Random Explorers and Their Not-so-Random Ramblings Quiz

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.

Answer: Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca

Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca was a Spanish explorer who left Spain for North American in 1527. He survived a hurricane near Cuba and landed on the western shore of Florida in 1528. After further hurricanes and troubles with the natives, the pilot of the ship sailed for Mexico, abandoning hundreds of men ashore.

The stranded men made rafts, of which two landed on what is now Galveston Island, Texas. By spring, when they began following the Colorado River westward, there were only 15 men left. By 1533 there were only four still alive.

Some of the natives they met were helpful; others kept them enslaved, and they had to escape. De Vaca and his fellow travelers were the first Europeans to see American buffalo. They finally reached Mexico City by 1536. Later, after being appointed the Spanish governor of what is now Paraguay, he explored the Paraguay River in South America and was the first European to see Iguacu Falls.

Answer: Jacques Cartier

Cartier got as far as 1,000 miles up the Saint Lawrence River, and also tried to start a settlement in Quebec in 1541 that was, however, abandoned because of a particularly severe winter. He named Canada after the Iroquois-Huron word "Kanata" which meant "village".

He had been given the route to "Kanata" from the Indians which led to a village near what is now Quebec City. However, he used the word for the entire area that became the country of Canada.

Answer: Juan de Fuca

De Fuca's original name was Apostolos Valerianos. In 1592 he sailed up the west coast of North America from Mexico to Vancouver Island, where he found the body of water that, in 1725, was named the Strait of Juan de Fuca. He believed it was a route to the Atlantic Ocean, which it is not. Spain refused to award him anything for this journey as the discovery of the Strait was not believed until Captain George Vancouver re-found it in the 1700's by tracing de Fuca's route.

Answer: Leif Ericsson

Herjulfsson had been blown off course from Iceland to Greenland in 985 or 986. When Ericsson heard that tale he, with a crew of 35, sailed north from the southern tip of Greenland to Baffin Island, which he called Helluland, then along the Baffin Island coast south to Labrador, which he called Markland, and finally, in 1001 he reached Newfoundland, which he called Vinland, where he began a settlement.

He and the crew returned in 1002 to Iceland.

Answer: Baron Alexander von Humboldt

Von Humboldt along with his friend, the French botanist Aime Bonpland, explored much of Peru, Mexico, Colombia and Equador, as well as the coast of Venezuela and the rivers Amazon and Orinoco. They also discovered the only natural canal in the world that connects two major rivers, the Casiquiare Canal. They collected specimens of flora and fauna and discovered the first animal that gives off electricity, the electric eel. They climbed mountains, mapped most of northern South American, and performed many scientific observations. After leaving that area they spent three months in the US as a guest of Thomas Jefferson who had just sent Lewis and Clark off on their expedition.

In addition to the Peru Current, as it is sometimes called, many other physical landmarks have been named for von Humboldt, including a mountain range, a salt marsh, various parks, counties and cities. Even a sea on the moon has been named for him, the Mare Humboldtianum.

Answer: Captain George Vancouver

Vancouver brought two ships to the northwest coast of North America, the Discovery and the Chatham. "Rediscovering" Juan de Fuca's Strait, which is now the border between Canada and the US, he followed it into Puget Sound, which he named for Peter Puget, a lieutenant on the Discovery.

After exploring that area they went north and circumnavigated Vancouver Island which, of course, was named for him, as is the city of Vancouver in mainland Canada. George Vancouver had previously served under James Cook on his second and third around the world voyages.

Answer: Giovanni da Verrazzano

Although sailing for the King of France, the brothers Verrazzano left from Madeira, Spain, in 1524 and landed at Cape Fear. They first sailed south, then turned north and sailed to the narrows that now bear their name. They then continued north, following the coast, up along Maine, southeastern Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, from whence they returned to France. Verrazzano wrote the King that he felt what is now known as Pamlico Sound was the beginning of the Pacific Ocean, from which one could get to China.

He believed that North America was a thin isthmus separating the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Answer: Robert Gray

Gray left Boston in 1787, traveled around the tip of South America, up to the Pacific Northwest and then across the Pacific to China, where he traded furs for tea. On leaving China, he sailed west and returned to Boston in 1790, thereby circumnavigating the world.

In 1792 he sailed up the Columbia River and also explored Gray's Harbor, in Washington, which was named after him. When he left that area he continued west and again circumnavigated the globe. He returned to Boston from this second circumnavigation in 1793.

Answer: Louis Jolliet

Jolliet and Father Jacques Marquette traveled along Lake Michigan to Green Bay, Wisconsin, took canoes up the Fox River and then went downstream on the Wisconsin River to the Mississippi. Where they left the Fox for the Wisconsin a trading post was later built, called Portage.

The explorers travelled almost all the way to the mouth of the Arkansas, which means they passed the mouth of the Missouri which later became so important to Lewis and Clark, but went no further because they were warned about both hostile Indians and Spanish.

They returned via the Illinois and Chicago rivers and then Lake Michigan. Unfortunately, Jolliet's canoe overturned on the Montreal River and his journal and maps were lost so the only knowledge we have of the trip is Father Marquette's diary.