Wednesday 7 August 2019

Through History with the Monday Quiz in Exile: The 1500's!

We have reached day 7 of Blaugust, which means that it's time to return to the last of our long-standing projects, the history quiz, which began right back in the year 1000 on the site of my spiritual Blogmother, Michael5000, and has been in exile since the 1440's, but looking forward to a triumphant return to it's original home now that the Infinite Art Tournament has reached it's final conclusion. In the meantime, though, the Leaflocker is Proud to present Through History With the Monday Quiz (in Exile): The 1500's!



Looking back, I'd thought last decade had been a particularly difficult one, but as ever, John was on the money, with a staggering 8 points. Honestly, writing a quiz hard enough to challenge that fellow and still be approachable to the rest of us mere mortals is now easy matter.


The Quiz:

Still from 'Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom' - Educational use
1) The New Fire Ceremony, which ushered in a new cycle of the calendar every 52 years (and perhaps acted as the inspiration for the grisly scene in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom pictured above) was last held in 1507 by members of which civilisation?

2) Probably the most famous and most valuable painting in the world, which oil-on-board portrait, now the property of the French government, was likely painted between 1503 and 1506?

3) Probably the most famous and most valuable sculpture in the world, which six ton piece of marble, now the property of either the Italian government or the city of Florence, was erected in 1504?

Public Domain artwork by By Camille Flammarion - Astronomie Populaire 1879
4) In the inspiration for Allan Quartermain and Tintin, amongst others, Christopher Columbus is pictured above using his advance knowledge to predict a lunar eclipse in order to intimidate the locals in which modern island nation?

5) There were Austronesian, Bantu, Arab, Persian, Malay and Javanese settlers already there, but it wasn't until August 1500 that Dias, captain of a Portugese vessel that had been blown off course, was the first European to 'discover' which landmass?

Photo By Paul Ronga - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26458869
6) Pictured above in their extremely functional and not at all silly uniforms, which still-extant military force was founded in 1506?

7) The early 16th century saw Nanak Dev Gi embark on a series of missionary journeys. In 1497, he had founded which religion with the words "There is no Hindu, there is no Muslim"?

8) Estimated to have a value between 50 and 80 million US dollars, the worlds first example of which type of device was developed by Nuremberg locksmith Peter Henlein in 1505?

Public Domain: Hieronymous Bosch, The Garden of Earthly Delights
9) Hieronymus Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights, which he probably painted in this decade, is an example of what type of artwork, commonly used as alterpieces?

10) 1502 is usually cited as the beginning of the Atlantic slave trade, which would continue until the last ship set sail in which decade?

The rules remain the same as ever. Please refrain from searching for the answers anywhere except the inside of your head, and post your best attempts in the comments. Points are given for correct answers, but kudos is given for showing your thought processes, and is much more important in the long run.

4 comments:

Bhagpuss said...

1. Aztec or Inca. I'll go with Inca.
2. La Gioconda aka The Mona Lisa
3. Michelangelo's David
4. Hmm... Samoa?
5. South America
6. The Swiss Guard?
7. Hmm... Sikhism or Janeism? I'll go for Sikhism.
8. It's that nautical device that there was some kind of reward for perfecting. Maybe. Can't remember what it was caled.
9. It's a triptych.
10. Hmm... I hope it's the 19th. Would hate to think it was the 20th.

Alethea said...

You know what, I’m feeling okay about this one. I’m sure this hubris will lead to many hilariously wrong answers.
1. Aztec
2. The Mona Lisa
3. Gosh 6 tons is heavy. But the only sculpture I can think of is the statue of David. Also did you mean 1504? Because if so it’d line up, same guy ‘n all
4. Column bus is a great name. How about uh. Java
5. No idea. Want to guess Singapore but it’s so tiny and a guy named Raffles needs to fit into the picture somewhere.
6. Whoa those are some cool uniforms. Gonna guess.... Luxembourg
7. Ba’hai?
8. Wristwatch?
9. Triptych. I got excited when I saw the graphic and thought you were gonna ask the name of the artist.
10. Oh hm. Wild guess. 1820

You should know... John has been systematically working through every year’s page in Wikipedia. The weekly quiz may be lost to us all.

Alethea said...

What what the heck why did I think 2. and 3. were the same person? I even had their names in mind when I answered each one...

John said...

Hooray! I've missed this quiz so much. Thanks, Thom!

1) I’m going to guess the Aztecs. Sounds about right time-wise for them to have been conquered. :/
2) The Mona Lisa, no doubt about it.
3) That’s got to be the statue of David
4) Cuba?
5) Hm. Australia?
6) That’s the Pope’s Swiss Guard!
7) Sikhism
8) Quite a few possibilities here, but I think in this case I’m going to guess at clockwork.
9) A triptych?
10) Hm - let’s say the 1870s?