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Geography of the Spanish Empire

Can you guess these facts related to the geography of the Spanish Empire?
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: May 27, 2023
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First submittedMarch 23, 2017
Times taken31,678
Average score60.0%
Rating4.36
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Question
Answer
Modern-day country with the most Spanish speakers
Mexico
Native American empires conquered by the conquistadors
Aztecs
Incas
Island chain that includes Tenerife and Fuerteventura
Canary Islands
Country which borders the Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla
Morocco
Asian country once controlled by Spain
Philippines
Current U.S. territories which were ceded by Spain in 1898
Guam
Puerto Rico
The most important export, initially, from Spain's American colonies
Gold
Term for the Spanish outposts that were established in California to spread
Christianity to Native Americans
Missions
Oldest city in the continental United States (founded by Spain in 1566)
Saint Augustine
Term for a person of mixed Spanish and Native American descent
Mestizo
Country formerly known as Spanish Guinea
Equatorial Guinea
Island on which the city of Santo Domingo was founded in 1498
Hispaniola
Isthmus crossed by Balboa in 1513
Isthmus of Panama
City whose full name can be translated as "City of our Lady Saint Mary of the Fair Winds"
Buenos Aires
Last city in Spain to be reconquered from the Moors
Granada
Until 1715, Spain was actually two separate kingdoms ruled by the same king.
What were those two kingdoms?
Castille
Aragon
European country which gained independence from Spain after the "Eighty Years' War"
Netherlands
+2
Level 93
Mar 23, 2017
The Northern Mariana Islands were also ruled by Spain.
+1
Level 95
Mar 23, 2017
That's correct
+1
Level 87
Mar 24, 2017
Not technically a US colony at this point.
+1
Level ∞
Mar 24, 2017
Changed the question to remove the possibility of the Marianas.
+1
Level 81
Mar 23, 2017
Very interesting quiz
+5
Level 76
Mar 23, 2017
Had never heard of St Augustine - my new fact for the day. Spent ages trying New Mexican and Texan cities, and even Miami, to no avail!
+1
Level 75
Jul 27, 2020
Bit of trivia - the US city isn't pronounced the same as its namesake, St. Augustine of Hippo. It is St. Aug' - us - teen rather than Au-gust'-in. I think of it's diagonally-striped black and white lighthouse or the Castillo de San Marcos fort when I remember my visit to the city.
+13
Level 66
Mar 25, 2017
The Spanish Empire, my 14th favorite empire, after the Romans, Mongols, Incans, Qing Dynasty, Yuan Dynasty, British, French, Mayans, Persians, Ottomans, Umayyad Caliphate, Greeks, and Mughals.
+3
Level 66
Mar 25, 2017
The Spanish would be higher up but the funded Christopher Columbus's expedition and I have a thing against him. Also Honorable Mentions: Carthaginians, Byzantine, Babylonians.
+2
Level 60
Jul 11, 2017
I feel like you're giving the Songhai short shrift.
+6
Level 61
Jul 12, 2017
nerd
+1
Level 71
Jul 11, 2017
How is that possible? I thought Buenos Aires meant good air. It would need ciudad, and many other words not included in the name to match your description.
+4
Level 70
Jul 11, 2017
Quote from Wikipedia: "Buenos aires" can be translated as "fair winds" or "good airs", but the first one was the meaning intended by the founders in the 16th century, by the use of the original name "Real de Nuestra Señora Santa María del Buen Ayre".
+3
Level 60
Aug 31, 2020
Is it really that difficult to see how "air" and "wind" could be used interchangably or mixed up during translations?
+3
Level 76
Oct 4, 2020
That's the problem with literal translations, they aren't always right since they don't always convey the correct meaning, which in this case would be "fair wind".
+1
Level 21
Jul 11, 2017
Didn't Spain cede Guam and Puerto Rico to the U.S? Not the other way around?
+6
Level 84
Jul 11, 2017
Well, it says so: "ceded by Spain".
+4
Level 84
Jul 11, 2017
Maybe I might sound a little prickly, but should "mision" or "misiones" work for "mission". I mean, the Spanish term is with only one 's'...
+1
Level 74
Dec 12, 2020
