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Historical Events - AD or BC?

Guess whether these events happened before or after the start of the Common Era in 1 AD.
Quiz by WolfCam
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Last updated: August 6, 2020
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First submittedOctober 5, 2019
Times taken51,817
Average score72.2%
Rating4.75
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1. Extinction of the Woolly Mammoth
The last mammoth population, located in Russia's Wrangel Island, died off around 2000 B.C.
AD
BC
2. Construction of Stonehenge
c. 3000 BC to 2000 BC
AD
BC
3. Columbus sails to the New World
In 1492 (AD), Columbus sailed the ocean blue
AD
BC
4. Trojan War
c. 1200 BC
AD
BC
5. Start of Islam
According to tradition, Muhammad began receiving divine revelations in 610 AD
AD
BC
6. Invention of gunpowder
The first written evidence of gunpowder comes from China in the year 808 AD
AD
BC
7. Human settlement of New Zealand
c. 1300 AD
AD
BC
8. Birth of the Buddha
Given variously as 563 BC or 480 BC
AD
BC
9. William the Conqueror conquers England
1066 AD
AD
BC
10. Most recent time that Babylon was the largest city in the world
Most recently c. 320 BC
AD
BC
11. Foundation of the Inca Empire
The Inca Empire had only existed for about a century when the Spanish arrived
AD
BC
12. Invention of chess
The predecessors of chess are thought to have emerged in the Gupta Empire c. 280–550 AD
AD
BC
13. Birth of Alexander the Great
356 BC
AD
BC
14. First known heliocentric model of the solar system
Aristarchus of Samos crafted the heliocentric model in the 200s BC, long before Copernicus
AD
BC
15. First known summit of Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in the Alps
1786 by Michel-Gabriel Paccard and Jacques Balmat
AD
BC
16. First written mention of the city of Moscow
1147 AD
AD
BC
17. Great Pyramid built in Egypt
c. 2560 BC
AD
BC
18. Assassination of Julius Caesar
44 BC
AD
BC
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58 Comments
Raz07
+5
Level 56
Aug 1, 2020
Nice quiz
TheLastFish
+3
Level 70
Aug 1, 2020
Uranus and Neptune have been discovered in 1781 in 1846 (AD). I am pretty sure that Samos has not guessed the order of those two correctly. And maybe it is my limited English but shouldn't it be "ascent" instead of "summit" (for me, that question does not for a date but the name of the summit).
angrobper14
+15
Level 85
Aug 1, 2020
On one hand, Aristarchus (Samos is the city where he was born, not his last name) made a groundbreaking model, placing correctly every known planet (plus the Sun and the Moon). Of course, new planets and celestial bodies were discovery thereafter, but he was the first to say aloud "Hey! The Sun is in the middle of the System, we orbit 'round it".

On the other, "summit" is a viable word to say "they reach the peak of the mountain". "Ascent", however, means that "they climbed the mountain, with or without reaching the summit", so whether it implies that "they reach the peak of the mountain" is up to the reader.

GRstranter
+1
Level 38
Dec 29, 2022
Samos is a Greek island too
sprig3
+1
Level 79
Aug 1, 2020
Yeah, I was thinking trick-question-wise on the planet one, too, haha! :D But, fair enough, it's sorta accurate either way.
Quizmaster
+1
Level ∞
Aug 1, 2020
Removed the extra information from the Alexander of Samos question.
stevediverse
+5
Level 88
Aug 2, 2020
summit is a noun meaning the top of a mountain - and summit is a verb meaning to reach the top of a mountain. the wording is correct. ascent is the climb to the summit, so it would also be correct, but there's nothing wrong with using summit.
Newroadgirl
+2
Level 68
Nov 30, 2021
Brits tend not to turn nous into verbs. We 'reach the summit'.
gonzit
+2
Level 72
Dec 29, 2022
As an American, we also "summit" mountains and @Newroadgirl does not speak for us
HyddenRizz
+1
Level 67
Dec 30, 2022
Okay, well that's just like your dialect, man. Summit is a more irregular choice of verb here...
luzdelaluna
+11
Level 77
Aug 2, 2020
And there is me, who is a non-native speaker of English, mixing up AD and BC. Got 2 points. Yay!
ikea
+2
Level 57
Aug 6, 2020
omg me too 😂
JoanSR
+5
Level 75
Aug 9, 2020
in fact AD is not English, is latin for Anno Domimi (Year of the Lord).

