New Horizons: Early Exploration Efforts

Question 1

Viking adventurer who sailed to America around A.D. 1000

Answer 1

Leif Ericson

Question 2

Device used to determine navigational location by measuring the angles of celestial bodies above the horizon

Answer 2

An astrolabe

Question 3

Son of an Italian merchant who accompanied his father and his uncle on a trip to China in 1271

Answer 3

Marco Polo

Question 4

Promoted the spirit of exploration in Portugal

Answer 4

Prince Henry the Navigator

Question 5

Reached the “Cape of Good Hope” in 1488, a feat many Europeans had said was impossible

Answer 5

Bartolomeu Dias

Question 6

First European to reach the Far East by sea in 1498

Answer 6

Vasco de Gama

Question 7

Landed on San Salvador on October 12, 1492

Answer 7

Christopher Columbus

Question 8

First man to realize that Columbus had discovered a new land

Answer 8

Amerigo Vespucci

Question 9

Built the first great civilization in the Western Hemisphere

Answer 9

Mayas

Question 10

Most important Indian civilization in South America (lived in the Andes Mountains of modern-day Peru)

Answer 10

Incas

Question 11

Most powerful Native American empire at the beginning of the Age of Exploration

Answer 11

Aztecs

Question 12

Made the first Spanish landing on the North American mainland when he discovered Florida while searching for a legendary “fountain of youth” in 1513

Answer 12

Ponce de León

Question 13

Crossed the Isthmus of Panama and discovered the Pacific Ocean in 1513

Answer 13

Vasco de Balboa

Question 14

Portuguese sailor employed by Spain who embarked on a three-year voyage around the world in 1519

Answer 14

Ferdinand Magellan

Question 15

Conquered the Aztec Indians

Answer 15

Hernando Cortés

Question 16

Conquered the Inca Indians of Peru between 1531 and 1533

Answer 16

Francisco Pizarro

Question 17

A party of his men discovered the Grand Canyon on a futile quest to find legendary cities made of gold between 1540 and 1542

Answer 17

Francisco Coronado

Question 18

Discovered the Mississippi River in 1541

Answer 18

Hernando de Soto

Question 19

A Portuguese employed by Spain who explored the coast of California in 1542

Answer 19

Juan Cabrillo

Question 20

To end the rivalry between Spain and Portugal, Pope Alexander VI, in 1493, drew an imaginary:

Answer 20

Line of Demarcation

Question 21

Portuguese sailor who discovered Brazil after being blown off course

Answer 21

Pedro Cabral

Question 22

An Italian explored for France the eastern coast of North America from North Carolina to Nova Scotia, Canada in 1524

Answer 22

Giovanni de Verrazano

Question 23

Led an expedition that discovered the St. Lawrence River in northeastern Canada between 1534 and 1535

Answer 23

Jacques Cartier

Question 24

The first modern explorer to reach the North American mainland…his exploration of “New-Found Land” (Newfoundland, Canada) gave England a major claim to territory in the New World (1497)

Answer 24

John Cabot