To prepare for the MAT, you should familiarize yourself many aspects of history, including memorizing the most important figures in history. The following lists important people in history that you should familiarize yourself with before taking the MAT.
Anthony, Susan B.: American civil rights leader who worked to get women’s suffrage
Bandaranaike, Sirimavo: Ceylon’s (now Sri Lanka) and the world’s first female head of government
Bonaparte, Napoleon: French emperor who conquered most of Europe and was then exiled to the island of Elba
Burr, Aaron: Vice President of Thomas Jefferson, killed his political rival, Alexander Hamilton, in a duel in 1804
Carnegie, Andrew: Scottish-American industrialist who expanded steel industry
Castro, Fidel: Communist dictator of Cuba
Charlemagne: Founder of the Carolingian Empire in 800, united Western Europe
Churchill, Winston: Prime minister of the United Kingdom during World War II
Cleopatra: She was the last pharaoh of Ancient Egypt, aligned with Mark Antony after the assassination of Julius Caesar
Columbus, Christopher: Italian explorer who sailed for Spain to the Americas and began the Spanish colonization of the New World
Douglass, Frederick: Escaped slave who worked to free all slaves
Gandhi, Indira: India’s and the world’s second female head of government
Gandhi, Mohatma: Indian leader who opposed British rule of India through nonviolence
Garvey, Marcus: Jamaican political leader and proponent of Black nationalism
Gorbachev, Mikhail: Final head of state of the Soviet Union, introduced glasnost and Perestroika
Grant, Ulysses S.: Union general in the Civil War and U.S. president
Guevara, Che: Communist revolutionary in South America
Hamilton, Alexander: A Founding Father of the United States and its first Secretary of the Treasury, killed by Aaron Burr in a duel in 1804
Henry VIII: King of England who removed the Catholic Church from England and began the Church of England
Hitler, Adolf: Austrian-born German leader of the Nazi Party, led Germany and the Holocaust during WWII
Ho Chi Minh: Vietnamese communist leader who was a key figure in the founding of North Vietnam and the Viet Cong
Jefferson, Thomas: This Founding Father authored the Declaration of Independence and was the third U.S. president
Joan of Arc: French heroine who led the French army to victories in the Hundred Years’ War
Kennedy, John Fitzgerald (JFK): Thirty-fifth president of the United States and noted for his handling of the Bay of Pigs Invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis, assassinated in 1963 by Lee Harvey Oswald
Kennedy, Robert Francis (RFK): United States senator, attorney general, and brother of JFK; assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan in 1968
King, Martin Luther: American civil rights leader who worked for racial equality
Lee, Robert E.: Confederate general during the American Civil War
Lenin, Vladimir: Leader of the Russian Revolution and the Soviet Union
Louis XIV: King of France who believed in the Divine Right of Kings
Magellan, Ferdinand: Portuguese explorer who led the first circumnavigation of the world though he died during the journey
Malcolm X: Muslim minister and human rights activist, preached black supremacy before becoming more moderate
Mandela, Nelson: Former president of South Africa who spent 27 years in prison, prioritized reconciliation, and won Nobel Peace Prize
Marx, Karl: German philosopher who first created the principles of communism
Meir, Golda: Israel’s first and the world’s third female head of government, known as the “Iron Lady”
Mother Teresa: Roman Catholic nun known for her missionary and charity work
Peter the Great: Russian czar who modernized Russia and expanded the empire
Rockefeller, J. D.: American industrialist who founded Standard Oil
Roosevelt, Franklin D.: President of the United States during World War II
Stalin, Joseph: Leader of the Soviet Union during World War II
Thatcher, Margaret: The longest-serving and only female prime minister of the United Kingdom, her conservative policies are known as Thatcherism
Washington, George: General during the American Revolutionary War and first U.S. president
