European Trivia: Discover Fascinating Facts About Countries and Cultures
Famous People, Places, and Things
Belgium
Leonardo da Vinci: One of the greatest painters of all times and a truly talented person. He is the author of the famous Mona Lisa, exhibited in the Louvre Museum. (Note: Leonardo da Vinci was Italian, not Belgian.)
NATO: This country is the headquarters of NATO (The North Atlantic Treaty Organization), an intergovernmental military alliance signed in 1949 that constitutes a system of collective defense whereby its member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party.
Bulgaria
The Rose Valley: A region famous for its rose-growing industry cultivated there for centuries. It produces about 85% of the roses used worldwide to make perfumes.
Croatia
Dalmatian: A mid-sized breed of spotted dog that comes from this country. It used to be a carriage dog.
Finland
Angry Birds: A popular game for computers and gaming consoles featuring wingless birds, released by Apple iOS in 2009.
France
Baguette: A long, thin stick of white bread.
Mount Blanc: The highest mountain in the Alps and the fifth highest peak in Europe, after Mount Elbrus and others in the Caucasus Range.
Pétanque: A game where the goal is to throw hollow metal balls as close as possible to a small wooden ball.
Peugeot: A car brand founded in 1810. Its trademark is a lion.
The French Revolution: A period in history that lasted from 1789 to 1799. It was a revolutionary war that put an end to the monarchy.
The Millet Viaduct: A cable-stayed bridge which is the highest in Europe.
Germany
Nazism: Far-right political beliefs that use biological racism and anti-Semitism. Much of the philosophy of this movement was based on an idea that the Aryan race was better than all others and had the greatest ability to survive.
X-Ray: A form of electromagnetic radiation widely used to image the inside of objects, e.g., in medical radiography and airport security. (Discovered by the German Wilhelm Röntgen).
Greece
Acropolis: Remains of several ancient buildings of great architectural and historic significance, the most famous being the Parthenon.
Ireland
Cork: A big and populous city built on the River Lee. Its most famous street is called Saint Patrick’s Street, known for the architecture of the buildings and its pedestrian-friendly route full of shops.
The Great Famine: A period of mass starvation, disease, and emigration between 1845 and 1852. It was sometimes called the Potato Famine because the cause of the famine was a potato disease which ravaged potato crops in Europe. However, the impact in this country was disproportionate as one-third of the population were highly dependent on the potato.
Italy
Mount Vesuvius: An active volcano near Naples. Its famous eruption in AD 79 buried the Roman city of Pompeii in up to 6m of ash. This city was uncovered in 1749 and is now visited by 2.5 million people every year. Vesuvius has erupted many times since and is the only volcano on the European mainland to have erupted within the last hundred years.
Lithuania
Snoras Snow Arena Druskininkai: One of the biggest indoor skiing slopes in Druskininkai. It was opened on August 26, 2011.
Netherlands
Vincent Van Gogh: A major Post-Impressionist painter of the 19th century famous for his bold color paintings. He had a serious mental illness and died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound when he was 37. One of his famous works was Bedroom in Arles.
Poland
Copernicus: An astronomer who discovered that it was the sun rather than the Earth that was the center of the Universe, a revolutionary theory at that time (15th-16th century).
Portugal
Azores: Nine volcanic islands situated in the northwest of Madeira.
The Lusitano: Horse breed also found in the Iberian Peninsula used for bullfighting. Its usual colors are generally reddish, gray, or chestnut.
Romania
Dracula: Part of the plot of this famous book of vampires by the Irish Bram Stoker takes place in this country.
Sweden
Alfred Nobel: Chemist, engineer, innovator, and armaments manufacturer. He was the inventor of dynamite. Concerned about how he would be remembered, he founded the Nobel Prize, to be awarded to eminences in several fields.
Ikea: A multinational group of companies that designs and sells ready-to-assemble furniture (such as beds, chairs, and desks), appliances, and home accessories popular for their usual low cost.
United Kingdom (UK)
Fish and Chips: A hot dish consisting of fish and fries. It is a common take-away food.
J.K. Rowling: A British novelist known as the author of the Harry Potter fantasy series.
Sherlock Holmes: A fictional detective created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Holmes is known for his astute logical reasoning, used to solve difficult cases. All his stories are told by his friend Dr. Watson.
Stonehenge: A prehistoric monument consisting of a ring of standing stones considered by UNESCO a World Heritage Site.
William Shakespeare: An English poet, playwright, and actor of the 16th-17th century. Romeo and Juliet is one of his most famous plays.