Easy like Sunday morning quiz

1. Legend has it that on May 20, 1498, Vasco da Gama became the first European explorer on Indian soil when his ship docked after a year-long journey from Lisbon. He was the first to link Europe and Asia by an ocean route. He landed in a place known as ‘the city of spices’ whose name is thought to have come from the fortified palace there. In June, it will host one of the biggest gatherings of quizzers in the world for the World Quizzing Championships. What is the name of the city and what is the anglicised version?

2. This explorer is known for his colourful narratives about his travels which he shared with a prison mate who happened to be a romance writer. He was an emissary for the Mongol emperor Kublai Khan who gave him the ‘Paiza’, a special passport which allowed him use of a vast network of contacts across Asia. His name lives on in a children’s game in which one player closes his eyes and has to explore blindly and find the other players. Who is this adventurous explorer?

3. George _____ was a Welshman who excelled at trigonometry. In 1816, at the age of 26, he assisted William Lambton who started the Great Trigonometric Survey of India. After much exploring, he eventually became the Surveyor General of India. He appointed a young mathematician called Radhanath Sikdar who, during his work, calculated and discovered a world record holder which was eventually named in honour of George. What is George’s full name and what is the record holder?

4. In 1770, the HM Bark Endeavour became the first European vessel to reach Australia. The expedition leader went on to circumnavigate the globe twice. An expert mapmaker, his detailed charts helped seafarers for hundreds of years. He was the first white man on Hawaii where initially he was thought to be a god but eventually was killed in a fight over a stolen boat. Who was this globetrotting explorer?

5. Ferdinand Magellan led the first ever voyage around the world. Starting in 1519, it took him three years and cost many lives but he changed the understanding of geography for Europeans forever. After weathering horrific storms near South America and losing one of his ships to rough seas, he finally entered a calm, gentle and massive stretch of water. He named it ‘Mar _____ which means ‘peaceful sea’, and it took him 98 days to cross it. How do we know this ‘sea’?

6. This Italian explorer was the first to recognise two distinct continents. When he arrived at this place, he realised it was not a part of Asia as he had initially thought, so he called it the ‘Mundus Novus’ or ‘New World’, a term that is still in use today. In 1507, a German map maker used this information and drew a map where he named the continents in honour of this explorer. Who was the explorer and what are the continents?

7. This was an ancient network of trade routes over land and water that were essential for cultural interaction over centuries. It stretched across Asia to parts of Africa and Europe, connecting the East and West. The route gets its name from the most precious commodity traded on this route, begun in early 200 BCE by the Chinese. What is the name of this network?

8. Fridtjof Nansen was a Norwegian explorer, scientist and diplomat. He was the first to cross Greenland and innovated many techniques and equipment which revolutionised polar expeditions. He joined the League of Nations in 1921 where he was behind what became known as the ‘Nansen passport’. World War I had just ended and had created huge turmoil for certain people. Nansen’s passports were given to about half a million of these people and 52 countries honoured it. Who were these people covered by the Nansen passport?

9. Roald Amundsen was a Norwegian explorer who, in 1911, with four others and 16 dogs, became the first to reach a particular spot. In 1925, Amundsen took two flying boats and flew to a particular spot that is diametrically opposite to the previous one. What did this make him the first human to do so?

10. João Fernandes Lavrador was a Portuguese explorer of the late 15th century. He was the first to explore Northeast America and hence the peninsula is named after him. A particular hunting dog which was first bred in that area was subsequently named after the place. What is the name of this popular dog breed?

Answers

Kozhikode a.k.a Calicut

Marco Polo

George Everest, Mount Everest

James Cook

Pacific Ocean, ‘Mar Pacifica’

Amerigo Vespucci, The Americas

Silk Road

Refugees

Reach both South Pole and North Pole

Labrador

A molecular biologist from Madurai, our quizmaster enjoys trivia and music, and is working on a rock ballad called ‘Coffee is a Drink, Kaapi is an Emotion’. @bertyashley