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40 Historical People that Everyone Should Know

Were you paying attention in history class? Name these famous historical figures!
Too easy? Try 30 Historical People You Probably Don't Know
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Featured Quiz
Last updated: December 9, 2019
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First submittedJune 21, 2012
Times taken726,739
Average score60.0%
Rating4.10
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Clue
Person
Wrote "Hamlet"
William Shakespeare
Killed on the Ides of March
Julius Caesar
Christian Messiah
Jesus
"Moonlight Sonata" composer
Ludwig van Beethoven
Invented the mechanical
printing press
Johannes Gutenberg
Started the Protestant Reformation
Martin Luther
First female Prime Minister
of the United Kingdom
Margaret Thatcher
Wrote "On the Origin of Species"
Charles Darwin
His "Great Leap Forward"
killed over 30 million
Mao Zedong
"Discovered" the New World
Christopher Columbus
Virgin Queen of England
Queen Elizabeth I
"Mona Lisa" painter
Leonardo da Vinci
Gave the "I Have a Dream" speech
Martin Luther King, Jr.
"Discovered" the east coast
of Australia
James Cook
Lord Protector of England,
1653-1658
Oliver Cromwell
Greek who conquered Persia
Alexander the Great
Led his elephants across the Alps
Hannibal
"New Deal" President of the U.S.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Called the "Liberator" of
Latin America
Simón Bolívar
French woman who led troops
in the Hundred Years War
Joan of Arc
Clue
Person
First U.S. President
George Washington
First man on the moon
Neil Armstrong
Wrote "Great Expectations"
Charles Dickens
"Tao te Ching" author
Laozi
His laws of motion explain how
the planets move
Isaac Newton
U.K. Prime Minister during WWII
Winston Churchill
Wrote "Pride and Prejudice"
Jane Austen
She was the first deaf and blind
college graduate
Helen Keller
Creator of Huckleberry Finn
Mark Twain
First Soviet leader
Vladimir Lenin
Founder of Islam
Muhammad
Supposedly wrote "The Iliad"
Homer
Aviatrix who disappeared
over the Pacific
Amelia Earhart
French Emperor, 1804-1815
Napoleon
Father of the nation of India
Mohandas Gandhi
German WWII leader
Adolf Hitler
Battle of Trafalgar admiral
Horatio Nelson
U.S. Civil War President
Abraham Lincoln
Led the effort to create the first
practical light bulb
Thomas Edison
Refused to give up her bus seat,
in Montgomery, Alabama
Rosa Parks
toccina
+24
Level 63
Sep 2, 2017
Not everyonez should know but americans... USA is not center of the world. Rosa Parks isnt very know outside.
Cooldrive
+8
Level 61
Nov 21, 2017
The world should worship at the USA's altar.
brandybuck96
+2
Level 81
Dec 16, 2022
Very imperialist of you
rebryant
+1
Level 42
Dec 25, 2022
Correct
PavPanesar
+1
Level 51
Jan 6, 2023
USA was stolen by Europeans and claimed their own!
ander217
+5
Level 76
Jan 10, 2018
Only one-fourth of the people named here are Americans. Who are the ten people you would replace them with on your own quiz? (Which you are quite welcome to make.)
amka985
+12
Level 29
Apr 19, 2022
'only'
Neodymium
+1
Level 50
Jan 28, 2023
A significant number of Quiztakers are American, and many influential people are/were too.
urben
+5
Level 59
Sep 18, 2017
Basically 50% England and english people, historical people nobody should know.
DapperAlpaca
+6
Level 43
Mar 21, 2018
You're right. Nobody should know the name of the man who started WW2 and committed a genocide of Jews. No one should know the first leader of the most powerful nation in the world. Not a single human should know the "father" of the soon to be most populous nation in the world. Discoverer of huge scientific theory? Nah.
JSWTW21
+5
Level 41
Nov 25, 2020
I'm pretty sure only 10 people on this list are English give or take so you're comment is pretty unnecessary and false.
Nick16
+9
Level 53
Oct 16, 2017
Can Nikola Tesla be an acceptable answer for inventor of the lightbulb?
Heliopixie
+3
Level 48
Sep 4, 2020
I tried Tesla first..... yet to my dismay, it was he who stole it and took credit for it. That works in line with a lot of the other clues and answers though...
undeadwarrior
+9
Level 62
Oct 20, 2017
That awkward moment when more people know Hitler than they know Jesus.
stevediverse
+6
Level 91
Dec 26, 2021
Hitler was real. Jesus is a fictional character (perhaps, or not, based on an actual person, or persons).
sealsi6
+5
Level 56
Oct 29, 2017
Wow, no Nelson Mandela? Also, Koreans invented the movable metal type hundreds of years before Gutenberg...
schnuederlue
+2
Level 64
Nov 8, 2017
Their types were wooden and I guess, it wasn't a printing press, then
fitheach
+5
Level 59
Jan 4, 2018
The list isn't definitive. You can't include every single important person in history. What is wrong with all you people?
HyddenRizz
+1
Level 64
Nov 29, 2022
Mandela is much, much more important and famous than "Helen Keller" or Mark Twain or Rosa Parks or Amelia Earhart or Frank Roosevelt
bentshaggyoil
+1
Level 58
Nov 11, 2022
I was also expecting Mandela, he is an underrated figure of history
Julotek
+16
Level 58
Nov 9, 2017
I bet the author of this quizz is from the USA.

There are way too much US citizens in this quizz.

Except in the US, who cares about the US President during the New Deal ?

Why the first US President and no other countries one ?

