List of explorers
See also explorations, sea explorers, astronaut, conquistador, the History of Science and Technology and Biography.
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A
- Charles Albanel (1616-1696), Canada
- Diego de Almagro
- Gonzalo de Alvarado
- Roald Amundsen, (1872-1928), Norwegian, first at the South Pole, first to navigate the Northwest Passage in a single ship
- Roy Chapman Andrews, (1884-1960), US explorer
- Neil Armstrong
B
- Vasco Núñez de Balboa, (c. 1475-1519), Spanish, first to sight the Pacific Ocean, founded Darién, oldest surviving European settlement in the Western Hemisphere
- William Baffin, (1584-1622)
- Samuel Baker, Africa
- Heinrich Barth (1821-1865), Northern and Central Africa
- Willem Barents, (1550?-1597), Dutch, died on Novaya Zemlya seeking the Northeast Passage
- Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Battuta, (1304?-1377?), Moroccan Berber Muslim, visited Mecca several times, travelled to Central Asia, East Africa, China, Tombouctou and other places
- Nicolas Baudin - 18th century French explorer, mapped the West Australian coastline.
- Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, Russian explorer
- Moric Benovsky, Slovak
- Vitus Bering
- Saint Brendan - Irish abbot who sailed the Atlantic Ocean
- James Bruce
- Richard Francis Burton, (1821-1890), looking for the source of the Nile, discovered Lake Tanganyika
- Richard E. Byrd, (1888-1957), flew over South Pole
C
- John Cabot (Giovanni Caboto) - Italian navigator in English service, crossed the Atlantic Ocean to North America
- Pedro Alvares Cabral, (c. 1467-c. 1520), discovered Brazil and Madagascar
- Juan Sebastian del Cano - completed the first circumnavigation, started by Magellan
- Diego Cao, (17th century), explored the area around the Gulf of Carpentaria
- Jacques Cartier, (1491-1557), discovered the St. Lawrence River and sailed up it to Montreal; failed in an attempt to set up a colony
- Thomas Cavendish, (died 1592), English sailor and explorer.
- Samuel de Champlain, (c. 1567-1635), established the French colony in Canada; discovered the Great Lakes
- William Clark, (1770-1838), with Meriwether Lewis led the first American expedition to reach the west coast.
- Christopher Columbus, (1451-1506), reached America looking for a searoute to the Indies; discovered various lands and islands and established a colony on Hispaniola
- James Cook, (1728-1779), explored the Pacific, discovering or mapping many lands and islands
- Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, (c. 1510-1554), explored New Mexico and American southwest
- Hernán Cortés, (1485-1547), conquered the Aztec empire in Mexico; sent out expeditions to Baja California
D
- Jacques-Yves Cousteau, (died 1997), French marine biologist and explorer
- Alexandra David-Néel, (1868-1969), French explorer, visited Lhasa, Tibet in 1924
- Harry de Windt Explorer, adventurer and author.
- Semyon Dezhnev, Russian explorer, first European who sailed through Bering Strait
- Bartolomeu Dias, (1450-1500), Portuguese explorer who first rounded the Cape of Good Hope.
- Sir Francis Drake, (c. 1540-1596), pirate, leader of the second circumnavigation
- Jules Dumont d'Urville, (1790-1842), explorer of the Pacific and Antarctica
E
- Eric the Red, (c.950-1003), explored and colonized Greenland
- Leifur EirÃÂksson, (born 970), attempted to colonize Vinland, discovered America
- George Everest, (1790-1866)
F
- Matthew Flinders, (1774-1814), first to circumnavigate Australia and Tasmania, extensively charted the coastline and named such features as the Great Barrier Reef and the Great Australian Bight.
- John C. Fremont, (1813-1890), explored the Oregon Trail and the Sierra Nevada
- Louis de Freycinet, (1779-1842), explored coastal regions of Western Australia
G
- Juan Galindo (1802-1839) explorer of Central American ruins
- Vasco da Gama, (1469?-1524), first to reach India from Europe by the sea route
- Thomas Gann, explorer
- Francis Garnier, (1839-1873), Mekong River
- Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de la Vérendrye, (1685-1749), explorer
- James Augustus Grant, (1827-1892), Scottish officer and explorer, explored the eastern equatorial Africa
H
- Hannu - ancient Egyptian who travelled along the Red Sea to a land called Punt
- Sven Hedin, (1865-1952), Swedish explorer of Central Asia
- Louis Hennepin - discoverer of Niagara Falls and the Saint Anthony Falls (the only waterfall on the Mississippi)
- Bjarni Herjulfsson - Viking, probable discoverer of North America
- Thor Heyerdahl, (1914-2002), Norwegian explorer
- Sir Edmund Hillary, with Tenzing Norgay was the first person to the summit of Mount Everest
- Henry Hudson, (died 1570), discovered the Hudson River and sailed up it to Albany, discovered Hudson Bay
- Alexander von Humboldt, (1769-1859), explored Central and South America, visited Siberia
I
- Helge Ingstad, (1899-2001), Norwegian, Danish explorer, Governor of Greenland
- Ibn Battuta, (1304-1377), Moroccan explorer of Africa and Asia, author of the Rihla
J
- Louis Joliet, (1645-1700)
- Richard Jobson
- Harry Johnston, (1858-1927), Africa, reported the okapi
