National History Bee

What History Bee covers

The National History Bee ranges across all of world history. This map organizes the bank into eight regional strands — Europe, US History, Cross-Cutting Themes, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, Ancient Civilizations, and Africa — so every era and region has a clear place to study.

Unit questions open after sign-in with a Series pass. Each child's first round is free, with its summary.

1. 2026–27 White Set

   The facts and the thirty further-study terms of IAC's 2026–27 White Set study guide for the National History Bee regionals, each expanded from the Wikipedia article the guide points to. Study this strand first if your regional plays the White Set; it retires when the season ends in April 2027 and its questions stay in the regional strands.

   8 units

   • African History — Mandela's ANC and post-apartheid South Africa; Mubarak and Egypt's 2011 revolution.
   • Asian History — The Nehru–Gandhi prime ministers, Ming and Qing, Attila and the Catalaunian Plains, Aung San Suu Kyi and the 2021 coup, Brahma.
   • Ancient History — Socrates, Plato and the Republic; Mars and the month of March; the Stone, Copper, Bronze and Iron Ages in order.
   • European History — Napoleon's Hundred Days and Waterloo; the Soviet Union as a communist state; Anglo-Saxons, Hastings and William the Conqueror.
   • Latin American History — Tenochtitlan and Mexico City; the Inca Empire, Cusco and Pizarro.
   • U.S. History — Denali and McKinley, the Attorney General and the Judiciary Act, Hawaii's overthrow and statehood, the Navy SEALs, Patrick Henry, the New York Times, Yorktown.
   • Terms for Further Study · U.S. — Hull House, Coolidge, Oklahoma City, Prohibition, Reconstruction, the Checkers speech, Randolph, Earhart, the Great Awakening, Valley Forge, the Atlantic cable, the Fifth Amendment, Tecumseh, O'Keeffe.
   • Terms for Further Study · World — Kublai Khan, Lovelace, the Sepoy Rebellion, the Capetians, Fleming, helots, Turing, Cixi, Munich, Andropov, Joan of Arc, Dido, Mendel, Eleanor of Aquitaine, kabuki, the Haitian Revolution.

2. Europe

   From the Greek polis to the fall of the Berlin Wall — the sweep of European civilization across every era.

   1 unit

   • Europe: Antiquity to the Cold War — Ancient Greece and Rome, Byzantium, medieval Europe, the Renaissance and Reformation, revolutions and nationalism, and the World Wars and Cold War.

3. US History

   The American story from colonial settlement through the present republic.

   1 unit

   • The American Story — Colonial founding and the early republic, expansion and the Civil War, the Gilded Age and World Wars, the Cold War, civil rights, and the modern era.

4. Cross-Cutting Themes

   Ideas, science, art, and exchange that connect histories across every region.

   1 unit

   • Global Themes & Connections — Wars and treaties, religions and philosophies, science and technology, art and architecture, and the trade networks that linked the world.

5. Asia

   The empires and nations of East, South, Central, and Southeast Asia.

   1 unit

   • Asian Empires & Nations — Chinese and Japanese dynasties, the Mongol Empire, Korea, the Mughals and the Raj, Southeast Asia, and the Central Asian Silk Road.

6. Middle East

   The Islamic world and the modern Middle East from the early caliphates to the Arab Spring.

   1 unit

   • Islam & the Modern Middle East — The rise of Islam, the Ottoman Empire and the Crusades, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Iranian Revolution, the Gulf Wars, and the Arab Spring.

7. Latin America

   The Americas south of the United States, from pre-Columbian empires to the 20th century.

   1 unit

   • From the Aztecs to the Cold War — Pre-Columbian civilizations, conquest and colonization, the Haitian and Mexican revolutions, independence movements, and US–Latin American relations.

8. Ancient Civilizations

   The earliest states and cultures of the ancient world.

   1 unit

   • Cradles of Civilization — Mesopotamia, ancient Egypt, the Persian Empire, ancient India and China, and the Phoenician, Hebrew, and Hellenistic worlds.

9. Africa

   African kingdoms, colonization, and the struggle for independence.

   1 unit

   • Kingdoms, Colonization & Independence — Medieval African empires, the Swahili coast, the Scramble for Africa, South African apartheid, decolonization, and post-independence conflicts.

A sample question from History Bee

Read-only. Every other question opens after sign-in; each child's first round is free.