| Pharaoh Necho |
Egypt |
about 600 bc |
According to Herodotus, Necho dispatched a fleet
that successfully circumnavigated Africa. |
| Scylax of Caria |
Greece |
about 515 bc |
Sailed down the Indus R. to Arabian Sea. Navigated
W through Indian Ocean and Red Sea to Suez. |
| Hanno |
Carthage |
about 480 bc |
Sailed along NW coast of Africa, perhaps as far as
Cape Palmas. |
| Himilco |
Carthage |
about 450 bc |
Explored SW coast of Europe N from Cádiz, Spain.
Believed by some to have reached Britain and Ireland. |
| Alexander the Great |
Macedonia |
334-323 bc |
Conquered and explored Syria, Palestine, Persia
(now Iran), Egypt, and a portion of N India. |
| Pytheas |
Greek colony of Massilia (Marseille) |
about 300 bc |
Sailed along E coast of Britain as far as Orkney
Islands. |
| Eudoxus of Cyzicus |
Asia Minor |
about 100 bc |
Explored the Arabian Sea. Said also to have sailed
along W coast of Africa. |
| Gaius Julius Caesar |
Rome |
58-52 bc |
Conquered and explored most of W Europe and part
of Britain. |
| Eric the Red |
Norway |
982-986 ad |
Explored and colonized SW coast of Greenland. |
| Leif Eriksson |
Iceland |
about 1000 ad |
Explored Vinland, variously identified as coast of
Labrador, of Newfoundland Island, of Nova Scotia, and of New England.
|
| Marco Polo |
Venice |
1271-1295 ad |
Traveled through Central Asia, India, China, and
Malay Archipelago. |
| Ibn Batt?tah |
Morocco |
1325-1349 ad |
Traveled in Africa, the Middle East, India, China,
and in steppes of Central Asia. |
| Gil Eannes |
Portugal |
1433 ad |
Sailed S along W coast of Africa, past Cape
Bojador. |
| Diogo Cam |
Portugal |
1482-1486 ad |
Explored mouth of Congo R. and explored part of
coast of W Africa. |
| Bartolomeu Dias |
Portugal |
1488 ad |
Explored Algoa and Mossel bays in S Africa,
observing and naming Cape of Storms, later renamed Cape of Good Hope.
|
| Christopher Columbus |
Italy |
1492-1504 ad |
Explored America and established colonies during
four voyages across the Atlantic. |
| John Cabot |
Italy |
1497-1498 ad |
Made two voyages under English flag. Explored Cape
Breton Island and Nova Scotia; also sailed along E and W coasts of
Greenland, E coast of Labrador, W coast of Baffin Island, and a portion
of S coast of Newfoundland. |
| Vasco da Gama |
Portugal |
1497-1498 ad |
Sailed around Cape of Good Hope to Malindi on E
coast of Africa, and then across Indian Ocean to Calicut, India. |
| Amerigo Vespucci |
Italy |
1497-1502 ad |
Sailed through Caribbean along coast of South
America. The German geographer Martin Waldseemüller published his
accounts and suggested that New World be named America. |
| Alonso de Ojeda |
Spain |
1499-1500 ad |
Explored N coast of South America. |
| Vicente Yáñex Pinzón |
Spain |
1499-1500 ad |
Sailed from Spain, touched coast of Brazil not far
from Recife, visited mouth of Amazon R., and then proceeded N as far as
Guiana. |
| Pedro Álvares Cabral |
Portugal |
1500 ad |
Touched coast of Brazil and rounded Cape of Good
Hope. |
| Gaspar Corte-Real |
Portugal |
1501 ad |
Explored NE coast of New France and Newfoundland.
