Famous Explorers
List of Famous Explorers.
Adventure is Just Bad Planning
As Roald Amundsen, the first of the famous explorers in this list would have it. Whether you agree or disagree with his sentiment, the human urge to explore the unknown has been a constant theme throughout history and this list celebrates their achievements.
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| Famous explorers | Born | Died | Discovery / Exploration | When | Noteworthy Events By All Famous Explorers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amundsen, Roald | 1872 | 1928 | South Pole. | 1911 | The Norwegian won the race against his British rival Robert Scott and became the first person to reach the South Pole on December 14, 1911. Before that, he was the first seaman to navigate the Northwest Passage from 1903 to 1906. |
| Armstrong, Neil | 1930 | 2012 | First man to walk on the moon. | 21st July 1969 | His famous line “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind” as he stepped off the ladder of Apollo 11 onto the surface of the moon is also a famous moment in TV history. He was followed by crew mate Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon, which has become one of the most popular pub quiz questions! |
| Columbus, Christopher | 1451 | 1506 | America and the Caribbean. | 1492-1494 | Columbus set off with three ships (Santa Maria, Niña and Pinta) to look for an easier route to India. After 36 days he landed by accident in the Caribbean on the island of San Salvador. |
| Cook, James | 1728 | 1779 | Pacific countries. | 1768-1778 | On his three voyages, James Cook explored the Pacific ocean extensively from the Atlantic coast to the Bering Strait. In 1779, the famous sailor was killed by natives in Hawaii. |
| Darwin, Charles | 1809 | 1882 | Theory of evolution. | 1831-1836 | During his five-year expedition on the HMS Beagle, the famous researcher collected many fossils and examined live animals. Back in England (1836) he found an explanation for the change of species (evolution theory) and wrote “On the origin of species”. |
| Eriksson, Leif | 975 | 1020 | North America. | 1000 | The Viking and Icelander who lived in Greenland, was the first European to set foot on the North American coast around the year 1000. |
| Gama, Vasco de | 1469 | 1524 | Sea route to India. | 1497-1499 | With his flagship São Gabriel and two escort ships (São Rafael and Berrio), the Portuguese explorer sailed around the Cape of Good Hope to India in 1499 and came back to Lisbon fully loaded with spices. |
| Humboldt, Alexander von | 1769 | 1859 | Latin and South America. | 1799-1804 | For 5 years, the famous researcher from Germany collected information about the flora and fauna of the Caribbean and Latin and South America together with the French botanist Aime Bonpland. Once home in Berlin this famous explorers wrote about 29 books about his finds. |
| Livingstone, David | 1813 | 1873 | Africa | 1849-1873 | The Scottish doctor and missionary discovered the Victoria Falls, the Zambezi River and several lakes in the heart of Africa. He criticized the slave trade and died in 1873 in search of the Nile sources. |
| Magellan, Ferdinand | 1480 | 1521 | First world circumnavigation. | 1519-1522 | The Portuguese became the first man to sail around Cape Horn, but died before completing his trip around the world by natives in the Philippines. Juan Elcano took over the expedition and brought back the last of five ships with 18 survivors. |
| Peary, Robert | 1856 | 1920 | Arctic | 1909 | The Arctic researcher claimed (like Frederick Cook one year earlier) to have been the first man to the North Pole. Today it is thought unlikely that he ever reached the North Pole on account of his limited supplies and rapid walking times. |
| Polo, Marco | 1254 | 1324 | Asia | 1271-1295 | The Italian merchant from Venice is said to have traveled throughout Asia and cultivated contacts with China. He (allegedly) spent 24 years at the court of the Chinese emperor Kublai Khan. Today, scientists doubt that Marco Polo was ever in China because his detailed reports omitted to mention important things like Chinese characters, porcelain or gunpowder. |
| Slocum, Joshua | 1844 | 1909 | Solo world circumnavigation. | 1895-1898 | Aboard his converted oyster boat Spray, the Canadian-born single-handed sailor from Boston sailed alone around the Earth. After more than 3 years and 45,000 km, he arrived back safely and wrote the bestseller “Sailing Alone Around the World”. |
| Tasman, Abel | 1603 | 1659 | New Zealand, Tonga, Fiji. | 1642-1643 | The Dutch explorer discovered Tasmania, Tonga, Fiji and New Zealand (1642), but was attacked by the Maori and therefore decided against shore excursions and land acquisition. |
| Vespucci, Amerigo | 1451 | 1512 | Mexico, South America. | 1499-1504 | Vespucci was a navigator with Christopher Columbus. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller named the new continents after his first name: America. |
| Zhèng Hé | 1371 | 1435 | Pacific, Indian Ocean, Africa. | 1405-1433 | The Chinese Admiral (who was originally a Muslim) was put in charge of a huge fleet by Emperor Yongle with which he made seven voyages in less than 30 years. The adventures he experienced during his travels probably served as a model for the Arabian saga “Sinbad the Sailor”. |
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