There plenty of books far better than Huckleberry Finn, so why this one in particular (except the nationality I mean) ?

jmellor13
+8
Level 67
Jan 4, 2018
The authors of the Tao Te Ching and Great Expectations are also included. FDR is considered by many to be the greatest of all American presidents, except maybe Lincoln and Washington (both included), and was the American counterpoint to Hitler, who, along with Churchill (also included), steered America through World War II. Washington was not just the first president. He is considered the father of the United States. You mean to tell me that the founding figure of the most influential country in the world is not important enough to make this list? The first presidents or prime ministers of countries like France, the UK, Australia, Argentina, etc. are not as significant because their countries existed before they did. Great Britain was a sovereign state long before Sir Walpole came along. This is not an exhaustive list. It's just a list of 40 very famous people. Get over it.
Jumpman18
+4
Level 17
Mar 12, 2018
Some countries fell into the Great Depression because they depended to heavily on our economy's success. When FDR brought relief to the U.S., he brought a little relief to other countries as well. Also, U.S. citizens are this site's number one demographic, so it is highly probable that the author of this quiz is a U.S. resident.
ChipOtley
+2
Level 75
Apr 9, 2018
Fair guess, but fairly short odds; it is a US site after all.
WhelchareHistroy
+1
Level 49
Sep 15, 2022
make your own quiz
nichbd
+2
Level 44
Nov 14, 2022
three USA presidents. 10 USA citizens. half the quiz is about people born at the USA or the UK.

the title should be 40 historical people every american should know.

NapoleonBonaparte
+2
Level 65
Nov 22, 2017
Only 88% got Jesus
ingriddurden
+2
Level 60
Dec 6, 2017
Edison is not the inventor of the light bulb
AlmostAGenius
+5
Level 73
Apr 2, 2022
So glad someone’s finally willing to acknowledge that I was the one who invented it :)
coopny14
+2
Level 40
Dec 6, 2017
I believe Alexander was the son of Philip of Macedonia
DwigtSchrute
+4
Level 43
May 2, 2019
Indeed and still Greek.
Kingofuzbekistan
+1
Level 32
Dec 11, 2020
Exactly I didn't get it because i thought "It's not alexander, he's from macedonia"
Eggish
+7
Level 23
Dec 8, 2017
Edison did NOT invent the lightbulb, Nicholas Tesla did. Edison just stole the idea and marketed it.
kalbahamut
+1
Level 84
Dec 21, 2017
no
IrredeemableHickspanic
+2
Level 31
Dec 13, 2017
Just missed Keller and Laozi. Not bad!
TinklePork
+4
Level 62
Dec 15, 2017
The glorification of Rosa Parks is misdirected; she was just a prop used by civil rights activists. Claudette Colvin is actually the person who resisted bus segregation almost an entire year before the Rosa Parks incident, but civil rights leaders knew they couldn't use Claudette to promote the cause because she was an unmarried pregnant teen. So they coached and used Rosa Parks instead because she was a gentle old lady. Claudette Colvin gets no credit
kalbahamut
+3
Level 84
Dec 21, 2017
60 years later and Claudette would have been given her own MTV reality TV show. She was ahead of her time in more ways than one.
jmellor13
+5
Level 67
Jan 4, 2018
You are correct, but the crime is not that Rosa Parks gets credit. It's that Claudette Colvin does not *also* get credit. What Rosa Parks did took a lot of courage, even if she wasn't the first person to do it, and she deserves recognition. But you're right that Claudette Colvin deserves recognition too.
Halebopp
+2
Level 56
Jan 17, 2018
Why Colvin but not Bayard Rustin?
nomad14
+3
Level 69
Dec 21, 2017
I am pretty sure Buddha is a lot more important than some people here.
fitheach
+7
Level 59
Jan 4, 2018
No one said that he wasn't.
KitzelBiscuit
+2
Level 26
Dec 30, 2017
I mean, considering I'm twelve and haven't learnt most of these in school yet, I'm pretty proud of the 16 I got
DarthCaedus66
+1
Level 13
Jan 2, 2018
I thought Odeysseus wrote the iiliad
jmellor13
+5
Level 67
Jan 4, 2018
Odysseus is a character in the Iliad, and is also the main character in the Odyssey (hence the name and the origin of the word). Both were written by Homer.
AlmostAGenius
+1
Level 73
Apr 2, 2022
You didn’t realize that it’s actually an autobiography
Majic
+10
Level 44
Jan 24, 2018
This quiz should be called 40 people that all Americans should know. So many great people in worlds history but of course half have to be American or british
mikeyp
+1
Level 52
Feb 22, 2018
Yea exactly and especially some who lived in paleolithic times.
howard38
+2
Level 61
Dec 18, 2021
Waaaahhhhhhhh!!!!
wyocowgirl
+6
Level 76
Feb 23, 2018
The quiz didn't claim that these were the top 40. But to please you, perhaps the quiz should be called "40 of the Many Important People You Should Know." Quit complaining
Jumpman18
+3
Level 17
Mar 12, 2018
I'm not religious, but I'm marginally concerned about Jesus being called "Christian Messiah" while Muhammad is called "Founder of Islam". My suggestion is to change Jesus' description to "Founder of Christianity", because that is a title that is literally true, while it cannot be proven that Jesus was actually a messiah, let alone THE messiah.
kalbahamut
+11
Level 84
Mar 16, 2018
It used to say "founder of Christianity," which is actually less accurate. Jesus, if he was a real person, did not found Christianity. Jesus was Jewish. So were his followers. According to Christian tradition, Jesus and his followers believed him to be the messiah. To Christians- he is the messiah. Therefore it's accurate to say he's the Christian messiah. He's definitely not the founder of Christianity. The man most directly responsible for founding the religion of Christianity, as distinct and separate from Judaism, is probably Paul.

A similar argument could be made for Muhammad, and it would probably be more accurate to call Muhammad the "last Muslim prophet" rather than the founder of Islam; even putting aside whether he was or was not a legitimate prophet, and the fact that Islamic tradition holds he had more to do with founding a religion than Jesus did. The Quran supposedly came straight from Muhammad's mouth. Jesus did not write the Bible.

