Numbers 1100 - 2000 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Diamond

In November 2015, the Canadian mining company Lucara unearthed this diamond of such incredible dimensions in its Karowe mine in Botswana. If it remains its size of 1,111 carats, it will likely be the largest intact polished diamond in the world. Until the next lucky find, that is! The famous Cullinan diamond, which was unearthed in South Africa in 1905, was three times as large at 3,106 carats, but this was later broken down into several smaller gems.

Answer: Computer reconstructions

In a sense, this reconstruction is very idealistic in nature, as it is based on buildings and monuments in that great city that would have been in pristine condition IF ongoing maintenance had been carried out on them since the days they were first built. Sadly this was not the case in real life, for, after Egypt cut supplies of grain to that city in the 600s, Byzantine's economy never really recovered. This was followed by revolts, the attempted or successful destruction of those monuments, plagues, fires, earthquakes, and the straw that finally broke the camel's back the onset of the Christian Crusades. By the time the Ottomans arrived in 1453, the city was practically in ruins - and they finished it off completely.

Yet, this project, idealistic or not, is a fascinating look at a past that might have been, in one of the greatest cities the world had ever known. Some 67 buildings and monuments in all, carefully reconstructed with the aid of 3D images and laser scanning and with accompanying historical notes, are there to be seen as they would have once looked. Byzantine 1200 is a site on the net that is well worth the visit.

Answer: Milky Way Galaxy

Discovered by John Herschel in 1835, NGC 1300, a barred spiral galaxy, is about 60 million light years away from us. Located in the Eridanus constellation, which is comprised of some two hundred other galaxies, NGC 1300 is roughly two-thirds the size of our own Milky Way.

Answer: Kissing

Before you laugh at the idea of trying to ban a smooch or two between romantic partners, this proclamation wasn't actually aimed at interpersonal relationships. It was more to do with the ritual of religious kissing which was based on the biblical Romans 16:16 edict to "Greet one another with a holy kiss". A holy kiss, way back then, was considered a sign of friendship both by Christian and Jewish faiths. Today many Christian faiths still incorporate the holy kiss in their churches, but with the Catholic and Protestant ones at least, this is usually a handshake instead. However, members of other fundamental faiths can still be seen planting a kiss on sometimes unwilling recipients on greeting. The women anyhow.

And why was this proclamation issued in the first place? Between the 14th and 17th centuries in England, that country suffered a series of ongoing and deadly attacks of the Black Death - and kissing was thought to be one way in which it spread. Kissing was almost an epidemic at that time in history as well. Apart from the religious kissing, men kissed one another on greeting, women kissed everybody, servants kissed the feet and hands of their masters, and then of course we have the French, who were prone to osculation at the drop of a hat. Just how common kissing was in England during earlier times was even noted by the famous Dutch humanist, Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466-1536). He wrote with some humour in his diaries how often he was greeted by his English hostesses with a hearty kiss on the lips.

Answer: They thought the end of the world was about to begin

This is just one of the many, many times that those in the Christian faith, since the dawn of Christianity itself, have announced the end of the world was about to take place. The year 1500 as the beginning of that particular frightening time was a belief they based on the biblical phrase "a time, and times, and half a time" (Revelation 12:14). So far, so good though.

Answer: England

In 1652, one Pasqua Rosee, who was the servant of a Turkish merchant, introduced the first coffee house in London. The previous year he had opened a coffee shop in Oxford. When that proved to be successful, he ventured into the coffee house business as well, importing all ingredients and recipes from Turkey to do so.

Other drinks introduced into England in the 1600s included beer, wine and tea. Interestingly, as far as tea went, there was a mistaken belief at that time that this beverage contributed to the long life of the Chinese, so it was accepted rather quickly in England, with, no doubt, hopes of the same result.

Initially though, the coffee houses that soon began to spring up everywhere, met with great opposition from the owners of alehouses, but why hic when you can sip?

Answer: Piano

Though the exact date for the invention of the piano cannot be stated with certainty, it is believed to be around 1700, for it is at this time that this new instrument is made mention of in an inventory of the famous Medici family of Florence. The man behind this musical creation was the Italian Bartolomeo Cristofori (1655-1731), who was in the employ of Ferdinando de Medici, the Grand Prince of Tuscany, as his Keeper of the Instruments. Cristofori, who was an expert at the manufacture of harpsichords, called his new invention "a keyboard of cypress with soft and loud".

This eventually evolved into piano-forte, and then to the common name of piano by which we know this instrument today.

Answer: One billion

That's a lot of christenings. Leading the world in population figures when that mighty figure was first reached was China, with almost 400,000,000 people. The whole of Asia followed with some 635,000,000, then Europe with 203,000,000. And so it continues to grow today. The world is bursting at the seams.

Answer: Zeppelin

Designed by the German, Ferdinand von Zeppelin (1838-1917), this far thinking man had first started to consider building a rigid airship as far back as the 1870s, several years after observing army balloons during the American Civil War as a military observer. By 1893, he had these ideas and rough designs down on paper, and come 1895, the rigid airship, now considered feasible, was patented. Construction of that first rigid airship began in 1899, and its first flight took place over Lake Constance on July 2, 1900 - a new century and a new means of transportation for humanity.

Answer: First time space is permanently inhabited by humans

This momentous occasion in the year 2000 marked both the end of an unpopulated space - and the beginning of permanent resident human presence way up there in the stars. Two days after the launch of Soyuz TM-31 on the 31st October 2000, when the first resident human crew set off for the International Space Station, they boarded that mighty construction on 2nd November in that same year.

It has been continuously manned ever since. In March 2015, it was announced that Russia and the US would once again collaborate on the building of a new international to replace ISS when it is eventually returned to earth. Who knows where mankind's first unsteady steps into this new frontier will go from there? It's all so incredibly exciting.