It’s Academic American History 1492- 1701

Question 1

1492:

Answer 1

Spain’s King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella finance Christopher Columbus’s trip; Columbus lands at San Salvador Island (present-day Bahamas) on October 12

Question 2

1497:

Answer 2

Sailing for Henry VII of England, John Cabot discovers Newfoundland

Question 3

1507

Answer 3

: German mapmaker Martin Waldseemiiller names America for Amerigo
Vespucci

Question 4

1513

Answer 4

: In the same year that Vasco de Balboa discovers the Pacific, Juan Ponce de
Leon, governor of Puerto Rico from 1509-1512, searches through present-day
Florida for the Fountain of Youth
1

Question 5

1521:

Answer 5

Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan, leading expedition that
circumnavigates the globe, is killed by natives in the Philippines, and Juan
Sebastian del Cano completes the trip
1

Question 6

1524

Answer 6

: Commissioned by Francis I of France, Giovanni de Verrazano discovers New
York Harbor
1

Question 7

1534-35:

Answer 7

Sailing for France, Jacques Cartier explores the St. Lawrence River to
modern-day sites of Quebec and Montreal

Question 8

1540

Answer 8

: Francisco de Coronado explores the American Southwest seeking the Seven
Cities of Cibola; he was the first European in present-day Arizona and New Mexico,
and his men probably were the first to see the Grand Canyon
1

Question 9

1541

Answer 9

: Hernando de Soto explores Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee,
Alabama, and Oklahoma; first European to see the Mississippi River; he dies on the
expedition and is buried in the Mississippi River.
1

Question 10

1565

Answer 10

: Don Pedro Menedez de Aviles establishes St. Augustine as the first permanent
settlement in what is now the present-day USA (Florida)
1

Question 11

1570

Answer 11

: The Oneida, Cayuga, Mohawk, Onondaga, and Seneca tribes of present-day
upstate New York create the Iroquois Confederation
1

Question 12

1579

Answer 12

: Aboard The Golden Hind, Sir Francis Drake is first Englishman to
circumnavigate globe

Question 13

1587

Answer 13

\: Financed by Sir Walter Raleigh, the first English settlement is established at
Roanoke Island (off North Carolina). Virginia Dare becomes first child born of English parents in the New World; Raleigh names whole East Coast of present-day US, "Virginia"-- in honor of Elizabeth I, the "Virgin Queen"

Question 14

1591

Answer 14

: Supply ships come to Roanoke and discover everyone gone; the only clue is the word, “Croatan” carved into a tree
1

Question 15

1607

Answer 15

: The first permanent English settlement is established at Jamestown (Virginia); their ships were Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery

Question 16

1608

Answer 16

: John Smith becomes de facto leader of Jamestown and explores much of the Chesapeake Bay region; he claims to have been captured by Indians under Powhatan and saved from death by the Indian princess Pocahontas, daughter of Powhatan; publishes A True Relation of Virginia in England

Question 17

1608

Answer 17

: Having already explored the St. Lawrence Seaway (1603), Samuel De Champlain founds Quebec

Question 18

1610

Answer 18

: Santa Fe, oldest present-day state capital, is founded by Spanish governor Pedro de Peralta

Question 19

1611

Answer 19

: After having explored the river and bay named for him, Dutch explorer Henry Hudson is cast adrift in Hudson Bay in a lifeboat by his mutinous crew

Question 20

1614

Answer 20

: Pocahontas marries first tobacco grower John Rolfe and moves to England two years later; she dies at age 23 in 1617