Important Explorations

NAME

COUNTRY OF BIRTH

YEARS

REGIONS EXPLORED

Pharaoh Necho	Egypt	about 600 BC	According to Herodotus, Necho dispatched a fleet of Phoenician sailors that successfully circumnavigated Africa
Scylax of Caria	Greece	about 515 BC	Sailed down the R. Indus 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 Cadiz, Spain. Believed by some to have reached Britain and Ireland
Alexander the Great	Macedonia	334-323 BC	Conquered and explored Syria, Palestine, Persia, Egypt, and a portion of N India
Pytheas	Greek colony of Massalia (Marseille)	about 300 BC	Sailed along W coast of Britain as far as Orkney Islands
Eudoxus of Cyzious	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 invaded Britain
Ingólf Arnarson	Norway	874	Sailed to Iceland and made first permanent human settlement there
Eric the Red	Norway	982-986	Explored and colonized SW coast of Greenland
Leif Ericson	Iceland	about 1000	Explored Vinland, variously identified as coast of Labrador, of Newfoundland Island, of Nova Scotia, and of New England
Marco Polo	Venice	1271-1295	Travelled through Central Asia, India, China, and Malay Archipelago
Ibn Batuta	Morocco	1325-1349	Travelled in Africa, the Middle East, India, China, and in steppes of Central Asia
Gilianes	Portugal	1433	Sailed S along W coast of Africa, past Cape Bojador
Diogo Cam	Portugal	1482-1486	Explored mouth of R. Congo and explored part of coast of W Africa
Bartolomeu Dias	Portugal	1488	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	Explored America and established colonies during four voyages across the Atlantic
John Cabot	Italy	1497-1498	Made two voyages under English flag. Explored Cape Breton Island and Nova Scotia; on second voyage may have sailed south along N American coast as far as Gulf of Mexico
Vasco da Gama	Portugal	1497-1498	Sailed around Cape of Good Hope to Malindi on E coast of Africa, and then across Indian Ocean to Calicut (now Kozhikode), India
Amerigo Vespucci	Italy	1499-1502	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	Explored N coast of South America
Vicente Yáñez Pinzon	Spain	1499-1500	Sailed from Spain, touched coast of Brazil not far from Recife, visited mouth of R. Amazon, and then proceeded N as far as Guiana
Pedro Álvares Cabral	Portugal	1500	Touched coast of Brazil and rounded Cape of Good Hope
Gasper Corte-Real	Portugal	1501	Explored NE coast of New France and Newfoundland
Rodrigo de Bastidas	Spain	1501	Explored Central America
Sebastian Cabot	Italy	1508-1509	Voyaged to Labrador while searching for the North West Passage, and possibly sailed as far as the Hudson Bay
Juan Ponce de León	Spain	1513	Explored and named Florida
Vasco Núñez de Balboa	Spain	1513	Explored Isthmus of Panama and named Pacific Ocean
Ferdinand Magellan	Portugal	1519-1521	Explored estuary of Rio 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	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	Explored E coasts of Mexico and Yucatán, conquered Mexico, and explored Baja California
Francisco Pizarro	Spain	1523-1535	Explored W coast of South America and conquered Peru
Giovanni da Verrazano	Italy	1524	Explored E coast of North America N to Newfoundland, sailing into New York and Narragansett bays
Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca	Spain	1527-1542	Explored SW region of what is now US. Headed an expedition to the Rio de la Plata region, and then across S Brazil to Asunción, Paraguay
Jacques Cartier	France	1534-1536	Explored W coast of Newfoundland and Gulf of Saint Lawrence sailing up the St. Lawrence as far as site of Montreal
Hernando de Soto	Spain	1539-1542	Explored what is now SE United States and part of lower Mississippi Valley
Hernando de Alarcón	Spain	1540	Explored the R. Colarado
Francisco de Orellana	Spain	1540-1541	Traced R. Amazon, from its headwaters in Andes to its outlet in the Atlantic Ocean
Francisco Vásquez de Coronado	Spain	1540-1542	Traced R. Colorado northward, and sighted Grand Canyon; explored S California, New Mexico, N Arizona, N Texas, Oklahoma, and E Kansas
Pedro de Valdivia	Spain	1540-1552	Explored Chile
Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo	Portugal	1542-1543	Explored W coast of Mexico and landed at Point Loma, Calif
