Important Explorations

Name

Country of Birth

Year(s)

Region Explored

Pharaoh Necho	Egypt	about 600 bc	According to Herodotus, Necho dispatched a fleet that successfully circumnavigated Africa.
Scylax of Caria	Greece	about 515 bc	Sailed down the Indus R. to Arabian Sea. Navigated W through Indian Ocean and Red Sea to Suez.
Hanno	Carthage	about 480 bc	Sailed along NW coast of Africa, perhaps as far as Cape Palmas.
Himilco	Carthage	about 450 bc	Explored SW coast of Europe N from Cádiz, Spain. Believed by some to have reached Britain and Ireland.
Alexander the Great	Macedonia	334-323 bc	Conquered and explored Syria, Palestine, Persia (now Iran), Egypt, and a portion of N India.
Pytheas	Greek colony of Massilia (Marseille)	about 300 bc	Sailed along E coast of Britain as far as Orkney Islands.
Eudoxus of Cyzicus	Asia Minor	about 100 bc	Explored the Arabian Sea. Said also to have sailed along W coast of Africa.
Gaius Julius Caesar	Rome	58-52 bc	Conquered and explored most of W Europe and part of Britain.
Erik the Red	Norway	982-986 ad	Explored and colonized SW coast of Greenland.
Leif Eriksson	Iceland	about 1000 ad	Explored Vinland, variously identified as coast of Labrador, of Newfoundland Island, of Nova Scotia, and of New England.
Marco Polo	Venice	1271-1295 ad	Traveled through Central Asia, India, China, and Malay Archipelago.
Ibn Battutah	Morocco	1325-1349 ad	Traveled in Africa, the Middle East, India, China, and in steppes of Central Asia.
Gil Eannes	Portugal	1433 ad	Sailed S along W coast of Africa, past Cape Bojador.
Diogo Cam	Portugal	1482-1486 ad	Explored mouth of Congo R. and explored part of coast of W Africa.
Bartolomeu Dias	Portugal	1488 ad	Explored Algoa and Mossel bays in S Africa, observing and naming Cape of Storms, later renamed Cape of Good Hope.
Christopher Columbus	Italy	1492-1504 ad	Explored America and established colonies during four voyages across the Atlantic.
John Cabot	Italy	1497-1498 ad	Made two voyages under English flag. Explored Cape Breton Island and Nova Scotia; also sailed along E and W coasts of Greenland, E coast of Labrador, W coast of Baffin Island, and a portion of S coast of Newfoundland.
Vasco da Gama	Portugal	1497-1498 ad	Sailed around Cape of Good Hope to Malindi on E coast of Africa, and then across Indian Ocean to Calicut, India.
Amerigo Vespucci	Italy	1497-1502 ad	Sailed through Caribbean along coast of South America. The German geographer Martin Waldseemüller published his accounts and suggested that New World be named America.
Alonso de Ojeda	Spain	1499-1500 ad	Explored N coast of South America.
Vicente Yáñex Pinzón	Spain	1499-1500 ad	Sailed from Spain, touched coast of Brazil not far from Recife, visited mouth of Amazon R., and then proceeded N as far as Guiana.
Pedro Álvares Cabral	Portugal	1500 ad	Touched coast of Brazil and rounded Cape of Good Hope.
Gaspar Corte-Real	Portugal	1501 ad	Explored NE coast of New France and Newfoundland.
Rodrigo de Bastidas	Spain	1501 ad	Explored Central America.
Sebastian Cabot	Italy	1508-1509 ad	Voyaged to Labrador while searching for the Northwest Passage, and possibly sailed as far as the Hudson Bay.
Juan Ponce de León	Spain	1513 ad	Explored and named Florida.
Vasco Núñez de Balboa	Spain	1513 ad	Explored Isthmus of Panama and named Pacific Ocean.
Ferdinand Magellan	Portugal	1519-1521 ad	Explored estuary of Río de la Plata, sailed S, proceeding through strait which bears his name, and traversed Pacific Ocean to Philippine Islands, where he was killed. He was first person to sail W around the globe to a longitude previously reached on an E voyage.
Juan Sebastián del Cano	Spain	1519-1522 ad	A commander in Magellan's expedition. After Magellan's death, del Cano, in command of Victoria, the expedition's sole surviving ship, returned to Spain by way of Moluccas and Cape of Good Hope, thus being first to circumnavigate the globe.
Hernán Cortés	Spain	1519-1536 ad	Explored E coasts of Mexico and Yucatán, conquered Mexico, and explored Baja California.
Francisco Pizarro	Spain	1523-1535 ad	Explored W coast of South America and conquered Peru.
Giovanni da Verrazzano	Italy	1524 ad	Explored E coast of North America N to Newfoundland, sailing into New York and Narragansett bays.
Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca	Spain	1527-1542 ad	Explored SW region of what is now U.S. Headed an expedition to the Río de la Plata region, and then across S Brazil to Asunción, Paraguay.
