List of Great Explorers and their Notable Expeditions

Pytheas

Greek explorer who explored northern Europe and described the Midnight Sun and polar ice.

Zhang Qian

Chinese diplomat and explorer who opened up the Silk Road under the Han Dynasty.

Ibn Battuta

Moroccan explorer who traveled over 75,000 miles across North Africa, the Middle East, India, Southeast Asia, and China.

Leif Erikson

Norse explorer believed to be the first European to reach North America (Vinland) around 1000 CE.

Christopher Columbus

Italian explorer who reached the Caribbean in 1492, initiating European exploration of the Americas.

Vasco da Gama

Portuguese explorer who was the first European to reach India by sea in 1498.

Ferdinand Magellan

Portuguese explorer who led the first circumnavigation of the globe from 1519 to 1522.

John Cabot

Italian explorer who explored the North American coast, possibly Newfoundland, in 1497.

Hernán Cortés

Spanish conquistador who led the expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire.

Francisco Pizarro

Spanish conquistador who conquered the Inca Empire in Peru.

Sir Francis Drake

English explorer known for the second circumnavigation of the world and raiding Spanish ports in the Americas.