Decathlon Event #9 / Thursday Quiz XXXVII

Event #4: World History, Knowledge and Reasoning

Note: As a Decathlon Event, the Thursday Quiz will again remain at twelve questions, but with some tweaks to its format.

Warning: This Quiz is rated Extra Hard.

For each century indicated below, there is a list of four significant events. In some cases, those events actually happened during that century. In others, they did not. Determine which lists ARE accurate, and which ARE NOT.

For lists that ARE NOT accurate, you may also indicate the reasons why they aren't accurate. This might be 1) that the list belongs to a different century; 2) that the list combines events from four different centuries, or 3) that I just made the list up.

You may submit your answers either in the comments, or by email to M5Kdecathlon@gmail.com.

Judging: The scoring will, like last week, be somewhat different for Quiz and Decathlon purposes. As the Thursday Quiz, you will be scored as always, with one point for each correct "is" or "isn't" identification and ties broken by the order in which answers were submitted.

For Decathlon scoring, you will get one point for each correct "is" or "isn't" identification, one additional point for each correct explanation of why the incorrect lists are incorrect, and one additional point if, in the case where the events belong to a different century, you can correctly specify the correct century. Kind of complicated, but I think it will work.

Deadline: Answers must be submitted no later than 10 p.m. Thursday, May 15th (Pacific Daylight Time).


1. The Fourth Century B.C. (400 B.C. to 300 B.C.)

Alexander the Great conquers the Persian Empire, and lots of other people as well.
Plato creates a body of work that basically kicks off the Western intellectual tradition.
The Gauls sack Rome, which still at the time the capital of a small, relatively unimportant kingdom.
Mencius, the great Chinese philosopher and interpreter of Confucianism, lives and works.


2. The First Century (1 to 100 A.D.)

The Roman Empire conquers Nigerium, or West Africa, but is only able to hold it for three decades.
Han China falls to invasion by Japanese armies; the Jin dynasty is established by the victors.
The last indigenous Australian urbanized society collapses, probably because of ecological degradation.
Smallpox kills at least 25% of the population of the British Isles.


3. The Second Century (100 to 200 A.D.)

The Byzantine Empire reaches the height of its power.
The classic lowland Mayan Civilization declines and collapses (although aspects of Mayan culture survive).
Erik the Red founds a European Greenland colony; it will survive for centuries before abruptly disappearing sometime in the 15th Century.
The Chinese make the first use of gunpowder in battle.


4. The Third Century (200 to 300 A.D.)

With its western and eastern provinces both in rebellion, the Roman Empire fragments into three separate states for more than fifteen years.
China, similarly, endures the "Three Kingdoms Period," split into Wei, Shu, and Wu.
Under the Sassanid dynasty, Persia resumes its role as a major world power.
Maize cultivation spreads into North America.


5. The Fifth Century (400 to 500 A.D.)

Rome becomes the dominant power in the western Mediterranian after the First and Second Punic Wars.
Ashoka amasses a mighty empire in modern-day India, spreading Buddhism throughout South Asia.
The Han Dynasty in founded in China.
Archimedes does all sorts of clever things in the fields of mathematics and engineering.


6. The Seventh Century (600 to 700 A.D.)

Islam is founded on the Arabian Peninsula.
The Sassanids sack Jerusalem and take off with the Relic of the True Cross.
In what is now modern Ethiopia, the kingdom of Axum reaches the height of its influence and power.
Arab Muslims conquer Persia, Egypt, North Africa, and plenty of other places too.


7. The Tenth Century (900 to 1000 A.D.)

Spain is conquered by Moors, Muslim invaders from North Africa.
The Normans invade and conquer England.
Marco Polo visits China.
Charlemagne brings a huge section of Europe under his control and establishes the Holy Roman Empire.


8. The Twelfth Century (1100 to 1200 A.D.)

The Anasazi civilization, in what is now the American Southwest, collapses.
Portugal gains its independence from the Kingdom of Leon.
Richard the Lionhearted leads the Third Crusade against Saladin.
England begins the conquest of Ireland.


9. The Thirteenth Century (1200 to 1300 A.D.)

The Conquests of Genghis Khan and his descendents. Many, many countries in Asia and Europe fall to the Mongols.
English nobles force the king to sign the Magna Carta, a document limiting royal power.
The Fourth Crusade, intended to battle Muslims in Palestine, gets distracted and ends up brutally sacking the Christian city of Constantinople instead.
The Latin Empire of Constantinople supplants the Byzantine Empire for several decades, but the Byzantines eventually reestablish their empire.


10. The Fourteenth Century (1300 to 1400 A.D.)

The English, under King John II, are expelled from France following the Battle of Rennes.
Victory over the Bulgarians in the War of Attrition marks the rise of Russia as a world power.
Emperor Khemmer the Great wins independence from the Mogul Empire for what is now Southeast Asia.
Siltification makes it impossible for oceangoing ships to penetrate the Nile Delta, thus ending Egypt's history as a world power.


11. The Fifteenth Century (1400 to 1500 A.D.)

The Inca Empire, weakened by an unfortunately timed civil war, is conquered by the Spanish.
Isaac Newton publishes his "Principia."
The Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Crusades all fail to a greater or lesser extent.
Europe is ravaged by the early decades of the Hundred Years War.


12. The Seventeenth Century (1600 to 1700 A.D.)

Europe is ravaged by the Thirty Years War.
European Settlement of the Atlantic Coast of North America begins.
The Manchu establish the Qing Dynasty, which will rule China for more than 300 years.
The Battle of Vienna ends Ottoman expansion into Central Europe.


You may submit your answers either in the comments, or by email to M5Kdecathlon@gmail.com.

Deadlines: 10 p.m. Thursday (PDT) for this event.

10 p.m. Friday (PDT) for Event #8.