Q 01/05

Albany sits on the Hudson about ten miles south of its confluence with which other river?

A) The Mohawk

B) The Delaware

C) The Susquehanna

D) The Genesee

Answer · why

A) The Mohawk

That junction is near the northern limit of navigation, which made Albany a natural trading post.

Q 02/05

Which Algonquian-speaking people originally inhabited the Albany area, calling it their nation's 'fireplace'?

A) The Mohawk

B) The Mohicans

C) The Oneida

D) The Seneca

Answer · why

B) The Mohicans

The Iroquoian Mohawk to the west called the site skahnéhtati, 'through the pine woods', a name that survives in Schenectady.

Q 03/05

Which explorer reached the Albany area in 1609 aboard the Half Moon and claimed it for the Netherlands?

A) Giovanni da Verrazzano

B) Samuel de Champlain

C) Henry Hudson

D) Adriaen Block

Answer · why

C) Henry Hudson

He was an Englishman sailing for the Dutch East India Company, and the river now carries his name.

Q 04/05

The Dutch fort built in 1624 to replace flood-wrecked Fort Nassau was named for which royal house?

A) Habsburg

B) Bourbon

C) Stuart

D) Orange

Answer · why

D) Orange

Both forts honoured the House of Orange-Nassau, leaders of the Dutch Revolt; the settlement around Fort Orange became the village of Beverwijck in 165...

Q 05/05

Before the English renamed it in 1664, the Dutch village at Albany was called what?

A) Beverwijck

B) Nieuw Haarlem

C) Wiltwyck

D) Rensselaerswyck

Answer · why

A) Beverwijck

The name means Beaver District, a nod to the fur trade that founded the town.