Early Explorers

Question 0

Rene-Robert de La salle

Answer 0

French explorer; explored the Great Lakes, Mississippi River, Canada, and the gulf of Mexico; Claimed the entire Mississippi River basin for France.

Question 1

Sir Walter Raleigh

Answer 1

English aristocrat, writer, poet, soldier, courtier, spy and explorer; try to find the city of gold.

Question 2

Hernando de Soto

Answer 2

Spanish explorers and Conquistadora; known for leading the first deep exploration into what’s now the USA. Also, the first European known to have crossed the Mississippi River.

Question 3

Christopher Columbus

Answer 3

Italian/Spanish explorer; went looking for a route to the West Indies, but instead, discovered the Americas.

Question 4

Juan Ponce de Leon

Answer 4

Spanish explorer and conquistador; conquistador; known for the first European expedition to Florida in search of the fountain of youth. Also, he was the first governor of Puerto Rico.

Question 5

Leif Eriksson

Answer 5

Son of Erik the red; known for discovery of Vinland and possibly newfoundland.

Question 6

Hernan Cortes

Answer 6

Spanish conquistador; known for conquering of the Aztecs with only 400 men.

Question 7

Jacques Cartier

Answer 7

French explorer; claims what is now Canada; first European to describe and map the gulf of saint Lawrence and the shores of saint Lawrence river.

Question 8

Vasco Nunez de Balboa

Answer 8

Spanish explorer, governor, and Conquistador; known for crossing the Isthmus of Panama to the Pacific ocean in 1513. Becoming the first European to have reached the Pacific from the New World.

Question 9

Francisco Pizzarro

Answer 9

Spanish conquistador; known for conquering the Incan empire.

Question 10

Bartolommeo de Las Casas

Answer 10

Spanish historian, social reformer, and Dominican friar; Became the first resident of the bishop of Chiapas; First officially named Protector of Indians; Famous writer

Question 11

Henry Hudson

Answer 11

English sea explorer and navigator; Made to attempts to make a route to China from around the Arctic Circle; Explored the Hudson River, and Bay.

Question 12

Samuel de Champlain

Answer 12

French navigator, cartographer, draughtsman, soldier, explorer, geographer, ethnologist, diplomat, and chronicler; Known for the exploration of New France foundation of Quebec City; Called the Father of New France.

Question 13

Vasco de Gama

Answer 13

Portuguese explorer; First European to reach India by sea.

Question 14

Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca

Answer 14

Spanish explorer of the New World; One of four survivors in the Narvaez expedition, wrote La Relacion

Question 15

Lois Jolliet/Jaques Marquette

Answer 15

First Europeans to map and explore much of the Mississippi River.

Question 16

Estevanico

Answer 16

First known person to be born in Africa and arrived at the continental USA; one of four survivors from the Narvaez expedition.

Question 17

John Cabot

Answer 17

Italian navigator and explorer; responsible for the discovery of some parts of North America under the commission of Henry VII of England; first European encounter with the mainland since the Norse expedition.

Question 18

Ferdinand Magellan

Answer 18

Portuguese explorer; known for being the first expedition to cross from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Also, the first to completely cross the Pacific and circumnavigate the Earth.

Question 19

Amerigo Vespucci

Answer 19

Italian explorer, financer, navigator, and cartographic; known for showing that the New World was not Asia, but a previously unknown continent.

Question 20

Giovanni de Varrazano

Answer 20

Italian explorer of North America; first European to explore the Atlantic Coast line Since the Norse expedition.

Question 21

Bartolommeo Dias

Answer 21

Portuguese explorer; known for being the first European to sail around the southernmost tip of Africa in 1488.