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| Davenport, Thomas Thomas Davenport (July 9, 1802 -July 6, 1851) was an American blacksmith and inventor who established the first commercially successful electric streetcar. Davenport, from Vermont, invented an electric motor in 1834 and began a small electric railway in 1835. He patented a device for "Improvements in propelling machinery by magnetism and electromagnetism" in 1837 (his electric railway). Davenport later started a workshop in New York City, New York, and published a journal on electromagnetism (it was printed on a press that was powered by motors which he devised). |
de Aviles, Pedro Menendez Captain Pedro Menendez de Aviles (Feb. 15, 1519-Sept. 17, 1574) was a brutal Spanish sailor, soldier, explorer, and conquistador. The King of Spain sent Aviles to Florida in the New World, to start a Spanish settlement (St. Augustine, in northeastern Florida), and to decimate a nearby French settlement (Fort Caroline).
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de Ayllon, Lucas Vazquez Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón (1475-1526) was a Spanish conquistador and explorer who tried to start a colony in North America in 1526. He was the first European colonizer of what is now South Carolina. His attempt to settle the coast of the Carolinas (near the mouth of the Peedee River at Winyah Bay) was unsuccessful.
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de Charlevoix, Pierre François-Xavier Pierre François-Xavier de Charlevoix (Oct. 29, 1682 - Feb. 1, 1761) was a French Jesuit priest, explorer, and writer. His writings are some of the earliest written accounts of North America.
For more information on Charlevoix, click here. |
de La Salle, Robert René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle (1643-1687) was a French explorer. He was sent by King Louis XIV (14) to travel south from Canada and sail down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico. He was the first European to travel the length of the Mississippi River (1682). His mission was to explore and establish fur-trade routes along the river. La Salle named the entire Mississippi basin Louisiana, in honor of the King, and claimed it for France on April 9, 1682. He also explored Lake Michigan (1679), Lake Huron, Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario. He tried to start a settlement in the southern Mississippi River Valley, but the venture ended in disaster.
For more information on La Salle, click here. |
  DelawareDelaware is a state in the eastern United States of America. Its capital is Dover. Delaware was the first state to ratify the United States constitution (on December 7, 1787). It was the 1st state in the USA; it became a state on December 7, 1787. |
de Leon, Ponce Juan Ponce de Leon (1460?-1521) was a Spanish explorer and soldier who was the first European to set foot in Florida. He also established the oldest European settlement in Puerto Rico and discovered the Gulf Stream (a current in the Atlantic Ocean). Ponce de Leon was searching for the legendary fountain of youth and other riches.
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de Narvaez, Panfilo Panfilo de Narvaez (1470?-1528) was a Spanish explorer and soldier. He helped conquer Cuba in 1511 and led a Spanish royal expedition to North America (leaving Spain in 1527). He was born in Valladolid, Spain and died on his expedition to Florida.
De Narvaez was granted the land of Florida by the Emperor Charles V in 1526. He led an expedition there with 300 men, including Cabeza de Vaca. After surviving a hurricane near Cuba, his expedition landed on the west coast of Florida (near Tampa Bay) in April, 1528, claiming the land for Spain. For more information on de Narvaez, click here. |
| de Niza, Marcos Fray Marcos de Niza (1495 - March 25, 1558 ) was a Franciscan priest who is said to have traveled to the fabled "Seven Golden Cities of Cibola" in what is now the western part of New Mexico. De Niza was born in Savoy (now in France, but it was Italian then), and became a Franciscan friar. He sailed to the Americas in 1531, and traveled to Peru, Guatemala, and Mexico. He freed some Native American slaves at Culiacán, Mexico. He and the Moorish slave Estevanico were sent from Mexico City to find Cibola by the Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza (March to August 1539). De Niza reported that he and Estevanico saw the extraordinarily rich "Seven Golden Cities of Cibola," but they were later found to be simple Zuni Indian pueblos. Estevanico was killed by Zuni Indians during this expedition. De Niza survived and eventually was in charge of his Franciscan order (1541). |
de Onate, Juan Juan de Oñate y Salazar (1550?-1626) was a Spanish conquistador who established the colony of New Mexico for Spain and became New Mexico's first governor. Oñate, the son of a conquistador who made a fortune in silver, was married to a granddaughter of Hernán Cortés. In 1595, Oñate requested that he be sent to conquer and rule New Mexico, search for treasure (especially the legendary silver treasure of Quivira), and bring Christianity to the local Indians. After governmental approval, Oñate left for New Mexico in January, 1598, with 400 settlers and soldiers (and their livestock). In July 1598, the expedition crossed the Rio Grande at El Paso. They arrived at the Tewa pueblo of San Juan and were helped by the local Indians. Oñate's group built San Gabriel, New Mexico's first capital. After they realized that the area was not rich in silver, many settlers wanted to return to Mexico, but Oñate would not let them go, and executed many of them. He was also incredibly brutal to the local Indians, killing, enslaving, and mutilating hundreds of Indian men, women, and children.
