This history true or false quiz sorts the legends from the real record, covering American history and world events from ancient Egypt to colonial Massachusetts. Some statements are myths that still show up in classrooms and movies, while others are true but sound completely made up. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so you'll walk away with a few great stories to share with friends.
A surprising amount of popular history was invented long after the events it describes. Writers in the 1800s loved dramatic, moral stories about famous figures, and some of their colorful additions ended up in schoolbooks. Political cartoons, paintings and later Hollywood films added more. Once a striking image takes hold, like a heroic pose or a dramatic last stand, it can outlast the dry facts for centuries.
Historians tackle myths by going back to primary sources such as letters, diaries, court records and objects from the time. When the earliest sources say nothing about a famous detail, that is usually a sign it was added later. You can use a similar trick in a quiz. Ask whether a statement sounds like a real record or like a story told to make a point, and be careful with details that seem a little too perfect.
Time is another thing people misjudge. Ancient history covers thousands of years, so events that feel like neighbors on a school timeline can be separated by more time than separates us from the Roman Empire. Keeping that scale in mind makes timeline questions far more interesting. It's a fun reminder that the past is bigger, and stranger, than the version we remember from class.
Napoleon Bonaparte was unusually short for a man of his time.
Answer: False
He stood about 5 feet 6 or 7 inches, around average for a Frenchman then. Confusion between French and English inches fed the myth.
Cleopatra lived closer in time to the Moon landing than to the building of the Great Pyramid of Giza.
Answer: True
The Great Pyramid was built around 2560 BC, about 2,500 years before Cleopatra, who died in 30 BC, roughly 2,000 years before 1969.
Most signers of the Declaration of Independence signed it on July 4, 1776.
Answer: False
Congress approved the text on July 4, but most delegates signed the official copy on August 2, 1776.
Teaching at the University of Oxford began before the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan was founded.
Answer: True
Teaching at Oxford dates back to at least 1096, while Tenochtitlan was founded around 1325.
George Washington wore false teeth made of wood.
Answer: False
His dentures used materials like human and animal teeth, ivory and metal, but no wood.
Woolly mammoths were still alive when the Great Pyramid of Giza was built.
Answer: True
A small population survived on Wrangel Island, off Siberia, until about 4,000 years ago.
People accused during the Salem witch trials of 1692 were burned at the stake.
Answer: False
Nineteen people were hanged, and one man, Giles Corey, was pressed to death with heavy stones.
Nintendo, the video game company, was founded in the 1800s.
Answer: True
Nintendo was founded in Kyoto, Japan, in 1889 and began by making hanafuda playing cards, decades before video games existed.
In Columbus's day, most educated Europeans believed the Earth was flat.
Answer: False
Scholars had known Earth was round since ancient Greece. The debate was over its size and how far Asia was.
A war between Britain and Zanzibar in 1896 lasted less than an hour.
Answer: True
The Anglo-Zanzibar War lasted roughly 38 to 45 minutes and is often called the shortest war in recorded history.