List of explorers
The following is a list of explorers.
A
Name |
Nationality | Century |
Main area/s explored |
Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin |
American | 20th |
the Moon |
Pêro de Alenquer |
Portuguese | 15th |
Indian Ocean |
Gonçalo Álvares |
Portuguese | 15th |
Gough Island, Namibia |
William "Bill" Anders |
American | 20th |
first to fly to the Moon |
Charles John Andersson |
Swedish | 19th |
Southern Africa |
Fernão Pires de Andrade |
Portuguese | 16th |
Ming China |
Benedict Allen |
British | 20th/21st |
various |
Diego de Almagro |
Spanish | 16th |
Peru, Chile |
László Almásy |
Hungarian | 19th/20th |
Africa |
Francisco de Almeida |
Portuguese | 16th |
India |
Pedro de Alvarado |
Spanish | 16th |
Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras |
Francisco Álvares |
Portuguese | 16th |
Ethiopia |
Jorge Álvares |
Portuguese | 16th |
China |
Roald Amundsen |
Norwegian |
early 20th | South Pole, Antarctica, Northwest Passage |
António de Andrade |
Portuguese | 16th/17th |
India, Tibet |
Henryk Arctowski |
Polish | 20th |
Antarctic, South America |
Salomon August Andrée |
Swedish | 19th |
Arctic |
Roy Chapman Andrews |
American | 20th |
China, Mongolia |
Neil Armstrong |
American | 20th |
the Moon (first man on the moon) |
Ingólfur Arnarson |
Norse | 9th |
Iceland |
Väinö Auer |
Finnish | 20th |
Tierra del Fuego and Patagonia |
Diogo de Azambuja |
Portuguese | 15th |
West African coast |
António de Abreu |
Portuguese | 16th |
Timor & Banda Islands |
Lourenço de Almeida |
Portuguese | 15th |
Chaul |
José Alberto de Oliveira Anchieta |
Portuguese | 19th |
Gough Island |
Fernão Pires de Andrade |
Portuguese | 15th |
Ming China |
Pêro de Ataíde |
Portuguese | 16th/17th |
Indian Ocean |
Vasco de Ataíde |
Portuguese | 16th/17th |
India, Tibet |
B
Name |
Nationality | Century |
Main area/s explored |
Duarte Barbosa |
Portuguese | 15th/16th |
1st Circumnavigation, became second in command (later co-captain general). Commanded the ship Victoria from the South Atlantic and across the Pacific |
George Back |
British | 19th |
Canadian Arctic khoa |
William Baffin |
British | 17th |
Northwest Passage |
Samuel Baker |
British | 19th |
Africa |
Vasco Núñez de Balboa |
Spanish | 16th |
Panama, 'discovered' the Pacific Ocean |
Robert Ballard |
American | 20th |
deep sea wrecks, Titanic |
Joseph Banks |
British | 18th |
Newfoundland and Labrador, South Pacific |
Duarte Barbosa |
Portuguese | 15th/16th |
Kingdom of Mutapa, India, Bahrein (Most historians believe that he is the same person accompanying Magellan in the circumnavigation) |
Giosafat Barbaro |
Italian | 15th |
Black Sea, Near East |
Pêro de Barcelos |
Portuguese | 15th/16th |
North America |
Afonso Gonçalves Baldaia |
Portuguese | 15th |
Western Sahara |
Willem Barentsz |
Dutch | 16th |
Northeast Passage, Novaya Zemlya, Svalbard |
Heinrich Barth |
German | 19th |
Central and northern Africa |
Robert Bartlett |
Newfoundlander |
early 20th |
Arctic |
George Bass |
Australian | 18th |
Australia |
Henry Walter Bates |
British | 19th |
Amazonia |
Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Battuta[1][2] |
Marinid | 14th |
Africa, Central Asia, China, Europe, Indian subcontinent, Middle East, Russia, Southeast Asia |
Nicolas Baudin |
French | 18th |
