A partial list of some of the world’s most famous explorers

A partial list of some of the world’s most famous explorers.¹

Name	Homeland	Date(s)	Major Accomplishments
Alexander the Great	Macedon	300's BC	Conquered much of the Middle East and Asia
Amundsen, Roald	Norway	1903-06; 1911	Discovered the Northwest Passage; first person to reach the South Pole
Armstrong, Neil	U.S.	1969	First person to walk on the Moon
Balboa, Vasco Núñez de	Spain	1513	Discovered the Pacific Ocean
Bering, Vitus	Denmark	1727-29	Explored Arctic region
Byrd, Admiral Richard E.	United States	1926; 1929	First to claim to fly over the North Pole; first to fly over the South Pole
Cabot, John	Genoa (Italy)	1497	Claimed North American territory for England
Cartier, Jacques	France	1535	Explored the St. Lawrence River in Canada
Champlain, Samuel de	France	1605-09; 1613-15	Explored the Atlantic coast of Canada; explored the Ottawa River and Lake Ontario
Clark, William	U.S.	1804-06	Explored American northwest with Lewis
Columbus, Christopher	Genoa (Italy)	1492-1504	First Age of Discovery explorer to discover the New World; explored islands off the east coast of North America
Cook, Cpt. James	England	1768-79	First to sight Antarctica and explore Pacific
Coronado, Francisco	Spain	1540's	Explored southwestern North America
Cortes, Hernando	Spain	1520-21	Conquered the Aztec Empire of Mexico
Da Gama, Vasco	Portugal	1497-99	First Age of Discovery explorer to sail around Africa to India and back
De Soto, Hernando	Spain	1539-42	Explored southeastern North America
Drake, Sir Francis	England	1577-80	First Englishman to circumnavigate the globe
Ericson, Leif	Greenland	1000	First European to land in North America
Eric the Red	Norway	982	Discovered and colonized Greenland
Gagarin, Yuri	Soviet Union	1961	First person to orbit the earth
Hudson, Henry	England	1609-11	Discovered the Hudson River and Bay
Jolliet, Louis	France	1673	Explored the Mississippi R. with Marquette
La Salle, Sieur de	France	1669-71; 1682	Explored the Ohio Valley; & Mississippi River
Lewis, Meriwether	U.S.	1804-06	Explored American northwest with Clark
Livingstone, David	Scotland	1840-73	Explored much of the African interior
Mackenzie, Alexander	Scotland	1789-93	First European to cross Canada, east to west
Magellan, Ferdinand	Portugal	1519-22	Led first successful expedition to circumnavigate the globe
Marquette, Father Jacques	France	1673	Explored the Mississippi River with Jolliet
Nordenskjöld, Baron Nils	Sweden	1878-79	Discovered the Northeast Passage
Peary, Commander Robert E.	United States	1909	First person to reach the North Pole
Pizarro, Francisco	Spain	1531-33	Conquered the Empire of the Incas of Peru
Polo, Marco	Venice (Italy)	1271-95	Explored Asia and met Kublai Khan
Ponce de León, Juan	Spain	1513	Explored Florida, looking for Fountain of Youth
Ross, Sir James Clark	England	1831; 1839-43	Discovered the North Magnetic Pole; explored Antarctica
Stanley, Henry Morton	United States	1870's-1880's	Located Livingstone and explored Africa
Vancouver, George	England	1791-94	Explored northwestern Canada and Pacific coast
Vespucci, Amerigo	Florence	1499-04	Explored the coasts of South America

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