101 History Trivia Questions and Answers for Kids
January 3, 2025
Looking for a fun way to challenge your kiddo’s historical knowledge? These 101 history trivia questions for kids will have them digging into what they’ve learned in school to find the right answer.
And when you need more trivia, check out our other lists:
Interest in studying history in college one day? Check out our 50 Best Colleges for History Majors.
101 History Trivia Questions and Answers for Kids
Early American Trivia
1) Who was the first president of the United States?
George Washington
2) Where was the Declaration of Independence signed?
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
3) How many original colonies were there in the early United States?
13
4) President Abraham Lincoln led the United States through which war?
The Civil War
5) The pilgrims who landed on the continent that is now North America got off their ship, the Mayflower, on which famous rock?
Plymouth Rock
6) You can go see Plymouth Rock in which state today?
Massachusetts
7) Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in which theater?
Ford’s Theater
History Trivia for Kids – Questions and Answers
8) The Preamble to the Constitution of the United States of America starts with three simple but famous words. What are they?
“We the people”
9) The English Pilgrims first encountered people from which tribe when they landed in what is now New England?
The Wampanoag
10) The Wampanoag people suffered greatly after the arrival of the Pilgrims, and thousands died as a result of what?
Epidemics/diseases
11) The group of men who wrote the Declaration of Independence are commonly referred to as what?
The Founding Fathers
12) Benjamin Franklin, a Founding Father, was an activist, politician, and scientist. He is commonly known for inventing what kind of glasses?
Bifocals
13) While the Declaration was signed in 1776 and is generally regarded as the “start” of the United States of America, the Constitution was not written until what year?
1787
14) The Constitution of the United States of America established the three branches of government. What are they?
Executive, judicial, and legislative
15) What branch of government contains the Office of the President?
Executive
List (Continued)
16) What branch of government contains the Supreme Court?
Judicial
17) What branch of government contains the House and the Senate?
Legislative
18) What is America’s national anthem called?
The Star Spangled Banner
19) Who wrote the Star Spangled Banner?
Francis Scott Key
20) Philadelphia was the first capital city of the early United States of America. In 1790, Congress moved the capital from Philadelphia to where?
Washington, D.C.
21) Who created the first American flag?
Betsy Ross
History Trivia for Kids – Questions and Answers
22) There are 13 red and white stripes on the American flag. What do they represent?
The 13 original colonies
23) Who was the first president to live in the White House?
John Adams
24) Slavery—the ownership and forced labor of other human beings—was legal in the United States until the ratification of the 13th Amendment in which year?
1865
25) In 1751, the Pennsylvania Assembly commissioned the creation of a large “musical instrument” to commemorate the 50-year anniversary of William Penn’s “Charter of Privileges,” which served as Pennsylvania’s first constitution. What instrument did the Pennsylvania Assembly create? Hint: you can still see its big crack on display in Philadelphia today!
The Liberty Bell
26) About how many people lived in the 13 colonies around the time of the American Revolution?
2.5 million
27) What was the name of the first successful colony in America? Hint: it’s not one of the current 50 states.
Jamestown
International Historical Trivia
28) What’s the name of the famous ancient Greek poet who is said to have created The Iliad and The Odyssey?
Homer
29) The site is now located in Mexico City, but this ancient capital of the Aztec empire, founded in about 1325, was called what?
Tenochtitlán
30) Tenochtitlán was eventually destroyed and conquered by conquistadors from which country?
Spain
31) What language did people speak in ancient Rome?
Latin
32) What was the capital of the Byzantine empire?
Constantinople
33) The large amphitheater in ancient Rome where gladiators fought to the death is known as what? Hint: You can still visit this place as a tourist attraction today!
The Colosseum
34) The ancient Roman emperor Julius Caesar was stabbed 32 times (perhaps unsurprisingly leading to his death) on a day that became famously known as which day to “beware”?
The Ides of March
35) Who painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel?
Michelangelo
History Trivia for Kids – Questions and Answers
36) The Great Wall of China is the world’s largest manmade structure. But it wasn’t all built in a day. It was actually constructed over a series of many Chinese dynasties. Roughly how many years did it take to build the Great Wall of China?
