Biographies: Notable Explorers

Updated May 6, 2022 | Infoplease Staff

Notable Explorers

Abruzzi, Luigi Amedeo, duca degli, Italian explorer and mountain climber
Acuna, Cristobal de, Spanish Jesuit missionary and explorer in South America
Alarcon, Hernando de, Spanish explorer in the Southwest
Amundsen, Roald, Norwegian polar explorer
Andersson, Karl Johan, Swedish explorer in Africa
Anza, Juan Bautista de, Spanish explorer and official in the Southwest and the far West
Baffin, William, British arctic explorer
Baker, Sir Samuel White, English explorer in Africa
Balboa, Vasco Nunez de, Spanish conquistador, discoverer of the Pacific Ocean
Barentz, Willem, Dutch navigator
Barrow, Sir John, British geographer, promoter of arctic exploration
Barth, Heinrich, German explorer in British service
Bartlett, Robert Abram, American arctic explorer
Beechey, Frederick William, British admiral and Arctic explorer
Beke, Charles Tilstone, English explorer and author
Bent, Charles, American frontiersman
Bering, Vitus Jonassen, Danish explorer in Russian employ
Block, Adriaen, Dutch navigator
Bougainville, Louis Antoine de, French navigator
Boyd, Louise Arner, American arctic explorer
Bruce, James, Scottish explorer in Africa
Bruce, William Speirs, Scottish explorer and authority on the polar regions
Brule, Etienne, English sea captain and antarctic explorer
Burckhardt, Johann Ludwig or John Lewis, European explorer
Burton, Sir Richard Francis, English explorer
Byrd, Richard Evelyn, American aviator and polar explorer
Cardenas, Garcia Lopez de, Spanish explorer in the Southwest.
Cabeza de Vaca, Alvar Nunez, Spanish explorer
Cabot, John, English explorer
Cabot, Sebastian, explorer in English and Spanish service
Cabrillo, Juan Rodriguez, Spanish conquistador and discoverer of California
Caillie, Rene, French explorer in Africa
Cameron, Verney Lovett, English traveler in Africa
Cano, Juan Sebastian del, Spanish navigator
Cartier, Jacques, French navigator
Carver, Jonathan, American explorer
ChailleLong, Charles, American soldier, African explorer, and writer
Champlain, Samuel de, French explorer, the chief founder of New France
Chesney, Francis Rawdon, British soldier and explorer in Asia
Clapperton, Hugh, British explorer
Clark, William, American explorer
Columbus, Christopher, European explorer
Cook, Frederick Albert, American explorer and physician
Cook, James, English explorer and navigator
Coronado, Francisco Vasquez de, Spanish explorer
Corts, Hernan, Spanish conquistador
da Gama, Vasco, Portuguese navigator
Dampier, William, English explorer
David, T.W.E., English navigator
De Long, George Washington, American arctic explorer
De Soto, Hernando, Spanish explorer
Dias, Bartolomeu, Portuguese navigator
Drake, Sir Francis, English navigator and admiral
Du Chaillu, Paul Belloni, French-American explorer in Africa
Duluth, Daniel Greysolon, sieur, French explorer in Canada
Dumont d'Urville, Jules Sbastien Csar, French navigator
Ellsworth, Lincoln, American explorer
Emin Pasha, German explorer
Entrecasteaux, Joseph Antoine Bruni d', French navigator
Eric the Red, Norse chieftain, discoverer and colonizer of Greenland
Fremont, John Charles, American explorer, soldier, and political leader
Franklin, Sir John, British explorer
Garnier, Marie Joseph Francois, French explorer and naval officer
Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, English soldier
Gosnold, Bartholomew, English explorer and colonizer
Gray, Robert, American sea captain, discoverer of the Columbia River
Greely, Adolphus Washington, American army officer and arctic explorer
Hall, Charles Francis, American arctic explorer
He, Zheng, explorer
Hedin, Sven Anders, Swedish explorer in central Asia
Henry the Navigator, prince of Portugal, patron of exploration
Henson, Matthew Alexander, African-American arctic explorer
Heyerdahl, Thor, Norwegian explorer and anthropologist
Hillary, Sir Edmund Percival, New Zealand mountain climber and explorer.
Hudson, Henry, English navigator and explorer
Humboldt, Alexander, Freiherr von, German naturalist and explorer
Ibn Batuta, Muslim traveler
Johnson, Martin Elmer, American explorer and author
Johnston, Sir Harry Hamilton, British explorer and colonial official
Jolliet, Louis, French explorer
Kane, Elisha Kent, American physician and arctic explorer
Kotzebue, Otto von, Russian naval officer and explorer;
La Salle, Robert Cavelier, sieur de, French explorer in North America
Leif Ericsson, Norse discoverer of America
Leo Africanus, Moorish traveler in Africa and the Middle East.
Lewis, Meriwether, American explorer
Livingstone, David, Scottish missionary and explorer in Africa
Long, Stephen Harriman, American explorer
Mackenzie, Sir Alexander, Canadian fur trader and explorer
MacMillan, Donald Baxter, American arctic explorer
Magellan, Ferdinand, Portuguese navigator
Marquette, Jacques, French missionary and explorer in North America
McClintock, Sir Francis Leopold, British arctic explorer
McClure, Sir Robert John Le Mesurier, British arctic explorer
Nansen, Fridtjof, Norwegian arctic explorer
Nordenskjold, Nils Adolf Erik, Baron, Swedish geologist and arctic explorer
Ohthere, Norse explorer
Orellana, Francisco de, Spanish explorer of the Amazon River
Park, Mungo, British explorer in Africa
Parry, Sir William Edward, British arctic explorer and rear admiral
Peary, Robert Edwin, American arctic explorer
Perrot, Nicolas, French explorer in Canada and the Old Northwest
Pike, Zebulon Montgomery, American explorer
Pizarro, Francisco, Spanish conquistador
Polo, Marco, Venetian traveler in China
Ponce de Leon, Juan, Spanish explorer
Raleigh, Sir Walter, English soldier, explorer, courtier, and man of letters
Rasmussen, Knud Johan Victor, Danish arctic explorer and ethnologist
Ross, Sir James Clark, British polar explorer and rear admiral
Schouten, Willem Cornelis, Dutch navigator
Scott, Robert Falcon, British naval officer and antarctic explorer
Shackleton, Sir Ernest Henry, British antarctic explorer
Speke, John Hanning, English explorer in Africa
Stanley, Sir Henry Morton, Anglo-American journalist and empire builder
Tasman, Abel Janszoon, Dutch navigator
Thorfinn Karlsefni, Icelandic colonizer
Valle, Pietro della, Italian traveler in Asia
Vancouver, George, English navigator and explorer
Verrazano, Giovanni da, Italian navigator and explorer
Vespucci, Amerigo, Italian navigator in whose honor America was named
Wilkes, Charles, American naval officer and explorer
Wilkins, Sir George Hubert, British explorer
Younghusband, Sir Francis Edward, British explorer