Famous Explorers a to z

Astronaut, military pilot, and educator, Neil Armstrong made history on July 20, 1969, by becoming the first man to walk on the moon.

Joseph Banks was a late-18th to early-19th century British explorer and botanist who pushed for the advancement of science.

Gertrude Bell was a British writer, archaeologist and political officer best known for helping to establish modern Iraq after World War I.

American explorer and frontiersman Daniel Boone blazed a trail to the far west though the Cumberland Gap, thereby providing access to the frontier.

Sir Richard Burton was a British explorer and linguist. He translated The Arabian Nights, and wrote extensively about his travels in Asia, Africa and America.

Explorer Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca spent eight years in the Gulf region of present-day Texas and was treasurer to the Spanish expedition under de Narváez.

Explorer John Cabot made a British claim to land in Canada, mistaking it for Asia, during his 1497 voyage on the ship Matthew.

Kit Carson was an American frontiersman, trapper, soldier and Indian agent who made an important contribution to the westward expansion of the United States.

French explorer Jacques Cartier is known chiefly for exploring the St. Lawrence River and giving Canada its name.

René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle was a French explorer best known for leading an expedition down the Mississippi River, claiming the region for France.

William Clark was half of the famous exploration team Lewis and Clark, who explored and mapped the unknown lands west of the Mississippi River.

Famed Italian explorer Christopher Columbus discovered the "New World" of the Americas on an expedition sponsored by King Ferdinand of Spain in 1492.

British navigator James Cook discovered and charted New Zealand and Australia's Great Barrier Reef on his ship Endeavor, and later disproved the existence of the fabled southern continent Terra Australis. His voyages provided the first accurate map of the Pacific.

Miguel Corte Real was a 16th century Portuguese explorer who partook in sailing expeditions to the North Atlantic.

Hernán Cortés, marqués del Valle de Oaxaca, was a Spanish conquistador who overthrew the Aztec empire and won Mexico for the crown of Spain.

Jacques Cousteau was a French undersea explorer, researcher, photographer and documentary host who invented diving and scuba devices, including the Aqua-Lung. He also conducted underwater expeditions and produced films and television series, including the Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau. 

Vasco da Gama was the first person to sail directly from Europe to India.

Samuel de Champlain was a French explorer and cartographer best known for establishing and governing the settlements of New France and the city of Quebec.

The expedition team of Francisco Vázquez de Coronado discovered the Grand Canyon and many other famous landmarks.

While searching for the mythical fountain of youth, Juan Ponce de León founded the oldest settlement in Puerto Rico and discovered Florida.

Conquistador Juan de Oñate established the colony of New Mexico for Spain. During his governorship, he vainly sought the mythical riches of North America.

Hernando de Soto was a Spanish explorer and conquistador who participated in the conquests of Central America and Peru and discovered the Mississippi River.

Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias led the first European expedition round the Cape of Good Hope in 1488.

Erik the Red was the founder of the first European settlement on Greenland ( 986) and the father of Leif Eriksson, one of the first Europeans to reach North America.

Icelandic explorer Leif Eriksson, the second son of Erik the Red, was possibly the first European to reach North America.

English explorer Martin Frobisher is best known for his attempts to discover a Northwest Passage and his voyages to Labrador and Frobisher Bay in Canada.

John Galt was a prolific Scottish novelist admired for his depiction of country life. His masterpieces include The Ayrshire Legatees and Lawrie Todd.

Francis Galton was an English explorer and anthropologist best known for his research in eugenics and human intelligence. He was the first to study the effects of human selective mating.

Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de La Vérendrye is best known for his explorations of the northern U.S. and Canadian provinces.

John Hawkins was a 16th century British naval commander and slave trader who entered into conflict with Spain.

Matthew Henson was an African American explorer best known as the co-discoverer of the North Pole with Robert Edwin Peary in 1909.

Norwegian adventurer Thor Heyerdahl made a celebrated journey aboard a raft called Kon-Tiki in 1947, and later wrote an international best-seller about his amazing expedition.

20th century explorer and mountaineer Edmund Hillary was the first to reach the peak of Mt. Everest along with fellow climber Tenzing Norgay.

English explorer Henry Hudson embarked on multiple sailing voyages that provided new information on North American water routes.

Louis Joliet was a 17th century Canadian explorer who, aided by Native American communities, explored the origins of the Mississippi River.

David Livingstone was a Scottish missionary, abolitionist and physician known for his explorations of Africa, having crossed the continent during the mid-19th century.

While in the service of Spain, the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan led the first European voyage of discovery to circumnavigate the globe.

French explorer Jacques Marquette is best known as the first European to see and map the northern portion of the Mississippi River.

Explorer and mountaineer Reinhold Messner is famous for making the first solo ascent of Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen.

Elon Musk is an entrepreneur known for co-founding Tesla Motors, X.com—which later became PayPal—and SpaceX, the last of which launched a landmark commercial spacecraft on May 22, 2012.

Explorer and conquistador Vasco Núñez de Balboa became the first European to see the Pacific Ocean.

Scottish explorer Mungo Park (1771–1806) wrote Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa about his expeditions to find the source of the Niger River.

American explorer Robert Edwin Peary is best known for claiming to be the first person to reach the geographic North Pole.

Spanish explorer and conquistador Francisco Pizarro helped Vasco Núñez de Balboa discover the Pacific Ocean, and after conquering Peru, founded its capital city, Lima.

Venetian merchant and adventurer Marco Polo traveled from Europe to Asia from 1271 to 1295. He wrote Il Milione, known in English as The Travels of Marco Polo.

Sir Walter Raleigh was an English adventurer and writer who established a colony near Roanoke Island, now known as Virginia. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London and eventually put to death for treason.

Sacagawea was a Shoshone interpreter best known for being the only woman on the Lewis and Clark expedition into the American West.

Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton was an Irish-born British explorer who was a principal figure of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.

John Smith was a British soldier who was a founder of the American colony of Jamestown in the early 1600s.

Giovanni da Verrazzano was an Italian explorer who chartered the Atlantic coast of North America between the Carolinas and Newfoundland, including New York Harbor in 1524. The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in New York was named after Da Verrazzano.

America was named after Amerigo Vespucci, a Florentine navigator and explorer who played a prominent role in exploring the New World.

John White was a British artist, explorer, cartographer and governor of the English settlement on Roanoke Island (now in North Carolina, U.S.).