Jacques Cartier	France	1534-1536 ad	Explored W coast of Newfoundland and Gulf of Saint Lawrence, sailing up the Saint Lawrence R. as far as site of Montréal.
Hernando de Soto	Spain	1539-1542 ad	Explored what is now SE United States and part of lower Mississippi Valley.
Hernando de Alarcón	Spain	1540 ad	Explored the Colorado R.
Francisco Vásquez de Coronado	Spain	1540-1542 ad	Traced Colorado R. northward, and sighted Grand Canyon; explored S California, New Mexico, N Arizona, N Texas, Oklahoma, and E Kansas.
Pedro de Valdivia	Spain	1540-1542 ad	Explored Chile
Francisco de Orellana	Spain	1541-1542 ad	Traced Amazon R., from its upper reaches in Andes to its outlet in the Atlantic Ocean.
Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo	Portugal	1542-1543 ad	Explored W coast of Mexico and landed at Point Loma, Calif.
Richard Chancellor	England	1553-1554 ad	Sailed around N Scandinavia to White Sea and proceeded overland from Arkhangel'sk to Moscow.
Sir Martin Frobisher	England	1576-1578 ad	Explored Frobisher Bay and Hudson Strait.
Sir Francis Drake	England	1577-1580 ad	In the Golden Hind, completed second circumnavigation of globe.
John Davis	England	1585-1593 ad	Skirted E coast of Greenland S to Cape Farewell, turned and sailed along W Coast of Greenland to Baffin Bay. On a subsequent voyage to South America, he may have explored Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas).
Willem Barents	The Netherlands	1594-1597 ad	Explored Novaya Zemlya, Barents Sea, and Barents Island.
Sir Walter Raleigh	England	1595 ad	Explored Guiana, coast of Trinidad, and Orinoco R.
Pedro Fernandes de Queirós	Portugal	1596-1606 ad	Explored Marquesas and Solomon Islands of Pacific Ocean.
Sebastián Vizcaíno	Spain	1596-1603 ad	Explored W coast of Mexico between Acapulco and Baja California; sailed to San Diego and Monterey bays.
Samuel de Champlain	France	1603-1613 ad	Traced course of Saint Lawrence R. northward to Lachine Rapids above Montréal, explored the E coast of North America S from Nova Scotia to Vineyard Haven, founded and named Québec, and explored Lake Champlain.
Henry Hudson	England	1609-1610 ad	Explored Hudson R., Hudson Strait, and Hudson Bay.
Jakob Le Maire and Willem Cornelis Schouten	The Netherlands	1615-1617 ad	Rounded S tip of Tierra del Fuego, passed through Le Maire Strait, observed and named Cape Horn, and reached Moluccas.
William Baffin	England	1616 ad	Explored Baffin Bay.
Abel Janszoon Tasman	The Netherlands	1642-1644 ad	Explored New Zealand, Tonga, Fiji, Gulf of Carpentaria, and Tasmania.
Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet	France	1673 ad	Traveled down Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers to mouth of the Arkansas R., and traced Illinois R. back to Lake Michigan.
René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle	France	1682 ad	Traced Mississippi R. to its mouth in Gulf of Mexico.
Vitus Jonassen Bering	Denmark	1725-1741 ad	Explored Bering Sea and Bering Strait.
Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, Sieur de La Vérendrye	Canada	1742 ad	Explored Manitoba, North Dakota, W Minnesota, and possibly a portion of Montana.
Samuel Hearne	England	1770-1772 ad	Traced Coppermine R. northward from its basin to Arctic shores of Canada.
Captain James Cook	England	1768-1779 ad	Explored and charted coast of New Zealand, finished charting of world's major bodies of water, and disproved long-standing theory that there was a large, unexplored, habitable land in southern hemisphere; explored coasts of Antarctica and Hawaii.
James Bruce	Scotland	1770-1771 ad	Visited source of Blue Nile, then followed river to its confluence with White Nile.
Sir Alexander Mackenzie	Scotland	1789 ad	Set out from Fort Chipewyan in Alberta, skirted Great Slave Lake, and followed Mackenzie R. to its Arctic outlet.
Robert Gray	United States	1791-1792 ad	Explored Grays Harbor and Pacific NW coast; sailed up Columbia R.
Mungo Park	Scotland	1795-1796 ad	Ascended Gambia R., traversed N district of Kaarta in Mali and reached Niger R.
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark	United States	1804-1806 ad	Traveled overland from St. Louis, Missouri, along Missouri and Columbia rivers to Pacific Ocean and back.
Zebulon Montgomery Pike	United States	1806-1807 ad	Led expeditions to headwaters of Mississippi, Arkansas, and Red rivers; sighted Pikes Peak.
John Davis	United States	1821 ad	First to land on the Antarctic continent.
Richard and John Lander	England	1830-1831 ad	Traced downstream Niger R. of W Africa, establishing its course and outlet.
