Explorers and Discoverers

Question 1

Edwin Aldrin Jr. (“Buzz”)

Answer 1

(1930-present) Astronaut and the 2nd man to walk on the moon.

Question 2

Roald Amundsen

Answer 2

(1872-1928) Explorer known for leading the 1st successful party to the South Pole.

Question 3

Niel Alden Armstrong

Answer 3

(1930-2012) Astronaut and 1st person to walk on the moon. Upon his first step on the moon, Armstrong said, “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

Question 4

Colonel Daniel Boone

Answer 4

(1734-1820) American pioneer, soldier, and explorer who founded the 1st US settlement west of the Appalachian mountains.

Question 5

Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd

Answer 5

(1888-1957) Arctic and Antarctic explorer, pioneering aviator, and US Naval officer. On May 9, 1926, Byrd (the navigator) and Floyd Bennett (the pilot) made what may have been the first airplane trip over the North Pole in a 15.5 hour flight.

Question 6

Hernán Cortés (also spelled Cortez)

Answer 6

(1485-1547) Spanish adventurer and conquistador (he was also a failed law student) who overthrew the Aztec empire and claimed Mexico for Spain (1519-1521).

Question 7

Vasco da Gama

Answer 7

(1460-1524) Portuguese explorer who discovered an ocean route from Portugal to the East (India).

Question 8

Bartolomeu Dias

Answer 8

(1457-1500) Portuguese navigator and explorer who led the first European expedition to sail around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope in 1487.

Question 9

Erik the Red

Answer 9

(c. 950-1003) Viking explorer was the first European to sail to Greenland.

Question 10

Leif Erikson

Answer 10

(c. 980-1020) Viking (Norse) explorer who was possibly the first European to sail to North America. Landed in what is now called Newfoundland (he called this Vinland). Erikson sailed around the year 1000.

Question 11

Colonel Yuri Gagarin

Answer 11

(1934-1968) Soviet cosmonaut and the first human in space. `

Question 12

John Glenn

Answer 12

(1921-present) Piloted the first American-manned orbital mission on February 20, 1962.

Question 13

Sir Edmund Percival Hillary

Answer 13

(1919-2008) Mountain climber, Antarctic explorer, and beekeeper from New Zealand whose expedition was the first to each the top of Mount Everest on May 29, 1953.

Question 14

Henry Hudson

Answer 14

(1565-1611) English explorer and navigator who explored parts of the Arctic Ocean and northeastern North America. The Hudson River, Hudson Strait, and Hudson Bay are named for him.

Question 15

René-Robert Cavalier, Sieur de La Salle

Answer 15

(1643-1687) French explorer who was the first European to travel the length of the Mississippi River (1682).

Question 16

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark

Answer 16

(1774-1809) (1770-1838) American surveyors who set out in 1804 to explore and map the American West. Lewis and Clark were accompanied by a crew of men and an Indian guide and interpreter, Sacagawea, and her infant son.

Question 17

Ferdinand Magellan

Answer 17

(1480-1521) Portuguese explorer who led the first expedition that sailed around the earth (1519-1522). Magellan also named the Pacific Ocean.

Question 18

Robert Edwin Peary

Answer 18

(1856-1920) American explorer and naval officer who led the first expedition to the North Pole in 1909.

Question 19

Francisco Pizarro

Answer 19

(1478-1541) Spanish conquistador “discovered” the Incan empire and conquered it brutally and quickly, stealing immense hoards of gold, silver, and other treasures.

Question 20

Marco Polo

Answer 20

(1254-1324) Italian voyager and merchant who was one of the first Europeans to travel across Asia through China, visiting the Kublai Khan in Beijing. He left in 1271 (he was a teenager at the time) with his father (Nicolo Polo) and uncle (Maffeo Polo); they spent about 24 years traveling.

Question 21

Juan Ponce de Leon

Answer 21

(c. 1460-1521) Spanish explorer and soldier was the first European to set foot in Florida. Ponce de Leon was searching for the legendary fountain of youth and other riches.

Question 22

Prince Henry the Navigator

Answer 22

(1394-1460) Portuguese royal prince, soldier, and patron of explorers. Henry sent many sailing expeditions down Africa’s west coast but did not go on them himself.

Question 23

Robert Falcon Scott

Answer 23

(1868-1912) British explorer who led multiple expeditions to the Antarctic.

Question 24

Alan Shepard Jr.

Answer 24

(1923-1998) Astronaut who piloted America’s first manned space mission.

Question 25

Amerigo Vespucci

Answer 25

(1454-1512) Italian explorer who was the first person to realize that the Americas were separate from the continent of Asia. America was named for him in 1507, when the German mapmaker Martin Waldseemüller printed the first map that used the name America for the New World.