| Explorer |
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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
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| 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.? to 165 A.D.?) |
Greek |
Mathmetician, astronomer, mapmaker |
| Pytheas (345 B.C.? to 300 B.C.?) |
Greek |
Earliest explorer of Northern Europe |
| Sir Walter Raleigh (1554?-1618) |
English |
Explored Mid-Atlantic U.S., 1st English settlement in US |
| Sally Ride (1951-) |
American |
1st US woman in space |
| James Clark Ross (1800-1862) |
English |
Explored Antarctica |
| 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 |
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| 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 |
