People included in Biography for Beginners: World Explorers

A-B

Explorer	Years	Nationality	Accomplishment
Alexander the Great	356 B.C-323 B.C.	Macedonian	Conquered Northern Africa, Middle East and Northern India
Roald E.G. Amundsen	1872-1928	Norwegian	First to reach the South Pole
Neil Armstrong	1930-	American	First man on the moon
William Baffin	1584-1622	Canadian	Explored the Canadian Arctic
Vasco Nunez de Balboa	1475-1519	Spanish	Discovered Pacific Ocean
Robert Ballard	1942-	American	Ocean explorer, Discovered Titanic
Joseph Banks	1743-1820	English	Explored the Pacific with Capt. Cook. Named Botany Bay
Willem Barrents	1550?-1597	Dutch	Searched for the Northeast Passage
Gertrude Bell	1868-1926	English	Archaeologist in Middle East
Benjamin of Tudela	1100s	Spanish	Traveled to Middle East in search of Jewish communities
Vitus Bering	1681-1741	Danish	Explored Siberia and Alaska
Isabella Bird Bishop	1831-1904	English	Traveler to Pacific and Asia
Daniel Boone	1734-1820	American	Explored trans-Appalachian U.S.
Etiene Brulé	1592?-1632?	French	Explored North America
Richard Francis Burton	1821-1890	English	Explored Middle East and Africa
Richard E. Byrd	1888-1957	American	First to fly over the North and South Poles

C-D

Explorer	Years	Nationality	Accomplishment
Alvaro Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca	1490?-1556	Spanish	Explored Southwest and Mexico
John Cabot	1450?-1499?	Italian	Discovered Newfoundland
Sebastian Cabot	1476-1557	Italian	Explored S. American and Canadian water routes
Pedro Alvares Cabral	1467?-1520	Portuguese	Discovered Brazil
Kit Carson	1809-1868	American	Explored the Southwest U.S.
Jacques Cartier	1491-1557	French	Explored Eastern Canada
Samuel de Champlain	1567-1635	French	Explored Eastern Canada and Northeast U.S.
William Clark	1770-1838	American	Explored Central and Western U.S.
Christopher Columbus	1451?-1506	Italian	Discovered the Americas
James Cook	1728-1779	English	Explored the Pacific
Francisco Vasques de Coronado	1510-1554	Spanish	Explored the American Southwest
Hernando Cortes	1485-1547	Spanish	Conquered Aztecs, Explored Mexico
Jacques Cousteau	1910-1997	French	())Explored the ocean floor
Vasco da Gama	1460?-1524	Portuguese	Discovered sea route to East Indies around Africa
Charles Darwin	1809-1882	English	Explored the Pacific and S. America
Alexandra David-Neel	1868-1969	French	Explored Asia, first woman to enter Lhasa, Tibet
Hernando de Soto	1496?-1542	Spanish	Expored Southeastern United States, discovered the Mississippi River
Bartolomew Dias	1450?-1500	Portuguese	Explored West Africa, discovered Cape of Good Hope
Sir Francis Drake	1540?-1596	English	Sailed around the world, explored California

E-H

Explorer	Years	Nationality	Accomplishment
Sylvia Earle	1935-	American	Explorer of the oceans
Erik the Red	950?-1001?	Norwegian	First European to reach and settle Greenland
Leif Erikson	980?-1020?	Norwegian	Discovered Eastern Canada
Faxian	374?-462?	Chinese	Explored India and Asia
Matthew Flinders	1774-1814	English	Circumnavigated Australia
John Franklin	1786-1847	English	Explored Northern Canada, Arctic Ocean
Simon Fraser	1776-1862	Canadian	Explored Northwest U.S. and Canada
John Charles Frémont	1813-1890	American	Explored and mapped western U.S.
Martin Frobisher	1540?-1594	English	Explored NE Canada
Yuri Gagarin	1934-1968	Russian	First man in space
John Glenn	1921-	American	First American to orbit the Earth
Hanno	500 BC?	Carthaginian	Explored Africa
Sven Anders Hedin	1865-1952	Swedish	Mapped regions of Asia
Louis Hennipin	1626-1705	Belgian	Explored Mississippi
Henry the Navigator	1394-1460	Portuguese	Explored West Africa
Matthew Henson	1866-1955	American	African-American explorer, traveled to the North Pole with Robert E. Peary
Herodotus	484?BC-420?	Greek	Explored Asia and N. Africa
Hsuan Tsang	600-664	Chinese	Traveded to Asia and India
Henry Hudson	?-1611	English	Explored northern Canada
Alexander von Humboldt	1769-1859	German	Naturalist, explored Mexico and S. America

