List of explorers
are listed below with their common names, countries of origin, centuries of activity and main areas of exploration.
File:Marco Polo Mosaic from Palazzo Tursi.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Marco Polo was an Italian explorer who recorded his 24 years-long travels in the Book of the Marvels of the World, introducing Europeans to Central Asia and China.
File:Diogo Cão.jpg|thumb|right|150px| Diogo Cão was the first European to explore the Congo River and the west coast of Africa, south of the equator.
File:Bartolomeu Dias, South Africa House.JPG|thumb|right|150px| Bartolomeu Dias is known as the first European to sail around the southernmost tip of Africa in 1488, finding the eastern sea route to the Indian Ocean.
File:Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio - Ritratto di Cristoforo Colombo.jpg|thumb|right|150px| Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer who led an expedition to the New World in 1492. His voyages are celebrated as the discovery of the Americas from a European perspective, and they opened a new era in the history of humankind and sustained contact between the two worlds.
File:Conquistador Alonso de Ojeda.png|thumb|right|150px| Alonso de Ojeda is noted as the discoverer of South America, as commander of the fleet with Juan de la Cosa and Amerigo Vespucci.
File:Amerigo Vespucci - cropped.jpg|thumb|right|150px|
Amerigo Vespucci. Italian navigator who made several trips to the New World. He is known for convincing the Europeans that the New World is not Asia, but an entirely new unknown continent. This new continent was soon named after him, America.
File:Pedro Álvares Cabral.jpg|thumb|right|150px| Pedro Álvares Cabral discovered the land in what is now Brazil in 1500 and claimed it for Portugal.
File:Retrato de Afonso de Albuquerque - Autor desconhecido.png|thumb|right|150px| Afonso de Albuquerque raided, captured, and conquered many coastal cities in Asia that initiated Portugal's dominance in the Indian Ocean. He is also one of the first Europeans to sail to the East Indies and Spice Islands, along with Francisco Serrão and António de Abreu.
File:Juan Ponce de León.jpg|thumb|right|150px| Juan Ponce de León was the first Governor of Puerto Rico and discovered Florida in 1513. He is the first known European to set foot on today's contiguous United States.
File:Retrato de Vasco Nuñez de Balboa - Anónimo.jpg|thumb|right|150px| Vasco Núñez de Balboa is known for having crossed the Isthmus of Panama to the Pacific Ocean in 1513, becoming the first European to reach and see the Pacific from the America's
File:Retrato de Hernán Cortés.jpg|thumb|right|150px| Hernán Cortés. Famous Conquistador who led the Spanish expedition to explore and conquer the Aztec Empire.
File:Ferdinand Magellan.jpg|thumb|right|150px| Ferdinand Magellan was a Portuguese explorer who led the successful expedition under Spain to find a western sea route to Asia.
File:Las Glorias Nacionales, 1852 "Juan Sebastian Elcano"..jpg|thumb|right|150px| Juan Sebastián Elcano took command after Ferdinand's death and completed the voyage, becoming the first person to circumnavigate the Earth.
File:Jacques Cartier 1851-1852.jpg|thumb|right|150px| Jacques Cartier was the first European to travel inland in North America and claimed the lands he explored for France in 1534.
File:Gheeraerts Francis Drake 1591.jpg|thumb|right|150px| Francis Drake was an English privateer who plundered many Spanish towns and ships in the Caribbean and elsewhere. However, he is most notable for completing the second circumnavigation of the world.
File:Samuel-de-champlain-s.jpg|thumb|right|150px| Samuel de Champlain is known as "The Father of New France". He founded the first permanent European settlements in Canada, and explored many lakes and rivers in the interior lands from early age to his death.
File:HenryHudson.jpg|thumb|right|150px| Henry Hudson explored what is now New York and northeastern Canada. Today he has both a river and bay named after him.
File:Abel Tasman - Cuyp .jpg|thumb|right|150px| Abel Tasman was a Dutch seafarer who was the first known European to sight the islands of Tasmania, New Zealand, and Fiji.
