Explorers Trivia

1. Davy Crockett or Daniel Boone? Which man died at the Alamo?

From Quiz Davy Crockett or Daniel Boone?

Answer: Davy Crockett

Most historians believe Crockett died at the Alamo on March 6, 1836. However, there are conflicting accounts on how he died. Some believe he died fighting off the enemy while making a courageous last stand. Others say he and the other surviving fellow fighters surrendered and were executed. Crockett was 49 years old when he died.

From Quiz Sailing

Answer: Hanno the Navigator

Hanno wrote down the account of his voyage, and this tablet was transcribed many times. Scientists from the 20th century have discovered many factual errors in the report, but they may have been inserted intentionally to keep the Carthaginian discoveries a secret. Hanno lived in the 6th or 5th century BC, possibly around the time of the Greek-Persian Wars. According to his report, he sailed with 60 ships and reached at the end of his journey a mountain where fierce hirsute people lived - Hanno called these "gorillas". Some scientists later identified this mountain as Mount Cameroon in the eponymous Central-African country. Around the same time as Hanno sailed south, a compatriot of his sailed north via the Portuguese and Spanish coasts up to the English Channel. This compatriot was Himilco. Euthymenes of Massilia was a Greek explorer who, like Hanno, followed the African coast from Morocco southwards. Probably Euthymenes made it to the mouth of the river Senegal. Scylax started about 500 BC a sailing expedition of which the details are unclear. Probably he started on the Kabul river (nowadays Afghanistan), turned south at the Indus and then west across the Arabian Sea to the Red Sea.

From Quiz Meet 70 Explorers - Part 1, Amundsen to Bonington

Answer: Navigation of North West passage.

As a child Amundsen was inspired by the story of the Franklin expedition in search of the North West passage. In 1903 Amundsen left Oslo in his sloop Gjoa, finally arriving at Nome, Alaska in September 1906, thus being the first to succeed at navigating the North West passage.

From Quiz Well, You're the Mountain Man

Answer: Ang Rita

A member of the Sherpa ethnic group, Ang Rita was born in Nepal in 1948. He was the first person to summit Mount Everest 10 times and incredibly he did not use supplemental oxygen for any of those ascents. A fellow Nepalese mountain man, Kami Rita Sherpa, became the first person to summit Mount Everest 22 times when he completed his 22nd ascent in May 2018.

From Quiz George De Long in the Kingdom of Ice

Answer: Pandora

Many sailors thought it was bad luck to rename a ship, but Bennett thought that this ship should have a better name than Pandora, the unlucky woman of Greek myth. It was rechristened Jeannette after Bennett's sister.

From Quiz Old Fires/New Frontiers

Answer: South Africa

Berger graduated from Southern Georgia University in 1989 and then moved to South Africa to study palaeoanthropology at the University of the Witwatersrand ('Wits') in South Africa on the doctoral level. He remained in South Africa after gaining his doctorate and remained attached to Wits. At Malapa, he discovered an Australopithecus sediba type site. This is his most noteworthy discovery. He led the Rising Star Expedition which involved the excavation of Homo naledi in the cave system. He has also led excavations at Sterkfontein, Swartkrans, and Gladysvale. Berger is a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence and has been a very public persona in palaeoanthropology. In 2016, he was named one of the "100 most influential people" by "Time" magazine. This question was dug up by Phoenix Rising member tazman6619.

From Quiz You Didn't Want to do That

Answer: James Cook

Captain James Cook is known for his circumnavigation of New Zealand and his discovery of Botany Bay. Cook made three global navigations of the world and was involved in the exploration of Newfoundland, St Lawrence River, New Zealand, eastern Australia and finally Hawaii. Unfortunately, in Hawaii Cook met his death.

From Quiz The New Old

Answer: Peru and Bolivia

Lake Titicaca is the largest lake in South America, at least by volume. Lake Maracaibo has more surface area, but can be considered a bay due to its connection to the sea (the Caribbean Sea, specifically the Gulf of Venezuela). Mark Aldenderfer (b.1950) has done significant work in the field of high-altitude adaptation, with research in the Andes and Himalayas.

From Quiz Is There Anybody Out There?

