Scandinavian Trivia Quiz

All these questions are about Scandinavia! See how much you know.

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

                                                                                                With many thanks to the Nordstjernan for the material used for this quiz.

 

Move your mouse over the  The trivia /quiz answer will appear here! to check the answer!

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1.What unusual rock formation exists on the Swedish island of Faro?  

        A: rauks    B: ales stenar    C: tors    D: diamonds             A: rauks

2. When do Norwegians celebrate their  National Day?    

        A: May7    B: June 6    C: May 17    D: June 7        C: May 17th.

3. What Scandinavian playwright wrote the plays "Hedda Gabler", and "Rosmersholm"?      

       A: H.C. Andersen    B: Piet Hein    C: August Strindberg    D: Henrik Ibsen             

4. What Province is famous for its harbor seals, cliffs, archipelago, and little islands on Sweden's "Sunny Side"?

        A: Bohuslan    B: Halland    C: Skane    D: Sodermanland        

5. Which is the northernmost railway in Scandinavia and Europe?

         A: Malmbanan    B: Kokkola-Vitangi    C: Kiruna-Narvik    B: Jernbaneverket        C: Kiruna-Narvik

6. What Danish Territory is the world's largest island?

         A: Iceland    B: Gotland    C: Svalbard    D: Greenland            D: Greenland

7. In which city was H.C. Andersen born?

         A: Aalborg    B: Odense    C: Copenhagen    D: Kalmar          B: Odense

8. Who wrote the lead song for the film "Pretty Woman"?

         A:  A-Ha    B: Roxette    C: Randy Newman    D: Benny Andersson            B: Roxette

9.What product did 19th centurySwedish inventor J.F. Ljunglof introduce?

         A: The AGA Cooker    B: The milking machine    C: Metallic foil for snus    D: The safety match        C: Metallic foil for snus

10. How was Ingrid Bergman related to Ingmar Bergman?

         A:  No relation    B: his niece    C: his sister    D: his sister-in-law      A: No relation

11. Where is Mariehamn, the largest city (location)?            

         A: Greenland    B: Faroe Islands    C: Aland    D: Oland         C: Aland

12. Who burned down Goteborg in 1611?

         A: Scots    B: Russians    C: Norwegians    D: Danes             D: Danes

13. What is the name of the Danish candy maker famous for his chocolate liquors?

         A: Anton Berg    B: Anto Fazer    C: Anton Marabou    D: Anton Cloetta               A: Anton Berg

14. What are the official languages in Finland?    

         A: Finnish and Russian    B: Finnish and North Sami    C: Finnish and Swedish    D: Finnish and Norwegian      C: Finnish and Swedish

15. What Swede took off on a disastrous polar expedition?

         A: Tor Morden    B: S.A. Andre    C: Esaias Tegner    D: Gustave Froding            B:   S.A. Andre

16. What is the tallest Mountain in the Nordic region?

         A: Kebnekaise    B: Galdhopiggen    C: Slaettaratindur    D: Hardangervidda           B: Galdhopiggen

17. Actress Liv Ulmann was born in Japan, but what is her nationality?

         A: Swedish    B: Norwegian    C: Danish    D: Finnish            B: Norwegian

18. In what Swedish town do Henning Mankell's books about Wallander take place?

         A: Lund    B: Borgholm    C: Ystad    D: Fjallbacka                C: Ystad

19. On which Danish island is the town of Odense located?

         A: Sjaelland    B: Falster    C: Jylland    D: Fyn            D: Fyn    

20. What is the name of the river that creates a natural border between Finland & Sweden in the north?

         A: Karajohka    B: Torne Alv    C: Tanavattnet     D: Klaralven        B: Torne Alv

21. Which Swedish Actress became known as "The Face"?

         A: Lena Olin    B: Greta Garbo    C: Ann-Margret    D: Ingrid Bergman        The answer is; Greta Garbo

22. The first university in Scandinavia was established in 1477 in what city?

         A: Lund    B: Roskilde    C: Uppsala    D: Copenhagen        The answer is; Uppsalla

23. Which Nordic members of the European Union do not use the Euro?

         A: Sweden & Norway    B: Denmark and Findland    C: Sweden & Denmark        The answer is; C: Sweden & Denmark

24.   Who wrote the lyrics for the Norwegian National anthem "Ja, vi elsker. . .?

         A: Bjorn Ulvaeus    B: Liv Ullmann    C: Bjornstjerne  Bjornson    D:  Edvard Grieg        The answer is; ...C: Bjornstjerne  Bjornson

25.  Who was the first Christian king in Scandinavai?

         A: Harald Bluetooth    B: Eric the Saint    C: Harald Fairhair    D: Sweyn Forkbeard        The answer is; ...A: Harald Bluetooth

26. What was the name of the Danish Ffag (and is the oldest state flag still in use)?

         A: Dannebrog    B: Ampera Danica    C: Margretelund     D: Ambrosius Bogbinder        The answer is; ...A: Dannebrog

27.    On what Swedish holiday do witches traditionally fly around the neighborhood?

         A: Halloween    B: All Saint's Day    C: Easter    D: Valborg        The answer is; ...C: Easter

