| Name |
Lived |
Origin |
Expeditions/Discoveries |
| Hanno |
5th century BC |
Carthage |
Sailed
down the West coast of Africa |
| Erik the Red |
950 - 1002 AD |
Norway |
Explored
the coast of Greenland |
| Leif Eriksson |
11th Century AD |
Norway |
Discovered
Vinland, part of North America |
| Marco Polo |
1254 - 1324 AD |
Italy |
Travelled
extensively in China and along the silk road during 1275 - 92 |
| Ibn Battuta |
1304 - 1368 AD |
Morocco |
Explored
the Sahara, Arabia, India, Central Asia, China & Southeast Asia |
| Dinis Diaz |
15th Century |
Portugal |
Discovered
the Cape Verde islands, off the west coast of Africa in 1445 |
| Bartolomeu
Dias |
1450 - 1500 |
Portugal |
Rounded
cape of Good Hope at 1488 |
| Vasco da Gama |
1469 - 1524 |
Portugal |
Sailed
around cape of Good Hope and reached India in 1498 |
| Christopher
Columbus |
1450 - 1506 |
Italy |
Discovered
the Americas, landed at the Bahamas on 1492, discovered the mainland of south
America on 1498 |
| John Cabot |
1450 - 99 |
Italy |
Discovered
the mainland North Amerca on 1497 |
| Pedro Alvarez
Cabral |
1467 - 1520 |
Portugal |
Discovered
the Brazil on 1500 |
| Amerigo
Vespucci |
1454 - 1512 |
Italy |
Explored
the coastline of South America on 1501 |
| Alfonso de
Albuquerque |
1453 - 1512 |
Portugal |
Reached
India via Zanzibar in 1503 - 04 |
| Vasco Nunez de
Balboa |
1475 - 1519 |
Spain |
First
European to navigate the Pacific ocean from Panama on 1513 |
| Juen Ponc de
Leon |
1460 - 1521 |
Spain |
Discovered
the Floida in 1513 |
| Hernan Cortes |
1485 - 1547 |
Spain |
Led
the conquest of the Axtec empire in Mexico on 1518 - 22 |
| Ferdinand
Magellan |
1480 - 1521 |
Portugal |
Explored
the Philippines; partially circumnavigated the globe on 1520 - 1521 |
| Francisco
Pizarro |
1475 - 1541 |
Spain |
Led
the conquest of the Inca empire in Peru on 1530 - 33 |
| Francisco
Vasquez de Coronado |
1510 - 1554 |
Spain |
Led
the first major expedition to the southwest of the modern United States on
1540 - 1545 |
| Garcia Lopez
de Gardenas |
1540 |
Spain |
Reached
the Grand Canyon in 1540 |
| Richard
Chancellor |
1556 |
England |
Explored
the Russia via North Cap |
| Martin
Frobisher |
1535 - 94 |
England |
Reached
the Frobisher Strait (Canada) while searching for the Northwest passage on
1576 |
| Francis Drake |
1540 - 96 |
England |
Circumnavigated
the globe on 1580 |
| Walter Raleigh |
1552 - 1618 |
England |
Reached
Virginia on 1584 while attempting to land America |
| Cornelis de
Houtman |
1565 - 69 |
Netherlands |
Started
the first Dutch expedition to the East Indies |
| Samuel de
Champlain |
1567 - 1635 |
France |
Explored
the St.Lawrence river on 1603, discovered Quebec on 1608 |
| Henry Hudson |
1565 - 1611 |
England |
Discovered
the Hudson Bay in Canada on 1610 |
| William Baffin |
1584 - 1622 |
England |
Explored
the Baffin Bay, Part of the NorthWest Passage on 1616 |
| Abel Tasman |
1603 - 1659 |
Netherlands |
Reached
New Zealand & Tasmania on 1642 |
| William
Dampier |
1651 - 1715 |
England |
Crossed
the Pacific ocean on 1683 |
| Vitus Bering |
1681 - 1741 |
Denmark |
Explored
Serbia on 1733 |
| James Cook |
1728 - 1779 |
Britain |
Mapped
New Zealand & Australian coasts on 1769 & made first Australian
landfall at Botany Bay, New Southwales on 1770 |
| James Bruce |
1730 - 1794 |
Britain |
Explord
the Blue Nile & found the source of Nile on 1768 |
| Antoine Brunei
dÉntrecasteaux |
1739 - 1793 |
France |
Surveyed
the South Pacific on 1791 - 1793 |
| Mungo Park |
1771 - 1806 |
Britain |
Explored
the Niger river on 1795 |
| George Bass |
1771 - 1803 |
Britain |
Explored
the coastline of southeastern peninsula on 1795 |
| Friedrich
Alexander Von Humboldt |
1769 - 1859 |
Germany |
Explored
the Venezuala river & the Orinoco river on 1799. |
| Matthew
Flinders |
1774 - 1814 |
Britain |
Sailed
around Australia on 1801 |
| Meriwether
Lewis |
1774 - 1809 |
USA |
First
to complete the transcontinental expedition across the United Sataes |
| Alexander
Gordon Laing |
1793 - 1826 |
Britain |
First
European to reach Timbuktu, in Mali on 1826 |
| David
Livingstone |
1813 - 1873 |
Britain |
Discovered
the Vistoria falls on the Zambezi river on 1855 |
| Robert O'Hara
Burke |
1820 - 1861 |
Ireland |
Led
an ill-fated expedition to explore the Australian interior on 1860 - 61 |
| Richard
Francis Burton |
1821 - 1890 |
Britain |
Travelled
in Arabia & reached Medina and Mecca on 1853 |
| Henry Morton
Stanley |
1841 - 1904 |
Britain |
Undertook
voyages down the Congo on 1874 |
| Fridtjof
Nansen |
1861 - 1930 |
Norway |
Crossed
the Greenland on 1888 |
| Aurel Stein |
1862 - 1943 |
Hungary |
Explored
central asia & located an ancient complex at Dunhuang |
| Francis
Younghusband |
1863 - 1942 |
Britain |
Led
an expedition which reached Lhasa in Tibet on 1903 - 04 |
| Sven Hedin |
1865 - 1952 |
Sweden |
Explored
central asia & discovered lost cities in the Taklamakan desert on 1893 -
97 |
| Wilfried
Thesiger |
1910 - 2003 |
Britain |
Interpid
traveller who crossed the Empty quarter of Arabia |
| Willem
Barentsz |
1550 - 1597 |
Netherlands |
Searched
for the Northeast passage on 1594 - 97 |
| Fabian Von
Bellingshausen |
1778 - 1852 |
Estonia |
Early
eplorer of the Antartic on 1819 - 1821 |
| Otto
Nordenskjold |
1869 - 1928 |
Sweden |
Spent
the winter in Antartica on 1901 - 03 |
| Ronald
Amundsen |
1872 - 1928 |
Norway |
First
man to reach south pole on 1911 |
| Vivian Fuchs |
1908 - 1999 |
Britain |
Completed
the first land crossing of the Antartic continent |
