Notable Explorers and Adventurers

This list is comprised of some of history's most recognizable explorers and adventurers.
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NameLifespanOther Names
William Adams1564-1620
Afonso de Albuquerque1453-1515
Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin1930-
Francisco de Almeida1450-1510
Roald Amundsen1872-1928
Neil Armstrong1930-2012
William Baffin1584-1622
Samuel Baker1821-1893
Vasco Núñez de Balboac. 1475-1519
Willem Barentsz1550-1597(Barents)
Jeanne Baret1740-1807
Heinrich Barth1821-1865
Robert Bartlett1875-1946
George Bass1771-1803
Martin Behaim1459-1507
Giovanni Belzoni1778-1823
Benjamin of Tudela1130-1173
Vitus Bering1681-1741
Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza1852-1905
James Bruce1730-1794
Richard Francis Burton1821-1890
Richard E. Byrd1888-1957
Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vacac. 1490-c. 1559
Giovanni Cabotoc. 1450-c. 1499(Cabot)
Sebastiano Cabotoc. 1474-c. 1557(Cabot)
Pedro Álvares Cabralc. 1467-c. 1520
Diogo Cãoc. 1452-1486(Cam)
Jacques Cartier1491-1557
René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle1643-1687
Evliya Çelebi1611-c. 1682(Zilli)
Gene Cernan1934-2017
Samuel de Champlain1574-1635
Apsley Cherry-Garrard1886-1959
William Clark1770-1838
Michael Collins1930-2021
Christopher Columbusc. 1451-1506(Columbo)
Frederick Cook1865-1940
James Cook1728-1779
Hernán Cortés1485-1547
Jacques Cousteau1910-1997
Davy Crockett1786-1836
Vasco da Gamac. 1469-1524
William Dampier1651-1715
Alexandra David-Néel1868-1969
John Davisc. 1550-1605
Lope de Aguirre1510-1561
Diego de Almagro1479-1538
Jean de Béthencourt1362-1425
Louis Antoine de Bougainville1729-1811
Cornelis de Houtman1565-1599
Charles Marie de La Condamine1701-1774
Álvaro de Mendaña y Neira1542-1595
Alonso de Ojedac. 1466-c. 1515
Francisco de Orellana1511-1546
Hernando de Sotoc. 1496-1542
Semyon Dezhnyov1605-1673(Dezhnev)
Bartolomeu Dias1450-1500
Juan Díaz de Solís1470-1516
Francis Drake1540-1596
Jules Dumont d'Urville1790-1842
Amelia Earhart1897-1937
Juan Sebastián Elcano1476-1526
Erik the Red950-1003
Leif Eriksonc. 970-c. 1020(Ericson)
Arvid Adolf Etholén1799-1876(Etolin)
Gustav Adolf Fischer1848-1886
Matthew Flinders1774-1814
John Franklin1786-1847
Yuriy Gagarin1934-1968
Jean François de Galaup1741-1788
Roland Garros1888-1918
Giovanni da Pian del Carpine1182-1252
John Glenn1921-2016
James Augustus Grant1827-1892
Hanno the Navigator?-c. 440 BC
Sven Hedin1865-1952
Louis Hennepin1626-1705
Henry the Navigator1394-1460
Bjarni Herjólfsson9xx-c. 1000
Thor Heyerdahl1914-2002
Edmund Hillary1919-2008
William Hovell1786-1875
Henry Hudsonc. 1570-1611
Hamilton Hume1797-1873
Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Battuta1304-1369
Ingólfur Arnarson?-8xx
Calamity Jane1852-1903(Canary)
Willem Janszoon1570-1630
Mary Kingsley1862-1900
Vladimir Komarov1927-1967
Ferdinand Konščak1703-1759(Consag)
John Ledyard1751-1789
Aleksey Leonov1934-2019
Meriwether Lewis1774-1809
Charles Lindbergh1902-1974
Adolf Henrik Lindstrøm1866-1939
David Livingstone1813-1873
Miguel López de Legazpi1502-1572
Ruy López de Villalobos1500-1544
Alexander MacKenzie1764-1820
Ferdinand Magellan1480-1521
Teoberto Maler1842-1917
George Mallory1886-1924
Douglas Mawson1882-1958
Reinhold Messner1944-
Thomas Mitchell1792-1855
Fridtjof Nansen1861-1930
Niccolò de' Conti1395-1469
Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld1832-1901
Tenzing Norgay1914-1986
Peter Skene Ogden1790-1854
Adolf Overweg1822-1852
John Oxley1784-1828
Mungo Park1771-1806
William Edward Parry1790-1855
Robert Peary1856-1920
Pêro da Covilhãc. 1460-1526
Antonio Pigafettac. 1491-c. 1531
Zebulon Pike1779-1813
Fernão Mendes Pinto1509-1583
Vicente Yáñez Pinzónc. 1462-c. 1514
Francisco Pizarroc. 1471-1541
Marco Polo1254-1324
Juan Ponce de León1474-1521
Peter Pond1739-1807
John Wesley Powell1834-1902
Nikolay Przhevalsky1839-1888
Pytheas380-310 BC
Pedro Fernandes de Queirós1565-1614
Harriet Quimby1875-1912
Walter Raleigh1552-1618
Jacob Roggeveen1659-1729
Cândido Rondon1865-1958
James Clark Ross1800-1862
Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa1532-1592
Robert Falcon Scott1868-1912
Ernest Shackleton1874-1922
Alan Shepard1923-1998
John Smith1580-1631
John Hanning Speke1827-1864
Henry Morton Stanley1841-1904
Aurel Stein1862-1943
John Lloyd Stephens1805-1852
John McDouall Stuart1815-1866
Charles Sturt1795-1869
Abel Tasman1603-1659
Valentina Tereshkova1937-
Bill Tilman1898-1977
Yermak Timofeyevich1537-1585
Andrés de Urdaneta1498-1568
Ármin Vámbéry1832-1913
George Vancouver1757-1798
Jan van Riebeeck1619-1677
Francisco Vázquez de Coronado1510-1554
Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar1465-1524
Giovanni da Verrazzano1485-1528
Amerigo Vespucci1454-1512
Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen1778-1852
Gustav Adolf von Götzen1866-1910(von Goetzen)
Alexander von Humboldt1769-1859
Adam Johann von Krusenstern1770-1846
Ferdinand von Wrangel1797-1870
Xuanzangc. 602-664
Chuck Yeager1923-2020
Francis Younghusband1863-1942
Zhang Qian195-113 BC
Zheng He1371-1435