File:Captainjamescookportrait.jpg|thumb|right|150px| James Cook. Famous British explorer who led three voyages to the Pacific. He is known for exploring and charting many islands in the ocean such as Polynesia, New Zealand, The Hawaiian Islands, and the eastern coast of Australia.
File:Nlc amundsen.jpg|thumb|right|150px| Roald Amundsen was a Norwegian explorer of the polar regions. He led the first successful expedition to the South Pole in 1911, and eventually also reached the North Pole by air in 1926.
| Name | Modern nationality | Centuries | Main areas explored |
| António de Abreu | Portuguese | 16th | Indonesia |
| Francisco Zeimoto | Portuguese | 16th | Japan |
| Thomas Wyndham | English | 16th | West Africa |
| Sir Richard Guildford | English | 16th | Mediterranean Sea |
| William Adams | English | 17th | Japan |
| Diogo Afonso | Portuguese | 15th | Northwest African coast |
| Estevanico | Moroccan | 16th | North America |
| Crispin Agnew | Scottish | 20th | Greenland, Elephant Island, Northern Patagonian Icefield, Himalayas |
| Charles Albanel | French | 17th | Canada |
| Afonso de Albuquerque | Portuguese | 16th | Asia |
| Buzz Aldrin | American | 20th | The Moon |
| Pero de Alenquer | Portuguese | 15th/16th | Indian Ocean |
| Jean Alfonse | Portuguese-French | 15th/16th | Indian Ocean, Southeast Asia, possibly Australia; Brazil, North America |
| Benedict Allen | English | 20th/21st | various |
| Diego de Almagro | Spanish | 16th | Peru, Chile |
| László Almásy | Hungarian | 19th/20th | Africa |
| Francisco de Almeida | Portuguese | 16th | India |
| Lourenço de Almeida | Portuguese | 16th | Sri Lanka, India |
| Pedro de Alvarado | Spanish | 16th | Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras |
| Francisco Álvares | Portuguese | 16th | Ethiopia |
| Gonçalo Álvares | Portuguese | 15th | Gough Island, Namibia |
| Jorge Álvares | Portuguese | 16th | China |
| Roald Amundsen | Norwegian | 20th | South Pole, Antarctica, Northwest Passage |
| José Alberto de Oliveira Anchieta | Portuguese | 19th | Gough Island |
| Charles John Andersson | Swedish | 19th | Southern Africa |
| António de Andrade | Portuguese | 16th/17th | India, Tibet |
| Fernão Pires de Andrade | Portuguese | 16th | Ming China |
| Salomon August Andrée | Swedish | 19th | Arctic |
| Roy Chapman Andrews | American | 20th | China, Mongolia |
| Juan Bautista de Anza | Spanish | 18th | California |
| Moncacht-Apé | Yazoo | 17th/18th | North America |
| Dominick Arduin | French | 20th/21st | North Pole |
| Henryk Arctowski | Polish | 20th | Antarctic, South America |
| Neil Armstrong | American | 20th | The Moon |
| Ingólfur Arnarson | Norse | 9th | Iceland |
| Vladimir Arsenyev | Russian | 20th | Far East |
| Michael Asher | English | 20th | Africa |
| Pero de Ataíde | Portuguese | 16th/17th | Indian Ocean |
| Vasco de Ataíde | Portuguese | 16th/17th | India, Tibet |
| Vladimir Atlasov | Siberian Cossack | 17th | Kamchatka Peninsula |
| François Xavier Aubry | French Canadian | 19th | American Southwest |
| Väinö Auer | Finnish | 20th | Tierra del Fuego and Patagonia |
| Pedro Menéndez de Avilés | Spanish | 16th | Florida |
| Juan de Ayala | Spanish | 18th | California |
| Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón | Spanish | 16th | South Carolina |
| Diogo de Azambuja | Portuguese | 15th | West African coast |
| George Back | English | 19th | Canada |
| William Baffin | English | 17th | Northwest Passage, Canada |
| Ralph Bagnold | British | 20th | Libyan Desert |
| Abu Bakr II | Mali Empire | 14th | Atlantic Ocean, trans-Atlantic |