|
| Rodrigo de Bastidas |
Spain |
1501 ad |
Explored Central America. |
| Sebastian Cabot |
Italy |
1508-1509 ad |
Voyaged to Labrador while searching for the
Northwest Passage, and possibly sailed as far as the Hudson Bay. |
| Juan Ponce de León |
Spain |
1513 ad |
Explored and named Florida. |
| Vasco Núñez de Balboa |
Spain |
1513 ad |
Explored Isthmus of Panama and named Pacific
Ocean. |
| Ferdinand Magellan |
Portugal |
1519-1521 ad |
Explored estuary of Río de la Plata, sailed S,
proceeding through strait which bears his name, and traversed Pacific
Ocean to Philippine Islands, where he was killed. He was first person to
sail W around the globe to a longitude previously reached on an E |
| Juan Sebastián del Cano |
Spain |
1519-1522 ad |
A commander in Magellan’s expedition. After
Magellan’s death, del Cano, in command of Victoria, the expedition’s
sole surviving ship, returned to Spain by way of Moluccas and Cape of
Good Hope, thus being first to circumnavigate the globe. |
| Hernán Cortés |
Spain |
1519-1536 ad |
Explored E coasts of Mexico and Yucatán, conquered
Mexico, and explored Baja California. |
| Francisco Pizarro |
Spain |
1523-1535 ad |
Explored W coast of South America and conquered
Peru. |
| Giovanni da Verrazzano |
Italy |
1524 ad |
Explored E coast of North America N to
Newfoundland, sailing into New York and Narragansett bays. |
| Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca |
Spain |
1527-1542 ad |
Explored SW region of what is now U.S. Headed an
expedition to the Río de la Plata region, and then across S Brazil to
Asunción, Paraguay. |
| Jacques Cartier |
France |
1534-1536 ad |
Explored W coast of Newfoundland and Gulf of Saint
Lawrence, sailing up the Saint Lawrence R. as far as site of Montréal.
|
| Hernando de Soto |
Spain |
1539-1542 ad |
Explored what is now SE United States and part of
lower Mississippi Valley. |
| Hernando de Alarcón |
Spain |
1540 ad |
Explored the Colorado R. |
| Francisco Vásquez de Coronado |
Spain |
1540-1542 ad |
Traced Colorado R. northward, and sighted Grand
Canyon; explored S California, New Mexico, N Arizona, N Texas, Oklahoma,
and E Kansas. |
| Pedro de Valdivia |
Spain |
1540-1542 ad |
Explored Chile |
| Francisco de Orellana |
Spain |
1541-1542 ad |
Traced Amazon R., from its upper reaches in Andes
to its outlet in the Atlantic Ocean. |
| Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo |
Portugal |
1542-1543 ad |
Explored W coast of Mexico and landed at Point
Loma, Calif. |
| Richard Chancellor |
England |
1553-1554 ad |
Sailed around N Scandinavia to White Sea and
proceeded overland from Arkhangel’sk to Moscow. |
| Sir Martin Frobisher |
England |
1576-1578 ad |
Explored Frobisher Bay and Hudson Strait. |
| Sir Francis Drake |
England |
1577-1580 ad |
In the Golden Hind, completed second
circumnavigation of globe. |
| John Davis |
England |
1585-1593 ad |
Skirted E coast of Greenland S to Cape Farewell,
turned and sailed along W Coast of Greenland to Baffin Bay. On a
subsequent voyage to South America, he may have explored Falkland
Islands (Islas Malvinas). |
| Willem Barents |
Netherlands |
1594-1597 ad |
Explored Novaya Zemlya, Barents Sea, and Barents
Island. |
| Sir Walter Raleigh |
England |
1595 ad |
Explored Guiana, coast of Trinidad, and Orinoco R.
|
| Pedro Fernandes de Queirós |
Portugal |
1596-1606 ad |
Explored Marquesas and Solomon Islands of Pacific
Ocean. |
| Sebastián Vizcaíno |
Spain |
1596-1603 ad |
Explored W coast of Mexico between Acapulco and
Baja California; sailed to San Diego and Monterey bays. |
| Samuel de Champlain |
France |
1603-1613 ad |
Traced course of Saint Lawrence R. northward to
Lachine Rapids above Montréal, explored the E coast of North America S
from Nova Scotia to Vineyard Haven, founded and named Québec, and
explored Lake Champlain. |
| Henry Hudson |
England |
1609-1610 ad |
Explored Hudson R., Hudson Strait, and Hudson Bay.
