Explorers & Their Origins
Leif Eriksson was born on this island nation, the homeland of his father Erik the Red.
What is Iceland?
In this year, Columbus set sail from Palos, Spain with about 120 men on three ships.
What is 1492?
Leif Eriksson's father, Erik the Red, discovered and named this icy island, giving it a name that didn't match its topography.
What is Greenland?
Leif Eriksson earned this nickname after rescuing 15 shipwrecked sailors on his voyage home from Vinland.
What is "Leif the Lucky"?
These two Spanish monarchs signed a contract with Columbus on April 17, 1492, agreeing to sponsor his westward voyage.
Who are King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella?
Historians believe the germs Europeans carried killed this percentage of the Native American population within 100 years of contact.
What is 50-80 percent?
This ancient instrument, refined by Islamic astronomers, measured the angle of stars or the sun above the horizon to help sailors determine their latitude.
What is the astrolabe?
This term describes the widespread exchange of plants, animals, people, diseases, and goods between the Old World and New World after 1492.
What is the Columbian Exchange?
This Italian city was the birthplace of Marco Polo.
What is Venice?
John Cabot sailed from Bristol, England with this ship.
What is the Matthew?
This was the name Leif Eriksson gave to the land likely near present-day Cape Cod or Newfoundland, known for its resources.
What is Vinland?
This is the title of the popular book Marco Polo dictated to a fellow prisoner named Rustichello while in prison.
What is The Travels of Marco Polo?
This Portuguese prince established a school of navigation, mapmaking, and shipbuilding in 1418.
Who is Prince Henry the Navigator?
This Aztec king welcomed Hernando Cortes, mistakenly believing him to be a returning Aztec god.
Who is Montezuma?
This Chinese invention used a magnetized needle that always pointed north, helping sailors find direction even out of sight of land.
What is the magnetic compass?
These New World crops were brought back to Europe and transformed European diets.
What are corn, potatoes, and tomatoes?
Christopher Columbus was born in this Mediterranean seaport in Italy.
What is Genoa?
This is the name of the ship Columbus captained on his first voyage, a vessel type called a Nao.
What is the Santa Maria?
Columbus named this first island he landed on 'San Salvador,' though most historians believe it's in the present-day Bahamas. What does San Salvador mean?
What is Holy Savior?
Historians call Prince Henry the Navigator this nickname, since he financed expeditions but never personally sailed on them.
What is "the explorer who stayed home"?
King Henry VII granted this explorer and his sons letters patent to seek new lands and claim them for England.
Who is John Cabot?
This Spanish conquistador, joined by Hernando de Soto, captured the Inca king Atahualpa and eventually had him strangled.
Who is Francisco Pizarro?
This quarter-circle-shaped instrument measured the altitude of a star above the horizon to help calculate latitude.
What is the quadrant?
Europeans introduced these animals to the Americas for the first time.
What are horses, cattle, and pigs?
This explorer's given Italian name was Giovanni Caboto.
Who is John Cabot?
Around this year, Leif Eriksson bought Bjarni Herjolfsson's boat and set out to retrace his voyage.
What is 1000-1001?
This was the name given to the land Cabot's crew found and thought was an island off the coast of NE Asia.
What is Newfoundland ("new founde land")?
This new type of ship, developed at Prince Henry's school, was used widely during the Age of Exploration.
What is the Caravel?
This 1494 treaty moved the Line of Demarcation further west, allowing Portugal to claim Brazil.
What is the Treaty of Tordesillas?
By this year, Mexico had become a Spanish colony after Cortes conquered the Aztec Empire.
What is 1521?
This wooden cross-shaped tool, also called a cross-staff, measured the angle between the horizon and a star or the sun.
What is the Jacob's staff?
Unlike Columbus, this explorer understood that the lands he explored were not Asia, but an entirely new "World" between Europe and Asia.
Who is Amerigo Vespucci?
This Spanish conquistador and explorer was born to a poor noble family in Jerez de los Caballeros.
Who is Vasco Nunez de Balboa?
This many days passed on Columbus's first voyage before his crew, terrified, demanded they turn back.
What is 33 days?
Standing atop a tall cliff in Panama, Balboa became the first European to sight this ocean, which he called the Mar del Sur.
What is the Pacific Ocean?
Columbus became known by this Spanish version of his name after moving to Spain.
What is Cristobal Colon?
Columbus asked this Portuguese king to finance his westward expedition in 1484, but was refused.
Who is King John II?
This Spanish governor, nicknamed "the Cruel," spread false charges of treason against Balboa, leading to his execution.
Who is Pedrarias (Pedro Arias de Avila)?
This simple Arab navigational tool used a wooden board and a knotted string held up to a star to measure its altitude.
What is the kamal?
Marco Polo's book about his travels went by several titles, including The Travels of Marco Polo and this alternate title referring to the whole world.
What is The Description of the World?
This Italian merchant and navigator, educated by his uncle in Latin, astronomy, and navigation, had a continent named after his first name.
Who is Amerigo Vespucci?
Balboa left this location with 100-200 Spanish colonists on September 1, 1513, beginning his trek across Panama.
What is Darien?
This new continent was named in 1507 by German mapmaker Martin Waldseemuller after an explorer's first name.
What is America?
This Viking explorer is considered the first recorded European to reach North America, about 500 years before Columbus.
Who is Leif Eriksson?
Besides riches and titles, Columbus insisted on being named this.
What is Admiral of the Ocean Sea?
Conquistadors like Cortes and Pizarro conquered these two great Native American civilizations in Mexico and Peru.
What are the Aztec and Inca empires?
This fast, maneuverable Portuguese ship, developed at Prince Henry's school, used triangular lateen sails and was ideal for exploring the African coast.
What is the caravel?
While in China, Marco Polo observed several Chinese inventions unknown in Europe at the time, including paper money, printing, and this explosive substance.
What is gunpowder?