List of explorers
This list of explorers is sorted by surname. See also the links below.
A
Crystal jones north america united states
B
C
D
Name | Nationality | Century | Main area/s explored |
---|---|---|---|
Isaac Davis | British | 18th | Hawaii |
Pierre-Jean De Smet | Belgian | 19th | North America |
Francis Drake | British | 16th | Caribbean |
E
Name | Nationality | Century | Main area/s explored |
---|---|---|---|
Gil Eanes | Portuguese | 15th | northwest African coast |
Juan Sebastián Elcano | Spain | 16th | completed Ferdinand Magellan's circumnavigation |
Francisco de Eliza | Spain | 18th | Strait of Juan de Fuca and Strait of Georgia |
Erik the Red | Viking | 10th | Greenland |
Leif Ericson | Viking | early 11th | Vinland (Newfoundland) |
Pedro Escobar | Portuguese | 15th | São Tomé and Príncipe islands |
George Everest | British | 19th | India |
F
Name | Nationality | Century | Main area/s explored |
---|---|---|---|
Edmund Fanning | American | 18th/19th | Oceania |
Ibn Farrukh | Andalusian | 10th | Atlantic Ocean, Canary islands (possibly Americas) |
Sir Ranulph Fiennes | British | 20th | Arctic, Antarctica |
António Fernandes | Portuguese | 15th | west African coast |
Baltazar Fernandes | Portuguese | 17th | Brazil |
Duarte Fernandes | Portuguese | 16th | Thailand |
Salvador Fidalgo | Spanish | 18th | Pacific Northwest |
Matthew Flinders | British | 18th/19th | Australia, Tasmania |
Alexander Forbes | British | 19th | California |
John Franklin | British | 19th | Northwest Passage |
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 |
Vivian Fuchs | British | 20th | Antarctica |
G
Name | Nationality | Century | Main area/s explored |
---|---|---|---|
Alfons Gabriel | Austrian | 20th | Iran |
Dionisio Alcalá Galiano | Spanish | 18th | Pacific Northwest |
Yuri Gagarin | Russian | 20th | Earth orbit |
Juan Galindo | mixed | 19th | Mesoamerica (Mayan remains) |
Estevão da Gama | Portuguese | 16th | Indian Ocean |
Paulo da Gama | Portuguese | 15th | sea route from Europe to India |
Vasco da Gama | Portuguese | 15th/16th | sea route from Europe to India |
Thomas Gann | Irish | 19th/20th | Mesoamerica (Mayan remains) |
Francis Garnier | French | 19th | Mekong River |
Pierre Gaultier de Varennes | French Canadian | 18th | North American interior |
Romolo Gessi | Italian | 19th | the Nile, Sudan |
Ernest Giles | Australian | 19th | central Australia |
André Gonçalves | Portuguese | 15th/16th | Brazil |
Antão Gonçalves | Portuguese | 15th | west African coast |
Lopes Gonçalves | Portuguese | 15th | Atlantic Ocean |
James Augustus Grant | British | 19th | eastern Africa |
João Grego | Portuguese | 15th | African coast |
Juan de Grijalva | Spanish | 16th | Mexico, Nicaragua |
Gonzalo Guerrero | Spanish | 16th | Yucatán Peninsula |
H
I
Name | Nationality | Century | Main area/s explored |
---|---|---|---|
João Infante | Portuguese | 15th | African coast |
Roberto Ivens | Portuguese | 19th | African continent |
Helge Ingstad | Norwegian | 20th | Newfoundland, Greenland, Alaska |
J
Name | Nationality | Century | Main area/s explored |
---|---|---|---|
Anthony Jenkinson | British | 16th | Russia, Persia |
K
Name | Nationality | Century | Main area/s explored |
---|---|---|---|
Thorfinn Karlsefni | Icelandic | early 11th | Vinland |
Johann Karl Ehrenfried Kegel | German | 19th | Kamchatka |
George Kennan | American | 19th/20th | Russia[6] |
Edmund Kennedy | British/Australian | 19th | Australian interior |
Khashkhash Ibn Saeed Ibn Aswad | Andalusian | 9th | Atlantic Ocean (possibly Americas) |
Ferdinand Konščak | Croatian | 18th | Baja California peninsula |
Pyotr Kozlov | Russian | early 20th | Mongolia, Tibet |
L
Name | Nationality | Century | Main area/s explored |
---|---|---|---|
Richard Lemon Lander | British | early 19th | west Africa (Niger and Benue Rivers) |
Grigori Ivanovitch Langsdorff | Prussian | early 19th | Brazil |
Jean-François de Galaup | French | 18th | Pacific Rim |
Anthony de la Roché | British | 17th | Antarctica |
João Fernandes Lavrador | Portuguese | 15th/16th | Labrador |
Joseph N. LeConte | American | 20th | Sierra Nevada (U.S.) |
Albert von Le Coq | German | 19th/20th | central Asia |
John Ledyard | American | 18th | Australasia, Oceania, Russia |
Miguel López de Legazpi | Spanish | 16th | Philippines |
Ludwig Leichhardt | Prussian | 19th | Australian interior |
Gaspar de Lemos | Portuguese | 15th | Brazil |
Dragutin Lerman | Croatian | 19th/20th | Congo |
Meriwether Lewis | American | 18th/19th | western United States |
David Livingstone | British | 19th | southern and eastern Africa |
M
N
Name | Nationality | Century | Main area/s explored |
---|---|---|---|
