Exploration Analogies Trivia Quiz

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.

Answer: The Amazon

Rene Robert de la Salle was the first European to sail down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico in 1682. Francisco de Orellana was the first European to descend down the Amazon, reaching the open ocean on 26th August 1542.

Answer: Endeavour

Queen Elizabeth knighted Francis Drake after he circumnavigated the world aboard his ship The Golden Hind from 1577-1580. James Cook was one of the great explorers of the 1700s. Three voyages into the Pacific Ocean provided not only charts of the unknown but proved that scurvy could be prevented by supplying the crew with fruit and vegetables. Cook's first voyage into the Pacific was aboard the Endeavour.

Answer: Aztecs

The remarkable conquistador Francisco Pizarro led a force of less than 200 men to Peru and defeated the Incan Empire. After kidnapping and executing the Incan ruler Atahualpa Pizarro's forces marched into the capital Cuzco in 1533. Hernando Cortes arrived in Mexico with 600 men and 20 horses.

His first act was to burn the ships in which they had arrived. By defeating local tribes and then forming alliances with them Cortes moved on the mighty Aztec Empire. After first entering the city of Tenochtitlan in 1519 Cortes fought the Aztecs until 1521 before he was again able to enter the city and this time raze, rebuild and rename it Mexico City.

Answer: William Wills

On one of the great journeys of exploration Lewis and Clark departed St Louis in 1804 and spent the next three years making their way to the Pacific coast and back. They charted rivers, described wildlife and found a way through the mighty Rocky Mountains. Burke and Wills led an exploration of central Australia in 1880-1881.

The party made their way across Australia to the Gulf of Carpenteria in the north. The expedition ended in tragedy when Burke and Wills' party, returning from the north, found their base camp had departed. Having stayed for four months, one month longer than ordered, the party had left a mere eight hours earlier. Burke and Wills both died of starvation in June 1861.

Answer: Cape Horn

Dias was the first European to sail around Africa's Cape of Good Hope in 1488. It was partly due to this achievement and the opening of a sea route to the East Indies that the Portuguese declined to fund Columbus' expedition westward. Willem Schouten was the first European to round Cape Horn, doing so in 1616 and naming it for his birthplace, the city of Hoorn. Earlier voyages into the Pacific by the likes of Drake and Magellan went via the narrow straits named after Magellan north of Cape Horn.

Answer: Lake Victoria

The two explorers began as partners searching for the source of the Nile in 1856. Burton insisted that Lake Tanganyika was the source of the Nile while Speke claimed (correctly) that the true source of the Nile was Lake Victoria. On September 16 1864 Speke died in a hunting accident, the day before he and Burton were to debate the issue.

The 1990 movie "Mountains of the Moon" told the story of the two explorers.

Answer: 1969

In 1492, funded by the Spanish Christopher Columbus set out westward to the East Indies; on October 12 he made landfall in the Bahamas. On three subsequent voyages he was unable to find a passage through to the East Indies. On July 16, 1969 Neil Armstrong, along with Edwin Aldrin and Michael Collins, left the Earth in Apollo 11 heading toward the moon. Four days later, on July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the moon.

Answer: Hawaii

Beginning his epic voyage with five ships Magellan arrived in the Philippines with three ships. One, the Santiago, had been wrecked and the San Antonio turned for home at Tierra del Fuego. Magellan involved himself in tribal politics in the Philippines and was killed in battle on 27th April 1521. Only one of his ships and 18 crew completed the circumnavigation of the globe under the command of Sebastian del Cano.

In 1779 James Cook, ashore in Hawaii, was stabbed and beaten to death by natives while attempting to retrieve a stolen longboat.

Answer: Vinland

Erikc was exiled from Iceland after killing two men, he settled in Greenland for three years. After returning to Iceland, he brought back between 400-500 settlers to join him in colonizing Greenland. One of Erik's sons was Leif Eriksson. He went further west with a crew of 35 others to settle in Vinland, believed to be present day Newfoundland.

There are two stories explaining Leif's appearance in Vinland. The first states that he headed in search of the new land after hearing earlier reports of the land from a sailor blown off course.

The second story tells that Leif himself was blown off course and arrived in Newfoundland on his way back to Greenland to spread Christianity.