History Quiz: Why...?

The legions were fighting in Dacia, a region covering most of what is now Romania and Moldova, with parts of it also in neighbouring countries. Trajan's Bridge was the longest arch bridge ever built at the time.

It is believed that they exacerbated the effects of the El Niño by cutting down Prosopis pallida trees to make room for agriculture. The trees were key to preventing river and wind erosion.

The sasumata could be used to grab body parts, the sodegarami could entangle clothing and the tsukubō could be used to push, pull or trip a person. These made up the torimono sandōgu.

The body was discovered in a peat bog on the Jutland peninsula in Denmark, in 1950. He was alive in the 4th Century BC, but due to the preservation he was initially believed to have been a recent murder victim.

The Ghana Empire existed from before 830 to around 1100, in modern-day southeastern Mauritania and western Mali.

These were the Ilkhanate, the Golden Horde and the Chagatai Khanate, while the fourth was the Yuan dynasty in China. The domains of the three had populations that were mostly Muslim.

These became known as the Musket Wars. As muskets were brought to New Zealand, they ended up in the hands of the Māori. They used them in inter-tribal warfare, resulting in the large number of fatalities.

They believed that cenotes were gateways to the afterlife.

It was due to his compassion for the poor and suffering, serving them food in his own house, for example.

It only lasted between 38 and 45 minutes.

While in Hawaii, the foremast of his ship the Resolution broke, forcing him to return to land to fix it. A number of quarrels broke out between his crew and the Hawaiians and a group of the latter took one of Cook's small boats. Cook tried to take the king so he could ransom him.

The Dardanelles Gun was one of those used. The barrel was 5.18m long.

There had previously been two wars with the Burmese, but a huge force then took control of Ayutthaya and burned the city. The Burmese had to leave soon after when the Chinese were about to invade their capital.

It is the oldest fishing weir discovered in the world, dating back to at least 13,700 years ago.

Tin is quite rare in Europe. Initially, the metal was acquired mostly from the East, during the time of the Minoans. But the Mycenaeans who came after mainly sailed west, so acquired tin from the West.