K
- George Kennan, (1845-1924), Siberia
- Ferdinand KonÃÂčak, (1703-1759), Croatia, California, Mexico
L
- Jean François La Pérouse, (1741-1788), French explorer of the Pacific
- Albert von Le Coq, (1860-1930), German explorer of Central Asia
- Miguel López de Legaspi, Spanish explorer of the Philippines and Mexico
- Ludwig Leichhardt, (1813-1848), Prussian explorer of Australia
- Dragutin Lerman, (1863-1918), Croatia, (Congo, Africa)
- Meriwether Lewis, (1774-1809), leader of the first American expedition to cross the continent
- David Livingstone, (1813-1873), explored south and east Africa, determined the course of the Zambesi, discovered Lake Nyasa
M
- Alexander Mackenzie, (1764 - March 11, 1820), Western and Northern Canada to Arctic and Pacific Oceans
- Ferdinand Magellan, (c. 1470-1521), leader of first expedition around the world
- Teoberto Maler (1840-1917) Maya ruins
- Douglas Mawson - Australian explorer of Antarctica
N
- Fridtjof Nansen, (1861-1930), arctic explorer, scientist and international statesman
- Jean Nicolet, (1628-1642), early French explorer of the Old Northwest
- Joseph Nicollet, (1786-1843), explorer of the Upper Mississippi River and Missouri River
- Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld, (1832-1901), arctic explorer
- Tenzing Norgay, with Sir Edmund Hillary was the first person to the summit of Mount Everest
O
- Francisco de Orellana - first to navigate down the Amazon River
P
- William Parry, (1790-1855), Arctic explorer
- Robert Edwin Peary, (1856-1920), first man to reach the North Pole
- Paul Pelliot, French explorer of Central Asia
- Auguste Piccard, (1884-1962), physicist and explorer
- Jacques Piccard, (born 1922), undersea explorer
- Zebulon Pike, (1779-1813), explored Louisiana Purchase, Pikes Peak
- Francisco Pizarro, (1471-1541), conqueror of the Inca Empire
- Peter Pond, (c. 1739 - 1807), Northwest Canada
- Marco Polo, (1254-1323), Croatia, travelled to China in the 13th century
- Gaspar de Portolá (fl. 1734-1784), explored California
- John Wesley Powell, (1834-1902), explorer, environmentalist
- Nicholas Michailovitch Prjevalsky, (1839-1888), Russian explorer in central and eastern Asia
- Nathaniel Pryor, (c. 1785-1850), US explorer
- Pytheas, Greek explorer who visited Britain and other north and northwest European countries
Q
- Pedro Fernandez de Quirós, (1565-1614), Portuguese seaman and explorer, explored the Pacific
R
- John Rae, (1813-1893), travelled widely through the Canadian Arctic
- Walter Raleigh, (1554?-1618), English explorer
- James Clark Ross, (1800-1862), Explorer
S
- René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, (1643-1687) French merchant and explorer, explored Great Lakes, navigated Mississippi and looked for its delta
- Robert Falcon Scott, (1868-1912), reached the South Pole less than one month after Amundsen, but died on the return voyage
- Tibor Sekelj Croatia, South America
- Mirko Seljan (1821-1912?(3)), Croatia,( Ethiopia, South America)
- Stjepan Seljan (1873-1936), Croatia, (Ethiopia, South America)
- Scylax of Caryanda - a Greek explorer sent by the king of Persia to sail down the Indus River and around Arabia to Egypt
- Ernest Shackleton, (1874-1922), attempted to reach the South Pole and went further south than anyone before him
- Hernando de Soto, (died 1542), explorer
- John Hanning Speke, (1827-1864), discovered Lake Victoria
- Henry Morton Stanley, (1841-1904), successfully searched for Livingstone in Africa; later explored Lake Victoria, Lake Tanganyika and the Congo River
- William Stairs, (1863-1892), Victorian explorer, discovered one source of the Nile River, first non-African to ever climb in the Ruwenzoris.
- Marc Aurel Stein, Hungarian explorer of Central Asia
- John Lloyd Stephens (1805-1852) explored Middle East, Central America
- Sir Paul Edmund Strzelecki, (1793-1873), Polish explorer and geologist
- Ignacije Szentmartony (1718-1793), Croatia (Jesuit, astronomer), Amazon, Brasil
T
- Abel Tasman, (1603-1659), discovered Tasmania and New Zealand
- Yermak Timofeyevich, Russian cossack, explored West Siberia and claimed it for Russia
- Luis Vaez de Torres, sea explorer
- GuðrÃÂður ÃÂorbjarnardóttir, female explorer of the Middle Ages
V
- Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye (1685-1749), French Canadian military officer, fur trader and explorer, explored Western Canada
- Giovanni da Verrazano, (died 1528), sea explorer
- Amerigo Vespucci, (1454-1512), discovered other parts of America and gave his name to the new continent
- Ruy Lopez de Villalobos. Spanish; explored the Pacific and the Philippines, which he named after Philip II of Spain
W
- Jean-Frédéric Waldeck, (1766-1875), French antiquarian, artist, explorer
- Langdon Warner, American explorer of Central Asia
- Harry de Windt Explorer, adventurer and author.
Y
- Sir Francis Younghusband, (1863-1942), India and Tibet
Z
- Zhang Qian - spent 12 years starting in 138 BC exploring much of Central Asia for Emperor Han Wu Di
- Zheng He, (1371-1435), Chinese admiral who travelled widely over the Indian Ocean and other seas, reaching Africa and Arabia and many other countries