| Samuel Baker | English | 19th | Africa |
| Vasco Núñez de Balboa | Spanish | 16th | Panama, 'discovered' the Pacific Ocean |
| Robert Ballard | American | 20th | deep sea wrecks, Titanic |
| Ann Bancroft | American | 20th/21st | Arctic, Antarctic |
| Joseph Banks | English | 18th | Newfoundland and Labrador, South Pacific |
| Hong Bao | Chinese | 15th | South Asia, Southeast Asia, Middle East, East African coast |
| Giosafat Barbaro | Italian | 15th | Black Sea, Near East |
| Duarte Barbosa | Portuguese | 15th/16th | Indian Ocean, 1st circumnavigation |
| Pero de Barcelos | Portuguese | 15th/16th | North America |
| Afonso Gonçalves Baldaia | Portuguese | 15th | Western Sahara |
| Jeanne Baré | French | 18th/19th | Pacific Ocean |
| Willem Barentsz | Dutch | 16th | Northeast Passage, Novaya Zemlya, Svalbard |
| Heinrich Barth | German | 19th | Central and northern Africa |
| Robert Bartlett | Newfoundlander | 20th | Arctic |
| William Bartram | American | 18th | Southern United States |
| George Bass | English | 18th | Australia, Tasmania |
| Henry Walter Bates | English | 19th | Amazon basin |
| Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Battuta | Marinid | 14th | Africa, Central Asia, China, Europe, Indian subcontinent, Middle East, Russia, Southeast Asia |
| Nicolas Baudin | French | 18th | Australia |
| James Beckwourth | American | 19th | Sierra Nevada |
| William Beebe | American | 20th | deep sea |
| Pyotr Beketov | Russian | 17th | Siberia |
| Gertrude Bell | English | 19th/20th | the region of Syria Mesopotamia Asia Minor Arabia |
| Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen | Baltic German | 19th | Antarctica |
| Joseph René Bellot | French | 19th | Arctic |
| Móric Benyovszky | Hungarian | 18th | northern Pacific Ocean |
| Vitus Bering | Russian | 18th | Northern Pacific Ocean, Bering Strait, Alaska |
| Jean de Béthencourt | French | 15th | Canary Islands |
| Hiram Bingham III | American | 20th | Machu Picchu, Peru |
| Laura Bingham | English | 20th/21st | South America |
| Isabella Bird | English | 19th/20th | North America, Hawaii, Japan, Korea, China, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, India, Persia, Kurdistan, Turkey, Morocco |
| Stephen Bishop | American | 19th | Mammoth Cave |
| John Blashford-Snell | English | 20th/21st | various |
| Adriaen Block | Dutch | 17th | East Coast of the United States |
| Nellie Bly | American | 19th/20th | trip around the world in 72 days |
| Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra | Spanish | 18th | Pacific Northwest |
| Benjamin Bonneville | American | 19th | Oregon Country, Great Basin |
| Daniel Boone | American | 18th | Kentucky, Appalachian Mountains |
| Vittorio Bottego | Italian | 19th | Somalia |
| Adam Brand | German | 17th | Russia, China |
| Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza | Italian-French | 19th | Congo |
| Saint Brendan | Irish | 6th | Atlantic Ocean, Iceland |
| Jim Bridger | American | 19th | Western United States |
| James Bruce | Scottish | 18th | Algeria, the Middle East, Egypt |
| William S. Bruce | Scottish | 20th | Antarctica |
| Jørgen Brønlund | Greenlandic | 20th | Greenland |
| Étienne Brûlé | French | 17th | Canada |
| Bungaree | Aboriginal Australian | 18th/19th | Australian coasts |
| Lafayette Bunnell | American | 19th | Yosemite Valley |
| Johann Ludwig Burckhardt | Swiss | 19th | Middle East, Sudan |
| Robert O'Hara Burke | Irish | 19th | Australia |
| Frederick Russell Burnham | American | 19th/20th | Africa, Mexico |