Australia |
William Beebe |
American | 20th |
deep sea |
Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen |
Baltic German | 19th |
Antarctica |
Joseph René Bellot |
French | 19th |
Arctic |
Benjamin of Tudela |
Navarrese | 12th |
Syria, Palestine, Baghdad, Persia, Arabian Peninsula |
Móric Benyovszky |
Hungarian | 18th |
northern Pacific Ocean[3] |
Vitus Bering |
Danish | 18th |
northern Pacific Ocean |
Hiram Bingham III |
American | 20th |
Machu Picchu, Peru |
John Blashford-Snell |
British | 20th/21st |
various |
Adriaen Block |
Dutch | early 17th |
East Coast of the United States |
Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra |
Spanish | 18th |
Pacific Northwest |
Vittorio Bottego |
Italian | 19th |
Somalia |
Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza |
Italian/French | 19th |
Congo |
Saint Brendan |
Irish | 6th |
Atlantic Ocean, Iceland |
Jim Bridger |
American | 19th |
Western United States |
James Bruce |
British | 18th |
Algeria, the Middle East, Egypt |
William S. Bruce |
British | early 20th |
Antarctica |
Étienne Brûlé |
French | 17th |
Canada |
Lafayette Bunnell |
American | 19th |
Yosemite Valley |
Johann Ludwig Burckhardt |
Swiss | 19th |
Middle East, Sudan |
Robert O'Hara Burke |
Irish | 19th |
Australia |
Frederick Russell Burnham |
American | 19th/20th |
Africa, Mexico |
Richard Francis Burton |
British | 19th |
East Africa |
José de Bustamante y Guerra |
Spanish | 18th |
Pacific Ocean |
Richard E. Byrd |
American | 20th |
North Pole, Antarctica |
C
Name |
Nationality | Century |
Main area/s explored |
Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca |
Spanish | 16th |
southwestern United States, Mexico, Argentina |
John Cabot[4] |
Italian | 15th |
North American mainland (Canada) |
Sebastian Cabot |
Italian | 15th |
Northwest Passage |
Pedro Álvares Cabral |
Portuguese | 15th/16th |
Brazil, Madagascar |
João Rodrigues Cabrilho |
Portuguese | 16th |
California |
Alvise Cadamosto |
Italian | 15th |
Cape Verde islands |
René Caillié |
French | 19th |
North Africa |
Álvaro Caminha |
Portuguese | 15th |
São Tomé and Príncipe islands |
Pêro Vaz de Caminha |
Portuguese | 15th |
Brazil |
Diogo Cão |
Portuguese | 15th |
west coast of Africa (including the Congo River) |
Hermenegildo de Brito Capelo |
Portuguese | 19th |
African continent |
João de Castro |
Portuguese | 15th |
India, Arabian Peninsula & Red Sea |
Alberto del Canto |
Portuguese | 15th/16th |
Northwestern Mexico |
João Cabral |
Portuguese | 16th |
Bhutan & Nepal |
Estêvão Cacella |
Portuguese | 16th |
Himalayas |
John Carpini |
Italian | 13th |
Central Asia, Mongolia |
Juan Carrasco |
Spanish | 18th |
Pacific Northwest |
Jan Carstensz |
Dutch | 17th |
New Guinea coast, Gulf of Carpentaria |
Jacques Cartier |
French | 16th |
St. Lawrence River |
René-Robert Cavelier |
French | 17th |
Mississippi embayment |
Thomas Cavendish |
British | 16th |
Virginia, Pacific coast of Central and South America |
Samuel de Champlain |
French | 16th/17th |
Quebec, Great Lakes |
Jean Chardin |
French | 17th |
Persia, India |
Fletcher Christian |
British | 18th |
Polynesia |
Hugh Clapperton |
British | early 19th |
west and central Africa |
William Clark |
American | early 19th |
western United States |
Gonçalo Coelho |
Portuguese | 15th/16th |