Yeah, I tried misiones, but not missions. Maybe that was dumb of me, but I feel like it's a more correct term than missions, right?
+1
Level 47
Jul 11, 2017
I kept writing "Ecuatorial" and couldn't figure out for the life of me where I was going wrong. Sigh.
+3
Level 63
Jul 11, 2017
You should accept Canarias instead of Canary. That´s their native name
+4
Level 82
Jul 12, 2017
The quiz isn't their native language though.
+1
Level 69
Jul 13, 2017
Shouldn't the clue for BA read 'Which cities original name', instead of full?
+2
Level 19
Oct 23, 2017
Could you accept San Agustin (original name) for St. Augustine?
+1
Level 74
Oct 25, 2017
Thank you for making this quiz. I'd like to point out that you refer to Aztecs, Incas as "Native Americans," and people of mixed Spanish and "Native American" descent. I appreciate you want to use respectful terminology, but in these cases, "Native American" is not correct. 'Native Americans' refers to the Indigenous peoples of the United States. You will probably want to use "Indigenous" (captialised), or "Indigenous peoples". More info on terminology: http://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/terminology/#indigenous
+1
Level 78
Aug 30, 2023
Cambridge, Merriam-Webster etc have it including all of the Americas, and I think despite the US being the default, most people would understand that it could mean all of the Americas
+4
Level 74
Jun 6, 2020
Thank you for accepting "silver" for "gold" haha
+4
Level 53
Jun 23, 2020
Moors should be Moops
+3
Level 59
Jul 12, 2020
Cool quiz! I think for the Equatorial Guinea question you should delete "Guinea" from the answer box because it's too easy to guess when it also indicated that there's a word missing in front of it. As far as I recall there's only one country whose name ends with Guinea haha.
+1
Level 59
Jul 28, 2020
There's also Papua New Guinea.
+2
Level 76
Oct 4, 2020
I agree, adding "Guinea" makes it too easy.
+1
Level 70
Jul 27, 2020
Only 46% know about the epic war that gave us Dutch our independence. :O
+2
Level 65
Jul 27, 2020
Buenos Aires' full name reminds me of Los Angeles' full name, "Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels"
+1
Level 56
Jul 27, 2020
For the question about the exports in north america I put silver and It gave me the answer though it was gold. Please fix
+1
Level 82
Jul 27, 2020
you want us to take your points away?
+2
Level 75
Jul 27, 2020
Nice way to head off anticipated arguments, QM, and I understood the clue as written but just to be contrary I'll point out that there were other cities founded in the US before 1566, including one at Cahokia IL in 650, the Acoma Pueblo in New Mexico in 1144, and the Taos, New Mexico pueblo in 1450. For the most part they didn't remain in continual use although the Acoma maintain they've been there continuously for over 2000 years in spite of a Spanish massacre after which a remnant rebuilt much of the pueblo that had been mostly destroyed. They make a good case that they are the oldest continuously-inhabited community in the US.
+4
Level 68
Dec 15, 2022
Shoul accept "Castilla" for "Castille"
+16
Level 83
Feb 1, 2023
Typo in the Granada question – says 'Las' rather than 'Last'.
+2
Level 54
Feb 1, 2023
That threw me of so much. I tried las palmas, las vegas, none of which made any sense with the moors but couldn't get over the typo.
+2
Level 54
Feb 1, 2023
That threw me of so much. I tried las palmas, las vegas, none of which made any sense with the moors but couldn't get over the typo.
+1
Level 64
Feb 4, 2023
Same!
+1
Level ∞
May 27, 2023
Fixed, sorry about that!
+1
Level 86
Feb 1, 2023
Amazingly, the national anthem of Netherlands still has a line about honoring the king of Spain.
+3
Level 65
Feb 1, 2023
typo

Las for Last

+1
Level 50
Feb 2, 2023
Not sure why there's a question about the Canary Islands in a quiz about the Spanish empire...

I get that they were part of the empire, but it would seem to imply that they're a colony, which of course they're not.

+1
Level 73
Feb 4, 2023
LasT city in Spain to be reconquered from the Moors
+1
Level 67
Mar 31, 2023
I don't know, I kinda like the typo. It gives the question a Spanish vibe, you know?
+1
Level 69
May 27, 2023
The typo on the Moors question should really be fixed. Especially since it suggests that the city itself starts with Las.