HugoBoss
+1
Level 20
Apr 24, 2018
Right from the start, Adam (the first man on earth) was influenced and knew God. Therefore Christianity was present before Man. The beginning of the Bible says "In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth".
kalbahamut
+12
Level 84
May 28, 2018
yeah yeah yeah... Muslims say the same thing when they argue that Adam was the first Muslim, you know? Now, back to reality...
kalbahamut
+3
Level 84
Mar 16, 2018
Look up the definition for messiah. It doesn't even necessarily have to have any supernatural or religious overtones.
ChipOtley
+9
Level 75
Apr 9, 2018
Looked it up. Says "Not a very naughty boy"
kalbahamut
+2
Level 84
Jan 5, 2019
The Jewish messiah was supposed to be a great king and conquering warrior who would defeat and slaughter all the enemies of the Jews ushering in a Jewish kingdom that would rule the world.

Jesus, by contrast (if he was a real person and according to what we know from the gospels), was the hippy leader of a tiny Jewish apocalypse cult who made a bunch of prophecies that never came true, got arrested for treason, accused of blasphemy, and then was humiliated and tortured before his public execution.

Is it any wonder that early Christians had such a hard time converting Jews with this story and instead turned to trying to convince gentiles?

kalbahamut
+2
Level 84
Apr 23, 2019
...and then later his most lasting contribution became that he served as inspiration for another religion that came to persecute and villify the Jewish people like no other. Quite a poor Jewish messiah, on balance!
NikyVestern
+8
Level 54
Mar 21, 2018
If you wanted to add more women, you could have added famous and significant women like Maria Curie, Eva Peron, Florence Nightingale, Catherine the Great, Cleopatra, Dolores Ibarruri... Helen Keller, Jane Austen and Amelia Earhart, with all due respect, absolutely don't belong in this list. Not to mention Rosa Parks, nobody outside US knows who she is, or should even care.
ChipOtley
+10
Level 75
Apr 9, 2018
What an absolutely ridiculous final comment
TWM03
+9
Level 67
Jun 11, 2018
I am outside the USA and I know who Rosa Parks is. There is nothing wrong with learning the history of a country other than your own, particularly such an influential country as the USA.
sergeantmalice
+6
Level 57
Aug 22, 2018
Yes you do, but a quiz about global history shouldn't be so US-oriented.
TWM03
+3
Level 67
Dec 12, 2018
Perhaps. But the list isn't supposed to be comprehensive or to contain exactly the top 40 most influential people. The quiz is fine the way it is and there is a lot of knowledge to be gained by knowing about the Civil Rights movement in the USA, and Rosa Parks was someone particularly famous in the movement.
WhelchareHistroy
+1
Level 49
Sep 15, 2022
America on top
kiwiquizzer
+1
Level 67
Jul 6, 2018
"absolutely don't belong on this list"? I think the Quizmaster did a good job.
comjag
+3
Level 87
Sep 1, 2018
Nobody wanted to add more women.
howard38
+1
Level 61
Dec 18, 2021
People in the US generally don't care who Amelia Earhart is.
AlmostAGenius
+2
Level 73
Apr 3, 2022
Since when?
Inferno46
+1
Level 55
Jul 10, 2022
I disagree.
WhelchareHistroy
+1
Level 49
Sep 15, 2022
I agree with this
Wyattiswhiz
+1
Level 48
Mar 23, 2022
bruh
Panifex
+2
Level 28
Mar 26, 2018
One I didn't know altogether—Oliver Cromwell—and one I could only come up with the first name for—Horatio Nelson. But other than that, I guess I know my important historical figures!
Malbaby
+6
Level 71
Mar 30, 2018
Why is it when someone goes to the trouble of making a little quiz for jetpunkers many people try and pick fault or choose alternatives for the quiz. Make your own quizzes and then we can all pick holes in yours.
leni
+5
Level 74
Mar 30, 2018
Because it causes people to believe things that are simply not true. Fact checking is not a bad thing.
leni
+2
Level 74
Mar 30, 2018
What does 'supposedly wrote the Iliad', mean?

Homer DID write the Iliad.

Please remove the 'supposedly' from the quiz

ChipOtley
+1
Level 75
Apr 9, 2018
Interesting that you have incontrovertible proof of this, going back a few years where records are shady and claims are exaggerated. "Supposedly" is not denying it, so don't be so offended; it's merely implying that it isn't proven and some uncertainty exists. I don't think merely stating this as fact using capital letters will change many minds
roleybob
+7
Level 76
Dec 17, 2019
Not only is the authorship of the Iliad and the Odyssey in question, Homer's very existence is far from certain.

If you have proof that Homer existed and authored those books, then many historians would be very grateful to you for sharing it

Gigalol12
+9
Level 55
Apr 28, 2018
Very american-centered
howard38
+2
Level 61
Dec 18, 2021
Waaaahhhhh!!!!!
Soph1
+1
Level 48
May 22, 2018
Yes I did pay attention in history lessons (UK) but I only learnt 10 of these facts at school (and I couldn't remember all of those) and they were mostly in geography or science lessons! Many of the other facts I have learnt since although I couldn't remember their names. Some I only learnt in my late 20s.
undeadwarrior
+3
Level 62
May 25, 2018
Perhaps replace Helen Keller with Louis Braille? For actually inventing the Braille alphabet/reading/writing system?
kiwiquizzer
+3
Level 67
Jul 6, 2018
Helen Keller was a prolific author, and speaker in over 40 countries, advocating for people with disabilities, and also women's rights.
amm14
+2
Level 67
Sep 4, 2019
No one reads her books or speeches, and the only reason anyone cared about them was that it was her giving them. In a sense, I suppose that makes her as a person more significant than someone like Braille; if he hadn't done his work, someone else would have. Still, her contributions are not likely to stand the test of time.
AlmostAGenius
+2
Level 73
Apr 3, 2022
I tend to disagree. Helen Keller has become a pretty integral part of the American culture and she has inspired millions around the world. Additionally, I believe that 90% of American children could tell you about her as her life is widely taught in the American school system.
HyddenRizz
+1
Level 64
Nov 29, 2022
Notice how many times you used the word American. No-one has any idea who she is globally, compared to Cleopatra or Mandela or even someone like Elvis.