South American coast |
Nicolau Coelho |
Portuguese | 15th |
Brazil |
Nicolau Coelho |
Portuguese | 15th |
São Francisco River |
Frank Cole |
Canadian | 20th |
Sahara |
Christopher Columbus[5] |
Italian | 15th/16th |
Caribbean |
George Comer |
American | 19th/20th |
Arctic |
Niccolò Da Conti |
Italian | early 15th |
India, Southeast Asia |
Frederick Cook |
American | 19th/20th |
Arctic |
James Cook |
British | 18th |
Australasia, Oceania |
Francisco Vásquez de Coronado |
Spanish | 16th |
New Mexico |
Diogo Álvares Correia |
Portuguese | 16th |
Aztec Of Mexico |
Gaspar Côrte-Real |
Portuguese | 16th |
Newfoundland, Greenland |
João Côrte-Real |
Portuguese | late 15th |
Azores, Newfoundland (Possible exploration of North America in 1473) |
Miguel Côrte-Real |
Portuguese | 16th |
Newfoundland, Massachusetts |
Hernán Cortés |
Spanish | 16th |
Mexico |
Juan de la Cosa |
Spanish | 15th/16th |
Caribbean, South America |
Thomas Coulter |
Irish | 19th |
Mexico, Alta California |
Jean Cousin |
French | 15th |
Possibly the Americas around 1488. Mouth of the Amazon River |
Jacques-Yves Cousteau |
French | 20th |
the deep sea |
Pêro da Covilhã |
Portuguese | 15th/16th |
India, Ethiopia |
Tom Crean |
Irish | 20th |
Antarctica |
Andrew Croft |
English | 20th |
Arctic |
Tristão da Cunha |
Portuguese | 16th |
Tristan da Cunha islands |
Jeremy Curl |
British | 20th |
African continent |
Chang Chun |
Chinese | 13th |
Central Asia, Mongolia |
D
E
F
Name |
Nationality | Century |
Main area/s explored |
Ahmad ibn Fadlan |
Abbasid Caliphate | 10th |
Eastern Europe, Middle East, Russia, Scandinavia |
Edmund Fanning |
American | 18th/19th |
Oceania |
Percy Harrison Fawcett |
British | 20th |
Amazon Rainforest |
Sir Ranulph Fiennes |
British | 20th/21st |
Arctic, Antarctica |
Álvaro Fernandes |
Portuguese | 15th |
west African coast |
Baltasar Fernandes |
Portuguese | 17th |
Brazil |
Duarte Fernandes |
Portuguese | 16th |
Thailand |
Juan Fernández |
Spanish | 16th |
Juan Fernández Islands, Pacific Ocean |
Salvador Fidalgo |
Spanish | 18th |
Pacific Northwest |
Matthew Flinders |
British | 18th/19th |
Australia, Tasmania |
Alexander Forbes |
British | 19th |
California |
Peter Forsskål |
Swedish | 18th |
Arabian Peninsula |
John Franklin |
British | 19th |
Northwest Passage |
Simon Fraser |
Scottish | 18th/19th |
British Columbia |
John C. Frémont |
American | 19th |
Oregon Trail, Sierra Nevada |
Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne |
French | 18th |
Oceania |
Louis de Freycinet |
French | 19th |
western Australia, Oceania |
Martin Frobisher |
English | 16th |
Northwest Passage, Canada |
Juan de Fuca |
Greek-Spanish | 16th |
Strait of Juan de Fuca, Canada – United States border |
Xu Fu |
Chinese | 3rd century BC |
Japan |
Vivian Fuchs |
British | 20th |
Antarctica |
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Name |
Nationality | Century |
Main area/s explored |
Pedro Páez |
Spanish | 16th/17th |
Ethiopia |
Mungo Park |
British | 18th/19th |
west Africa (Niger River) |
William Parry |
British | 19th |
Arctic |
Nathaniel Pearce |
British | 19th |
Ethiopia |
Robert Peary |
American | 19th/20th |
Arctic |
Paul Pelliot |
French | 19th/20th |
central Asia |
Diogo Fernandes Pereira |
Portuguese | 15th/16th |
