Exploring the New World Trivia Quiz

Answer: Leif Erikson

There are several versions of the story that relates to the Viking discovery of Vinland sometime around 1000 AD. In one story, the "Saga of Erik the Red", Leif was on his way to Greenland, where his father, Erik the Red, had been banished. Leif had been asked to visit the settlement and introduce Christian beliefs among the people there.

His ship was blown off course during a storm and he landed at Vinland quite by accident. Upon further exploring, the land was found to have an abundance of grapes and vines, hence its name.

Many archaeologists today believe the site of L'Anse aux Meadows in modern-day Newfoundland is what remains of Leif's original settlement. Today he is credited with being the first European to set foot on the continent of North America.

Answer: Christopher Columbus

Columbus landed on the island he called San Salvador on October 12, 1492; the native people called it Guanahani. Interestingly, it has still not been determined exactly which island in the Bahamas experienced his first landfall. He subsequently received money, ships, and men for three more voyages of discovery.

It was during the third voyage that Columbus landed on the coast of South America, and on the fourth he made landfall in the area today known as Central America. While Columbus should not be called the "discoverer" of the New World, there is no doubt that his voyages launched a new age in Europe, and - after more than five hundred years - the debate still continues as to whether his legacy is positive or negative.

Answer: Francisco Coronado

Francisco Coronado was the leader of an expedition that explored much of the southwestern part of the United States from 1540-42. His search took him from modern day Compostela, Mexico, through parts of New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas.

He was mostly driven by the legend of the Cities of Cíbola, or Seven Cities of Gold; however, he did not find even a trace of such wealth. What he did find were massive herds of buffalo, many groups of Native Americans, the Colorado River, and members of one of his scouting parties became the first Europeans to see the Grand Canyon.

Answer: Pedro Cabral

Concerned over the prospect of Spain and Portugal going to war to compete for land in the New World, the Roman Catholic pope intervened. The Treaty of Tordesillas, signed by both countries in 1494, divided the land in the New World between the two, even though no one knew at that time how much land there was and where it all was located! Sailing from Portugal in 1500, Pedro Cabral was actually on his way to the Indies when he sailed in the western Atlantic and landed on what he believed was a continent.

He was sure to claim the land that had been allocated to Portugal, but didn't linger as reaching Calicut, India, was his main objective. São Vicente, the first Portuguese settlement in Brazil, was settled by Martim Afonso de Sousa in 1532.

Answer: Henry Hudson

Henry Hudson was famously set adrift in Hudson Bay by his mutinous crew in 1611 to end his second voyage. Prior to that, however, the English captain made another voyage of exploration to the New World in 1609 on behalf of the Dutch East India Company. That explains why the area around the Hudson River was claimed by the Dutch, who settled New Amsterdam in 1625.

A year later, employed by the Virginia Company and the British East India Company, Hudson sailed further north through Hudson Strait and found Hudson Bay. Did he finally find the elusive Northwest Passage? Even though he wanted to continue to explore, his crew wished to return home.

He and seven of his men, including his son, were set adrift; although searches were later made, no clue was ever found regarding their fate.

Answer: Vasco Núñez de Balboa

Balboa, influenced by the voyages of Columbus, joined an expedition to South America led by Rodrigo de Bastidas in 1500. Afterwards he stayed on in Hispaniola, hoping to make a living as a farmer, but found himself in debt after several years. He escaped as a stowaway on a ship heading toward modern-day Colombia.

As chance would have it, Balboa went from being a poor refugee to a judge of the settlement of Santa María la Antigua del Darién, the first permanent European settlement on the American mainland, to a governor of the region known as Veragua.

It was in this capacity that he eventually made his way across the Isthmus of Panama and became the first European to view the Pacific Ocean in 1513.

Answer: Amerigo Vespucci

As Columbus was making his voyages, many people believed that he was exploring the far eastern edge of Asia. Amerigo Vespucci was the explorer who made the claim that what is known as South America today was actually a new continent. It is difficult to know exactly how many voyages he made to the area he referred to as the "Mundus Novus", the New World, in a 1502 letter sent to Lorenzo de Medici.

While four letters about different voyages of discovery exist, historians believe that two of them are probably false testimonies.

The 1502 letter is one that has been validated and is believed to have been written as the result of an actual voyage. On the return home that year Vespucci also charted the stars and named the constellation that today is still called the Southern Cross. Two later mapmakers, Martin Waldseemuller in 1507, and Gerardus Mercator in 1538, used the name America for the new land in honor of Vespucci's contribution.

Answer: Jacques Cartier

Jacques Cartier made three voyages to modern day Canada looking for a passage to Asia; during the first voyage in 1534 he discovered the Gulf of St. Lawrence, found the entrance to the St. Lawrence River, and claimed the land he discovered for France.

It was on the second voyage that he sailed down the St. Lawrence River, certain that it was the Northwest Passage. His expedition had to stop, however, when his small boat reached rapids that blocked further progress. While he was not the first European to find the land he called Canada (from the Huron-Iroquois "kanata", which means village), he was the first to explore the interior of the land mass.

Answer: John Cabot

Historians know the Vikings were on the eastern coast of North America close to five hundred years before John Cabot. Cabot's claim to fame, however, is the fact that his landfall was in approximately the very same area where the Vikings had made their settlement.

He spent about a month in the area, mapping the coastline, before returning to England. A year later he was given ships and men with which to make another voyage, but to this day no one really knows what happened to the group. Some believe that the ships were lost at sea, while others believe Cabot was able to return home with more maps - perhaps even going as far south as Chesapeake Bay - and died shortly after.

Answer: Francisco de Orellana

Francisco de Orellana served under his friend, Franscisco Pizzaro, during the Spanish conquest of Peru in 1533, and is credited with the founding of the city of Guayaquil, Ecuador, in 1538. After being appointed second in command to Pizzaro's half-brother, Gonzalo, in 1541, Orellana took part in an expedition to discover new land.

He and his men left Guayaquil in February of that year and traveled the entire expanse of the Amazon River, reaching its mouth in August, 1542. Interestingly, the Amazon had previously been known as Rio Grande, Mar Dulce, Rio de Canela, or the Orellana River; there are different stories about its new name. One is that Orellana's men were involved in a skirmish with natives from a tribe whose women fought with the men in battle. Charles I, who was king of Spain at the time, named the river after the warrior women called Amazons from Greek legends after hearing the story.