I-O

Explorer	Years	Nationality	Accomplishment
Ibn Battuta	1304-1368?	Arab	Explored Middle East, Asia, and Africa
Mae Jemison	1956-	American	First African-American woman to travel in space
Louis Jolliet	1645-1700	French	Explored the Mississippi River
Mary Henrietta Kingsley	1862-1900	English	Explored Africa
Rene Robert Cavelier de La Salle	1643-1687	French	Explored Mississippi, Great Lakes
Leo Africanus	1494?-1554?	Arab	Explored Sub-Saharan Africa
Meriwether Lewis	1774-1809	American	Explored Central and Western U.S.
David Livingstone	1813-1873	Scottish	Explored Central and Southern Africa
Alexander MacKenzie	1764-1820	Scottish	Explored Northwest Canada
Ferdinand Magellan	1480?-1521	Portuguese	Circumnavigated the globe
Jacques Marquette	1637-1675	French	Explored Great Lakes and Mississippi
Fridtjof Nansen	1861-1930	Norwegian	Explored the Arctic Ocean and Greenland
Adolf Erik Nordenskiold	1832-1901	Swedish-Finnish	Explored the Arctic and proved the Northeast Passage existed
Francisco de Orellana	1511?-1546	Spanish	First European to navigate the Amazon River

P-R

Explorer	Years	Nationality	Accomplishment
Mungo Park	1771-1806	Scottish	Explored the niger river in Africa
William Edward Parry	1790-1855	English	Arctic Explorer
Robert E. Peary	1856-1920	American	Arctic Explorer
Ida Pfeiffer	1797-1858	Austrian	Travelled around the world alone, twice
The Phoenicians
Zebulon Pike	1779-1813	American	Explored the Rocky Mountains
Francisco Pizarro	1475-1541	Spanish	Conquered Peru and Ecuador
Marco Polo	1254?-1324	Italian/Venetian	Explored Asia, east to west
Juan Ponce de León	1460?-1521	Spanish	Discovered Florida, founded settlement in Puerto Rico
John Wesley Powell	1834-1902	American	Explored the Grand Canyon, Colorado River
Ptolemy	100 A.D.?-165 A.D.?	Greek	Mathematician, astronomer, mapmaker
Pytheas	345 B.C.?-300 B.C.?	Greek	Earliest explorer of Northern Europe
Sir Walter Raleigh	1554?-1618	English	Explored Mid-Atlantic U.S., 1st English settlement in U.S.
Sally Ride	1951-	American	1st US woman in space
James Clark Ross	1800-1862	English	Explored Antarctica

S-Z

Explorer	Years	Nationality	Accomplishment
Sacajawea	1788?-1812?	Native American/Shoshone	Led Lewis and Clark in exploring Central and Western U.S.
Robert Falcon Scott	1868-1912	English	Explored Antarctica
Ernest H. Shackleton	1874-1922	Anglo-Irish	Explored Antarctica
May French Sheldon	1847-1936	American	Explored Africa
Alan Shepard	1923-1998	American	First American in space
John Hanning Speke	1827-1864	English	Explored Africa, discovered source of the Nile
Henry M. Stanley	1841-1904	Welsh-American	Explored and settled colonies in Africa
Abel Janszoon Tasman	1603-1659	Dutch	Discovered Tasmania, New Zealand, Fiji; geographic ID of Australia
Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova	1937-	Russian	First woman in space
David Thompson	1770-1857	English	Explored Western Canada, Columbia River, important mapmaker
George Vancouver	1757-1798	English	Explored Northwest Canada and U.S.
Giovanni de Verrazzano	1485?-1528?	Italian	Explored Atlantic coast, discovered New York Bay, mouth of the Hudson
Amerigo Vespucci	1451?-1512	Italian	Explored coastal S. America, disproved Columbus's claim to have reached Asia
The Vikings
Alfred Russel Wallace	1823-1913	English	Naturalist and explorer of the Amazon and SE Asian islands
Francis Xavier	1506-1552	Spanish	Missionary who traveled to India, Indonesia, Japan and China
Xenophon	(428 BC?-355 BC?	Greek	Led soldiers through W. Asia
Zheng He	1371-1433?	Chinese	Led sea voyages to Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa