Q 01/05

Ponce de León named Florida partly after which Christian festival, then being celebrated?

A) Christmas

B) Pentecost

C) Easter

D) Epiphany

Answer · why

C) Easter

Easter. The Spanish called the season Pascua Florida, the feast of flowers, and the lush green coast he had sighted made the name fit twice over.

Q 02/05

Which city was the capital of Spanish Hispaniola, and the seat of its governors, when Ponce de León served there?

A) Port-au-Prince

B) Santo Domingo

C) Santiago de Cuba

D) San Juan

Answer · why

B) Santo Domingo

Santo Domingo. A hurricane wrecked the town in 1502, so the new governor, the man who later promoted Ponce de León, rebuilt it on the opposite bank of...

Q 03/05

Ponce de León is believed to have first crossed the Atlantic in 1493 with whose expedition?

A) Christopher Columbus's second voyage

B) Amerigo Vespucci's first voyage

C) John Cabot's Newfoundland voyage

D) Vasco da Gama's fleet

Answer · why

A) Christopher Columbus's second voyage

Christopher Columbus's second voyage. He is said to have gone as a gentleman volunteer, and on the way out the fleet anchored off Puerto Rico, the isl...

Q 04/05

What does the 'de León' in Ponce de León's family name record?

A) A lion killed on crusade

B) The family's home city of León

C) A victory at the siege of León

D) A marriage into León's royal house

Answer · why

D) A marriage into León's royal house

A marriage into León's royal house. In the 13th century a Ponce ancestor wed Aldonza, a daughter of King Alfonso IX of León, and their descendants add...

Q 05/05

Which native people of Hispaniola did Ponce de León help crush in the province of Higüey in 1504?

A) The Caribs

B) The Maya

C) The Taíno

D) The Lucayans

Answer · why

C) The Taíno

The Taíno. His part in the Higüey campaign won him the governorship of the conquered province, with a grant of land and of forced labourers to farm it...