Who is an explorer with a name starting with Q?

Answer 1

Pedro Fernandes de Queiros aka Quiros [1563-1615] was a Portuguese and Spanish speaking explorer of the Pacific Ocean. Particularly noteworthy were his voyage of 1595-1596, and his expedition of 1605-1606. In the former, he piloted Alvaro de Mendana de Neira aka Neyra [1542-October 1595] to the colonization of the Solomon Islands. With the death of Mendana, Queiros got the remaining crew and ship to the Philippines. With the latter, he visited the New Hebrides, and tried to colonize modern-day Vanuatu. Or was the colony attempted instead in the area of Gladstone, Queensland? So was he indeed the first European - before Abel Janszoon Tasman [1603-October 10, 1659] and Capt. James Cook [1728-February 14, 1779] - to discover Australia? Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada [1495-1579] was a Spanish-speaking explorer of Colombia. In 1536, he commanded an expedition that resulted in the founding of the modern-day capital city of Bogota. But in his single-minded, unsuccessful pursuit of El Dorado [The Golden City], he may have served as the model for the hapless, fictional knight Don Quixote, as created by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra [September 29, 1547-April 23, 1616]. Manuel Quimper Benitez del Pino [c. 1757-April 1844] was a Spanish-speaking explorer and mapmaker who had been born in Peru. He helped chart the Strait of Juan de Fuca, which connects the Georgia Strait and Puget Sound with the Pacific Ocean; and the Sandwich Islands, which had been discovered by Capt. James Cook, on January 18, 1778.