A Trivial Trip to Mexico City

In light of the recent publication of The Imagined Underworld: Sex, Crime, and Vice in Porfirian Mexico City by James Alex Garza, we’ve crafted today’s TT question set to test your knowledge of the unambiguously named Mexico City. Never been? Have no fear. You don’t have to be a frequent visitor to this capital city to fare well on this quiz. You just have to be un poco inteligente. However, if you have no idea what “inteligente” could mean, you might want to study up and try this quiz again another day.

Now, on to the trivia!

1. True or false?: Mexico City is the most populous city in Mexico.

2. In what year was Mexico City (then known as “Tenochtitlan”) founded?
A. 1276
B. 1352
C. 1325
D. 1412

3. Mexico City’s nickname is “Ciudad de los Palacios,” which translates to what in English?

4. Mexico City is located in a large valley called “Valley of Mexico,” originally built by which Native group?

5. Which Spanish conquistador first arrived in the area now occupied by Mexico City?

6. Mexico City was invaded by U.S. forces, forcing Mexico to cede what are today the states of California, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and parts of Utah and Wyoming in what year?
A. 1776
B. 1832
C. 1784
D. 1847

7. True or false?: The population of Mexico City is roughly 6,325,239.

8. In what year did Mexico City host the Olympic Games, which were tragically marked before the opening ceremony by the killing of hundreds of students in the “Tlatelolco Massacre?”

9. The September 19, 1985 earthquake in Mexico City registered as what magnitude on the Richter scale?
A. 8.1
B. 7.2
C. 9.0
D. 6.9

10. True or false: Mexico City has a higher GDP than all of Sweden.

Answers: 1-True; 2-C; 3-“City of Palaces”; 4-The Aztecs; 5- Hernán Cortés; 6-D; 7-False—it’s approximately 8,605,239; 8-1968; 9-A; 10-True

¿Es usted inteligente?
0-2: ¡Muy mal!
3-5: Más o menos
6-8: Bien
9-10: ¡Muy bueno!