Madagascar, Mascarenes (Réunion, Mauritius, and Rodrigues) |
Duarte Pacheco Pereira |
Portuguese | 15th |
Atlantic Ocean, Brazil |
Bartolomeu Perestrelo |
Portuguese | 15th |
Madeira Islands |
Juan Pérez |
Spanish | 18th |
Pacific Northwest |
Auguste Piccard |
Swiss | 20th |
Earth's atmosphere, the deep sea |
Jacques Piccard |
Swiss | 20th |
the deep sea |
Zebulon Pike |
American | early 19th |
Louisiana Purchase (United States) |
Alonso Alvarez de Pineda |
Spanish | early 16th |
Gulf Coast |
Serpa Pinto |
Portuguese | 19th |
southern Africa |
Fernão Mendes Pinto |
Portuguese | 16th |
India, Far East, Japan |
Martin Alonzo Pinzón |
Spanish | 15th |
Caribbean |
Vicente Yáñez Pinzón |
Spanish | 15th/16th |
Caribbean, Brazil |
Luís Pires |
Portuguese | 15th |
abortive voyage to Brazil |
Francisco Pizarro |
Spanish | 16th |
Hispaniola, Panama, Peru |
Fernão do Pó |
Portuguese | 15th |
west African coast |
Marco Polo |
Venetian | 13th/14th |
China, Mongol Empire |
Juan Ponce de León |
Spanish | 15th/16th |
Florida |
Peter Pond |
American | 18th/19th |
Canadian interior |
Gaspar de Portolà |
Spanish | 18th |
Alta and Baja California |
Panayotis Potagos |
Greek | 19th |
Africa |
John Wesley Powell |
American | 19th |
western United States |
Gavriil Pribylov |
Russian | 18th |
Pribilof Islands |
Nathaniel Hale Pryor |
American | 19th |
western United States |
Nikolai Przhevalsky |
Russian | 19th |
central Asia |
Pytheas |
ancient Greek | 4th BC |
northern Europe |
Q
R
S
Name |
Nationality | Century |
Main area/s explored |
Álvaro de Saavedra |
Spanish | 16th |
Papua New Guinea, Caroline Islands, Marshall Islands |
Alonso de Salazar |
Spanish | 16th |
Marshall Islands, Pacific Ocean |
Edward Sabine |
Irish | 19th |
Arctic |
Kira Salak |
American | 20th/21st century |
Papua New Guinea, Mali, Bhutan |
Sándor Kőrösi Csoma |
Hungarian | early 19th |
Tibet |
Gadiel Sánchez Rivera |
Peruvian | 21st |
Amazon, Lake Titicaca |
João de Santarém |
Portuguese | 15th |
São Tomé and Príncipe islands |
Rabban Bar Sauma |
Turco-Mongol | 13th |
Europe, Middle East |
Johann Schiltberger |
German | 15th |
Central Asia |
Willem Schouten |
Dutch | 17th |
South Pacific (Cape Horn, Tonga Islands, Wallis and Futuna) |
Georg August Schweinfurth |
German/Russian | 19th |
East and Central Africa |
Frederick Courtney Selous |
English | 19th |
Africa |
Robert Falcon Scott |
English | 19th/20th |
Antarctica (South Pole) |
Scylax of Caryanda |
ancient Greek | 6th BC |
Indus River, Indian Ocean, Red Sea |
Tibor Sekelj |
Croat | 20th |
Argentina |
Mirko and Stjepan Seljan |
Croat | early 20th |
Ethiopia, South America |
Symon Semeonis |
Hiberno-Norman | 14th |
Jerusalem, Albania |
Gomes de Sequeira |
Portuguese | 16th |
Caroline Islands, Pacific Ocean |
Alexandre de Serpa Pinto |
Portuguese | 19th |
African continent |
Francisco Serrão |
Portuguese | 16th century |
Indonesia |
Ernest Shackleton |
British | early 20th |
Antarctica |
Robert Barkley Shaw |
British | 19th |
Central Asia |
Eric Shipton |
British | 20th |
Mount Everest, southern Patagonia |
Tanaka Shōsuke |
Japanese | 17th |
Mexico |
Diogo Silves |
Portuguese | 15th |
Azores |
Pêro de Sintra |
Portuguese | 15th |
west African coast, Sierra Leone |
William Smith |
British | early 19th |
South Shetland Islands |
J. Dewey Soper |
