History Quiz: True or False? #3

MGM was founded on 17th April 1924, while Nintendo was founded on 23rd September 1889 as a playing card company.

Only one ship built before 1600 has been confirmed to have reached such a length, this being a barge built for Emperor Caligula: it was 104 metres long and was built in c.37 AD. The remaining ships with a confirmed length of over 100 metres were all built after 1800, and while other ships (in addition to Caligula's barge) with a length of over 100 metres were said to exist before the 19th century, they remain poorly documented and as such their exact length cannot be confirmed. The longest wooden ship in history was the Wyoming, an American ship in service between 1909 and 1924; its length was 140 metres.

Much like shabtis, these ceramic figurines were believed to turn into real people or animals in the afterlife, and they would serve whoever they were buried with. Servants and attendants (such as dancers and musicians) were common designs, as were soldiers in male tombs, while people of high rank would also sometimes receive mingqui designed to look like officials. In terms of non-human mingqui, horses were the most common, though Bactrian camels were frequently offered as well (with the addition of their Central Asian drivers). Mingqui representing legendary creatures are not uncommon finds, including earth spirits and Lokapala (protector spirits), as well as the animals of the Chinese Zodiac.

At the time, breweries used giant wooden vats for fermenting their beer. On the 17th October 1814, one of these vats at the Horse Shoe Brewery burst, after which another one broke. As a result, between 580,000 and 1,470,000 litres of beer were released, forming a wave which swept down into an area of slum-dwellings known as St Giles rookery. Eight people were killed, including five mourners at a wake.

He was a member of the First Triumvirate, alongside Crassus and Pompey. Mark Antony (who was Caesar's lieutenant) condemned Caesar's assassination, after which he was denounced as a public enemy and a war broke out between Antony and those who had supported the assassination. Although he initially led the war against Antony, Caesar's great-nephew and adopted son Gaius Octavianus later formed the Second Triumvirate with Mark Antony and Marcus Lepidus.

Born as Zhu Yuanzhang on 21st October 1328, his parents were so poor that they had to sell several of his older siblings to get enough food to feed themselves and their remaining children.

The Focke-Wulf Fw 61 is considered to be the first practical, functional helicopter. It was built in 1936.

After Australia and New Zealand became independent from the United Kingdom in 1942 and 1947 respectively (with Indonesia becoming independent from the Netherlands in 1945), Samoa became independent from New Zealand in 1962. Subsequently, Nauru gained independence from Australia in 1968 and Tonga and Fiji gained independence from the UK in 1970. The territory that Papua New Guinea now controls was ruled over by the German Empire, the UK and Australia, until it gained independence from all three in 1975.

The Kingdom of Axum was established c.100 AD while the Kingdom of Kush was established c. 785 BC.

When the Sultanate was abolished in 1922, Mehmed VI was expelled from Istanbul, so he went into exile in Malta. However, he later moved to the Italian Riviera and died in Sanremo, in Liguria in northwestern Italy.

The Inca Empire was established in 1438 while the Aztec Empire was established in 1427.

The cities were founded in 1104 BC, 736 BC and between the 10th and 8th centuries BC respectively.

Two Mongol invasion forces were sent by Kublai Khan to try to conquer Japan. During the first, in 1274, the Mongols managed to capture Tsushima and Iki islands and landed on Hakata Bay in Kyushu. While there, they faced fierce resistance from armies consisting of samurai clans and were forced to withdraw. On their way back to China, most of the ships were sunk by a typhoon. After this first attempted invasion, the Japanese built two metre high walls along the coasts. As a result of this, when the Mongols tried to invade again in 1281, they couldn't find anywhere to land. The invasion force stayed afloat for months while trying to find somewhere to land, and as such the fleet was destroyed by a powerful typhoon. After this, the Mongols never tried to invade Japan again, and the Japanese called this second typhoon "kamikaze", which means "divine wind".

After a ship owned by the Russian-American Company wrecked just off of Kaua'i island in 1815, the goods that were on it were seized by the chief of the island, Kaumuali'i. As such, the Company sent a German physician, Georg Anton Schäffer, to retrieve the goods. The Company instructed Schäffer to establish friendly relations with the king of the Hawaiian islands Kamehameha I, who faced opposition from Kaumuali'i, and then to retrieve the goods with or without Kamehameha's help. While Schäffer managed to gain Kamehameha's respect, the king denied him any assistance. Subsequently, Schäffer sailed to Kaua'i followed by two company ships. When he arrived, Kaumuali'i signed a treaty granting Tsar Alexander I a protectorate over Kaua'i, in return for the Tsar's help in gaining independence from Kamehameha. Schäffer was allowed to build three forts on the island (Forts Elizabeth, Alexander and Barclay-de-Tolly), but he was soon forced to leave after it became clear that he had no backing from the Tsar. Captain Alexander Adams, a Scotsman who was serving in the navy of the newly-formed Kingdom of Hawaii, replaced the Russian flag flying over Fort Elizabeth with the flag of the Kingdom. Today, only Fort Elizabeth remains visible.

Based on the evidence that has been found, the first people to settle Madagascar were Austronesians from the Sunda islands, who reached Madagascar by outrigger canoe over a period between 350 BC and 550 AD, or possibly later. Next to arrive were Arab traders, between the 7th and 9th centuries, then a wave of Bantu-speaking migrants arrived from southeastern Africa around 1000 AD. Later, at some point during the 11th century, South Indian Tamil merchants arrived on the island, bringing with them zebu cattle.