In 1601, Oñate led an expedition to the Great Plains of America that tried, unsuccessfully, to find the legendary silver of Quivira (thought to be in what is now central Kansas, east of Salina). While he was gone, most of his settlers returned to Mexico City. In 1604, he explored the area west toward the Colorado River and south to the Gulf of California. In 1606, Oñate made plans for the town of Santa Fé. Later in 1606, Spain removed him from office (Don Pedro de Peralta was appointed to be the new governor); Oñate was later tried and found guilty of cruelty, immorality, mismanagement, dereliction of duties, and false reporting. Oñate was exiled from the colony. Later, on appeal, he was was cleared of the charges. Onate, sometimes called the "Last Conquistador," died in Spain in 1626.
Go to a printable read-and-answer worksheet on Onate. Or go to a pdf of the quiz + answers.
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| de Portola, Gaspar Gaspar de Portolá (1767-1784) was a Spanish soldier, leader, and explorer. Portolá was appointed Governor of Las Californias from 1768-1770 and founded Monterey and San Diego (California). As governor, Portola was ordered to arrest and expel all Jesuits from their well-established colleges and 14 missions; many of these missions were given to the Franciscans. In 1768, Portola volunteered to lead a large expedition of settlers, missionaries, and soldiers up the California coast to San Diego and Monterey (in California) in order to establish new Franciscan missions; the expedition was planned by Jose de Galvez. Portolá's overland expedition began on July 14th, 1769, and included Father Junipero Serra and 63 other men. They reached Los Angeles on August 2, 1769, Santa Barbara on August 19, Santa Cruz on October 18, and the San Francisco Bay area on October 31 (they missed Monterey). They again failed to find Monterey on their return trip to San Diego (both by land and by sea), so Portolá, Father Serra, and others tried another expedition, arriving at Monterey on May 24, 1770. In 1776, Portolá was chosen governor of the city of Puebla; he served for eight years, until his death. |
de Soto, Hernando Hernando De Soto (1500?-1542) was a Spanish explorer who sailed the Atlantic Ocean and was the first European to explore Florida and the southeastern US.
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de Vaca, Alvar Nunez Cabeza Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca [Cabeza de Vaca means "head of a cow"] (1490?-1557?) was a Spanish explorer who sailed to North America from Spain, leaving in 1527. He traveled from Florida to Texas on a raft, then walked from Texas to Mexico City. He also explored the Paraguay River in South America. De Vaca and his fellow travelers were the first Europeans to see the bison, or American buffalo.