Same with Mark Twain really, what on earth is a Huckleberry

tmaster52
+1
Level 63
May 30, 2018
Can you accept 'Zedong' instead of having to type his full name?
fitheach
+10
Level 59
Dec 17, 2019
Zedong isn't his family name, Mao is (Mao on its own is accepted). In the same way, Winston wouldn't work for the Churchill answer.
TheCaptain
+4
Level 64
May 31, 2018
I have always felt that although what Rosa Parks did was brave and nobel, never was really that important. The civil rights movement would have happened without her, and a man like MLK was really who pushe the movement. Did her act affect the movement? Absolutley, but there have been thousands of people who have had a bigger affect on the world.
Ferbin
+7
Level 74
Jun 28, 2018
-Edison didn't invent the light bulb, he improved it.

-Bolivar isn't the only one called Liberator in Latinamerica.

-Hellen Keller, Cromwell, Cook, Nelson, Parks, none of these I would consider part of basic general knowledge everyone should have.

- Austen, Dickens and Twain but no Cervantes, writer of one of the most influential books ever?

This list is heavily anglocentric. No suprise, of course.

batgirleleven
+3
Level 54
Jul 2, 2018
Mark Twain, really?
kalbahamut
+2
Level 84
Jul 10, 2018
You missed that one? Really?
batgirleleven
+3
Level 54
Nov 25, 2018
Didn't miss it. I just think it's preposterous that anybody *should* know he was.
kalbahamut
+2
Level 84
Dec 6, 2018
Then why have you heard of him?
kalbahamut
+3
Level 84
Jan 5, 2019
and I suppose you've got nothing against the inclusion of Charles Dickens
daanklaver
+4
Level 45
Jul 20, 2018
Don't include Jesus in something HISTORICAL!!!!!
kalbahamut
+17
Level 84
Apr 3, 2019
Two more exclamation marks and I think we would have all been convinced.
KSabet
+1
Level 57
Jul 21, 2018
Hold up, quiz is called historical people that everyone should know, therefore my concern is why isn't Cyrus The Great on the list? Wrote the first human bill of rights, which is incorporated in the Constitution of the USA. He freed the Jews and his name is mentioned in the Bible, Torah and the Quran.
TheGreatDuck
+9
Level 59
Jul 22, 2018
Wouldn't say Cromwell, Keller or Parks are more notable than Galileo, Genghis Khan, Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Stalin, Dante, Cervantes or Marx...
fitheach
+6
Level 59
Mar 1, 2019
No one is saying that this is a competition and that some names are more notable than others. The name of this quiz isn't to be taken too seriously or literally you know.
roleybob
+3
Level 76
Dec 17, 2019
I don't think they're getting the message...
oweifdhskxn
+2
Level 35
Jul 26, 2018
...and alexander wasn't greek...he came from macedonia...
Inferno46
+3
Level 55
Jul 10, 2022
Which was a Greek kingdom.
WhelchareHistroy
+1
Level 49
Sep 15, 2022
lol
solukisina
+1
Level 44
Sep 10, 2018
Is it bad I don't know half the people here and some I do know I don't know the listed accomplishments (I have never heard of Moonlight Sonata) or was only being able to think robert downy jr?
fcalvaresi
+6
Level 37
Sep 29, 2018
That quiz is way too much US-oriented. Neil Armstrong but not Yuri Gagarin, the freaking first man is space ?
Jacktheguy
+4
Level 88
Feb 13, 2019
One man becoming space would definitely be an incredible feat. I'm sure he'd be on the quiz if he actually pulled it off.
tom88
+4
Level 69
Dec 17, 2019
I feel like the moon landing was a much more difficult accomplishment than simply getting into low earth orbit. Yes, the first person in space is an extremely important step, but landing on the surface of the moon was a larger step.
IloveSarahJMaas
+4
Level 23
Oct 18, 2018
Nikola Tesla actually invented the lightbulb. Edison stole all his paperwork and stole everything from him. I would change Thomas Edison to Nikola Tesla.
roleybob
+1
Level 76
Dec 17, 2019
Oh right, really?

I can't see why no one has mentioned that yet

roawa
+2
Level 35
Oct 21, 2018
Guttenburg did not invent the printing press. This is common knowledge at this point, people really need to stop repeating this nonsense. The first printed book was made in 849 AD. He didn't even invent moveable metal type. Various versions of this were made in China and Korea over the three or four centuries before Guttenburg made his. His only legitimate claim to fame is printing the Christian bible. Tesla also didn't invent the light bulb. This is even taught in schools nowadays.

Also, Lao Tzu is about as "supposed" as Homer. His existence is not verified by any evidence other than there is a book credited to an "Old Master."

kalbahamut
+2
Level 84
Dec 6, 2018
You can invent something that was previously invented somewhere else.
theharknessmo
+2
Level 70
Oct 31, 2019
Perhaps it could read "invented" the printing press, or invented the European printing press?
Quizmaster
+3
Level ∞
Oct 31, 2019
What Gutenberg invented, and the Chinese did not, was the "mechanical" printing press, which I just added to the clue. There's a reason that Gutenberg's innovation shook the world in a way that the Asian printing press did not. According to Wikipedia... "Mechanical presses as used in European printing remained unknown in East Asia. Instead, printing remained an unmechanized, laborious process...".
jstaubs
+1
Level 41
Oct 25, 2018
Why is Zedong not accepted for Mao Zedong??
Quizmaster
+10
Level ∞
Nov 19, 2018
Zedong is Mao's given name. His family name is Mao. In many Asian countries the family name comes first.
Roses1958
+2
Level 23
Oct 26, 2018
There are many different spellings for the name of the inventor of Islam. I tried several, but still didn`t get it right.
kalbahamut
+4
Level 84
Dec 22, 2018
You must have been using some pretty weird ones.
Lemonized
+1
Level 49
Nov 19, 2018
Two mistakes i found in this quiz (correct me if i'm wrong)