Richard Chancellor	England	1553-1554	Sailed around N Scandinavia to White Sea and proceeded overland from Arkhangelsk to Moscow
Sir Martin Frobisher	England	1576-1578	Explored Frobisher Bay and Hudson Strait
Sir Francis Drake	England	1577-1580	In the Golden Hind, completed second circumnavigation of globe
John Davis	England	1585-1593	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 the Falkland Islands
Willem Barents	Netherlands	1594-1597	Explored Novaya Zemlya, Barents Sea, and Barents Island
Sir Walter Raleigh	England	1595-1616	Explored Guiana, coast of Trinidad, and Orinoco R
Pedro Fernandes de Queiros	Portugal	1596-1606	Explored Marquesas and Solomon Islands of Pacific Ocean
Sebastián Vizcaíno	Spain	1596-1603	Explored W coast of Mexico between Acapulco and Baja California; sailed to San Diego and Monterey bays
Samuel de Champlain	France	1603-1613	Traced course of St. Lawrence R. northward to Lachine Rapids above Montreal, explored the E coast of North America S from Nova Scotia to Vineyard Haven, founded and named Quebec, and explored Lake Champlain
Henry Hudson	England	1609-1610	Explored Hudson R., Hudson Strait, and Hudson Bay
Jakob Le Maire and Willem Cornelis Schouten	Netherlands	1615-1617	Rounded S tip of Tierra del Fuego, passed through Le Maire Strait, observed and named Cape Horn, and reached Moluccas
William Baffin and Robert Bylot	England	1616	Explored Baffin Bay
Abel Janszoon Tasman	Netherlands	1642-1644	Explored New Zealand and Tonga and Fiji Islands, Gulf of Carpentaria, and Tasmania
Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet	France	1673	Travelled 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	Traced Mississippi R. to its mouth in Gulf of Mexico
Vitus Jonassen Bering	Denmark	1725-1741	Explored Bering Sea and Bering Strait
Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de la Vérendrye.	Canada	1742	Explored Manitoba, North Dakota, W Minnesota, and possibly a portion of Montana
Samuel Hearne	England	1768-1770	Traced Coppermine R. northwards from its basin to Arctic shores of Canada
James Cook	England	1768-1779	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 Australia and Hawaii
James Bruce	Scotland	1770-1771	Visited source of Blue Nile, then followed river to its confluence with White Nile
Sir Alexander Mackenzie	Scotland	1789-1793	Set out from Fort Chipewyan in Alberta, skirted Great Slave Lake, and followed Mackenzie R. to its Arctic outlet. Second expedition made first crossing of N America to Pacific
Alessandro Malaspina	Italy	1789-1794	Explored west coast of the Americas, from Cape Horn to Alaska, before charting several islands in the Philippines for the first time
Robert Gray	US	1791-1792	Explored Grays Harbor and Pacific NW coast; sailed up Columbia R
Mungo Park	Scotland	1795-1796	Ascended Gambia R., traversed N district of Kaarta in Mali and reached Niger R
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark	US	1804-1806	Travelled overland from Saint Louis along Missouri and Columbia rivers to Pacific Ocean and back
Zebulon Montgomery Pike	US	1806-1807	Led expeditions to headwaters of Mississippi, Arkansas, and Red rivers; sighted Pikes Peak
John Davis	US	1821	Made first confirmed landing on the Antarctic continent
Richard and John Lander	England	1830-1831	Traced downstream Niger R. of W Africa, establishing its course and outlet
Sir James Clark Ross	England	1831-1843	Determined position at the time of north magnetic pole; discovered Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica, and charted coast in neighbourhood of Ross Sea, Antarctica
Sir John Franklin	England	1845-1847	Naval expedition to find North West Passage became stuck in ice, and all died. Some 50 expeditions sent out to find them over the following decade mapped the Canadian Arctic archipelago and settled the route of the passage
Thomas Brunner	England	1846-1848	Explored the Buller and Grey valleys of New Zealand's South Island, pushing deep into the Southern Alps
David Livingstone	Scotland	1849-1859	Traversed S Africa, exploring Lake Ngami, Zambezi R., Victoria Falls, and Lakes Chilwa and Nyasa (Malawi)
