Ten questions on the great journeys of discovery, each with the credit placed where it actually belongs.
Exploration history is full of claims that need a footnote, and this quiz supplies them. It covers the major voyages and expeditions across European, Arab and Chinese traditions, plus the polar races and the first ascent of Everest. Where the popular version of a story overstates one person\'s role, the explanation says so, including the crews, guides and navigators normally left out. The intention is accuracy rather than deflation, since the journeys remain remarkable once told properly.
Every question in this quiz is listed below with its correct answer and the reasoning behind it. Play first if you would rather not see the answers — or read through as a study sheet.
Play it insteadAnswer: A. Magellan's expedition
Why: Ferdinand Magellan led it from 1519, but was killed in the Philippines partway. Juan Sebastian Elcano brought the surviving ship home in 1522.
Answer: A. Roald Amundsen
Why: Amundsen's Norwegian party arrived in December 1911, using dogs and skis. Scott reached it weeks later and died with his companions on the return.
Answer: A. Edmund Hillary
Why: Hillary and Tenzing summited together and always declined to say who stepped up first. John Hunt led the wider expedition that put them in position.
Answer: D. China
Why: He described decades at the court of Kublai Khan in his account. Some historians question how much he saw directly rather than heard reported.
Answer: D. India
Why: He reached Calicut in 1498 by sailing around the southern tip of Africa. The route broke the overland monopoly on the spice trade.
Answer: A. Morocco
Why: He set out from Tangier in 1325 and travelled for around thirty years across Africa, Asia and Europe. His recorded journey covers a greater distance than Marco Polo's.
Answer: D. Africa
Why: His seven voyages from 1405 reached the east coast of Africa, decades before Portuguese ships rounded the Cape. The fleets were abandoned soon afterward by imperial decision.
Answer: A. Western North America
Why: They crossed from the Mississippi to the Pacific between 1804 and 1806. The Shoshone interpreter Sacagawea was essential to the expedition's survival.
Answer: C. The Pacific
Why: Cook mapped much of the Pacific across three voyages from 1768. His charts of New Zealand and eastern Australia were remarkably accurate for the period.
Answer: D. 1492
Why: He made landfall in the Caribbean while seeking a western route to Asia. The islands were long inhabited, and he never accepted that it was not Asia.
Voyages & First Ascents has 10 questions and takes about 7 minutes to finish. It is rated Medium and sits in our Explorers & Discovery category.
Each of the 10 correct answers adds 10 XP, up to 100 XP for a clean run. Wrong answers cost you nothing, and your full question-by-question review is shown at the end.
Yes. All 10 questions carry a written explanation of why the correct answer is right, so the quiz works as a study sheet as well as a test.
Yes, as often as you like. The questions and the answer options are reshuffled on each run, and you can use Practice Mistakes afterwards to retry only the ones you missed. No account is needed to play.
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