History: ideas, inventions and empire, 1660–1900

Twenty questions on the ideas, inventions and social changes of 1660 to 1900. The constitutional milestones, Nelson and Wellington, Victoria, Brunel, Nightingale and the 1807 abolition of the slave trade are in this category's second history quiz; this one covers the thinkers, the inventors and the people the century changed.

Science and money

Isaac Newton and gravity; the Royal Society, founded in 1660 and chartered by Charles II; the Bank of England, founded in 1694.

The Scottish Enlightenment

Adam Smith and economics, David Hume and human nature, James Watt and the steam engine — and Robert Burns, whose 'Auld Lang Syne' is sung at every New Year. Scotland in the same century also saw the Highland Clearances, when small farmers were removed for sheep and deer.

Industry

Arkwright's cotton mills and the factory system, and Bessemer's process for making steel in quantity — each set against other real inventors, because that is how the questions are built.

Empire and migration

The loss of the American colonies in 1776; the Huguenots, French Protestant refugees of the 1680s; Sake Dean Mahomet's curry house of 1810; slavery abolished throughout the Empire in 1833 — not to be confused with the end of the trade in 1807 — and the indentured workers from India and China who followed; the Boer War in South Africa.

Reform at home

The Factory Acts limiting the hours of children and women, the Chartists' campaign for working men's votes, the Married Women's Property Acts of 1870 and 1882, and the Irish famine of the 1840s.

Question types follow the real test: single answer, 'choose two', and 'which of these statements is true?'.

How this differs from test day

This is a quiz only: twenty questions on one period, each followed by an explanation that names why the right answer is right and where each wrong one really belongs. The real test is different in shape: 24 questions drawn from the whole handbook, on a computer, in 45 minutes, with no feedback until the end. Use this to find the facts that will not stick, then go back to them — not as a stand-in for the test itself.

The questions and explanations here are Zestly's own, written from publicly known facts. No text is reproduced from the official handbook, which is a separate copyrighted publication and the only real syllabus.

• Name Newton's discovery and date the Royal Society and the Bank of England
• Name the figures of the Scottish Enlightenment and Robert Burns
• Keep 1807 and 1833 apart and explain what followed the end of slavery
• Describe the Highland Clearances, the Irish famine and the Huguenot migration
• Say what the Factory Acts, the Chartists and the Married Women's Property Acts changed

Practice material written by Zestly from publicly known facts of British history, for the period covered by the Life in the UK history chapter. No text is reproduced from the handbook Life in the United Kingdom: A Guide for New Residents.