The End of the Explorers Trivia Quiz

Answer: James Cook

James Cook was born near Middlesbrough on 27 October 1728 and joined the Royal Navy at the age of 16. He journeyed both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. In February 1779 after some native Hawaiians took a small boat from him, he and his men tried to take a hostage until the stolen item was returned.

Unfortunately, the hostage was Kalaniopu'u, a chief, and in the ensuing struggle, Cook was killed.

Answer: Vasco Nunez de Balboa

Balboa was born in 1475 in Spain and is credited as the first European to sight the Pacific Ocean, in 1513. In 1510 he established Santa Maria la Antigua del Darien in the area of Panama, one of the first European settlements in the New World and for a time served as its mayor.

He came into conflict with other conquistadors and in 1518 he was captured by Pizarro in Acla, Panama and beheaded there in 1519.

Answer: Diego de Almagro

Almagro was a Spanish conquistador and one time ally of Pizarro, accompanying him on the bloody conquest of Peru. After a conflict over the governorship of Cuzco, Almagro continued his search for gold south where he is credited with discovering Chile in 1535. Disappointed by the lack of treasure there, he returned to Cuzco where he encountered Pizarro who defeated him in battle and had him beheaded 8 July 1538.

Answer: Mungo Park

Born in 1771 and given a curious name, Mungo Park graduated from the College of Surgeons in London in 1793. After an arduous journey which included a brief imprisonment, Park was the first European to find the elusive Niger River. He returned in 1805 for a second expedition which included his brother-in-law Alexander Anderson. By October, most of the party including Anderson had died, but early in 1806 Mungo Park wrote to his wife that he intended to continue.

He was never heard from again. In 1827, his eldest son Thomas Park went to Africa in search of his father and tragically died there of fever.

Answer: Hernando de Soto

De Soto explored many areas of the southern United States in addition to being the first European to view the Mississippi River. Prior to this discovery, he had been a companion of Pizarro in his conquest of Central America and Peru. De Soto had convinced many of the native tribes near the Mississippi, in what would become Arkansas, that he was an immortal and a god so when he died of fever on 21 May 1542, his men decided to bury him secretly and leave the area.

Answer: Francisco de Orellana

De Orellana was related to Francisco Pizarro and in his early years in the New World served with his conquistador cousin. In 1541, he set off to explore new lands for the King of Spain and reached the Amazon around June 1542. He and his crew completed navigation of the full length of the river on 24 August 1542.

He set out with four ships for a second expedition to the Amazon in 1545 but died in November 1546 somewhere on the Amazon. Out of the 300 men who started this journey, only 44 survived.

Answer: Roald Amundsen

I could have added that he was the first to reach the South Pole in 1911, but that would certainly have made this question too easy. Amundsen also sailed the Northern Route in 1918 and crossed the Arctic in an airship in 1926. On 18 June 1928 Amundsen was in an airplane attempting to rescue the French crew of an airship which had crashed in the Arctic, when his plane disappeared.

It is believed that Amundsen and pilot Leif Dietrichson crashed in the Barents Sea.

Answer: Sir Francis Drake

Sir Francis Drake, renowned as an Elizabethan explorer and courtier, circumnavigated the globe and survived the journey, doing so in the "Golden Hind" in 1577-1579. During this journey, he came very close to Antarctica and was the first person documented to have sailed so far south.

It was nearly 200 years before James Cook sailed further south, in 1773. Drake set sail for the Americas in 1596 but died of dysentery off Portobelo, Panama, and was buried at sea.

Answer: Willem Barents

After publishing his atlas of the Mediterranean, cartographer Willem Barents of the Netherlands, was obsessed with finding the Northwest Passage. This passion led him to be one of the very early explorers to brave the harsh Arctic and in his three expeditions to the region, he discovered many new islands. Barents died on board his ship near the island of Novaya Zemlya on 20 June 1597, shortly after commencing his third voyage.

The Barents Sea is named in his honor.

Answer: George Bass

George Bass was born in Lincolnshire, England on 30 January 1771 and during his career in the Royal Navy became the main surgeon on the colony on Norfolk Island near Australia. He circumnavigated Tasmania and explored much of the coast of Australia, keeping detailed notes of his observations and collecting many botanical specimens. During a voyage in 1801, he named the strait separating Tasmania and Australia the Bass Strait. On 5 February 1803, he set sail for Tahiti with the supposed intent of continuing to Chile in order to trade, but he was never heard from again.

Answer: William Lewis Herndon

William Lewis Herndon was born 25 October 1813 and during his career explored previously unknown areas of the Amazon region. He was captain of the "SS Central America" in September 1857 which was carrying 15 tons of gold, 474 passengers and 101 crew when it was mortally damaged off the coast of Cape Hatteras during a hurricane. Captain Herndon made sure as many of the passengers and crew as possible were safe before he sank with the ship. His daughter Ellen was married to Chester Arthur who became the 21st President of the United States.

Answer: Ernest Shackleton

Ernest Henry Shackleton was born in Ireland 15 February 1874 and went to sea with the merchant marines at the age of 16. He made four expeditions to Antarctica including his first with Robert Scott and one with the ill-fated "Endurance" in 1914-16. Despite his age, he attempted several times to enlist in the British Army during World War I but was unsuccessful.

In 1922 set off on his final Antarctic adventure when he died of a heart attack 4 January 1922 at the age of 47.

Answer: Vitus Bering

Vitus Bering was born in Denmark in 1681 but found a career in the Russian Navy. He explored many areas in the northern Pacific before dying of scurvy on 19 December 1741 on an island in the Komandorskiye Ostrova chain. That island now bears his name as do the Bering Sea and Bering Strait.

Answer: Henry Hudson

Henry Hudson was born in England around 1565 and like so many others, spent much of his career searching for the Northwest Passage. He worked for the Muscovy Company of England, the Dutch East India Company, the Virginia Company and the English East India Company while exploring the waterways of the eastern U.S.

He traveled much of the Chesapeake Bay, Delaware Bay, New York Harbor and of course, the Hudson River. In 1611 after he and his crew spent the winter in what would become Hudson Bay, his crew revolted when he refused to return home.

Henry Hudson, his young son and 8 crewmen were set adrift in a small open boat. None of the mutineers were punished for the deed.

Answer: Edward Higgins White

All of these astronauts lost their lives in the pursuit of space exploration, but Edward White was a personal hero of mine when I was very young. White was born 14 November 1930 and made his famous spacewalk 3 June 1965 on Gemini 4. He was selected for the 1st Apollo mission but tragically was killed in a fire on the capsule during a test on 27 January 1967.

This fire also claimed the lives of fellow astronauts Gus Grissom and Roger Chaffee. Charlie Bassett was a U.S astronaut and was killed during a training flight in 1966.