(Rev. 10 Sep 2008)
Ozark Hispanic Studies League
CULTURE BOWL TOURNAMENT QUESTIONS
This list of questions has resulted from many years of collecting from many different sources. They have been
transcribed several times. There are probably many typographical and some factual errors. Please do not
hesitate to call such errors to the attention of the administrator for correction. Additionally, if you find any
questions that are difficult to understand or are poorly worded, let the administrator know. If you feel any of the
questions are outdated or of dubious value or if you have any suggestions for new questions to add to the list,
submit them to the sponsor for next year. We will use this list as the basis for references. If you find mistakes,
please use the numbers here as references.
NOTES: Most of the articles (a, an, the) and some other non-essential words have been removed as the first
word in the answer. This is to allow more complete scrambling.
Answers must be given as shown on the list even if the answer to a given question might be correct. For
example:
Question:
Name the musical instrument similar to the xylophone.
Answer:
Marimba
Explanation: Even though both the vibraphone and the marimba are similar to the xylophone, only
‘marimba’ will be accepted as it is the answer given.
Anytime an answer includes two or more elements and the word ‘and’, then all elements must be given. For
example:
Question:
When was the Golden Age of Spanish literature?
Answer:
Sixteenth and seventeenth centures.
Explanation: Both ‘sixteenth’ and ‘seventeenth’ must be mentioned.
Anytime an answer includes two or more elements and the word ‘or’ is used, then one of the elements given
will be considered correct.
Question:
What style of architecture can be seen in the Alhambra?
Answer:
Moorish or Arabic.
Explanation: Either ‘Moorish’ or ‘Arabic’ will be acceptable.
Judges will have the right to accept slight variations in the answers. Judges also have the right to ask
contestants to repeat an answer or to ask for more detail. The last answer given will be considered correct.
Their decision on acceptance will be final.
Questions and answers in the color teal relate to proverbs and are new to this list.
Questions and answers in red may need further research.
QUESTIONS
01.
02.
03.
04.
05.
06.
07.
08.
09.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
What Nicaraguan leader did the Sandanista National Liberation front
overthrow in 1979?
Name the former capital of Guatemala.
Guatemala has had two capitals. Name them.
What were the two Indian tribes that Columbus and other explorers
encountered in the Caribbean Islands?
“Dorado” one of Puerto Rico’s beautiful beaches lies on what body of water?
Who was the first Spanish explorer to cross the isthmus of Panama?
Which is Panama’s leading export? Oil, sugarcane or bananas
Who founded Santo Domingo?
Many Puerto Rican players of this sport have had successful careers in the
USA. Name the sport.
Who was Roberto Clemente?
What country was formally known as British Honduras?
Which Central American country’s official language is English?
What color beans are generally used in Cuba?
What does a Guatemalan refer to with the word “patojo”?
What is Belize’s former name?
This daughter of a Cuban American stars in such films as Shrek, Being John
Malkovich and The Mask.
In what sea is Cuba located?
From whom do Nicaragua’s Sadinistas take their name?
Before the U.S. engineered the Panama Canal, to what country did the land
belong?
20. What was the “Football War”?
19.
What are plaintains or plátanos?
What Puerto Rican frog has recently invaded Hawaii?
What nationality are ticos?
What is the largest Caribbean Island?
What Spanish speaking Caribbean country is closest to Florida?
What country is famous for the dance the mambo?
For which country did Jose Martí fight?
What country produces the most sugar in Latin America?
Where did the rumba originate?
From what country is singer Gloria Estefan?
The Sierra Maestra mountain range is located in the southeast of which
Cribbean country?
32. Name the 5 Latin American countries that do not have volcanoes?
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
ANSWERS
Anastasio Somoza Debayle
Antigua
Antigua and Guatemala
Arawak and carib
Atlantic Ocean
Balboa
Bananas
Bartolomé Colón
Baseball
Baseball player
Belize
Belize
Black
Boy
British Honduras
Cameron Diaz
Caribbean
César Augusto Sandino (Nicaraguan guerilla
leader, fought U.S. Marines 1920’s)
Colombia
Conflict between El Salvador and Honduras
ignited by hotly contested soccer matches in
1969
Cooking bananas (in Mexico plátano macho)
Coqui
Costa Rican
Cuba
Cuba
Cuba
Cuba
Cuba
Cuba
Cuba
Cuba
33.
Cuba, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Uruguay
Paraguay
Cuba, Puerto Rico
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
Cuban
Dance (national dance of the Dominican
Republic)
Desi Arnaz
Desi Arnaz - Cuban
Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
Two Spanish-speaking countries have flags with identical design, but with
two colors, red and blue, reversed. What are the countries?
34. What was the nationality of the poet Jose Martí?
35. What is a merengue?
What was Ricky Ricardo’s real name?
Who was Lucille Ball’s first husband and what was his nationality?
What Caribbean country shares an island with Haiti?
From what country is baseball player Sammy Sosa?
What is the oldest country in the Caribbean?
What country is famous for the dance the merengue?
What Spanish speaking country is located on the island of Hispaniola?
What country was founded by Juan Pablo Duarte in 1844?
In what country did the “jipijapa”, the Panama hat, originate?
45.
46.
47.
48.
49.
50.
51.
52.
53.
54.
55.
56.