| Richard Francis Burton | English | 19th | East Africa |
| Thomas Button | Welsh | 17th | Northwest Passage |
| José de Bustamante y Guerra | Spanish | 18th | Pacific Ocean |
| Richard E. Byrd | American | 20th | North Pole, Antarctica |
| Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca | Spanish | 16th | Southwestern United States, Mexico, Argentina |
| John Cabot | Italian | 15th | North American mainland |
| Sebastian Cabot | Italian | 15th | Northwest Passage, Río de la Plata, Paraná River |
| João Cabral | Portuguese | 16th | Bhutan & Nepal |
| Pedro Álvares Cabral | Portuguese | 15th/16th | Brazil, Madagascar |
| Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo | Portuguese or Spanish | 16th | California |
| Estêvão Cacella | Portuguese | 16th | Himalayas |
| Alvise Cadamosto | Italian | 15th | Cape Verde islands |
| Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac | French | 18th | North America |
| René Caillié | French | 19th | North Africa |
| Álvaro Caminha | Portuguese | 15th | São Tomé and Príncipe islands |
| Pero Vaz de Caminha | Portuguese | 15th | Brazil |
| Alberto del Canto | Portuguese | 15th/16th | Northwestern Mexico |
| Diogo Cão | Portuguese | 15th | west coast of Africa |
| Hermenegildo de Brito Capelo | Portuguese | 19th | African continent |
| John Carpini | Italian | 13th | Central Asia, Mongolia |
| Juan Carrasco | Spanish | 18th | Pacific Northwest |
| Kate Marsden | British | 19th-20th | Yakutia |
| Kit Carson | American | 19th | Rocky Mountains, California, Oregon, Great Basin |
| Jan Carstensz | Dutch | 17th | New Guinea coast, Gulf of Carpentaria |
| Jacques Cartier | French | 16th | St. Lawrence River |
| João de Castro | Portuguese | 15th | India, Arabian Peninsula & Red Sea |
| René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle | French | 17th | Mississippi embayment |
| Bodhidharma | Indian/Persian | 5th/6th | China and Southeast Asia |
| Thomas Cavendish | English | 16th | Virginia, Pacific coast of Central and South America |
| Merieme Chadid | Moroccan, French | 20th/21st | Antarctica, South America, Asia, Astronomer |
| Paul Du Chaillu | French | 19th | Africa |
| Harriet Chalmers Adams | American | 19th/20th | South America, Asia, South Pacific |
| Samuel de Champlain | French | 16th/17th | Quebec, Great Lakes |
| Chang Chun | Chinese | 13th | Central Asia, Mongolia |
| Jean Chardin | French | 17th | Persia, India |
| Semion Chelyuskin | Russian | 18th | Great Northern Expedition |
| Vasily Chichagov | Russian | 18th | Northern Sea Route |
| Aleksei Chirikov | Russian | 18th | Great Northern Expedition |
| Fletcher Christian | English | 18th | Polynesia |
| Boris Chukhnovsky | Russian | 20th | Arctic |
| Hugh Clapperton | Scottish | 19th | west and Central Africa |
| William Clark | American | 19th | Western United States |
| Gonçalo Coelho | Portuguese | 15th/16th | South American coast |
| Nicolau Coelho | Portuguese | 15th | Brazil |
| Frank Cole | Canadian | 20th | Sahara |
| Bartholomew Columbus | Genoese | 15th/16th | Hispaniola, The Antilles |
| Christopher Columbus | Genoese | 15th/16th | Bahamas, Caribbean, Central America, South America |
| Diego Columbus | Portuguese | 16th | Hispaniola |
| George Comer | American | 19th/20th | Arctic |
| Megasthenes | Greek | 3rd BC | India |
| Niccolò Da Conti | Italian | 15th | India, Southeast Asia |
| Frederick Cook | American | 19th/20th | Arctic |
| James Cook | English | 18th | Australasia, Oceania |
| Francisco Vásquez de Coronado | Spanish | 16th | New Mexico |