|
| Jakob Le Maire and Willem Cornelis Schouten |
Netherlands |
1615-1617 ad |
Rounded S tip of Tierra del Fuego, passed through
Le Maire Strait, observed and named Cape Horn, and reached Moluccas.
|
| William Baffin |
England |
1616 ad |
Explored Baffin Bay. |
| Abel Janszoon Tasman |
Netherlands |
1642-1644 ad |
Explored New Zealand, Tonga, Fiji, Gulf of
Carpentaria, and Tasmania. |
| Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet |
France |
1673 ad |
Traveled down Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers to
mouth of the Arkansas R., and traced Illinois R. back to Lake Michigan.
|
| René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle |
France |
1682 ad |
Traced Mississippi R. to its mouth in Gulf of
Mexico. |
| Vitus Jonassen Bering |
Denmark |
1725-1741 ad |
Explored Bering Sea and Bering Strait. |
| Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, Sieur de La Vérendrye |
Canada |
1742 ad |
Explored Manitoba, North Dakota, W Minnesota, and
possibly a portion of Montana. |
| Samuel Hearne |
England |
1770-1772 ad |
Traced Coppermine R. northward from its basin to
Arctic shores of Canada. |
| Captain James Cook |
England |
1768-1779 ad |
Explored and charted coast of New Zealand,
finished charting of world’s major bodies of water, and disproved
long-standing theory that there was a large, unexplored, habitable land
in southern hemisphere; explored coasts of Antarctica and Hawaii. |
| James Bruce |
Scotland |
1770-1771 ad |
Visited source of Blue Nile, then followed river
to its confluence with White Nile. |
| Sir Alexander Mackenzie |
Scotland |
1789 ad |
Set out from Fort Chipewyan in Alberta, skirted
Great Slave Lake, and followed Mackenzie R. to its Arctic outlet. |
| Robert Gray |
United States |
1791-1792 ad |
Explored Grays Harbor and Pacific NW coast; sailed
up Columbia R. |
| Mungo Park |
Scotland |
1795-1796 ad |
Ascended Gambia R., traversed N district of Kaarta
in Mali and reached Niger R. |
| Meriwether Lewis and William Clark |
United States |
1804-1806 ad |
Traveled overland from St. Louis, Missouri, along
Missouri and Columbia rivers to Pacific Ocean and back. |
| Zebulon Montgomery Pike |
United States |
1806-1807 ad |
Led expeditions to headwaters of Mississippi,
Arkansas, and Red rivers; sighted Pikes Peak. |
| John Davis |
United States |
1821 ad |
First to land on the Antarctic continent. |
| Richard and John Lander |
England |
1830-1831 ad |
Traced downstream Niger R. of W Africa,
establishing its course and outlet. |
| Sir James Clark Ross |
England |
1831-1843 ad |
Determined position of north magnetic pole at that
time, discovered Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica, and charted Antarctica
coast along Ross Sea and south to Victoria Land. |
| David Livingstone |
Scotland |
1849-1873 ad |
Traversed S Africa, exploring Lake Ngami, Zambezi
R., Victoria Falls, and Lakes Chilwa, Malawi (Nyasa), and Bangweulu.
