Famous Explorers
Instructions: Test your knowledge of history's greatest explorers!
- 1.
Who led the first expedition to successfully circumnavigate the globe?
AChristopher ColumbusBFerdinand MagellanCVasco da GamaDFrancis Drake - 2.
Which explorer is credited with 'discovering' America in 1492?
AChristopher ColumbusBLeif EriksonCJohn CabotDAmerigo Vespucci - 3.
Who was the first person to reach the South Pole?
ARichard ByrdBErnest ShackletonCRoald AmundsenDRobert Falcon Scott - 4.
Which Portuguese explorer was the first European to reach India by sea?
ABartolomeu DiasBVasco da GamaCPrince Henry the NavigatorDPedro Álvares Cabral - 5.
Lewis and Clark led an expedition to explore which part of the world?
ACentral AfricaBSouth AmericaCThe ArcticDWestern North America - 6.
Which explorer is known for his search for the source of the Nile River?
ARichard Francis BurtonBMungo ParkCHenry Morton StanleyDDavid Livingstone - 7.
Who led the first successful expedition to the summit of Mount Everest in 1953?
AGeorge MalloryBEdmund Hillary and Tenzing NorgayCReinhold MessnerDJohn Hunt - 8.
Which explorer named the Pacific Ocean?
AFerdinand MagellanBFrancis DrakeCVasco Núñez de BalboaDJames Cook - 9.
Who was the famous journalist sent to find David Livingstone in Africa?
AJohn SpekeBHenry Morton StanleyCRichard Francis BurtonDSamuel Baker - 10.
Which Viking explorer is believed to have reached North America around 1000 AD?
AHarald HardradaBErik the RedCBjorn IronsideDLeif Erikson - 11.
Which explorer led three voyages to the Pacific and was killed in Hawaii in 1779?
AJames CookBFrancis DrakeCAbel TasmanDWilliam Dampier - 12.
Who was the first European to reach the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa?
AVasco da GamaBPrince Henry the NavigatorCBartolomeu DiasDAlfonso de Albuquerque - 13.
Which Spanish conquistador conquered the Aztec Empire?
AHernando de SotoBFrancisco PizarroCVasco Núñez de BalboaDHernán Cortés - 14.
Who led the expedition that first reached the North Pole, a claim generally credited in 1909?
ARoald AmundsenBFridtjof NansenCRobert PearyDFrederick Cook - 15.
Which explorer's failed Antarctic expedition aboard the Endurance became one of history's greatest survival stories?
ADouglas MawsonBRoald AmundsenCRobert Falcon ScottDErnest Shackleton
Answer Key
Ferdinand Magellan organized the Spanish expedition that departed in 1519. Although Magellan himself was killed in the Philippines in 1521, his crew completed the circumnavigation in 1522 under Juan Sebastián Elcano.
Christopher Columbus, sailing for Spain, reached the Caribbean islands in 1492. Though Vikings had reached North America centuries earlier, Columbus's voyages led to lasting European contact with the Americas.
Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen and his team reached the South Pole on December 14, 1911, beating Robert Falcon Scott's British expedition by about five weeks.
Vasco da Gama reached Calicut, India, in 1498 after sailing around the Cape of Good Hope, establishing a sea route from Europe to Asia.
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark led the Corps of Discovery expedition (1804-1806) across the western portion of the United States, from St. Louis to the Pacific Ocean and back.
Sir Richard Francis Burton, along with John Hanning Speke, led expeditions in the 1850s to find the source of the Nile. Speke identified Lake Victoria as the source, though Burton disagreed.
New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay reached the summit of Mount Everest on May 29, 1953, as part of a British expedition led by Colonel John Hunt.
Ferdinand Magellan named the ocean 'Mar Pacifico' (Peaceful Sea) in 1520 because of the calm waters he encountered after navigating the stormy strait at the tip of South America.
Henry Morton Stanley was sent by the New York Herald in 1869 to find Dr. David Livingstone, who had been out of contact in Africa. Their meeting in 1871 produced the famous greeting, 'Dr. Livingstone, I presume?'
Leif Erikson is believed to have been the first European to set foot on North American soil, around 1000 AD, establishing a settlement at Vinland (likely in Newfoundland, Canada).
Captain James Cook made three voyages to the Pacific Ocean, mapping many areas for the first time. He was killed during a conflict with native Hawaiians at Kealakekua Bay in 1779.
Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope in 1488, proving it was possible to sail from Europe to Asia around Africa. He originally named it the Cape of Storms.
Hernán Cortés arrived in Mexico in 1519 and conquered the Aztec Empire by 1521, capturing the capital city of Tenochtitlan and its ruler Montezuma II.
Robert Peary claimed to have reached the North Pole on April 6, 1909, with his assistant Matthew Henson and four Inuit men, though this claim has been debated by historians.
Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1914-1916) became a legendary survival story when the ship Endurance was crushed by ice, yet all 28 crew members were eventually rescued.