1. Edison didn't invent a lightbulb - he patented it and used his enterprising skills to become famous.

2. Alexander the Great wasn't a Greek, but Macedonian.

Quizmaster
+9
Level ∞
Nov 19, 2018
1) It's complicated. No single person invented the light bulb. Edison did more than any other person to make electric light a reality. 2) In ancient times, Macedonians were Greeks.
JSSTyger
+3
Level 53
Dec 27, 2018
Didn't Galileo "discover" gravity before Newton? I believe he ran experiments with dropping objects from the Tower of Pisa, right?
tom88
+3
Level 69
Dec 17, 2019
People were well aware of gravity's existence long before either of those people, they just didn't know what caused it. What newton did was create an equation that could calculate the force of gravity. His equation does a pretty good job, but it's not quite right in more complex scenarios. Einstein came up with the idea of relativity and the equations of relativity are much more accurate than newtons equations. Interestingly, of the 4 fundamental forces, gravity might be the least well understood.
Groccoli
+3
Level 32
Jan 11, 2019
how is rosa parks in any way comparable to people like muhammed and hitler in historical terms
kalbahamut
+8
Level 84
Apr 4, 2019
They all appear on this quiz.
Penguinish
+1
Level 69
Jan 20, 2019
Hadn't even heard of 9 of these, like never
camus
+3
Level 77
Dec 17, 2019
Aren't you happy that you heard of them thanks to the quiz?
Cooldrive
+3
Level 61
Jan 13, 2020
And now you can learn about them. That's the best thing about trivia sites,
DASquarePeg
+1
Level 72
Jan 22, 2019
I thought Laozi was called Lao-Tze and according to Wikipedia this is an acceptable alternative spelling (as is Lao Tzu). Didn't try Laozi!
Quizzyquizzed
+1
Level 29
Feb 18, 2019
“ wrote hamlet”- oops I haven’t heard of hamlet before. RIP chances of getting that one. Lol
sipiro
+5
Level 49
Mar 21, 2019
Rectification

"40 Historical People that Every US-AMERICAN Should Know"

Dickens, Austen, Earhart, Parks, Keller,Twain are not worldwidely important.

kalbahamut
+3
Level 84
Apr 4, 2019
US-American is not a demonym, worldwidely is not a word, your sentence is not a sentence, your ignorance isn't representative of everyone who takes this quiz, and your point is incorrect if I'm going to describe it as generously as possible.
kalbahamut
+7
Level 84
May 21, 2019
Neither Charles Dickens nor Jane Austen are American, by the way.
WhelchareHistroy
+3
Level 49
Sep 15, 2022
You are a cool fellow
camus
+2
Level 77
Dec 17, 2019
What the hell? Dickens, Austen, Twain are absolutely famous outside of English-speaking countries.
komtvoordebakker
+2
Level 44
Mar 29, 2020
Not really to be honest. I've never heard of them in school, or after that for that matter. A lot of them are not really noteworthy people. And there are definetely more famous writers than those. I agree that the quiz is quite UK and American centric.
kalbahamut
+4
Level 84
May 14, 2020
camus listed 3 authors, all of whom are extremely noteworthy and world famous authors, and you say "a lot" of them are not noteworthy? How much is "a lot" of 3? 2? Which 2 aren't noteworthy compared to the 1 other? What other authors, aside from Shakespeare, and maybe Paul the Apostle if you want to count him, and perhaps Muhammad if dictating an oral recitation counts as authorship, would you consider more noteworthy? I don't know what school you went to but you sound very uneducated.
tzhg
+1
Level 60
Aug 11, 2020
I'd say that Cervantes or Dante, for example, are arguably more important than those three authors. But I'm fine with the quiz.
camus
+3
Level 77
Oct 10, 2020
It is hard to be a more famous author internationally than Dickens, Austen, Twain. Maybe Shakespeare. I could ask my Polish-German grandma, who probably hasn't read a book during the last 50 years, and if she's heard of any international authors, it's likely one of those. komtooverdebakker, either you 1) come from a country that has its own, non-Western literary canon 2) just don't know much about literature in general 3) have a blind hate for everything anglo. tzhg, we were talking about the most famous authors, not the most important ones. That's a difference.
alexandertorres1978
+7
Level 71
Apr 30, 2019
Sorry, quizmaster, I hate to be negative but this is a pretty poor, US-centric quiz. But thanks for all of the other quizzes!
Mookie
+1
Level 75
May 3, 2019
I thought Winnie the Pooh wrote the Tao te Ching :)
Vala
+2
Level 19
Jun 15, 2019
Why ist there Stalin and gingiskhan wtf?
Sitka
+7
Level 28
Jun 18, 2019
This is pretty a European and American list. Only 4 Asians (assuming you count Muhammad an Asian, which I do). I'm pretty sure Asia isn't just 14% of all history. The Gautama Buddha created a religion which currently is followed by 10% of the world's people today, yet he's not important enough to be on this list? Akbar introduced a policy of religious tolerance to India and promoted arts, literature, education,etc. Ashoka expanded the Maurya Empire to the size of the peak Roman Empire. Zheng He created a Ming Fleet twice the size of Napoleon's. Qin Shihuangdi unified China for the first time. Cyrus the Great founded the first Persian Empire. Other ones - Otto Van Bismarck, Hernan Cortes (he is the reason most of the Americas speak Spanish), Galileo, Copernicus, and finally Catherine & Peter of Russia. They all did more work than most of the authors and English people on your list.
kalbahamut
+4
Level 84
Oct 1, 2019
This isn't a top 40 list. QM took a crack at doing a most important people in history quiz, but that's on a different page. Should direct your complaints there.
komtvoordebakker
+3
Level 44
Mar 29, 2020
To make it even more specific: It is more an American and UK list, with some other Europeans. And there should be more Asian people on the list. But European centric? That's hard, we don't really know much about for example the Oceanic or African history. I can't come up with another African king besides Musa.
Stormswift
+3
Level 36
Jul 5, 2019
It is truly a matter of perspective ... I didn't get a lot of the American related questions (I DID get Washington and the two Martin Luthers though!), but the one related to Australia and India not a problem.