|
| Heinrich Barth |
Germany |
1850-1855 ad |
Made extensive explorations in W Africa, visiting
upper Benue R. and Tombouctou (Timbuktu). |
| Sir Richard Francis Burton |
England |
1853-1858 ad |
Made pilgrimage to Mecca; explored Somalia,
Ethiopia, and Lake Tanganyika. |
| John Hanning Speke |
England |
1857-1862 ad |
Explored Lake Victoria, which he identified as a
source of the Nile. |
| Robert O’Hara Burke and William John Wills |
Ireland |
1860-1861 ad |
First Europeans to cross continent of Australia,
from S to N. |
| Sir Samuel White Baker |
England |
1861-1864 ad |
Explored tributaries of Nile R. in Ethiopia and
Lake Albert in E Central Africa. |
| Sir Henry Morton Stanley |
Wales |
1874-1889 ad |
Explored Lake Edward, surveyed Lake Tanganyika,
and traced course of Congo R. from its headstreams to its mouth on W
coast of Africa. Later explored the Ruwenzori Range in E central Africa
and followed Semliki R. to its source in Lake Edward. |
| Verney Lovett Cameron |
England |
1875 ad |
First European to traverse equatorial Africa, from
E to W. |
| Sir Frances Younghusband |
British India |
1886-1904 ad |
Journeyed from Beijing to northern India, then led
a British expedition into Tibet. |
| Robert Edwin Peary |
United States |
1908-1909 ad |
Generally credited as the first person to reach
the North Pole. |
| Sven Anders Hedin |
Sweden |
1890-1908 ad |
Explored Chinese Turkistan, Tibet, and Mongolia;
found sources of Indus, Brahmaputra, and Sutlej rivers. |
| Sir Aurel Stein |
Hungary |
1900-1916 ad, 1930 ad |
Made four expeditions in Central Asia, tracing
ancient caravan routes between China and West and mapping little-known
regions. |
| Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton |
Ireland |
1901-1916 ad |
Made several trips to Antarctica, almost reaching
the South Pole. |
| Ludwig Mylius-Erichsen |
Denmark |
1902-1907 ad |
Explored coast of Greenland. |
| Roald Amundsen |
Norway |
1903-1926 ad |
Made first transit of Northwest Passage, first to
reach South Pole; and circled North Pole in an airplane with American
explorer Lincoln Ellsworth. |
| Hiram Bingham |
Hawaii |
1911 ad |
Explored Incan lands and located ancient ruins of
Machu Picchu in Peru. |
| Harry St. John B. Philby |
England |
1917-1932 ad |
Crossed Arabia from sea to sea. First European to
visit Najd (now in Saudi Arabia). |
| Lincoln Ellsworh |
United States |
1925-1939 ad |
Explored Arctic regions by airplane, dirigible,
and submarine, and crossed Antarctica by airplane. |
| Umberto Nobile |
Italy |
1926 ad |
Flew across North Pole with Amundsen and Ellsworth
in the dirigible Norge, which he had designed. |
| Robert Evelyn Byrd |
United States |
1926-1957 ad |
Flew over North and South poles; established base
at Little America in Antarctic Circle; led numerous expeditions that
explored and mapped coastal and interior regions of Antarctica. |
| Bertram Thomas |
England |
1930-1931 ad |
First European to traverse Rub’ al Khali, great
desert of Saudi Arabia |
| Charles William Beebe |
United States |
1934 ad |
Descended to record ocean depth of 923 m (3,028
ft) in waters of Bermuda, using a bathysphere that he invented. |
| John Rymill |
England |
1934-1937 ad |
Explored Antarctic Peninsula. |
| Finn Ronne |
United States |
1946-1958 ad |
Determined Antarctica to be one continent;
explored and mapped Ronne Ice Shelf. |
| Sir Edmund Hillary and Sir Vivian Fuchs |
New Zealand |
1955-1958 ad |
Made first completely overland crossing of
Antarctica. |
| |
England |
|
|
| International Geophysical Year (IGY) |
|
1957-1958 ad |
Scientists of many countries made discoveries
concerning climatology, oceanography, the nature of Earth’s crust, the
geography of Antarctica, and other matters. |
| Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh |
Switzerland |
1960 ad |
Descended to record depth of 10,915 m (35,810 ft)
in Mariana Trench of Pacific Ocean, using the bathyscaph Trieste. |
| |
United States |
|
|
| Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr. |
United States |
1969 ad |
First persons to land on the moon. |
| Naomi Uemura |
Japan |
1978 ad |
First person to reach North Pole alone by dogsled.
|
| Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Charles Burton |
England |
1979-1982 ad |
First to cross both the North Pole and the South
Pole on a single circumnavigation of Earth. |
