Ethnic and Religious Conflicts Quiz

Answer: Protestants and Catholics

Basically, Ireland remained faithful to Rome at the time of the Reformation. However, English and Scottish Protestants moved to Ireland from about 1600 onwards, and see it as their homeland. The Anglo-Scottish population generally lived in the Northern region of Ireland.

In 1922, following a war for independence, the counties that considered themselves Catholic were given the freedom to create the independent nation - Ireland. However the six northern counties were now mainly Protestant and retained the status of belonging to the United Kingdom, with own home rule.

Unfortunately, Catholics were discriminated against in Northern Ireland, and conflict broke out.

Answer: Albanian

The Albanian population of Kosovo is Muslim, while the Serbs are Eastern Orthodox. The Kosovo region was given autonomy within Yugoslavia during the Cold War era, but tensions between the Albanians and Serbs within Kosovo heightened in the 1980s. In 1989, Kosovo's autonomous status was revoked by Yugoslavia.

The legislation was led by Slobodan Milosevic. The Serbian military began repressing the Albanians, and NATO took steps to actively protect the region.

Answer: Hutus and Tutsis

The Hutus comprised 90% of the Rwandan population. However, the Tutsis had been the 'aristocratic' class under Belgian colonial rule. After Belgium pulled out, two countries were born in 1962. Burundi was mainly a Tutsi country, and Rwanda was mainly Hutu. Ethnic tensions continued until exploding in 1994.

A popular Hutu of Burundi who had won a democratic election in 1993 was killed in a plane crash. This event is seen as the catalyst that sparked the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. More than ten percent of the Rwandan population was massacred before other forces intervened.

Answer: Uzbekistan

The Kurds came into the focus of the global community during the reign of Saddam Hussein. They lived in the northern no-fly zone as they had been the targets of government attacks. However, the Kurdish people live in several countries and many have the aim of creating an independent country of Kurdistan. Western governments are hesitant to support the Kurdish goal as Turkey, a member of NATO, would lose significant territory.

Answer: Tiger

The Tamils make up 15% of the population of Sri Lanka. The Sinhalese dominate the country in population and in politics. They made Sinhala the official language and Buddhism the official religion. The Tamils are Hindus. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, as the group is offically known, are fighting to secede from Sri Lanka.

The group was founded in May 1976. Since then it has been responsible for two hundred bombings and invented the suicide belt, later used by other terrorist groups around the world.

Answer: Indonesia

During the colonial years, the island of Timor was split between the Netherlands and the Portuguese. East Timor was a settlement of Portugal. Indonesia was born in the wake of the Netherlands' withdrawal in 1949. East Timor was suddenly given independence in 1975 when Portugal left.

Indonesia invaded in 1976. The people of East Timor are largely Catholic, in contrast to Muslim Indonesia. The repression of the East Timor people was largely ignored until the 1990s, and a new Indonesian leader 1998 was more open to allowing East Timor's independence. Military leaders, disagreeing with the government, ravaged East Timor.

The United Nations stepped in with a peace-keeping force. In 2002, East Timor was declared a new nation.

Answer: Syria

The Six-Day War was a conflict mainly between the forces of Israel and the combined forces of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria, which took place from June 5, 1967 to June 10, 1967. Previous to the war, Israel had complained that Syria had the strategic Golan Heights to fire their artillery on Israeli farmers.

The Golan Heights were captured on the final day, June 10th. By the end of the war, Israel had also taken East Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula. A 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel began the withdrawal of troops from the Sinai Peninsula.

Answer: Muslim

The British colonies (and "Native States") of the Indian sub-continent were partitioned into three different areas: India, West Pakistan and East Pakistan. Eventually, East Pakistan would be known as Bangladesh and West Pakistan would remove the 'west' from their name. Bangladesh and Pakistan were one country until 1971. For the most part, the lines were drawn with an eye on the majority religion in each region. Thus India was mainly Hindu while the Pakistani areas were Muslim. Mass migration occurred as people moved into areas where they would live with the country of their faith. Kashmir was 77% Muslim, but princely territories had the authority to choose which country. Hari Singh, ruler of Kashmir, attempted to stay independent, but appealed to India for help after a Pakistani invasion.

This led to eventually joining the Indian state.

Answer: Montenegrins

Each of these groups are not only ethnically different but do not share a religion. Bosniaks are generally Muslim (and Bosnians are generally the non-Muslim community of Bosnia). Croats are mainly Catholic. Serbs are largely Eastern Orthodox. The Serbs were charged with carrying out an ethnic cleansing campaign against the Bosniak communities. Bosnia-Herzegovina was one of the countries created from the division of Yugoslavia. Serbia had been the most powerful of the provinces in Yugoslavia, and the Serbian government actively aided the Serbs in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Croatia and Serbia fought, and Bosnian Croats sided with their Muslim neighbors against Serbia.

Answer: Basque

ETA stands for Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, which means Basque Homeland and Liberty, and is widely regarded as a terrorist organization. The region the Basques call home covers territory in Spain as well as in France, but 92% are Spanish citizens. The Basques are a European anomaly with a language that seemingly predates the rest of the Europeans' languages.

The population has a higher frequency of Rh negative blood than other Europeans as well. The ETA was originally formed to fight against Francisco Franco's suppression of Basque culture in 1959.