Gustav Nachtigal | German | 19th | Africa |
Fridtjof Nansen | Norwegian | 19th/20th | Arctic |
José María Narváez | Spanish | 18th | Pacific Northwest |
Nehsi | ancient Egyptian | 15th BCE | Land of Punt |
Jean Nicolet | French | 17th | Northwest Territory (United States) |
Joseph Nicollet | French/American | 19th | Mississippi and Missouri Rivers |
Afanasiy Nikitin | Russian | 15th | India |
António Noli | Portuguese | 15th | Cape Verde islands |
Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld | Finnish/Swedish | 19th | Arctic |
Tenzing Norgay | Nepalese | 20th | Mount Everest |
Fernão de Noronha | Portuguese | 15th/16th | Atlantic Ocean |
João da Nova | Portuguese | 16th | Atlantic and Indian Oceans |
Paulo Dias de Novais | Portuguese | 16th | Angola |
O
Name | Nationality | Century | Main area/s explored |
---|---|---|---|
Sebastián de Ocampo | Spanish | early 16th | Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico |
Peter Skene Ogden | Canadian | early 19th | Snake River country, western United States |
Juan de Oñate | Spanish | 16th | American Southwest |
Francisco de Orellana | Spanish | 16th | South America, Amazon River |
John Oxley | British | early 19th | Australia[7] |
P
Q
Name | Nationality | Century | Main area/s explored |
---|---|---|---|
Manuel Quimper | Spanish | 18th | Pacific Northwest |
Pedro Fernández de Quirós | Portuguese | 16th/17th | Oceania |
R
Name | Nationality | Century | Main area/s explored |
---|---|---|---|
John Rae | British | 19th | Northwest Passage, Canadian Arctic |
Sir Walter Raleigh | English | 16th/17th | Virginia, the Orinoco river |
Matteo Ricci | Italian | 16th | China |
Diogo Rodrigues | Portuguese | 16th | Mascarene Islands |
Cândido Rondon | Brazilian | 19th/20th | Brazilian interior (Amazon Basin) |
James Clark Ross | British | 19th | Arctic, Antarctic |
William of Rubruck | Flemish | 13th century | Central Asia |
Henry Russell | Irish | 19th | Pyrenees |
S
T
Name | Nationality | Century | Main area/s explored |
---|---|---|---|
Abel Tasman | Dutch | 17th | Australasia, including Tasmania |
Jean-Baptiste Tavernier | French | 17th | Persia, India |
Pedro Teixeira | Portuguese | 17th | Amazon River |
Tristão Vaz Teixeira | Portuguese | 15th | Madeira Islands |
Guðríður Þorbjarnardóttir | Icelandic | c.11th | North America |
Harold William Tilman | British | 20th | Himalayas, Patagonia |
Yermak Timofeyevich | Russian[9] | 16th | Siberia |
Tenjiku Tokubei | Japanese | 17th | South East Asia, India |
Luis Váez de Torres | Spanish | 16th-17th | Australasia |
Nuno Tristão | Portuguese | 15th | west African coast, Guinea-Bissau |
Hasekura Tsunenaga | Japanese | 17th | Mexico, Europe |
U
Name | Nationality | Century | Main area/s explored |
---|---|---|---|
Andrés de Urdaneta | Spanish | 16th | Manila Galleon route |
V
Name | Nationality | Century | Main area/s explored |
---|---|---|---|
Cayetano Valdés | Spanish | 18th | Pacific Northwest |
George Vancouver | British | 18th | Pacific coast of North America[10] |
Pierre Gaultier de Varennes | French Canadian | 18th | western Canada |
Gonçalo Velho | Portuguese | 15th | Azores |
Giovanni da Verrazzano | Italian | early 16th | East Coast of the United States |
Amerigo Vespucci | Italian | 15th/16th | eastern South American coast, Caribbean |
Ruy López de Villalobos | Spanish | 16th | Pacific Ocean, Philippines |
Willem de Vlamingh | Flemish/Dutch | 17th | southwest Australian coast |
W
Name | Nationality | Century | Main area/s explored |
---|---|---|---|
Jean-Frédéric Waldeck | French | 19th | Mesoamerica (Mayan remains) |
Thomas Walker | British | 18th | eastern United States[11] |
Langdon Warner | American | early 20th | the Silk Road |
Harry de Windt | French | 19th/20th | Eurasia |
Y
Name | Nationality | Century | Main area/s explored |
---|---|---|---|
John Young | British | 18th | Hawaii |
Sir Francis Younghusband | British | 19th/20th | central Asia |
Yermak Timofeyevich | Russian | 16th | Siberia |
Z
Name | Nationality | Century | Main area/s explored |
---|---|---|---|
João Gonçalves Zarco | Portuguese | 15th | Madeira Islands |
Zhang Qian | Chinese | 2nd BCE | central Asia |
Xuanzang | Chinese | 7th | Indian subcontinent, Central Asia |
Zheng He | Chinese Muslim | 15th | South Asia, Southeast Asia, Middle East, East African coast (possibly Americas) |
Footnotes
- ^ Ancient Silk Road Travellers
- ^ Battuta's Travels: Part Three - Persia and Iraq
- ^ Giovanni Caboto.
- ^ Cristoforo Colombo.
- ^ Hassanein Bey
- ^ Kamchatka, Caucasus, Siberia.
- ^ New South Wales, southeastern Queensland.
- ^ Sir Paul de Strzelecki.
- ^ Cossack.
- ^ U.S. Pacific Coast, Pacific Northwest.
- ^ Allegheny Mountains, Cumberland Plateau.