roof feature is especially famous at Hagia Sophia in Istanbul?

15. The Aztec capital Tenochtitlan was built on islands in what body of water?

16. Which waterways served as major routes through historic Venice?

17. Many historic plaques from the Kingdom of Benin were cast from which yellow metal alloy?

18. In traditional Japanese dress, what did a carved netsuke help hold at the sash?

19. In Japanese kintsugi repairs, which precious metal often highlights a pot's cracks?

20. How are the narrow woven strips in traditional kente cloth joined into a larger cloth?

21. What colour family is linked with the famous celadon glaze of Korea's Goryeo period?

22. The moai of Rapa Nui are large carved figures made chiefly from what?

23. The word terracotta, used for ancient Chinese figures, refers to what material?

24. Traditional wampum beads used by Haudenosaunee and other Indigenous peoples were made from what?

25. How did Inca messengers called chaskis move messages along their mountain roads?

26. Which pack animals carried goods in historic caravans across the Sahara?

27. What could skilled Polynesian navigators use in the night sky to help find their way?

28. Besides sails, what could crews use to move a Viking longship?

29. Traditional Indonesian wayang kulit shadow puppets are cut from what material?

30. Cowrie shells were used in many historic societies as a form of what?

31. Which precious metal helped make the medieval Ghana Empire wealthy through trade?

32. Which fragrant timber from Lebanon was an important trade good for the Phoenicians?

33. How have West African griots traditionally helped preserve history?

34. Which Korean ruler is credited with creating the alphabet known as Hangul?

35. In Maya number writing, a shell-shaped sign could represent which number?

36. What helped carry used water away from houses in the ancient city of Mohenjo-daro?

37. On the medieval world maps of al-Idrisi, which direction appears at the top?

38. What natural property made lodestone useful for early compasses?

39. What natural event was Zhang Heng's ancient Chinese seismoscope designed to detect?

40. On traditional Marshall Islands stick charts, curved sticks showed patterns of what?