Because I'm involved with the deaf community and understand how important it is for others to accept both them and their language - I was well versed with Helen Keller. If I didn't have the interest I have in sign language - then maybe she wouldn't seem that important to me. There is definitely more room for more quizzes like this one and perhaps take out the word 'most' and consider other perspectives? We will all learn things we didn't know then, I reckon.

Good quiz - I enjoyed it.

camus
+4
Level 77
Dec 17, 2019
Don't know if your comment is just ambiguous, but the other Martin Luther was definitely not American.
bserbvb23
+1
Level 77
Jul 5, 2019
Why does Zedong not work for Mao???
Quizmaster
+7
Level ∞
Jul 6, 2019
Mao was his family name.
lazydaisee
+1
Level 45
Aug 7, 2019
Its worth noting that the quiz is not titled 'the 40 most important ppl in history'

So yes, there is nothing wrong with knowing who these ppl were. And obviously the list is very biased toward modern history . For example why is Mao more important than the emperors who actually united China into a massive nation?

And Thatcher? Rosa Parks? America thinks it is the only country with a civil rights movement?

kalbahamut
+3
Level 84
Oct 1, 2019
Is someone not worth knowing if someone else did something similar in some other place?
Arp2600
+1
Level 84
Dec 17, 2019
I think the title is nice. This is just a non-exhaustive list of some people that anyone should know. Or at least any English speaker... Furthermore, the Quizmaster clearly tried to include as many women as possible, which is praiseworthy though a bit biased.
mm84
+1
Level 31
Oct 24, 2019
Jean De Arc should totally count :/
Soucolline
+4
Level 38
Nov 22, 2019
Her name is "Jeanne d'Arc" in French though, so no
Arp2600
+5
Level 84
Dec 17, 2019
Ouch, that hurt my French speaker eyes, mm84. It is "Jeanne d'Arc", whose translation into English is always "Joan of Arc". Jean is masculine in French, it's the equivalent of John. Secondly, we always elide the article before a vowel.
evileve
+1
Level 40
May 19, 2021
Quiz should certainly accept Miss of Arc though...
lucd13
+1
Level 68
Nov 26, 2019
Actually enjoyed how global this was - thank you. Also loving the very diplomatic wording of the lightbulb clue.
101Quizrule
+1
Level 55
Dec 8, 2019
"She was the first deaf and blind college graduatied." I think it should be "graduate."
Quizmaster
+2
Level ∞
Dec 9, 2019
Fixed
Nerd0921
+4
Level 72
Dec 17, 2019
Probably should change the name to 40 historical people all Americans should know... Surprised that no Yuri Gagarin, Confucius, Bismark, Stalin, Gorbachev. They are much more significant and well known than people here like Elizabeth the virgin queen or Rosa Parks
FlickerP
+1
Level 69
Jul 30, 2021
The suggestions are a bit too Soviet/Russia centric though
shortyoh
+5
Level 79
Dec 17, 2019
I'd add in Kepler for "his laws of motion explain how the planets move".

Sure, it is newtonian physics, but there's a reason why we call them Kepler's laws of planetary motion....

HyddenRizz
+1
Level 64
Nov 29, 2022
Kepler could be on this list in his own right. Him, Galileo, Einstein, Hawking - all much more important than Mark Twain and *checks notes* Helen.. Keller?
Flash7
+1
Level 28
Dec 17, 2019
Who was Simón Bolívar, also great quiz
minivan2905
+2
Level 45
May 20, 2020
He liberated a bunch of South American countries from Spanish control
Atzuul
+1
Level 32
Aug 9, 2022
Have you ever wondered why most South American countries (other than Brazil) speak Spanish? Yeah that’s bc of Simon bolivar in which he captured Venezuela Bolivia and colombia
WhelchareHistroy
+2
Level 49
Sep 15, 2022
no, they were conquered, assimilated, and colonized by Spain which spoke Spanish, Bolivia and only Bolivia was named after Bolivar but most the South American nations see him as a national hero and hes helped found modern Venezuela and Colombia
camus
+4
Level 77
Dec 17, 2019
I had a dream tonight about Russian Jetpunk and its quiz "40 Historical People that Everyone Should Know". Its American and British commenters complained that Lenin was just some guy who started a minor revolution in a remote part of the world, that Joseph Stalin may have caused the death of millions but most of them were Soviet citizens so this was only of local importance, and that no one outside Russian has ever heard of the hack that is Alexander Pushkin.
camus
+4
Level 77
Dec 17, 2019
So I created a 40 non-US, non-UK Historical People Everyone Should Know quiz that may make some angry people happy.
TinklePork
+2
Level 62
Dec 17, 2019
You should add in the most successful and impactful African-American, Elon Musk. He has changed the technology landscape in only 15 years. Quite a visionary
tazaja
+2
Level 55
Dec 17, 2019
it does not accept 'zedong' as a correct answer...
etanimal
+5
Level 45
Feb 6, 2020
that's his first name. imagine if they accepted e.g. george for george washington
RomeNov
+4
Level 38
Dec 18, 2019
Quiz is a bit too "western hemisphere centric".
freon22tec
+3
Level 59
Dec 19, 2019
Thanks SJW
gwyteo
+6
Level 25
Jul 5, 2020
You don't have to be an SJW to notice that the quiz lacks several prominent historical figures from Asia, especially...
Rozzi
+2
Level 59
Dec 18, 2019
Helen Keller was the first American deaf and blind graduate - I don't think you can be sure that she was the first in the world. Could you please add the word 'American'.
Quizmaster
+3
Level ∞
Dec 18, 2019
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Keller

"Helen Adams Keller (June 27, 1880 – June 1, 1968) was an American author, political activist, and lecturer. She was the first deaf-blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree."

kalbahamut
+2
Level 84
Dec 22, 2019
She was also a huge international celebrity when she was still alive due to her remarkable and unprecedented achievements.
freon22tec
+5
Level 59
Dec 19, 2019
Actually there are three possible answers to UK WWII PM
Eigengrau
+3
Level 60
Dec 19, 2019
"Were you paying attention in history class?"