Sir James Clark Ross	England	1831-1843 ad	Determined position of north magnetic pole at that time, discovered Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica, and charted Antarctica coast along Ross Sea and south to Victoria Land.
David Livingstone	Scotland	1849-1873 ad	Traversed S Africa, exploring Lake Ngami, Zambezi R., Victoria Falls, and Lakes Chilwa, Malawi (Nyasa), and Bangweulu.
Heinrich Barth	Germany	1850-1855 ad	Made extensive explorations in W Africa, visiting upper Benue R. and Tombouctou (Timbuktu).
Sir Richard Francis Burton	England	1853-1858 ad	Made pilgrimage to Mecca; explored Somalia, Ethiopia, and Lake Tanganyika.
John Hanning Speke	England	1857-1862 ad	Explored Lake Victoria, which he identified as a source of the Nile.
Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills	Ireland	1860-1861 ad	First Europeans to cross continent of Australia, from S to N.
Sir Samuel White Baker	England	1861-1864 ad	Explored tributaries of Nile R. in Ethiopia and Lake Albert in E Central Africa.
Sir Henry Morton Stanley	Wales	1874-1889 ad	Explored Lake Edward, surveyed Lake Tanganyika, and traced course of Congo R. from its headstreams to its mouth on W coast of Africa. Later explored the Ruwenzori Range in E central Africa and followed Semliki R. to its source in Lake Edward.
Verney Lovett Cameron	England	1875 ad	First European to traverse equatorial Africa, from E to W.
Sir Francis Younghusband	British India	1886-1904 ad	Journeyed from Beijing to northern India, then led a British expedition into Tibet.
Robert Edwin Peary	United States	1908-1909 ad	Generally credited as the first person to reach the North Pole.
Sven Anders Hedin	Sweden	1890-1908 ad	Explored Chinese Turkistan, Tibet, and Mongolia; found sources of Indus, Brahmaputra, and Sutlej rivers.
Sir Aurel Stein	Hungary	1900-1916 ad, 1930 ad	Made four expeditions in Central Asia, tracing ancient caravan routes between China and West and mapping little-known regions.
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton	Ireland	1901-1916 ad	Made several trips to Antarctica, almost reaching the South Pole.
Ludwig Mylius-Erichsen	Denmark	1902-1907 ad	Explored coast of Greenland.
Roald Amundsen	Norway	1903-1926 ad	Made first transit of Northwest Passage, first to reach South Pole; and circled North Pole in an airplane with American explorer Lincoln Ellsworth.
Hiram Bingham	Hawaii	1911 ad	Explored Inca lands and located ancient ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru.
Harry St. John B. Philby	England	1917-1932 ad	Crossed Arabia from sea to sea. First European to visit Najd (now in Saudi Arabia).
Lincoln Ellsworh	United States	1925-1939 ad	Explored Arctic regions by airplane, dirigible, and submarine, and crossed Antarctica by airplane.
Umberto Nobile	Italy	1926 ad	Flew across North Pole with Amundsen and Ellsworth in the dirigible Norge, which he had designed.
Richard Evelyn Byrd	United States	1888-1957 ad	Flew over North and South poles; established base at Little America in Antarctic Circle; led numerous expeditions that explored and mapped coastal and interior regions of Antarctica.
Bertram Thomas	England	1930-1931 ad	First European to traverse Rub' al Khali, great desert of Saudi Arabia
Charles William Beebe	United States	1934 ad	Descended to record ocean depth of 923 m (3,028 ft) in waters of Bermuda, using a bathysphere that he invented.
John Rymill	England	1934-1937 ad	Explored Antarctic Peninsula.
Finn Ronne	United States	1946-1958 ad	Determined Antarctica to be one continent; explored and mapped Ronne Ice Shelf.
Sir Edmund Hillary and Sir Vivian Fuchs	New Zealand England	1955-1958 ad	Made first completely overland crossing of Antarctica.
International Geophysical Year (IGY)		1957-1958 ad	Scientists of many countries made discoveries concerning climatology, oceanography, the nature of Earth's crust, the geography of Antarctica, and other matters.
Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh	Switzerland United States	1960 ad	Descended to record depth of 10,915 m (35,810 ft) in Mariana Trench of Pacific Ocean, using the bathyscaph Trieste.
Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr.	United States	1969 ad	First persons to land on the moon.
Naomi Uemura	Japan	1978 ad	First person to reach North Pole alone by dogsled.
Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Charles Burton	England	1979-1982 ad	First to cross both the North Pole and the South Pole on a single circumnavigation of Earth.