Ten questions on how people and goods actually move, each with the reason the route or invention mattered.
Transport history is mostly a record of distances being cut, and the landmarks are easy to name but harder to place. This quiz covers the canals and tunnels that changed shipping and travel, the railways that opened continents, and the aircraft and conventions that followed. It also covers a few units and codes that travellers meet without explanation. The explanations concentrate on what each development saved in time or cost, which is nearly always why it was built.
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.
Play it insteadAnswer: A. The Suez Canal
Why: Opened in 1869, it removed the need to sail around Africa to reach Asia. It remains one of the busiest shipping routes in the world.
Answer: C. The Atlantic and the Pacific
Why: It crosses the isthmus of Panama, saving ships the long passage around South America. It uses locks because the terrain sits well above sea level.
Answer: D. France
Why: It runs beneath the Strait of Dover and opened in 1994. At around 38 kilometres, its undersea section is the longest in the world.
Answer: D. Russia
Why: It stretches roughly 9,300 kilometres from Moscow to Vladivostok. The full journey takes about a week.
Answer: D. The Wright brothers
Why: Orville and Wilbur Wright flew at Kitty Hawk in 1903. The Montgolfiers, often confused with them, pioneered hot air balloons over a century earlier.
Answer: A. Japan
Why: The Shinkansen opened between Tokyo and Osaka in 1964. France followed with the TGV in 1981.
Answer: D. Speed
Why: One knot is one nautical mile per hour. The name comes from counting knots on a line paid out behind a ship.
Answer: D. London Heathrow Airport
Why: LHR is Heathrow's three-letter IATA code, used on tickets and baggage tags. Airlines separately use four-letter ICAO codes for operations.
Answer: B. The left
Why: Japan drives on the left, as do the UK, India and Australia. Roughly a third of the world's population lives in left-driving countries.
Answer: C. The Pacific
Why: The Pacific covers more area than all the land on the planet combined. Its size is why trans-Pacific shipping and flights are planned around fuel range.
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Lift, ailerons, turbofans, holding patterns and why the black box is orange.
An aircraft wing generates lift chiefly by doing what?
Loading marks, draught, tonnage and the vocabulary of the merchant fleet.
On a ship, what do "port" and "starboard" refer to?
Metros, buses, traffic and the counterintuitive rules of urban transport.
Which city opened the world's first underground railway?