"Yes but I've never even heard the name Horatio Nelson."

Barsoin
+1
Level 51
Dec 20, 2019
I don't like these people.
Manxman
+2
Level 28
Feb 4, 2020
Alexander the Great was Macedonian, not Greek
kalbahamut
+2
Level 84
Mar 3, 2020
He was both.
tzhg
+2
Level 60
Aug 11, 2020
He was from the Kingdom of Macedonia, which was part of the civilisation known as Ancient Greece.
ripsquad
+1
Level 36
Aug 9, 2022
macedonia was and still is a greek state
Atzuul
+1
Level 32
Aug 9, 2022
I thought Macedonia was a country nowadays
sbroad23
+1
Level 36
Feb 20, 2020
I got all of them in less than a minute except for Horatio Nelson. I have no idea who that is.
sillie
+2
Level 79
Mar 1, 2020
I feel like Nelson is the least important person on the list, no idea why anyone should know of him. You could add Catherine the Great (was suggested earlier) instead. Or Marie Curie.
CalQuiz
+1
Level 18
Mar 6, 2020
hey dare dis nelson like that one more time and see what happens. No catherine deserves to be on this list.
TheLastFish
+2
Level 69
Mar 8, 2020
According to Donal Trump, Narendra Modi is the father of India. But better keep Trummp out of a fact-based quiz. :-D
kalbahamut
+3
Level 84
Mar 28, 2020
Trump also thinks General Washington and the Continental Army took over British airports during the Revolutionary War.
AbhishekNS
+3
Level 55
Nov 25, 2020
Modi is a fascist.
ouishdvoojaf
+3
Level 28
Mar 19, 2021
As is the person who suggested he is the father of India
AntiMatter8192
+1
Level 67
Mar 26, 2020
Please accept Shakesphere
armood008
+1
Level 27
Mar 26, 2020
lol
kalbahamut
+4
Level 84
Mar 28, 2020
Because his plays were performed at The Globe?
szyech
+12
Level 49
Mar 29, 2020
This quiz is definitely too American/British.

All respect to those people, but how can you put Cromwell, Roosevelt, Queen Elizabeth, Parks or Austen over Curie, Mandela, Pol Pot, Castro, Stalin, Copernicus, Galileo or Socrates?

gwyteo
+3
Level 25
Jul 5, 2020
Totally agree. There's more than enough fascinating figures from the world outside Anglo-America such that Cromwell being on the list but Khan being absent seems like a massive oversight.
Damangio
+1
Level 65
Mar 29, 2020
I could remember Lao but not Zi.
fireboltninja
+1
Level 26
Apr 1, 2020
Suprised at how little people are arguing over jesus' existance or if alexander the great was greek or macedon
mgzzc02
+2
Level 55
Apr 22, 2020
Alexander the great was Macedonian not Greek. His empire controlled greece but he wasn't greek.
Quizmaster
+2
Level ∞
Apr 22, 2020
https://www.jetpunk.com/quizzes/april-fools-quiz-4
minivan2905
+1
Level 45
May 20, 2020
Missed Cook and Cromwell
Lucas88
+1
Level 36
May 20, 2020
Well, I think that the title "Libertador of Latin America" is not for only Bolivar, but also to San Martin.

Just search for the last and you'll see.

fjakob
+3
Level 51
Jun 12, 2020
Rosa parks is a load of bull. SHe was not the firstperson to refuse togive up herseat. The first was a pregnant 15 year old
kalbahamut
+3
Level 84
Jun 29, 2020
nice strawman you got there
Kismeth
+6
Level 28
Jul 7, 2020
"40 Historical People that Everyone Should Know" - if they are English or American xDDDD

Where's Chopin? Maria Sklodowska-Curie? Sun Tzu? Mussolini? And many others?

akiyamayusuke
+2
Level 36
Aug 8, 2020
Too few figures of Eastern cultures
KingEureka
+2
Level 63
Aug 28, 2020
Gandhi isn't the father of the nation of India

proof

AbhishekNS
+2
Level 55
Nov 25, 2020
Maybe not officially. But is still widely considered as the "father of the nation".
Apprentice03
+1
Level 49
Aug 28, 2020
you should add Harriet Tubman
TheAnimationGuy
+2
Level 43
Oct 2, 2020
What about Harriet Tubman, Babe Ruth, Erik the Red, Charles II, Henry VIII, Vlad the Impaler, Genghis Khan, Emmeline Pankhurst, Attila the Hun, um, the list just goes on and on!
camus
+2
Level 77
Oct 10, 2020
Yeah why isn't this list made up of 400 people? Would be much more fun...
HyddenRizz
+1
Level 64
Nov 29, 2022
Who is Babe Ruth??
dthimren
+1
Level 38
Oct 15, 2020
I'm sorry but this quiz is waay to americo-centric, for example we could have easily swapped abraham lincoln with queen Victoria.
Inferno46
+1
Level 55
Jul 10, 2022
Or Rosa Parks and Queen Victoria.
kavven
+1
Level 27
Oct 23, 2020
It's disappointing that there's there's a lot of spots taken by people who had at best only local influence, mostly of America and England. There are several outstanding mathematicians and scientists that deserve at least an honorable mention, from Einstein and Turing to Al-Khawarizmi and Maxwell.
BereDenTod
+8
Level 21
Nov 1, 2020
far too American... :(
QuizMaster126
+1
Level 46
Nov 10, 2020
I completely agree.
parkave
+1
Level 57
Nov 25, 2020
IMO, most of the questions are about the 20th century, which America was the most influential country in.
Szatan
+2
Level 60
Nov 23, 2020
Joana d'arc should count. It's her real name.
partdavid
+4
Level 68
Jan 26, 2021
Never heard of/seen that one, but Jeanne d'Arc is pretty common. Like most things, there's some complexity in deciding what her "real name" was: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_of_Joan_of_Arc
PenguinTorpedo
+2
Level 50
Dec 30, 2020
The most blatant omission from this list is Genghis Khan in my opinion. Second place is Siddharta Gautama
ArisOBafiaris
+2
Level 46
Apr 23, 2022
There are countless other people he could have included you can’t really compare the importance of every historical figure. However I do agree that you can attribute to them a certain level of significance and that although the people within the same level are probably interchangeable, people of the highest level should be preferred for a quiz like this instead of far less significant figures like Helen Keller, Margaret Thatcher, Abraham Lincoln etc
Widgaa
+2
Level 49
Feb 2, 2021
Surprised Einstein wasn't here.
Atzuul
+1
Level 32
Aug 9, 2022
Atleast newton was here
HendogJP
+3
Level 55
Feb 17, 2021
I always seem to mix up Lao-tzu (Laozi) with Sun Tzu, who wrote The Art of War, but not his time, I'm pleasantly surprised with how well I did. 38/40.
ZooTuber3000
+2
Level 53
Feb 19, 2021
I'd like to point out that there are a bunch of Napoleons. Only one is the one you're talking about-- Napoleon Bonaparte. Consider changing it (but accept "Napoleon).
embryo
+5
Level 28
Mar 10, 2021
"27 somewhat important white dudes and 13 others mostly whatever ppl that everyone should know"

How the heck Thatcher, Earhart and FDR made the list when there was no room for Genghis Khan and Einstein?

But at least Alexander Fleming isn't there because who needs penicillin when you can just listen to Für Elise.

vivadiablo
+4
Level 57
Mar 16, 2021
F Thatcher, burn any mention of her throughout history.
Usukhuu
+3
Level 29
Apr 19, 2021
Sorry but it feels like western propaganda like not including first man in moon (Yuri Gagarin), one of greatest leader (Chingis Khan), who made ex soviet countries democracy (Mikhail Gorbachew) and many more...
AlekHek
+5
Level 48
May 9, 2021
Gagarin was the first man in orbit/space, but Armstrong was the first man to land on the moon...
ornei
+2
Level 59
Jul 2, 2021
Could you take "Barca" for Hannibal?
LuigiDood227
+1
Level 61
Oct 27, 2021
Why won't you accept Simon Boliviar for Simón Bolívar?????
Lilylee
+3
Level 72
Oct 28, 2021
It's not his name?
Atzuul
+2
Level 32
Aug 9, 2022
Boliviar is not it’s name
Malbaby
+2
Level 71
Dec 1, 2021
I'm working on a similar quiz to stop the whinging "42,627 Historical People that everyone should know" should be ready in about 3 years.
stevediverse
+4
Level 91
Dec 26, 2021
I though there were 42,628. Who are you leaving out?
AndrewD69
+2
Level 30
Dec 23, 2021
Alexander the Great was Macedonian, not Greek.
stevediverse
+3
Level 91
Dec 26, 2021
This has already been addressed in previous comments, but in the time of Alexander, Macedonians were Greeks. That's part of the stink that caused the modern day country to change its name to North Macedonia.
VeryCoolPerson
+2
Level 41
Feb 10, 2022
You know you famous if you on this quiz.
BlueMeanEyes
+1
Level 51
Mar 30, 2022
21/40 of these people are from either the US or the UK. How self-centered can one be ?
squidpsyco
+1
Level 56
Apr 9, 2022
It's because the US and UK are easily the most relevant countries in modern history, where most of these people lived.
ArisOBafiaris
+2
Level 46
Apr 23, 2022
Not even close to accurate. And even if it is do you think it’s proportionate to include more people from the last 200 years of our existence than the rest of written history? I can name at least 200 Greek and Roman writers, philosophers, mathematicians, politicians and military leaders who were way more significant in our evolution than half of the fore mentioned people. Take Lincoln for example; his only significance is to the US since the civil war only affected them and the results of the war weren’t particularly helpful in the progress of the human race as slavery had pretty much already been abolished in Europe (in theory at least).
flycc
+1
Level 72
Apr 10, 2022
Twain? Really? Is he one of more relevant authors ever?
kalbahamut
+3
Level 84
Jun 17, 2022
He is.
guiismiti
+1
Level 22
Apr 14, 2022
Einstein?
nerdalert
+1
Level 82
May 11, 2022
Helen Keller and Mark Twain?
swedishbob
+1
Level 28
May 13, 2022
why did only a few people get amelia airhart
yadoya
+3
Level 21
Jun 4, 2022
Alexander the Great was not Greek. He was Macedonian.
Inferno46
+2
Level 55
Jul 10, 2022
Which was a Greek kingdom at the time.
AtollWizard753
+3
Level 23
Jun 20, 2022
Johannes Kepler is also technically correct for:

«His laws of motion explain how the planets move»

KAENCANE
+1
Level 30
Aug 5, 2022
Thank you! I'm surprised I had to scroll down so far to find this. We can have a thousand people commenting that Alexander the Great was Macedonian and too many of the figures are American, but nobody else can take the time to correctly point out that Kepler wrote the planetary laws of motion, not Newton?
Enemagneto
+1
Level 22
Dec 6, 2022
Yes, but question is framed in such a manner that Newton has to be the right answer. It says 'his laws of motion'. Newton gave laws of motion which, well yes, can explain every thing in newtonian mechanics including planetary motion. Also, Kepler's laws aren't really explanatory as to why planets move around the sun since gravity wasn't established as a force back then. They just talk about system being heliocentric, orbital time and orbit size relationship, and area swapped during the motion.
CanaanBanana
+1
Level 62
Jan 17, 2023
Newton's laws don't explain 'why' anything happens, just 'how'. Physics doesn't do 'why' - that's left to the philosophers. It seems to me that Kepler is a valid answer here.
bentshaggyoil
+1
Level 58
Nov 11, 2022
I got 35/40. Surprised not many people got Bolivar.

Other people I think should be here: Stalin, Ho Chi Minh, Suleiman the Magnificent

lamentowiec
+2
Level 24
Dec 17, 2022
who the heck is horatio nelson

very englishcentric quiz

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