Quiz on city states

On February 6, 1819, Sir Stamford Raffles established the trading post of Singapore. This week’s quiz is about city states.

Going solo

1 Which one of the three recognised city states in the world in the 21st century is ruled by the Grimaldi family, with Prince Albert II as the current sovereign prince?

2 According to legend, what did Sang Nila Utama see while hunting wild animals near a river mouth on the island formerly known as Temasek?

3 The Free City of Danzig was a city state that existed between 1920 and 1939, consisting of a Baltic port and surrounding villages, created by the Treaty of Versailles. By what name is it known today?

4 One of the earliest city states in history was Uruk, which flourished around the fourth millennium BC and was probably the largest urban settlement of its time. By which river was Uruk located?

5 Which two city states led the warring factions of the Delian League and the Peloponnesian War in the fifth century BC?

6 This city state, which existed from AD 697 till the late 18th century, was traditionally ruled by a Doge and first became a strong trading power because of its monopoly of the salt trade. Name it.

7 Which city state has a sex ratio of over four men for every woman, leads the world in per capita wine consumption and has a high crime rate primarily because of petty crimes against tourists and shoplifting in gift stores?

8 Which Chinese city served as an independent international settlement between 1863 and 1941, after the Opium War and its capture by Japanese troops during the World War II?

9 Which former city state was once ruled by the House of Barcelona, then by the Knights Hospitaller for around three centuries before they were finally driven out by Napoleon, and then ruled by the British before finally becoming a republic in 1974?

10 What specifically is Cleisthenes regarded as having started in Athens in the 6th century BC, after the pro-Spartan leader Isagoras was overthrown?

Answers

1 Monaco, whose defence is looked after by France.

2 A lion. He actually saw an animal with a red body, black head and white breast, which his chief minister said was a lion. Singapore is named after that lion.

3 The port of Gdańsk, Poland’s principal seaport.

4 Euphrates; Uruk is in modern-day Iraq.

5 Athens and Sparta respectively. The war ended with Sparta emerging as the absolute power in Greece.

6 Venice.

7 Vatican City, which had a population of 825 in 2019.

8 The Shanghai International settlement, which was created by the merger of the US and British enclaves in the city.

9 Malta.

10 Democracy; he is regarded as the father of Athenian democracy.

Joy Bhattacharjya is a quizmaster;

Twitter: @joybhattacharj