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Explorers

Ancient history

Post-classical history

Early modern history

Dutch seafarer, explorer and merchant

Adam Johann von Krusenstern

Baltic German admiral and explorer in Russian service, who led the first Russian circumnavigation of the globe

Ahmad ibn Fadlan

10th-century Arab traveller and ethnographer

American astronaut

First American To Travel Into Outer Space

Albert Hastings Markham

British explorer and Royal Navy officer

Portuguese conquistador

Alexander Gordon Laing

Early 19th-century Scottish explorer; first European to reach Timbuktu

Alexander Mackenzie (explorer)

Scottish explorer

Alexander von Humboldt

German geographer, naturalist and explorer (1769–1859)

Alexandre de Serpa Pinto

Explorer and soldier

Soviet cosmonaut, first person to perform spacewalk

American astronaut

Alonso de Ojeda

Spanish conquistador, navigator and governor

Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca

Spanish explorer of the New World

Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira

Spanish explorer

Álvaro de Saavedra Cerón

Spanish Conquistador

American aviation pioneer and author (1897–1937)

Amerigo Vespucci

15th and 16th-century Italian explorer, financier, navigator, and cartographer

Pioneering English aviator

André Borschberg

Swiss businessman and pilot

Andrés de Urdaneta

Spanish Basque explorer

Andriyan Nikolayev

Soviet cosmonaut

Anthony van Diemen

Dutch colonial governor (1593–1645)

António de Abreu

Portuguese explorer

António de Noli

Genoese nobleman and navigator

Antonio Pigafetta

Venetian diplomat, historian, and explorer of the Pacific and Chile

Apsley Cherry-Garrard

British explorer (1886-1959)

Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez

Cuban cosmonaut (born 1942)

Arthur Whitten Brown

British Army officer

American politician (1808-1882)

Bartholomew Gosnold

English barrister, explorer, and privateer

Bartolomeu Dias

Late 15th-century Portuguese maritime explorer

Australian engineer and adventurer

Benjamin Bonneville

Union Army general (1796–1878)

Benjamin of Tudela

Jewish explorer and writer

Eora interlocutor with the British in Australia and the United Kingdom

Bertrand Piccard

Swiss balloonist and psychiatrist

Bjarni Herjólfsson

Norse explorer, first known European discoverer of the mainland of the Americas

Aboriginal Australian

American astronaut; second person to walk on the Moon Last Surviving Crew Member of Apollo 11

Charles Debrille Poston

Early Arizona politician (1825–1902)

American engineer, retired U.S. Air Force officer, test pilot, and a former astronaut for NASA

Charles Kingsford Smith

Australian aviator

Charles Lindbergh

American aviator (1902–1974)

Retired Canadian astronaut

Christa McAuliffe

American teacher and astronaut killed in the Challenger disaster

Christopher Columbus

Late 15th-century Italian explorer, navigator, and colonizer

Samian explorer

American frontiersman and explorer of Kentucky

David Livingstone

British colonialist and missionary to Africa (1813–1873)

American astronaut

David Thompson (explorer)

Canadian fur trader and surveyor (1770–1857)

American astronaut

American engineer and entrepreneur

Spanish explorer and son of Christopher Columbus

Diego de Almagro

Spanish conquistador (1475-1538)

Portuguese explorer

Diogo de Azambuja

Portuguese explorer

Diogo Fernandes Pereira

Portuguese explorer

Australian geologist and explorer of the Antarctic (1882–1958)

Ed White (astronaut)

American astronaut

American astronaut and lunar explorer (1930–2016)

Ellen MacArthur

Long-distance yachtswoman

Ernest Shackleton

Anglo-Irish polar explorer (1874–1922)

African explorer

Ottoman writer and explorer

Pioneer of Washington Territory who later publicized the memory of the Oregon Trail

Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen

19th-century Russian Navy officer, cartographer, and explorer

Ferdinand Magellan

Portuguese explorer (1480–1521)

Ferdinand von Wrangel

Baltic German explorer and Russian admiral (1797-1870)

Fernão Mendes Pinto

Portuguese explorer and writer

Francisco de Orellana

Spanish explorer and conquistador

Francisco Serrão

Portuguese explorer

Francisco Vázquez de Coronado

Spanish explorer of the American southwest

Franklin Chang-Díaz

NASA astronaut and entrepreneur

American astronaut

American aviator and navigator (1893–1937)

American explorer

Fridtjof Nansen

Norwegian polar explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize laureate (1861–1930)

García López de Cárdenas

Spanish explorer

Gaspar Corte-Real

Portuguese explorer

Last Apollo astronaut to walk on the Moon

George Vancouver

18th-century English naval explorer

Soviet cosmonaut

Giovanni da Pian del Carpine

Roman Catholic archbishop and traveller

Giovanni da Verrazzano

15/16th-century Florentine explorer of North America for France

Giovanni de' Marignolli

Czech medieval chronicler

Gonçalo Coelho

Portuguese explorer

Gonzalo Pizarro

Spanish conquistador

American astronaut (1927–2004)