Heinrich Barth	Germany	1850-1855	Made extensive explorations in W Africa, visiting upper Benue R., Tombouctou
Sir Richard Francis Burton	England	1854-1858	Made pilgrimage to Mecca; explored Somalia, Ethiopia, and Lake Tanganyika
John Hanning Speke	England	1856-1862	Explored Lake Victoria, which he identified as a source of the Nile
Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills	Ireland	1860-1861	First Europeans to cross continent of Australia, from S to N
Sir Samuel White Baker	England	1861-1864	Explored tributaries of R. Nile in Ethiopia and lake Albert in E Central Africa
Nain Singh	India	1865-1866	Explored southern Tibet and the upper reaches of the Brahmaputra in secret, establishing the position of Lhasa for the first time
Sir Henry Morton Stanley	Wales	1874-1889	Explored Lake Edward, surveyed Lake Tanganyika, and traced course of R. Congo from Nyangwe to its mouth on W coast of Africa. Later explored Ruwenzori ('Mountains of the Moon') in E Central Africa, and followed Semliki R. to its source in Lake Edward
Verney Lovett Cameron	England	1875	First European to traverse equatorial Africa, from E to W
Sir Francis Younghusband	British India	1886-1904	Journeyed from Peking to Kashmir, then led a British expedition into Tibet
Fridtjof Nansen	Norway	1888-1896	Made first crossing of Greenland, mostly on skis. On second expedition sailed from Framinto the Arctic pack ice before making a sledge journey towards the North Pole
Sven Anders Hedin	Sweden	1890-1908	Explored Chinese (or Eastern) Turkistan, Tibet, and Mongolia; found sources of Indus, Brahmaputra, and Sutlej rivers
Sir Aurel Stein	Hungary	1900-1916, 1930	Made four expeditions in central Asia, tracing ancient caravan routes between China and West and mapping little-known regions
Ludwig Mylius-Erichsen	Denmark	1902-1907	Explored coast of Greenland
Roald Amundsen	Norway	1903-1926	Made first transit of North West Passage; first to reach South Pole; and crossed North Pole in the dirigible Norge
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton	Ireland	1907-1909	Located south magnetic pole
Robert Edwin Peary	US	1908-1909	First person to reach North Pole
Hiram Bingham	Hawaii	1911	Explored Incan lands and located ancient ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru
Harry St. John B. Philby	England	1917-1932	Crossed Arabia from sea to sea. First European to visit Najd
Lincoln Ellsworth	US	1925-1939	Explored Arctic regions by aeroplane, dirigible, and submarine, and crossed Antarctica by aeroplane
Umberto Nobile	Italy	1926	Flew across North Pole with Amundsen and Ellsworth in the dirigible Norge,which he had designed
Richard Evelyn Byrd	US	1926-1957	Flew over or near 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	First European to traverse Rub al-Khali, great desert of Saudi Arabia
Charles William Beebe	US	1934	Descended to record ocean depth of 923 m (3,028 ft) in waters off Bermuda, using a bathysphere that he invented
John Rymill	England	1934-1937	Explored Antarctic Peninsula
Finn Ronne	US	1946-1958	Determined Antarctica to be one continent; explored and mapped Ronne Ice Shelf
Sir Edmund Hillary and Sir Vivian Fuchs	New Zealand England	1955-1958	Made first completely overland crossing of Antarctica
International Geophysical Year (IGY)		1957-1958	Scientists of many countries made discoveries concerning climatology, oceanography, the nature of the earth's crust, the geography of Antarctica, and other matters
Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh	Switzerland US	1960	Descended to record depth of 10,912 m (35,800 ft) in Mariana Trench of Pacific Ocean, using bathyscaphe Trieste
Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr.	US	1969	First persons to land on the moon
Naomi Uemura	Japan	1978	First person to reach North Pole alone by dogsled
Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Charles Burton	England	1979-1982	First to cross both the North Pole and the South Pole on a single circumnavigation of the Earth
Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones	Switzerland England	1999	Made first non-stop balloon flight around the world, in 21 days, taking off from Switzerland and landing in Egypt