28. What is Hans Christian Andersen known for?

         A: Reversing Danish immigration politics    B: Sculpting    C: writing fairy tales    D: crossing the Atlantic in a 20 foot boat       The answer is; ...C: writing fairy tales

29.    When did the Oresund Bridge open for traffic between Sweden and Denmark?

         A: July 2000    B: July 2001    C: July 2002    D: July 2003        The answer is; ...A: July 2000

30. Which country is pop singer-songwriter Robyn from?

         A: Denmark    B: Greenland    C: Sweden    D: Finland           The answer is; ...C: Sweden

31. In 1927, what inspired the Sankta Lucia tradition to grow into what we know today?

         A: A daily newspaper crowned a Stockholm Lucia queen    B: SvenskFilmindustri debuted a short Lucia documentary   

        C: King Gustav V gifted queen Victoria with a Lucia party to cheer her    D: Selma Lagerof's noverl set in Sicily            The answer is; ...A: A daily newspaper crowned a Stockholm Lucia queen

32. In his novel, "The Son of a Servant", whose life does August Strindberg describe?

         A: His own    B: King Oscar II    C: Edvard Munch    D: Alfred Nobel        The answer is; ...B: King Oscar II

33. What did Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius originally call his scale for temperature?

         A: Celsius    B: Uppsala Measure    C: centigrade    D: Swedish thermometer            The answer is; ..C: centigrade

34. In Astrid Lundgren's story, "Jul i Bullerbyn",  what could the children's grandfather smell?

         A: The green Christmas tree    B: The brown pepparkakor    C: The red apple    D: The white snow           The answer is; ..C: The red apple

35. What Olympic sport is Swede Jan-Ove Waldner known for being the best ever?

         A: table tennis    B: alpine sking    C: triathlon    D: boxing            The answer is; ..A: table tennis

36. How old was Nobel Prize in Chemistry winner Marie Curie's son-in-law, Jean Frederic Joilet-Curie, when he was the youngest

        person ever to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (along with his wife Irene Joilet-Curie) in 1935?

         A: 19    B: 28    C: 35    D: 44           The answer is; ..C: 35

37. What Scandinavian town is known as "rosornas stad" (city of roses)?

         A: Lillehammer    B:Pasadena    C: Trosa    D: Visby            The answer is; ..D: Visby

38. What does it mean if you break your pepparkakor into 3 pieces?

         A: you should eat 3 more cookies    B: someone  you loved sneezed    C: Good luck    D: you will have 3 children            The answer is; ..C: Good luck

39. How many local VASA Order lodges are there in the U.S.?

         A: 48    B: 50    C: 128    D: 150+            The answer is; ..D: 150+

40. Opinions differ as to which countries make up Scandinavia, but most seem to agree on at least three. Which three?

         A: Iceland, Norway, Sweden    B: Finland, Norway, Denmark    C: Denmark, Iceland, Finland    D: Denmark, Norway, Sweden        The answer is; ..D: Denmark, Norway, Sweden

41. Who raised Swede's interest in mushrooms when he observed that they were a viable food sorce during times of famine in the early 1800's?

         A: Gustave Unonius    B: August Strindberg    C: Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte    D: Karl Svamp            The answer is; ..C: Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte

42. What spice was used for pastries on special occasions and even imported for King Gustav Vasa's wedding in 1552?

         A: saffron    B: salt    C: cinnamon    D: ginger            The answer is; ..C: cinnamon

43. What animal did Stockholm's Swedish National Zoo introduce to the U.S. in 1959?

         A: pygmy goat    B: Dala horse    C: Barnevelder chicken    D: musse pig            The answer is; ..A: pygmy goat

44. In what country would you receive a pepper shaker and get called a Pepperman or Peppermaid if you turn 30 and are not yet married?

         A: Denmark    B: Finland    C: Norway     D: Sweden            The answer is; ..A: Denmark

45. In what Swedish province, where King Gustav Vasa built Vadstena Castle, is the swan revered?

         A: Oland    B: Norrbotten    C: Halsingland    D: Ostergotland            The answer is; ..D: Ostergotland

46. What Nordic palace houses today's oldest operating European theater?

         A: Norway's Skaugum    B: Sweden's Drottningholm    C: Denmark's Hirscholm            The answer is; .. B: Sweden's Drottningholm

47. What is the English title of the 1981 Swedish comedy, Gota Kanal?

         A: 1000 Boats    B: Who Pulled the Plug?    C: Anderson's Boat Yard   D: Men with Boats       The answer is; ..B: Who Pulled the Plug?

48. What does "Stockholm symdrome" really mean?

         A: being homesick for Stockholm    B: winning the Swedish lottery    C: emotional bonding with captors    D: a virus that causes rapid  height growth       The answer is; ..C: emotional bonding with captors

49. The publisher had to "stop the presses" for the very first issue of Nordstjernan to add what late breaking news in September 1872?

         A: A diplomat was seeking a Swedish "domestic" and would pay $25 /month     B: congratulations to Chicago, whose Swedish population was biggger than Sweden's

         C: the death of King Carl XV    D: arranged marriages had been banned in Sweden.           The answer is; ..C: the death of King Carl XV

50. The monarchs of Denmark and Norway during WWII were related. How?

         A: Brothers    B: Father and son    C: Sisters    D: They were the same person            The answer is; ..A: Brothers