British adventurer, filmmaker and television presenter

Gregory Blaxland

18/19th-century English-Australian farmer and explorer

American astronaut and businessman

First African-American astronaut in space

American astronaut (1926–1967)

Hanno the Navigator

Carthaginian explorer

Harrison Schmitt

United States astronaut, 12th man to set foot on the Moon

British explorer and travel writer

Hazza Al Mansouri

Emirati astronaut

German explorer

Henenu (high steward)

Ancient Egyptian explorer

English-born Australian seaman and explorer (1750-1831)

English explorer

Henry Morton Stanley

19th-century Welsh journalist and explorer

Hernando de Soto

Spanish explorer and conquistador

Hernando Pizarro

16th-century Spanish conquistador

Carthaginian navigator and explorer

American fur trapper and frontiersman

Hugh Willoughby

English polar explorer

Humphrey Gilbert

English explorer, politician and soldier

Maghrebi traveller and scholar (1304–1368/1369)

Ingólfr Arnarson

9th century Norse explorer

British explorer (1831-1904)

Isabelle Eberhardt

Swiss explorer and writer

American astronaut and politician

Jacob Roggeveen

17/18th-century Dutch explorer of the Pacific Ocean

Jacob van Heemskerck

Jacques Cartier

French maritime explorer of North America (1491–1557)

Jacques Marquette

17th-century French Jesuit missionary and explorer in North America

James Augustus Grant

Scottish explorer and collector (1827 – 1892)

James Clark Ross

British explorer and naval officer

British explorer and naval officer (1728–1779)

American astronaut

French navigator and colonizer

Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse

French Navy officer and explorer

American astronaut

American explorer

American astronaut

João Álvares Fagundes

Portuguese explorer and shipowner

João Fernandes Lavrador

Portuguese explorer

John Alcock (RAF officer)

British aviator (1892–1919)

American politician

John C. Frémont

United States Army officer, explorer, and politician (1813–1890)

Italian navigator and explorer (c. 1450 – c. 1500)

John Davis (explorer)

English explorer and navigator (1550–1605)

British naval officer and explorer (1786–1847)

American astronaut and politician (1921–2016)

John Hanning Speke

British Indian Army officer and explorer

John Hemming (explorer)

Canadian explorer

John Lloyd Stephens

American explorer, writer, and diplomat (1805–1852)

John Marshall (disambiguation)

British captain (1748-1819)

British naval officer

John Smith (explorer)

English soldier, explorer, writer (1580–1631)

Swiss pioneer of California

John Young (astronaut)

American Apollo and Space Shuttle astronaut (1930–2018)

Jorge de Menezes

Portuguese explorer

19th-century Canadian-American seaman; first to circumnavigate the world solo

Juan Díaz de Solís

16th Century navigator and explorer

Juan Fernández (explorer)

Spanish explorer

Guatemalan Mesoamericanist

Juan Ponce de León

16th-century Spanish explorer and conquistador

Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo

Portuguese or Spanish explorer

Juan Sebastián Elcano

Spanish seafarer and circumnavigator

American engineer and a NASA astronaut who died in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster

Jules Dumont d'Urville

French Navy officer and explorer (1790–1842)

American astronaut

American frontiersman and guide (1809–1868)

Russian explorer

Lancelotto Malocello

Italian explorer

New Zealand-born Dutch solo sailor

Norse explorer (c. 970–c. 1020)

American NASA astronaut (b. 1963)

Lope de Aguirre

Basque Spanish conquistador (1510–1561)

Louis Antoine de Bougainville

French admiral and explorer

Explorer of North America

Louis-Gustave Binger

French explorer (1856-1936)

Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón

Spanish explorer

Luís Vaz de Torres

16th- and 17th-century Galician maritime explorer

Mandeville's Travels

Italian explorer and merchant noted for travel to central and eastern Asia

Maria Pronchishcheva

Russian explorer

French athlete, mountaineer, aviator, and journalist

Martín Alonso Pinzón

Spanish explorer, oldest of the Pinzón brothers

Martin Frobisher

English sea captain and privateer (1535–1594)

Matthew Flinders

English navigator and cartographer

American explorer (1866–1955)

Meriwether Lewis

American explorer

Michael Collins (astronaut)

American astronaut (1930–2021)

Miguel López de Legazpi

16th-century Spanish conquistador, navigator, and colonial governor (1502–1572)

Mikhail Stadukhin

Russian explorer

Mungo Park (explorer)

Scottish naturalist and explorer of the African continent

American astronaut and lunar explorer (1930–2012)