About 2,000 years
37) In ancient China, there were three main dynasties. What were they called?
-The Xia dynasty, which lasted from 2070 BC to 1600 BC.
-The Shang dynasty, which lasted from 1600 BC to 1046 BC.
-The Zhou dynasty, which lasted from 1046 BC to 256 BC.
38) These culinary tools, developed more than 5,000 years ago in China, were initially used for cooking, not for eating. What are they called? Hint: you might use them to eat your sushi today!
Chopsticks
39) Many Chinese emperors considered themselves to be descendants of which mythical creatures?
Dragons
40) About 5,000 years ago, in the Neolithic age, ancient peoples in what is now called England built a huge structure composed of large, stacked stones in a circular arrangement. What is that structure called?
Stonehenge
41) Historians aren’t really sure of all of the reasons that Stonehenge was built. It’s still a pretty big mystery! However, we do know that Stonehenge was used for one specific purpose. Hint: if you went to Stonehenge for this reason, you probably were never going home again.
As a cemetery
42) The ancient Egyptians founded their civilizations on the fertile delta of which river, located in what is now called Africa?
The Nile
History Trivia for Kids – Questions and Answers
43) Male rulers in ancient Egypt were called what?
Pharaohs
44) The largest of these great structures in ancient Egypt, built in Giza, is more than 480 feet tall. What are these structures called?
Pyramids
45) The ancient Egyptians used an alphabet of symbols—not letters and numbers—called what?
Hieroglyphics
46) The ancient Egyptians also built a large statue of a creature with the body of a lion and the head of a human. What’s that statue called?
The Sphynx
47) The ancient Egyptians weren’t the only civilization to bury their dead by preserving them. The ancient Incas did it, too! They took out their organs, preserved their bodies in alcohol, and froze their bodies in the cold mountain air of the Andes. Sometimes those bodies were also sacrificed to the gods. What’s this process of preserving the dead called?
Mummification
48) The ancient Incan empire stretched throughout the Andes mountains to the Pacific Ocean in South America throughout which countries?
Colombia and Chile
49) The ancient Mycenaeans—from whom the ancient Greeks descended—once conquered this city by hiding inside a giant wooden horse and presenting it to this city as a gift.
Troy
50) The first of these athletic games were held in ancient Greece and were created to honor the god Zeus.
The Olympic Games
History Trivia for Kids – Questions and Answers
51) The ancient Greeks also built statues of their gods and goddesses and kept them in temples. The most famous temple was dedicated to the goddess Athena and was built on the Acropolis in Athens. What’s it called?
The Parthenon
52) Greek mythology helped the ancient Greeks to learn about the world. Greek mythology included characters like a large, one-eyed monster named Polyphemos who appeared in The Odyssey. In general, what do we call those types of mythical, one-eyed creatures?
Cyclops
53) This “great” ruler forced the ancient Greek city states under his singular rule in the 300s B.C. to create the Ancient Greek Empire. What was that ruler called?
Alexander the Great
54) Queen Victoria reigned over this country from 1837 to 1901. Because of her, we call that period The Victorian Age. Where was she queen?
England
55) During her reign, Queen Victoria was the ruler of nearly a quarter of the world’s population. Her empire even extended into India. What was the empire called?
The British Empire
List (Continued)
56) The theater in London where William Shakespeare produced his famous plays is called what?
The Globe Theater
57) In Victorian England, people were able to get around in ways they never had before. They used the train and the bicycle, but they were also able to drive around in what?
The car / motorcar
58) This famous English author wrote during the Victorian Era. His depictions of poverty often helped bring attention to the slums and child labor of the era. Some of his most famous books include A Tale of Two Cities and Oliver Twist. Who is he?
Charles Dickens
59) Though she died before the Victorian Era, this British author’s works are thought of as some of the most important in the English language. They include Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Sense and Sensibility. Who is this author?
Jane Austen
60) When was the French Revolution?
1789 to 1799
61) The phrase “Let them eat cake!” is famously attributed to which French queen? (Unfortunately, there’s no proof she actually said it.)
Marie Antoinette
62) The period of dramatic social, intellectual, and philosophical change that took place in Europe from 1685 to 1815 is called what?
