Some great
explorers (in alphabetic order by surname):
- Vasco Nunez 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), explorer
- Willem Barents, (1550?-1597), Dutch, died on Nova Zembla seeking the Northeast Passage[?]
- Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Battuta, (1304?-1377?), Moroccan Muslim, visited Mecca several times, travelled to Central Asia, East Africa, China, Tombouctou and other places
- Nicholas Baudin[?] - 18th century French explorer, mapped the West Australian coastline.
- Saint Brendan[?] - Irish abbot who sailed the Atlantic Ocean
- Richard Francis Burton, (1821-1890), looking for the source of the Nile, discovered Lake Tanganyika
- Richard E. Byrd, (1888-1957), explorer
- 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, (died c. 1486), explored the African west coast
- 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
- Hernan Fernando Cortes, conquered the Aztec empire in Mexico; sent out expeditions to Baja California
- Jacques-Yves Cousteau, (died 1997), French marine biologist and explorer
- Alexandra David-Néel, (1868-1969), French explorer, visited Lhasa, Tibet in 1924
- Cavalier de la Salle[?], explorer
- Hernando de Soto, (died 1542), explorer
- 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
- Hannu[?] - ancient Egyptian who travelled along the Red Sea to a land called Punt
- Sven Hedin[?], (1865-1952), explorer
- Bjarni Herjulfsson[?] - Viking discoverer of North America
- Thor Heyerdahl, (1914-2002), Norwegian explorer
- 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
- Helge Ingstad, (1899-2001), Norwegian, Danish explorer, Governor of Greenland
- William Parry[?], (born 1790), Arctic explorer
- Robert Edwin Peary, (1856-1920), first man to reach the North Pole
- Auguste Piccard, (1884-1962), physicist and explorer
- Jacques Piccard[?], (born 1922), undersea explorer
- Francisco Pizarro, (1471-1541), conqueror of the Inca Empire
- Marco Polo, (1254-1323), travelled to China in the 13th century.
- John Wesley Powell, (1834-1902), explorer, environmentalist
- Nathaniel Pryor[?], (c 1785-1850), US explorer
- Pytheas, (died 1984), Greek explorer who visited Britain and other north and northwest European countries
- Robert Falcon Scott, (1868-1912), reached the South Pole less than one month after Amundsen, but died on the return voyage
- 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 came further south than anyone before him
- John Hanning Speke, (1827-1864), discovered Lake Victoria
- Henry Morton Stanley, (1841-1904), found back Livingstone; 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
See also explorations, sea explorers, astronaut, conquistador, the History of Science and Technology and Biography.