| Mahinda | Indian | 3rd BC | Sri Lanka |
| Diogo Álvares Correia | Portuguese | 16th | Brazil |
| Gaspar Côrte-Real | Portuguese | 16th | Newfoundland, Greenland |
| João Côrte-Real | Portuguese | 15th | Azores, Newfoundland |
| Miguel Côrte-Real | Portuguese | 16th | Greenland, Newfoundland, Massachusetts |
| Hernán Cortés | Spanish | 16th | Mexico |
| Juan de la Cosa | Spanish | 15th/16th | Caribbean, South America |
| Thomas Coulter | Irish | 19th | Mexico, Alta California |
| Jean Cousin | French | 15th | Possibly the Americas around 1488. Possibly mouth of the Amazon River |
| Jacques-Yves Cousteau | French | 20th | the deep sea |
| Pero da Covilhã | Portuguese | 15th/16th | India, Ethiopia |
| Tom Crean | Irish | 20th | Antarctica |
| Andrew Croft | English | 20th | Arctic |
| Tristão da Cunha | Portuguese | 16th | Tristan da Cunha islands |
| William Healey Dall | American | 19th | Alaska, Yukon |
| William Dampier | English | 17th/18th | Australia, Panama, many other locations |
| Alexandra David-Néel | French-Belgian | 20th | Tibet |
| Isaac Davis | Welsh | 18th | Hawaii |
| Faxian | Chinese | 5th | India, Sri Lanka, and Southeast Asia |
| John Davis | English | 16th | East Indies, Falkland Islands |
| Wang Dayuan | Chinese | 14th | Southeast Asia, Singapore |
| Semyon Dezhnev | Russian | 17th | Siberia, Bering Strait |
| Bartolomeu Dias | Portuguese | 15th | Africa |
| Dinis Dias | Portuguese | 15th | Northwest African coast |
| Diogo Dias | Portuguese | 16th | Madagascar, Somalia |
| Pero Dias | Portuguese | 15th | African coast |
| Dicuil | Irish | 8th | England, Scotland |
| Karl von Ditmar | Baltic German | 19th | Kamchatka |
| Raphaël Domjan | Swiss | 21st | various |
| Francis Drake | English | 16th | Caribbean, Pacific Coast of North America |
| Gil Eanes | Portuguese | 15th | Northwest African coast |
| Juan Sebastián Elcano | Spanish | 16th | completed Ferdinand Magellan's circumnavigation |
| Francisco de Eliza | Spanish | 18th | Strait of Juan de Fuca and Strait of Georgia |
| Lincoln Ellsworth | American | 20th | Arctic and Antarctica |
| Franz Engel | German | 19th | South America |
| Kaundinya | Indian | 1st | Southeast Asia |
| Leif Eriksson | Norse Viking | 11th | Vinland and North American mainland |
| Erik the Red | Norse Viking | 10th | Greenland |
| Pedro Escobar | Portuguese | 15th | São Tomé and Príncipe islands |
| St Vincent Whitshed Erskine | British-South African | 19th | Gazaland & Limpopo River |
| Eudoxus of Cyzicus | Greek | 2nd BC | Indian Ocean, attempted circumnavigation of Africa |
| Euthymenes | Greek | 6th BC | Northwest African coast |
| George Everest | Welsh | 19th | India |
| Evliya Çelebi | Turkish | 17th | Turkey, Egypt, Africa, Europe |
| Edward John Eyre | English | 19th | Australia |
| Ahmad ibn Fadlan | Abbasid Caliphate | 10th | Eastern Europe, Middle East, Russia |
| João Álvares Fagundes | Portuguese | 16th | Newfoundland and Nova Scotia |
| Edmund Fanning | American | 18th/19th | Oceania |
| Percy Harrison Fawcett | English | 20th | Amazon rainforest |
| Álvaro Fernandes | Portuguese | 15th | West African coast |
| Baltasar Fernandes | Portuguese | 17th | Brazil |
| Duarte Fernandes | Portuguese | 16th | Thailand |
| Juan Fernández | Spanish | 16th | Juan Fernández Islands, Pacific Ocean |
| Salvador Fidalgo | Spanish | 18th | Pacific Northwest |
| Peter Fidler | English | 18th | Western Canada |
| Sir Ranulph Fiennes | English | 20th/21st | Arctic, Antarctica |
| Matthew Flinders | English | 18th/19th | Australia, Tasmania |