I prefer the new BCE/CE notation yet.

loni
+3
Level 68
Sep 11, 2022
In portuguese we use a.C (Antes de Cristo/Before Christ) and d.C (Depois de Cristo/After Christ).
AlmostAGenius
+12
Level 84
Nov 12, 2022
AC/DC?
blizzrd33
+1
Level 80
Aug 2, 2020
Just missed the chess question, nice quiz.
kalbahamut
+1
Level 81
Aug 2, 2020
Got everything right but wasn't 100% sure about chess. I thought I remembered reading that it was invented in India sometime around the 7th or 8th century?
JackintheBox
+1
Level 80
Aug 6, 2020
From battleofchess.com: Chess was invented in India during the Gupta Empire in 6th century AD (1500 years ago). Chess was known as chaturanga at that time.
kalbahamut
+1
Level 81
Aug 6, 2020
cool. wasn't too far off.
JoanSR
+4
Level 75
Aug 9, 2020
In fact Jesus was a good chess player. This angered the romans that punished him severely.
AlexThirkell
+6
Level 75
Aug 10, 2020
That's an overly simplified version of the events.
PantsLobbyist
+5
Level 97
Aug 4, 2020
I've always wondered why so few adopted CE and BCE
tourwoorden
+13
Level 69
Aug 6, 2020
Very few people care about it I guess. Using BC and AD is not a confession of faith or anything, so it's just a cosmetic change - and changing something is a hassle.
jmellor13
+12
Level 67
Aug 6, 2020
I agree. I'm not religious, but the BCE/CE thing just seems like whinging. Everyone understands the distinction between BC and AD just fine, and whether you're religious or not, the line of distinction is the supposed birth of Jesus (although it's off by a few years).
Account
+5
Level 59
Aug 6, 2020
I always think using CE and BCE is more professional
kalbahamut
+4
Level 81
Aug 7, 2020
CE and BCE is more accurate and inclusive. AD and BC is more traditional and what most people grew up using. I think it is a combination of belligerence, laziness, and common convention. Personally don't have a problem with either one.
findy
+5
Level 78
Oct 30, 2020
I don't see why that should be more accurate or inclusive. Why exactly did the date of Jesus' birth start a common era? Makes no sense - BC is at least a simple statement. AD is more problematic though.
JonOfKent
+3
Level 58
Dec 21, 2021
Yes, I find the idea that it is a "common" era bizarrely inaccurate. Something like "modern European era" or "modern western era" would be more like it.
wkrpnyc
+1
Level 82
Nov 16, 2022
I knew someone who refused to cross anything out because it was xtian, and he was a very religious Jewish man. Instead he would N-out a list item after we dealt with it.

BC makes the claim that Jesus was anointed, and AD clearly refers to Jesus of Nazareth as "god," so I can see why people would object. I prefer CE more the BCE because fewer letters, though.

