Best of the Best: Spanish Conquistadors Quiz

Answer: Lima

The modern day capital and largest city in Peru, Lima, was founded by Pizarro in 1535. Originally named "Ciudad de los Reyes", Lima was designated as the capital of the Viceroyalty of Peru and was an important center of the Spanish trading network in the New World. Pizarro was eventually assassinated in Lima, and is buried in the Lima Cathedral.

Answer: Isthmus of Panama

At the time of Balboa's expedition in 1513, the Pacific Ocean was named the "South Sea", or "Mar del Sur", because the conquistadors had traveled south to reach it. Balboa and his men crossed the Isthmus of Panama in about a month's time after being spurred on by tales of a new kingdom rich in gold. Told by Native Americans that they would be able to see the great sea from the top of a mountain, Balboa pushed ahead, and viewed the water. On his famous circumnavigation expedition Ferdinand Magellan gave the sea its present name.

Answer: Gulf Stream

The Gulf Stream originates off the tip of Florida and continues up the eastern coastline of the United States to Newfoundland; it influences the climate of the entire area. On August 22, 1513, Ponce de Leon noted in his journal, "A current such that, although they had great wind, they could not proceed forward, but backward and it seems that they were proceeding well; at the end it was known that the current was more powerful than the wind."

Answer: Francisco Coronado

Coronado's expedition covered quite a bit of ground from modern day Kansas to Mexico. García López de Cárdenas, one of his captains, and a small group of men are considered to be the first Europeans to view the south rim of the Grand Canyon. Three men were ordered to travel into the Canyon with their native guides, but returned after completing only about a third of the trip.

They reported that some of the stones they encountered were "bigger than the great tower of Seville". It took two hundred more years before another group of Spanish explorers and priests traveled to the area while looking for a route between New Mexico and California.

Answer: Mississippi River

De Soto's expedition was looking for gold and silver, as well as a passage to Asia, when they came across the Mississippi River, which was a huge obstacle to overcome. It took about a month for his group of four hundred to cross the river; it is believed the crossing occurred near present-day Memphis, Tennessee. De Soto had made claims to Native Americans he encountered that he was a sun god; when he died in 1542, his men concealed his death, according to some sources, by weighing his body with sand and sinking it in the middle of the river.

Answer: California

Sources disagree regarding the nationality of Cabrillo; some claim he was Portuguese, while others say he was Spanish. He made his exploration to California while in the service of Spain; in fact, he had served under Cortes in Mexico before being assigned to explore the Pacific coast, to look for a trade route to Asia, as well as trading opportunities.

The expedition lasted five months, reaching present-day Point Reyes, which is about thirty miles northwest of San Francisco, before Cabrillo received an injury that eventually caused his death.

Answer: Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca

Part of an ill-fated expedition led by Pamfilo de Narvaez in 1527, de Vaca was one of four men out of the three hundred who began the journey to survive. He and his companions, Etevanico, Alonzo del Castillo Maldonado, and Andres Dorantes de Carranza, were initially kept as slaves by Native Americans, but they escaped and traveled through the Southwest, exploring Texas and Mexico for eight years before finally finding Spanish settlements and eventually returning to Spain. Later he returned to New Spain as the "adelantado" or governor of modern-day Argentina, and is known for leaving behind many detailed accounts of natives he encountered.

Answer: Juan de Oñate

In 1595, King Philip II of Spain requested that Juan de Oñate lead an expedition for the purpose of colonizing the northern area of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, and spreading Roman Catholicism by establishing new missions there. In 1598, after crossing the Rio Grande River near present day El Paso, Texas, he held a festival to give thanks. Best known for establishing the Spanish colony of New Mexico, Oñate had an interesting family connection.

He was married to Isabel de Tolosa Cortes Moctezuma, the granddaughter of Hernando Cortez, and great-granddaughter of Aztec Emperor Moctezuma Xocoyotzin, who is also known as Montezuma II.

Answer: Jamestown

It may be surprising to think of the Spanish colonizing as far north as Jamestown, but they did! The Spanish government was interested in finding a Northwest Passage to Asia, and they didn't want to miss it. Lucas Vazquez de Ayllon explored the James River and Chesapeake Bay, and was granted the land he discovered by King Charles V of Spain.

In 1526 he established a short-lived colony called San Miguel de Guadalupe, which is considered to be the first on the continental USA.

Answer: Alonso Álvarez de Pineda

The expedition of Alonso Álvarez de Pineda was financed by Francisco de Garay, the governor of Jamaica. He wished to create a boundry between the land that had already been claimed by Hernando Cortes and the land he wanted to claim for Garay. Although the original plan of claiming land for Garay had to be abandoned due to the declaration of Cortes that he had already claimed all of the land, the expedition accomplished quite a lot.

It proved that Florida was not an island, but a peninsula, and mapped for the first time the Gulf Coast of present day United States.