57.
58.
59.
60.
61.
62.
63.
64.
65.
66.
67.
68.
69.
70.
71.
72.
73.
74.
75.
76.
77.
78.
79.
80.
81.
82.
83.
84.
85.
86.
87.
88.
89.
90.
91.
92.
What Spanish name was given to the Puerto Rican Spanish Harlem in New
York City?
What is the smallest Central American country?
Which country bordering the Pacific Ocean is Central America’s most
densely populated country?
From November 1999 to June 2000, the US and Cuba struggled over custody
of what boy?
Who is Hugo Chávez’ mentor?
What lures most sportsmen to Costa Rica?
What do the 5 stars in the center of Honduran flag stand for?
Where in the U.S. is there a large concentration of Cuban-Americans?
What is a “coqui”?
Which country exports large quantities of chicle?
What Central American Spanish speaking country borders Mexico?
In what country would you find “patojos”?
In 3 Central America countries the name of the capital contains at least a part
of the name of the country. Name the three cities.
Where would you find “el Castillo del Morro”?
What is the capital of Cuba?
What would you buy in a Puerto Rican botánica?
Which Caribbean island houses 2 nations, 1 French speaking, and 1 Spanish
speaking?
What Latin American flag has a blue stripe on top and bottom and 5 stars on a
white stripe in the center?
What is the most mountainous country of Central America?
What nation lies just north of Nicaragua?
In what country is the 2nd largest barrier reef?
Name the 7 Central American countries.
What is ‘Borinquen’?
Where did Columbus establish his first colony?
Who is the well-known blind singer from Puerto Rico?
Who wrote the words to the song “Guantanamera”?
What famous Spanish explorer founded San Juan, Puerto Rico?
What is the name of the governor’s house in Puerto Rico?
What do Puerto Ricans call Puerto Rico?
Tegucigalpa, capital of Honduras, was founded first as what?
In the original indigenous language what does “Tegucigalpa” mean?
What was the name of Columbus’ first colony
The longest living dictator in the world is Fidel Castro. What country does he
rule?
Name the program established in the 1941 aimed at helping Puerto Rico.
What Central American country borders South America?
What Central American country’s name completes the palindrome: A man, a
plan, a canal, ___
The second largest peninsula on the Pacific coast of Latin America is the
Azure Peninsula. In what country is it located?
In what Latin American country is the Darien rain forest located?
What is the nationality of the singing group “Menudo”?
Where did Puerto Rican singer Marc Anthony grow up?
What is the largest country in Central America?
From what Spanish-speaking area is the actress Rita Moreno?
What was the original name of the city of San Juan, Puerto Rico?
From what country is Ricky Martin?
Name the three Spanish speaking Caribbean countries.
What is the national emblem of Guatemala?
What is “el Yunque”?
Who is the current leader of Cuba?
El Barrio
El Salvador
El Salvador
Elián Gonzalez
Fidel Castro
Fishing
Five original Central American countries
Florida
Frog, native to el Yunque in Puerto Rico
Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala City, Panama City, and San Salvador
Harbor of Havana
Havana
Herbs and cures
Hispanola
Honduras
Honduras
Honduras
Honduras
Honduras, Costa Rico, Guatemala, Nicaragua,
El Salvador, Belize, Panama
Indigenous name for Puerto Rico
Island of Hispaniola
Jose Feliciano
Jose Martí
Juan Ponce de León
La Fortaleza
La isla
Mining camp
Mountain of silver
Navidad
None. He retired.
Operation Bootstrap
Panama
Panama
Panama
Panamá
Puerto Rican
New York
Nicaragua
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Cuba
Quetzal bird
Rainforest in Puerto Rico
Raúl Castro
93.
94.
95.
96.
97.
98.
99.
100.
101.
102.
103.
104.
105.
106.
107.
108.
109.
110.
111.
112.
113.
114.
What Puerto Rican actress played in West Side Story?
Who was the first Puerto Rican baseball player to be voted into the Baseball
Hall of Fame in 1973?
What Hispanic boxer was nicknamed “Hands of Rock”?
Who is the father of modernism?
What is the capital of Costa Rica?
What is the capital of El Salvador?
Where did Columbus make his first landfall?
What is the oldest capital founded by conquistadores?
What war brought independence from Spain for Cuba?
What it the capital of Honduras?
What is the name of the currency used in Puerto Rico?
Puerto Rico is a commonwealth of what country?
What countries border Mexico?
What explorer from Spain discovered the Pacific Ocean?
In Puerto Rico, who would wear a ‘pollera’.
After which World War was there a large influx of Puerto Ricans to Spanish
Harlem in New York City?
What is the oldest university in the New World?
When was Santo domingo founded?
When and how did Jose Martí die?
When did Puerto Ricans acquire U.S. citizenship?
What is the “Operation Bootstrap”?
When did Belize win its independence?
Rita Moreno
Roberto Clemente
Roberto Durán
Ruben Darío
San Jose
San Salvador
San Salvador, now known as Watling Island
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Spanish American War
Tegucigalpa
U.S. dollar
United States
United States, Guatemala, Belize
Vasco Nunez de Balboa
Girls or women (skirt)
World War II
University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (1539)
1496
1895 in an invasion of Cuba
1917
1941 economic program of Puerto Rico
1981