Explorers

Ronald Amundsen

NWY, South Pole

Vasco Nunez de Balboa

SP; Isthmus of Panama, eastern shore of Pacific Ocean

John Cabot

IT/EN; Grand Banks, part of eastern Canada

Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo

PRT/SP; Guatemala, California coast

Antoine de Cadillac

FR; Detroit, Great Lakes area

Jacques Cartier

FR; St. Lawrence River, Montreal

Samuel de Champlain

FR; Quebec, Lake Champlain

Christopher Columbus

IT/SP; West Indies, coastal Central and South America

James Cook

EN; New Zealand, Australia, Hawaii, Pacific Northwest

Francisco Vasquez de Coronado

SP; northwestern Mexico, southwestern U.S.

Hernando de Cortes

SP; Veracruz, Aztec Empire (Mexico)

Vasco da Gama

PRT; around Africa to India

Hernando de Soto

SP; Southern U.S., Mississippi River

Alberto Nunez Cabeza de Vaca

SP; northwest Mexico, Paraguay

Bartolomeu Dias

PRT; Cape of Good Hope

Francis Drake

EN; second voyage around the world

Leif Erikson

NWY; Newfoundland

Martin Frobisher

EN; Baffin Bay, north Atlantic

Henry Hudson

EN; Hudson River

Louis Joliet

FR; upper Mississippi, Illinois, Wisconsin

Sieur de La Salle

FR; Mississippi River to Gulf of Mexico, Louisiana

Ferdinand Magellan

PRT; first voyage around the world, Strait of Magellan

Jacques Marquette

FR; upper Mississippi, Illinois, Wisconsin

Robert Peary

US; North Pole

Francisco Pizarro

SP; Lima, Incan Empire (Peru)

Juan Ponce de Leon

SP; Florida, Puerto Rico

Walter Raleigh

EN; Roanoke

George Vancouver

EN; Puget Sound, Vancouver Island, Mount Rainier

Giovanni da Verrazzano

PRT; east coast of North America

Amerigo Vespucci

IT/SP; coastal Venezuela and Brazil