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Ancient Civilizations
From Sumer to the Inca — eight questions for the serious history lover.
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Which river was central to the rise of Ancient Egypt?
Plagues, Famines and What Came After
Catastrophe is usually where the interesting history begins rather than ends.
About this topic
Epidemics and famines are normally taught as death tolls, which is the least informative part. What matters historically is what the survivors could suddenly demand, what collapsed because too few people were left to maintain it, and which institutions were built afterwards to stop it happening again. These questions cover several such episodes and their consequences. In each case the explanation gives the mechanism rather than only the number, because the number on its own explains nothing.
Questions & answers
Plagues, Famines and What Came After: all 10 questions and answers
Every question in this quiz is listed below with its correct answer and the reasoning behind it. Play first if you would rather not see the answers — or read through as a study sheet.
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1The Black Death reached Europe in which century?
- A The tenth
- B The fourteenth Correct
- C The twelfth
- D The sixteenth
Answer: B. The fourteenth
Why: It arrived in the late 1340s and killed perhaps a third of the population. Labour shortage afterwards pushed wages up and weakened serfdom in much of western Europe.
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2The Columbian exchange refers to what?
- A The transfer of crops, animals and diseases between the Americas and the Old World Correct
- B A treaty dividing the New World
- C A trading company
- D A route across the Pacific
Answer: A. The transfer of crops, animals and diseases between the Americas and the Old World
Why: It moved potatoes and maize east and horses and wheat west. It also carried diseases that killed a devastating share of indigenous American populations.
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3The Irish famine of the 1840s was triggered by a disease affecting which crop?
- A Wheat
- B Barley
- C Oats
- D The potato Correct
Answer: D. The potato
Why: Potato blight destroyed the crop repeatedly, while food continued to be exported. Around a million died and a million more emigrated.
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4The 1918 influenza pandemic was unusual in that it disproportionately killed whom?
- A The very elderly only
- B Rural populations only
- C Healthy young adults Correct
- D Infants only
Answer: C. Healthy young adults
Why: The pattern is thought to relate to the immune response itself. Wartime censorship meant neutral Spain reported it freely, which is how it acquired a misleading name.
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5The Plague of Justinian struck which empire in the sixth century?
- A The Ottoman Empire
- B The Byzantine Empire Correct
- C The Holy Roman Empire
- D The Mongol Empire
Answer: B. The Byzantine Empire
Why: It arrived as Justinian was attempting to reconquer the western Mediterranean, and the loss of population and revenue helped end that project.
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6Quarantine takes its name from a practice in which city?
- A Venice, and its Adriatic possessions Correct
- B Athens
- C Alexandria
- D London
Answer: A. Venice, and its Adriatic possessions
Why: Ships were held for forty days — quaranta giorni — before docking. Ragusa, now Dubrovnik, is credited with the earliest formal version.
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7The Great Fire of London in 1666 led directly to what?
- A The end of the monarchy
- B A ban on bakeries
- C The relocation of the capital
- D Building regulations and the beginnings of fire insurance Correct
Answer: D. Building regulations and the beginnings of fire insurance
Why: Rebuilding in brick and stone was mandated, and the first fire insurance schemes appeared shortly afterwards.
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8Cholera outbreaks in nineteenth-century cities were eventually curbed by what?
- A Quarantine alone
- B Improved diet
- C Sanitation and clean water supply Correct
- D A vaccine
Answer: C. Sanitation and clean water supply
Why: John Snow traced a London outbreak to a single water pump in 1854, evidence that the disease travelled through water rather than air.
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9The Antonine Plague weakened which empire in the second century?
- A Carthage
- B Rome Correct
- C Han China
- D Persia
Answer: B. Rome
Why: It arrived with troops returning from the east. Roman military recruitment and tax revenue were both affected for decades.
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10What did the aftermath of the Black Death do to wages in western Europe?
- A Pushed them up sharply, as labour became scarce Correct
- B Pushed them down, as demand collapsed
- C Left them unchanged
- D Ended the use of money
Answer: A. Pushed them up sharply, as labour became scarce
Why: Authorities responded with laws attempting to cap wages at pre-plague levels, which largely failed and provoked unrest.
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