1. New World Beginnings 33,000 B.C.E.-1769 C.E. - People

Question 1

Giovanni Caboto (a.k.a. John Cabot) (c.1450–c.1498)

Answer 1

Italian explorer sent by England’s King Henry VII to explore the northeastern coast of North America in 1497 and 1498.

Question 2

Christopher Columbus (1451–1506)

Answer 2

Genoese explorer who stumbled upon the West Indies in 1492 while in search of a new water route to Asia. Columbus made three subsequent voyages across the Atlantic and briefly served as a colonial administrator on the island of Hispaniola, present day Haiti.

Question 3

Francisco Coronado (1510–1554)

Answer 3

Spanish explorer who ventured from Western Mexico through present-day Arizona and up to Kansas, in search of fabled golden cities.

Question 4

Hernán Cortés (1485–1547)

Answer 4

Spanish conquistador who defeated the Aztec Empire and claimed Mexico for Spain.

Question 5

Isabella of Castile (1451–1504)

Answer 5

Spanish monarch, along with her husband Ferdinand of Aragon, funded Christopher Columbus’ voyage across the Atlantic in 1492, leading to his discovery of the West Indies.

Question 6

Robert de La Salle (1643–1687)

Answer 6

French explorer who led an expedition down the Mississippi River in the 1680s.

Question 7

Bartolomé de Las Casas (1474–1566)

Answer 7

Reform-minded Spanish missionary who worked to abolish the encomienda system and documented the mistreatment of Indians in the Spanish colonies.

Question 8

Malinche (a.k.a. Doña Marina) (c1501–1550)

Answer 8

Indian slave who served as an interpreter for Hernán Cortés on his conquest of the Aztecs. Malinche later married one of Cortés’s soldiers, who took her with him back to Spain.

Question 9

Moctezuma (1466–1520)

Answer 9

Last of the Aztec rulers, who saw his powerful empire crumble under the force of the Spanish invasion, led by Hernán Cortés.

Question 10

Francisco Pizarro (c.1475–1541)

Answer 10

Spanish conquistador who crushed the Incas in 1532 and founded the city of Lima, Peru.

Question 11

Father Junipero Serra (1713–1784)

Answer 11

Franciscan priest who established a chain of missions along the California coast, beginning in San Diego in 1769, with the aim of Christianizing and civilizing native peoples.