| Alexander Forbes | Scottish | 19th | California |
| Peter Forsskål | Finnish | 18th | Arabian Peninsula |
| John Franklin | English | 19th | Northwest Passage |
| Simon Fraser | Scottish | 18th/19th | British Columbia |
| Lançarote de Freitas | Portuguese | 15th | Northwest African coast |
| John C. Frémont | American | 19th | Oregon Trail, Sierra Nevada |
| Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne | French | 18th | Oceania |
| Louis de Freycinet | French | 19th | Western Australia, Oceania |
| Martin Frobisher | English | 16th | Northwest Passage, Canada |
| Afanasy Nikitin | Russian | 15th | Ottoman Empire, Persia and India |
| Xu Fu | Chinese | 3rd BC | Japan |
| Juan de Fuca | Greek-Spanish | 16th | Strait of Juan de Fuca, Canada–United States border |
| Vivian Fuchs | English | 20th | Antarctica |
| Alfons Gabriel | Austrian | 20th | Iran |
| Yuri Gagarin | Soviet | 20th | Earth orbit |
| Martín Galeano | Italian -Spanish | 16th | Colombia |
| Dionisio Alcalá Galiano | Spanish | 18th | Pacific Northwest |
| Juan Galindo | Spanish/Irish | 19th | Mesoamerica |
| Estevão da Gama | Portuguese | 16th | Trindade and Martim Vaz islands, Indian Ocean |
| João da Gama | Portuguese | 16th | Hokkaido, Kuril islands, North Pacific, North America |
| Paulo da Gama | Portuguese | 15th | sea route from Europe to India |
| Vasco da Gama | Portuguese | 15th/16th | sea route from Europe to India |
| Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa | Spanish | 16th | Solomon Islands |
| Thomas Gann | Irish | 19th/20th | Mesoamerica |
| Francisco Garcés | Spanish | 18th | Southwestern United States, northwestern Mexico |
| Aleixo Garcia | Portuguese | 16th | Brazil, Paraguay and Bolivia |
| Francisco García Jofre de Loaísa | Spanish | 16th | Pacific Ocean |
| Francis Garnier | French | 19th | Mekong River |
| Adrien de Gerlache | Belgian | 19th/20th | Antarctica, Arctic |
| Romolo Gessi | Italian | 19th | the Nile, Sudan |
| Humphrey Gilbert | English | 16th | North America |
| Ernest Giles | Australian | 19th | Central Australia |
| Diogo Gomes | Portuguese | 15th | West African coast |
| André Gonçalves | Portuguese | 15th/16th | Brazil |
| Antão Gonçalves | Portuguese | 15th | West African coast |
| Lopes Gonçalves | Portuguese | 15th | Atlantic Ocean |
| Binot Paulmier de Gonneville | French | 15th/16th | Brazil |
| James Augustus Grant | Scottish | 19th | East Africa |
| João Grego | Portuguese | 15th | African coast |
| Juan de Grijalva | Spanish | 16th | Mexico, Nicaragua |
| Grigory Grum-Grshimailo | Russian | 19th/20th | Central Asia, Tuva, Far East |
| Gonzalo Guerrero | Spanish | 16th | Yucatán Peninsula |
| Mikhail Gvozdev | Russian | 18th | First Kamchatka Expedition, Great Northern Expedition |
| Charles Gwynn | Irish | 19th/20th | Sudan |
| Niels Peter Høeg Hagen | Danish | 20th | Greenland |
| Hanno the Navigator | Carthaginian | 6th BC | West African coast |
| Hannu | Egyptian | 21st/20th BC | East Africa |
| Gonzalo López de Haro | Spanish | 18th | Pacific Northwest |
| Alfred Harrison | English | 20th | Arctic |
| Dirk Hartog | Dutch | 17th | Western Australian coast |
| Ahmed Pasha Hassanein | Egyptian | 20th | Oweinat and the Sahara |
| Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden | American | 19th | Rocky Mountains and the Western United States |
| Zheng He | Chinese | 15th | South Asia, Southeast Asia, Middle East, East African coast |
| Samuel Hearne | English | 18th | North Canada, Arctic |
| Bruno de Heceta | Spanish | 18th | Pacific Northwest |
| Sven Hedin | Swedish | 19th/20th | