Explore the North
Let's get something strait; in 1724 Peter the Great appointed this Dane to find out if Asia & North America were connected by land; Next year this Dane went in search of a northeast passage; He died after his ship the St. Peter was wrecked in the Komandorskiye Islands in 1741.
Vitus Bering
He was born in 1728 in Yorkshire, England & died in a skirmish February 14, 1779 in Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii; The spear that killed him in 1779 sold at auction in 2003 for over $400,000.
James Cook
In 1642 this explorer made landfall at the Australian island now named for him; This Dutchman's discoveries of Fiji, Tonga & New Zealand were a disappointment, since they had no great wealth
Abel Tasman
In 1497 the 4 ships under his command included the Berrio & the Sao Rafael; Sailing from Portugal in July 1497, this explorer rounded the Cape of Good Hope & reached Mombasa in April of the next year
Vasco da Gama
Neither this Portuguese explorer nor his flagship the Trinidad completed his circumnavigation of the globe; Basque navigator Juan Sebastian del Cano completed his circumnavigation of the Earth
Ferdinand Magellan
Vitus Bering is the European credited with the discovery of land which is this state of the United States of America today.
Alaska
This country's 2 highest mountain peaks are named for James Cook & Abel Tasman
We believe you'll be "Abel" to name this sea between Australia & New Zealand that covers nearly a million square miles in area; Sydney, Australia is on an inlet of this sea
the Tasman Sea
Pedro Cabral was on his way to India when he somehow landed on the coast of South America & claimed this country for Portugal; This country's 1-centavo coin has 5 stars on the back & Portuguese explorer on the front
Brazil
Named after an explorer who tried to travel around the world, the Strait of Magellan is a key passageway between these 2 oceans
The Pacific and Atlantic
In 1725 the Russian government employed Vitus Bering to discover whether these 2 continents were connected
Asia and North America
James Cook went completely around this continent between 1773-5 but never saw its land.
Antarctica
This country's longest river, the Waikato, winds north & west before entering the Tasman Sea
New Zealand
Goncalo Cabral claimed the Azores for this country in 1431 & the islands were soon colonized
Portugal
During their trip around S. America, Magellan's crew saw new creatures including this bird they called a black goose
Penguins
Little & Big Diomede islands are found in this strait that separates the U.S. & Russia; During the ice age what's now this strait was a land bridge linking Asia to North America
the Bering Strait
Named for the Dutchman who navigated it in 1642, this sea off Australia's southeast coast gets notably stormy; In the 1770s James Cook explored this sea between Australia & New Zealand
the Tasman Sea
It's the only Australian state named for a man
In 1488, not da Gama or Magellan, but this Portuguese man led the first European voyage to round the tip of South Africa; He found Cape Agulhas, Africa's southernmost point
Bartolomeu Dias
In December 1577 he set sail from England with 5 ships & a crew of more than 150 men on a voyage around the world; In August 1578 this English navigator sailed around Cape Horn; As Vice Admiral, this circumnavigator helped command the fleet that beat the Spanish Armada in 1588
Sir Francis Drake
In 1741 Vitus Bering discovered Unimak & Unalaska, the largest islands in this archipelago
Aleutian Archipelago
James Cook's account of a 1774 visit here records an object "near 27 feet long, and upwards of 8 feet over the breast or shoulders";
Easter Island
Named for certain sea life, it merges with the Tasman Sea, to the south; It is the sea in which you'd see the Great Barrier Reef
the Coral Sea
In 1498 Vasco da Gama landed at Calicut, India, "in search of Christians and" these
spices
This "passage" named for an explorer separates South America from Antarctica
the Drake Passage