Answer: Carthage

Hanno the Navigator led a fleet of 60 Carthaginian ships through the Straits of Gibraltar and down the coast of northwest Africa. Hanno famously encountered a tribe of "hirsute and savage people" whom he called 'Gorillai'. More than 2,000 years later, when Europeans first came across gorillas, it was thought that they were the same tribe described by Hanno, and thus were mankind's close relatives named.

From Quiz Sailing - over the briny and not so briny...

Answer: Colorado River

John Wesley Powell, born in March 1834 in New York state, was not only a soldier and a geologist, but was also an explorer of the western areas of the US. He later was the second director of the US Geological Survey and then the director of the Bureau of Ethnology at the Smithsonian Institute. Powell sailed from the Green River in Wyoming to the Colorado (which was then sometimes still known as the Grand) and on through the Grand Canyon, which was the first known expedition through the Canyon. He named Glen Canyon and Lake Powell, a man-made lake of the Colorado, was named after him. Lake Powell is the second largest reservoir in the US, next to Lake Mead in Nevada. For a man with only one arm, most of his right arm having been shot off during the Civil War, he did a lot of traveling and exploration of the West.

From Quiz Audacious African Adventurers

Answer: Hanno the Navigator

The record of Hanno II of Carthage, known as Hanno the Navigator, is found in the "Periplus of Hanno the Navigator" and was transcribed from earlier copies late in the first millennium. Around 500 B.C. Hanno explored the northern and western coasts of Africa, replenishing known settlements near the Atlas Mountains and forming new ones as he went. He wrote detailed notes (a "novel" idea for the time period) which included distances and landmarks. Some of his notes described encounters with active volcanoes and the first known written report of gorillas.

From Quiz Where the Winds Blow

Answer: Rub' al Khali

Bertram Thomas was posted to various countries including Mesopotamia (as Iraq was then called) and Transjordan (now known as Jordan) in his capacity as an English civil servant. He was later appointed to the post of Finance Minister to the Sultan of Oman. While serving in this role, he became the first Westerner to cross the Rub' al Khali in 1930-31. He wrote a book entitled "Arabia Felix" documenting his journey across the Empty Quarter along with descriptions of the desert's fauna and the culture of the people living there.

From Quiz Random Explorers and Their Not-so-Random Ramblings

Answer: Juan Batista de Anza

Born in Mexico, De Anza found a corridor through the Sonoran desert, a bleak, desolate place, to what was then called New Albion, the northern coast of California. He founded the cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Jose. There is a De Anza Springs and a De Anza College in California.

From Quiz Carry On Up The Amazon

Answer: Theodore Roosevelt

President Roosevelt decided not to run for re-election in 1908, instead endorsing William Taft as his successor. By 1912 he had fallen out with Taft and ran against him for the nomination. When he failed to secure it he decided to form the Bull Moose Party and ran as a third candidate. He came second in the election, beating Taft, but lost to Woodrow Wilson. Following his defeat, he decided to mount a South American exploration expedition. Whilst on this he contracted malaria, which left his health damaged. He died at the age of 60. Question by Christinap

From Quiz Got your 'Bering'? Let's explore!

Answer: Denmark

Bering was born on 12th August, 1681 to Jonas Svendsen Halmstad and Anne Pedersdatter Bering in Horsens, Denmark. Horsens is located in East Jutland at the end of the Horsens fjord. It lies approximately 200 kilometers from Copenhagen.

From Quiz First to the Top Seven

Answer: Jacques Balmat and Michel Paccard

Based on a challenge by Horace-Bénédict de Saussure, a Swiss physicist and alpine traveller, the first successful Mont Blanc climb also marks the beginning of modern mountain climbing. In fact, one year before the first successful climb, de Saussure made a promising attempt of his own but had to abandon the expedition. Balmat and Paccard made it to the summit in 1786. Although the highest mountain that is undisputedly in Europe, Mont Blanc is not counted as part of the Seven Summits in any version of the list. However, due to its moderate difficulty and relative fame among mountaineers, it is almost inevitably a part of any Seven Summit conqueror's climbing career.