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| Dewey, Melvil
Melvil Dewey (1851-1931) published the Dewey Decimal System in 1876. Dewey was a librarian from New York. Before Dewey's system, books were simply assigned spots on shelves. This made libraries difficult to organize and books hard to find, since a book's position on the shelf changed as new books were added. Also each library had a different system. The Dewey Decimal Classification is a system of classifying books. It divides all books into ten classes, listed at the right (for example, the 700s are The Arts). Each class is divided into 10 divisions (for example, 780 is Music) and each of these is split into 10 sections (for example, 782 is Vocal Music). Sections are split into 10 decimals (for example, 782.4 is Songbooks). Decimals can be further split into hundredths and thousandths (and more), as new subcategories are needed. |
Dickinson, Emily
Emily Dickinson (December 10, 1830 - May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Dickinson's poems are very personal and are often about nature and emotions. Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts, to a wealthy and strict family (her father was an an orthodox Calvinist who worked as a lawyer and served in Congress). Dickinson never married and led a very private life. She lived in her parents' Amherst house for most of her life. Dickinson wrote about 1800 poems, but only about 10 were published during her lifetime. The other poems were published afer her death. Emily's younger sister Lavinia helped get the posthumous poems published. Emily Dickinson died at the age of 55. |
 dinosaursMany dinosaur fossils have been found in the USA, including T. rex, Stegosaurus, Triceratops, and Apatosaurus. Hadrosaurus (a duck-billed dinosaur) was the first American dinosaur to be described; Hadrosaurus was named in 1858 by paleontologist Joseph Leidy from a skull-less skeleton and hundreds of teeth that were found in Haddonfield, New Jersey, USA. Hadrosaurus is New Jersey's state fossil. |
 Dont Tread on Me: FlagThis early American flag pictures a coiled rattlesnake. The rattlesnake was used in early American history as a symbol of resistance against British rule. |
Douglas, Aaron Aaron Douglas (May 26, 1899 - February 3, 1979) was an African-American artist who was associated with the Harlem Renaissance art movement. Douglas was born in Topeka, Kansas, and studied art at the University of Nebraska. He later moved to Harlem, New York, and soon became a pre-eminent artist. Douglas did many paintings, woodcut prints, murals, and book and magazine illustrations. |
 Douglass, EarlEarl Douglass (1862-1931) was a US fossil hunter who in 1909 found the Carnegie Quarry (now known as Dinosaur National Monument) in Utah, USA. Douglass found many specimens (350 tons of fossils!), including Allosaurus, Apatosaurus, Camarasaurus, Camptosaurus, Diplodocus, Hoplosuchus, Othnielia, and Stegosaurus, for the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. |
Drake, Francis  Sir Francis Drake (1545-1596) was a British explorer, slave-trader, privateer (a pirate working for a government) in the service of England, mayor of Plymouth, England, and naval officer (he was an Admiral). Drake led the second expedition to sail around the world in a voyage lasting from 1577 to 1580 (Magellan led the first voyage around the world). |
| N=R*fs*fp*ne*fl*fi*fc*L Drake, Frank Frank Drake (1930-) is an American radio astronomer who, in 1961, formulated an equation a very rough estimates of the possible number of intelligent civilizations in our galaxy (the Drake equation). |
Drew, Charles Richard Dr. Charles Richard Drew (1904-1950) was an American medical doctor and surgeon who started the idea of a blood bank and a system for the long-term preservation of blood plasma (he found that plasma kept longer than whole blood). His ideas revolutionized the medical profession and have saved many, many lives.
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DuBois, W.E.B. William Edward Burghardt DuBois (February 23, 1868 - August 27, 1963) was a writer, historian, leader and one of the founders of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People). DuBois was born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. He was a gifted student who became a reporter for the New York Globe when he was 15 years old. He later attended Fisk University, then transferred to Harvard University; he was the first black to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard University. DuBois became a teacher and later studied the state of black people in the USA and around the world; he wrote many books. |
Du Sable, Jean-Baptiste-Point Jean-Baptiste-Point Du Sable (1750?-1818) was a Haitian-French pioneer and trader; he founded the settlement that would later become Chicago. |
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Alonso Alvarez de Pineda was a Spanish explorer and map-maker. De Pineda sailed for the Spanish Governor of Jamaica, Francisco de Garay, who sent him to explore and chart the Gulf Coast from Florida to Mexico in 1519. Captain De Pineda and his crew were probably the first Europeans in Texas, claiming it for Spain. One of the regions he explored and mapped was the area around Corpus Christi Bay; De Pineda entered Corpus Christi Bay on the feast day of Corpus Christi, hence the name.
Dickson, Earle
Donovan, Marion
Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey Douglass (Feb. 7, 1817-Feb. 20, 1895) was an abolitionist, orator and writer who fought against slavery and for women's rights. Douglass was the first African-American citizen appointed to high ranks in the U.S. government.
Richard G. Drew (1899-1980) invented masking tape and clear adhesive tape (also called cellophane tape or Scotch tape). Drew was an engineer for the 3M company (the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing).