I've now taken this quiz twice and gotten this wrong both times. Paraphrasing what Talleyrand might have said (but probably didn't say) about the French nobility who returned to power after Napoleon's fall: "I have learned nothing, and forgotten nothing."
I didn't know this either, but it seemed to be the most likely answer.
1 pound of gold would result in a very impractical high value for a currency, 1 pound of sheep's wool would be very low and 1 pound of copper would be - let's say - somewhat odd...
People think that Hawaii was some idyllic paradise. It was anything but. Every person had a strict place in the social hierarchy. The lowest caste had it worst. They were subject to ritual killing and sacrifice.
I think this misconception is part of a larger trend where, in Western societies, all Europeans are portrayed as "bad" while other societies are portrayed as "good".
I think it's bizarre and also xenophobic. This attitude infantilizes non-European societies, assuming that only Europeans can be judged for their moral failings, while the horrible things that happened in other places are "just their culture".
I would argue it's more complex. I'm relatively young and live in a very liberal state. I've found mainstream education and media usually portrays Europeans as "good" (or at least portrays Anglos as good), but most education and media which doesn't do that falls into the bizarre pattern you're describing. Likewise, many individual people overcorrect into this bizarre pattern. (It could also be related to or a continuation of the "noble savage" concept.)
Like JWatson said, Polynesia in general and Hawaii especially has for over a century been portrayed as a tropical paradise— with plenty of extreme ahistorical depictions throughout that stretch of time. I would guess this was at first to encourage white settlement, and nowadays to boost tourism. While the trend you're describing exists, I think this particular question falls more into the Hawaii thing, and I think that you'd get fewer wrong answers if you asked about the Aztec Empire or even the Iroquois Federation, for example.
I agree with Quizmaster, but I also think Hawaii is a special case. I mean, it's not wrong to say Hawaii is an idyllic paradise today (or at least as close as you can get). I think people have a tendency to project their modern ideas of places and assume it's always been that way.
The question about the Mongols conquering China is a little sketchy. Yes, they did invade and conquer MOST of China, but the Chinese never honored a surrender to the Mongols. Genghis Khan ended up leaving China with his army before the job was done. To make the question more clear, I would suggest changing to something along the lines of, "Did the Mongols ever conquer the Chinese capital?"
I think it'd be better if the controversy over the cause of death was explained as an additional piece of context once you've completed the quiz, as is typical in this multiple choice quizzes.
About the Hawaii question - Sad to see so many people (74%) wrongly believe the false narrative of the big bad White Man invading peaceful societies and introducing their evil and oppressive ways into their culture. You couldn't have been more wrong in this case.
I had no idea what Hawaii was like before the Europeans arrived and so chose true just because it sounded like a leading question, I suspect the low percentage is because it was a double bluff. If instead the question was "prior to Europeans arriving Hawaii ritually sacrificed the lower classes" then I think a much higher percentage would have guessed right.
I had no idea what Hawaii was like before the Europeans arrived and so chose true just because it sounded like a leading question, I suspect the low percentage is because it was a double bluff. If instead the question was "prior to Europeans arriving Hawaii ritually sacrificed the lower classes" then I think a much higher percentage would have guessed right.
12/15. Got Buddha wrong because even though I thought he was before Jesus I heard somewhere from some source or theory that he may have been after, don't remember the context where I read that, so that confused me. Also missed Croesus and pound, I put copper even though silver seemed valid. 3. is crazy 🤣🤣🤣 I remember learning about Phineas Gage in AP Psych. 9. was interesting, 11. I knew from a different quiz 12. I just guessed because it seemed plausible, most societies in history and modern times have had at least SOME degree of social inequality so I wasn't that surprised that this was the case for Hawaiian islands. For Elizabeth 1 I almost put Windsor by accident but I remembered that's the current one, and I remembered she was Henry 8's daughter and he was Tudor
1 pound of gold would result in a very impractical high value for a currency, 1 pound of sheep's wool would be very low and 1 pound of copper would be - let's say - somewhat odd...
Also: Pound Sterling Sterling silver
I think it's bizarre and also xenophobic. This attitude infantilizes non-European societies, assuming that only Europeans can be judged for their moral failings, while the horrible things that happened in other places are "just their culture".
Like JWatson said, Polynesia in general and Hawaii especially has for over a century been portrayed as a tropical paradise— with plenty of extreme ahistorical depictions throughout that stretch of time. I would guess this was at first to encourage white settlement, and nowadays to boost tourism. While the trend you're describing exists, I think this particular question falls more into the Hawaii thing, and I think that you'd get fewer wrong answers if you asked about the Aztec Empire or even the Iroquois Federation, for example.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuan_dynasty