Nikolay Przhevalsky

Russian soldier, explorer, and geographer

Pánfilo de Narváez

Spanish conquistador and soldier in the Americas

Paul Scully-Power

American astronaut

Paweł Strzelecki

Polish explorer and geologist

Pedro Álvares Cabral

Portuguese explorer (c. 1467/8 – c. 1520)

Pedro de Alvarado

Spanish conquistador and governor of Guatemala

Pedro Fernandes de Queirós

Portuguese explorer

Pedro Mascarenhas

Portuguese explorer and colonial administrator

American astronaut and biochemistry researcher (born 1960)

British geographer, artillery officer and archaeologist

Pêro da Covilhã

Portuguese explorer and diplomat

American astronaut and lunar explorer (1930–1999)

Danish explorer of Greenland, author

Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza

Italian explorer

Ancient Greek geographer (born ca. 350 BC)

Ranulph Fiennes

British explorer born 1944

19th-century French explorer

René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle

17th-century French explorer and fur trader in North America

Richard E. Byrd

American naval officer and explorer

Richard F. Gordon Jr.

American astronaut

Richard Francis Burton

19th-century British explorer, translator, writer, and linguist

Richard Hawkins

17th-century English seaman, explorer and pirate (1562-1622)

Norwegian polar researcher, who was the first to reach the South Pole

Robert Falcon Scott

British explorer, leader of expeditions to the Antarctic

Robert Gray (sea captain)

American merchant sea captain

Robert O'Hara Burke

Australian explorer

American Arctic explorer (1856–1920)

Canadian astronaut

Portuguese explorer

Robin Knox-Johnston

British yacht racer

Ronald Evans (astronaut)

American astronaut and lunar explorer (1933–1990)

Native American woman & companion to Lewis and Clark at age 16

American physicist and astronaut (1951–2012)

Samantha Cristoforetti

Italian ESA astronaut

British explorer, officer and naturalist (1821–1893)

Samuel de Champlain

16/17th-century French explorer of North America

18th-century British naval officer and explorer of the Pacific Ocean

Persian explorer

Scott Carpenter

American astronaut and aquanaut (1925–2013)

Scott Kelly (astronaut)

American engineer, retired astronaut, and retired U.S. Navy captain

Scylax of Caryanda

Greek explorer and writer of the late 6th and early 5th centuries BCE

Sebastian Cabot (explorer)

Venetian explorer, son of the explorer John Cabot

Sebastián Garcilaso de la Vega y Vargas

Spanish conquistador

Russian explorer

East German cosmonaut, 1st German in space (1937–2019)

Simmias (explorer)

Officer of Ptolemy III and explorer

Sophie Blanchard

French balloonist (1778–1819)

American businessman, record-setting aviator, sailor, and adventurer

American physician and retired NASA astronaut

American lunar astronaut (1933–1994)

Sultan bin Salman Al Saud

Saudi Arabian royal, astronaut, and government official

Svetlana Savitskaya

Soviet cosmonaut (born 1948)

Thomas Cavendish

English explorer and privateer (1560-1592)

Thomas P. Stafford

American astronaut and lunar explorer (1930–2024)

Norwegian anthropologist and adventurer (1914–2002)

Tristão da Cunha

Portuguese explorer and diplomat

Valentina Tereshkova

Russian cosmonaut and first woman in space

Valeri Polyakov

Soviet and Russian cosmonaut (born 1942)

Portuguese explorer of Africa and India

Vasco Núñez de Balboa

Spanish explorer, governor, and conquistador

Vicente Yáñez Pinzón

Spanish navigator, explorer

Danish-born Russian explorer (1681–1741)

British explorer

American naval aviator, test pilot, and NASA astronaut

English statesman and explorer (1552–1618)

Chinese explorer

Willem Barentsz

Dutch navigator, cartographer, and Arctic explorer

Willem Janszoon

Dutch navigator and colonial governor (c.1570–c.1630)

Willem Schouten

William Adams (samurai)

English navigator who travelled to Japan (1564–1620)

American explorer and territorial governor (1770–1838)

William Dampier

British scientist, pirate and explorer (1651–1715)

William Edward Parry

English naval officer and Arctic explorer

William John Wills

Explorer of Australia

William Keeling

British sea captain for the East India Company

William Lawson (explorer)

English born Australian explorer and politician (1774–1850)

William of Rubruck

Flemish missionary and explorer (fl. 1248–55)

William Wentworth

19th-century English-Australian journalist, politician, and explorer

Chinese alchemist and explorer

7th century Chinese Buddhist monk and scholar

Chinese astronaut

Yñigo Ortiz de Retez

Spanish explorer

Soviet pilot and cosmonaut, first human in space

Soviet cosmonaut

American general and explorer (1779–1813)

Imperial envoy to the world outside of China in the 2nd century BC

Chinese mariner and diplomat (1371–1433/1435)