kalbahamut
+2
Level 81
Dec 29, 2022
findy: simple statement, but not historically accurate. Even if you assume there was a Jesus (debatable), and even if you think it's a good idea to count years of the calendar back to the date of his birth (bit chauvinistic), we know he wasn't born that year. It is the "common era" because it's common convention to count years back to this date.
FunGhoul
+1
Level 53
Dec 29, 2022
Sure, but it's common because Christianity was common, and renaming the system doesn't remove the system's religious background, no matter the background's historical accuracy.
Ferbin
+1
Level 77
Sep 16, 2024
It removes the religious connotation, even if it has a religious origin. Not hard to understand, unless you're obstinately arguing against it cause tradition.
JoanSR
+3
Level 75
Aug 9, 2020
I used "minus" or "negative" for BCE years but it was such a mess.. Once a guy replied to me "negative 1200" ? before the Big Bang?
Eigengrau
+3
Level 60
Aug 6, 2020
Muhammad received divine "revelations", not "relevations". Check the spelling.
kalbahamut
+7
Level 81
Aug 6, 2020
I thought it was divine reservations. You wouldn't believe how hard it was to book the Kabaa back then.
Quizmaster
+2
Level ∞
Aug 6, 2020
Fixed the spelling
Crem
+2
Level 69
Aug 6, 2020
Huh, you learn something new every day; I had never heard of Aristarchus, and I've even been to the isle of Samos! Looks like celebrating Pythagoras is enough for them
TjizzleDizzle
+1
Level 68
Aug 6, 2020
First attempt, 100%. I need to find better things to do in my life. xD
einstein100102
+2
Level 54
Aug 6, 2020
Nice quiz, but I think that you should do ad/bce and bc/ce since the AD/BC system might offend non-Christians.
Jeremy
+16
Level 76
Aug 6, 2020
Why does it matter? They both mean the same thing, and in my experience the majority of people use the BC/AD model. Besides, Historical Events - CE or BCE? doesn't have quite the same ring to it.
carrow
+11
Level 51
Aug 7, 2020
I've always found this renaming silly since it still uses the birth of Christ as the starting date.
samiamco
+3
Level 68
Aug 15, 2020
I’m not exactly offended by the use of BC/AD, but I did think that JetPunk had already standardized on BC/BCE, as the academic world has. Since it has apparently not, consider this my request that JetPunk does so.
Quizmaster
+7
Level ∞
Aug 15, 2020
The adoption of a practice in the academic world makes me less likely to want to use it. The humanities have become so incredibly toxic in the last few decades. I don't want any part of it. These language games are part of it.
Quizmaster
+7
Level ∞
Aug 15, 2020
Why are the humanities so toxic? The best theory I've seen is that there are practically no opportunities for advancement in academia. There are very few tenure-track positions, and many of these are occupied by old people who aren't going anywhere. Thus, academia becomes a zero sum game. With no new positions becoming available, one must create them by dislodging others. Changing norms around language create a political minefield that one can use to dislodge rivals. Serious scholarship becomes rare while in-group signaling becomes imperative. I urge you to actually read what is being published in journals these days. It is shockingly bad.
nerdalert
+2
Level 87
Dec 18, 2020
"Competition in academia is so vicious because the stakes are so small"
Newroadgirl
+1
Level 68
Nov 30, 2021
interesting and thought-provoking response, Quizmaster.
PeregrineFalcon
+11
Level 77
Sep 29, 2020
Saying this as a non-Christian, if you feel offended by AD/BC, you need to sort out your life priorities.
SuperPotato2000
+2
Level 53
Dec 29, 2022
Why would you get outright offended by such a minor thing? If the birth of Confucius would be the start of the "common era", I'd be fine with it. Also, the reference date for the "common era" is still the conventionally accepted birth year of Jesus. I get it, there are billions of non-Christians on Earth, but the reference year still needs to be somewhere, and since it would inconvenient to change it to another date, that year of reference will be the birth of Christ, whether you like it or not.
GomezFigueroa
+2
Level 62
Aug 6, 2020
Dang. I guessed BC for gunpowder and Moscow because I didn't know and they seemed so obviously AD. I bet on the reverse psychology.
IntelVoid
+1
Level 66
Aug 9, 2020
I did that for the mammoth.

Expected some factoid 'There were still mammoths at the time of...'

Finnisme
+1
Level 58
Dec 21, 2020
"The last mammoth died out just after the American Revolution,"

Thomas Jefferson has been quoted as saying "Dear Marry Todd Jefferson, I hope there is no Wolly Mammoths in Louisiana, just like the ones in Siberia. Dear do those scare me," before he embarked on his adventures to meet Louis, Clark, and Sacajawea in Louisiana.

Or something like that idk

toowise
+1
Level 79
Feb 15, 2022
The comment in question 3 would scan a lot better if it was

In AD 14 92

Columbus sailed the ocean blue.

HyddenRizz
+1
Level 67
Dec 30, 2022
I vaguely remembered a cool fact about mammoths, but it turns out I was just remembering that they were around at the same time as the Pyramids.

Thought maybe they were around in Jesus Times during this quiz but nope lol. Jesus never did go to Siberia...

ImjaTse
+1
Level 54
Sep 10, 2024
What about using CE and BCE instead of the Christian AD and BC?
yourmommacalled
+1
Level 25
Sep 10, 2024
Exactly I got confused
DomsWay
+1
Level 19
Sep 10, 2024
9/18, not bad considering I forgot my history facts. My classes didn't make us remember pointless dates.
SpartanLlama
+1
Level 73
Sep 10, 2024
18/18 let's go
SpartanLlama
+1
Level 73
Sep 10, 2024
I actually read the heliocentric one wrong I thought it said geocentric so I still got it right haha
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