About Famous Explorers Quiz
Jacques Cartier sailed up the St. Lawrence in the 1530s, and Alexander Mackenzie reached the Pacific overland across Canada in 1793, more than ten years before Lewis and Clark. The Famous Explorers Quiz follows travellers like them around the world: Norse sailors, Marco Polo and Zheng He, the navigators of the age of sail, the searchers for the Northwest Passage, polar explorers, mountaineers, aviators and the divers who reached the deepest seas. Contested firsts are worded carefully, as “credited with” or “said to”, so you are never asked to settle an argument that historians have not.
How to play Famous Explorers Quiz
- Press Start for the first of ten questions. The clock starts with it and stops at your last answer.
- Each question asks which explorer made a journey, reached a place first or is credited with a discovery.
- Tap an answer, or press 1 to 4 (or A to D) on a keyboard. Answers are final: you see the right one and a one-line explanation, then press Next.
- Most correct answers ranks first, then the fastest time. Only a member’s first finished quiz of the day counts for the leaderboard.
Tips & strategy
- Link each explorer to a sea, a river or a mountain: the place usually tells you the century and the country they sailed for.
- The Northwest Passage questions come up often: learn the names from Frobisher and Franklin to Amundsen, who first sailed it.
- Polar firsts have exact dates: Amundsen reached the South Pole in December 1911, about a month before Scott.
Famous Explorers Quiz: questions and answers
Are explorers of Canada in the quiz?
Yes, including Cartier, Champlain, Henry Hudson, Alexander Mackenzie, David Thompson and the searchers for the Northwest Passage.
Does the quiz include modern explorers?
Yes, such as mountaineers, aviators and the divers and submarine crews who reached the deepest parts of the ocean.
How many questions does the Famous Explorers Quiz have?
154 checked questions: 35 easy, 47 medium and 72 hard. Each day takes ten, easiest first, and a question doesn’t come back until its level has been used up.