The Enlightenment
63) Which famous French philosopher said, “I think, therefore I am”?
René Descartes
History Trivia for Kids – Questions and Answers
64) What year did the Berlin Wall fall?
1989
Historical Technology and Science Trivia
65) The period of rapid growth in machinery and technology from the early 1700s to the end of the 1830s is called what?
The Industrial Revolution
66) The Industrial Revolution saw the invention of a new way to create power. Wind and water power were replaced by engines that burned coal to create something that powered an engine? What was this new kind of engine called?
A steam engine
67) In what year did people go to the moon for the first time?
1969
68) Who were the first men who set foot on the moon?
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin
69) The third rocket that was supposed to go to the moon failed its mission. What was that mission called? Hint: they made a movie about it!
Apollo 13
70) The first film ever made is very simple: it’s just a horse running. But at the time it was revolutionary. What year was the film made?
1878
List (Continued)
71) The Warner Bros. released the first “talkie,” the first film in which people are talking, in 1927. What was it called?
The Jazz Singer
72) Alexander Graham Bell got the first U.S. patent for the telephone, but the telephone was actually invented by an Italian in what year?
1849
73) The first cell phone was invented by Motorola and weighed nearly four-and-a-half pounds! What year was it invented?
1973
74) Two brothers became famous when they flew an airplane for the first time in history. Who are those brothers?
The Wright Brothers
75) And where did they fly their plane for the first time?
Kitty Hawk, North Carolina
76) What’s the name of the first satellite sent into space?
Sputnik
77) This scientist won the Nobel Prize for the discovery of polonium and radium. What was her name?
Marie Curie
History Trivia for Kids – Questions and Answers
78) In the 1860s, Louis Pasteur discovered this process that kills the bacteria in milk that frequently caused tuberculosis and other diseases. What is it called?
Pasteurization
79) The first antibiotic was discovered in 1928 by accident—and we still use it today. What is it called?
Penicillin
80) Which civilization invented the wheel?
The Sumerians
81) This “dwarf planet” that was once considered the ninth planet in the solar system wasn’t discovered until 1930. What is it?
Pluto
82) Dutch spectacle makers Hans and Zacharias Janssen are credited with creating the first version of this technological device around the 1590s. Hint: it helps you see things smaller than the naked eye can see!
Microscope
83) Charles Darwin is credited with creating the theory of what?
Evolution
84) This person mysteriously disappeared when she attempted to become the first female to fly around the world. Who is she?
Amelia Earhart
85) What year was the first television invented?
1927
List (Continued)
86) The first automobile, a steam-powered, three-wheeled military vehicle, was built in 1769 in which country?
France
87) The first gasoline-powered car was built in 1885 in Germany by a man named Karl. What was his last name? Hint: It’s the second half of a famous car company that exists today.
Benz (Karl Benz)
88) What was the first recorded song called?
“Au Clair de la Lune”
89) Which English mathematician is credited with conceiving of the first computer way back in the 1800s?
Charles Babbage
90) How heavy was the first computer?
16,000 pounds
Random Facts in History
91) What year did the Titanic sink?
1912
92) What year did Ellis Island close?
1954
93) In what decade did Americans start considering the creation of compulsory public schools (or, the laws that make it necessary for students to complete school up to the age of 16)?
In the 1920s.
94) Which explorer was the first to command a ship the whole way around the world?
Ferdinand Magellan
95) Pythagoras discovered the Pythagorean Theorem. During what historical period did he live?
Ancient Greece
96) The volcano Mount Vesuvius destroyed what ancient civilization in Italy?
Pompeii
History Trivia for Kids – Questions and Answers
97) When did Hawaii become a state?
1959
98) When did World War II end?
September 2, 1945
99) What is the name of the supercontinent of all the land masses on Earth that existed in the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras?
Pangea
100) In 1869, these two universities faced off in what was considered the first football game in America. What universities were they?
Rutgers and Princeton
101) The first hot air balloon debuted in Versailles in 1783 in front of Louis XVI. Who were the passengers?
A sheep, a duck, and a rooster
101 History Trivia Questions and Answers for Kids – Additional Resources