From Quiz Leading Ladies

Answer: Hester Stanhope

Lady Hester was the official hostess for, and secretary to, her uncle, the British Prime Minister Pitt the Younger. After his retirement, she was pensioned off, and used this money to go and "see the world". She eventually found her way to the Middle East where she ended her days amid her delusions of grandeur. Rowena8482 sometimes wishes she could live in a palace, but only one with an extensive room service menu!

From Quiz Dr. Livingstone, I presume?

Answer: The Silk Road

Marco Polo, a merchant from the Venetian Republic, is widely regarded as having introduced Europeans to Central Asia and China through his work "Il Milione" (or "Books of the Marvels of the World"). His travels along the Silk Road marked one of the earliest expeditions along this path by an European. Modern visitors to Venice are still reminded of the explorer's link with the city upon arrival in the Marco Polo International Airport.

From Quiz All I Need is a Tall Ship

Answer: Ming Dynasty

In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, China was actually actively trying to expand its power over nearby states. This was great news for potential seafarers, as China was easily the most powerful nation in the region and had plenty of resources to support a navy. Unfortunately, in the late 1400s the country turned inward, restricted ship size, frowned upon foreign trade, and tried to get rid of historical documentation of Admiral Zheng's voyages.

From Quiz Explorers Who Shouldn't Have Left Home

Answer: William John Wills

William John Wills (1834-1861), a surveyor, was promoted to second-in-charge (during the journey) of the Australian expedition from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Reaching Cooper Creek Qld., an approximate half-way point, a major camp was established. On December 16 1860 only Burke, Wills, Gray and King set out for the Gulf. They reached the Gulf area in mid-February 1861 but the return trip was tough with Gray dying on 16 April 1861. On the 21st April the other three just made the half-way camp. They were in very poor condition. Tragically the explorers who had waited for them had left for the south only nine hours before they arrived. Burke and Wills died there in late June 1861. King survived with Aboriginal assistance until found by a search party months later.

From Quiz Famous Explorers of the World

Answer: Ferdinand Magellan

Ferdinand Magellan was killed in the Philippines while fighting in a local war. Only 18 members of his crew completed the voyage and returned home.

From Quiz Great Explorers and Navigators 1400-1600

Answer: Bartholomeu Dias

Bartholomeu Dias called the place Cabo das Tormentas, "Storm Point". His journey ended at Great Fish River, where the crew forced him to turn. He drowned off the Cape of Good Hope as a member of an expedition led by Pedro Cabral.

From Quiz Exploration Analogies

Answer: Machu Picchu

Henri Mouhot rediscovered the ruins of Angkor Wat deep in the Cambodian jungle in 1860. Hiram Bingham found what the conquistadors could not in 1911. The Yale professor found the ruins half cleared by the local farmers already.

From Quiz Famous Pioneers and Their Journeys

Answer: Paris

"Lucky Lindy" was an instant hero, but his luck went sour. His son was kidnapped. His star tarnished later when he was somewhat "friendly" to Nazi Germany.

From Quiz Canada Explored

Answer: Samuel de Champlain

His name is also remembered in Lake Champlain, which he explored in 1609.

From Quiz Explorers of the New World

Answer: Sir Humphrey Gilbert

Sir Humphrey Gilbert died on his return from Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, when his ship the "Squirrel" sank near the Azores in the eastern Atlantic.

From Quiz 9 for 10 - Explorers

Answer: Vespucci

Amerigo Vespucci claimed to have discovered the Americas before any other explorer. This is open to dispute. However he did explore the north coast of South America in 1499 and 1500.

From Quiz Explorers Though Time

Answer: Timbuktu

All explorers that arrived there were disappointed by the sleepy and thirsty Timbuktu or Tombouctou, the 'Queen of the Desert'. Both Augila and Garama were mysterious ancient cities of the Sahara, known to the Romans but extinct at the 19th century. Zimbabwe is another 'lost city', capital in southern Africa.

From Quiz Explorers Of The World

Answer: Prince Henry

Prince Henry earned the nickname, 'Henry the Navigator'. He died in 1460.

From Quiz Exploring Explorers

Answer: James Cook

On Cook's third voyage to the Pacific in 1779 he was killed by natives in Hawaii. Cook is responsible for the discovery of several Pacific island groups.

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Last Updated Feb 07 2026 5:48 AM

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