Canadian | 20th |
Canadian Arctic |
Hernando de Soto |
Spanish | 16th |
Central America, southern United States |
Martim Afonso de Sousa |
Portuguese | 16th |
Brazilian interior |
John Hanning Speke |
British | 19th |
eastern Africa |
Hans Staden |
German | 16th |
Brazil |
William Grant Stairs |
Canadian | 19th |
central Africa |
Ed Stafford |
British | 21st |
Amazon |
Henry Morton Stanley |
British | 19th |
eastern Africa |
Vilhjalmur Stefansson |
Canadian | 20th |
Canadian Arctic |
Marc Aurel Stein |
Hungarian/British | 19th/20th |
Central Asia |
John Lloyd Stephens |
American | 19th |
Middle East, Mesoamerica (Mayan remains) |
Paweł Strzelecki[10] |
Polish/British | 19th |
the Americas, Australia (Gippsland) |
John McDouall Stuart |
British Australian | 19th |
Australian Interior |
Charles Sturt |
British | 19th |
Australian Interior |
King Gardar Svavarsson |
Swedish | 9th |
Iceland |
Otto Sverdrup |
Norwegian | 19th/20th |
Arctic |
Ignacije Szentmartony |
Croat | 18th |
Amazon River |
T
Name |
Nationality | Century |
Main area/s explored |
Abel Tasman |
Dutch | 17th |
Australasia, including Tasmania |
António Raposo Tavares |
Portuguese | 17th |
Paraguay River, part of the Andes mountain range, Grande River, Mamoré River, Madeira River, Amazon River (Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia) Union of La Plata Basin to the Amazon River - circumnavigation of Brazil. |
Jean-Baptiste Tavernier |
French | 17th |
Persia, India |
Pedro Teixeira |
Portuguese | 17th |
Amazon River |
Tristão Vaz Teixeira |
Portuguese | 15th |
Madeira Islands |
Wilfred Thesiger |
British | 20th |
Africa, Middle East |
David Thompson |
British | 18th/19th |
Western Canada, Pacific Northwest |
Guðríður Þorbjarnardóttir |
Icelandic | c.11th |
North America |
Harold William Tilman |
British | 20th |
Himalayas, Patagonia |
Yermak Timofeyevich |
Russian[11] | 16th |
Siberia |
Tenjiku Tokubei |
Japanese | 17th |
South East Asia, India |
Eduard Toll |
Baltic German | 19th |
Arctic |
Luis Váez de Torres |
Spanish Galician | 16th/17th |
Australasia |
Nuno Tristão |
Portuguese | 15th |
west African coast, Guinea-Bissau |
Hasekura Tsunenaga |
Japanese | 17th |
Mexico, Europe |
Benjamin of Tudela |
Jewish Navarrese | 12th |
Mediterranean Sea, Arabian Peninsula, Red Sea, Persian Gulf |
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
See also
References
- ↑ Ancient Silk Road Travellers
- ↑ Battuta's Travels: Part Three - Persia and Iraq
- ↑ "Memoirs and Travels of Mauritius Augustus Count de Benyowsky: Consisting of His Military Operations in Poland, His Exile into Kamchatka, His Escape and Voyage from that Peninsula through the Northern Pacific Ocean, Touching at Japan and Formosa, to Canton in China, with an Account of the French Settlement He Was Appointed to Form upon the Island of Madagascar". World Digital Library. 1790. Retrieved 2013-07-06.
- ↑ Giovanni Caboto.
- ↑ Cristoforo Colombo.
- ↑ Hassanein Bey
- ↑ Kamchatka, Caucasus, Siberia.
- ↑ "Sahara and Sudan: The Results of Six Years Travel in Africa". World Digital Library. 1879–1889. Retrieved 2013-10-02.
- ↑ New South Wales, southeastern Queensland.
- ↑ Sir Paul de Strzelecki.
- ↑ Cossack.
- ↑ U.S. Pacific Coast, Pacific Northwest.
- ↑ Allegheny Mountains, Cumberland Plateau.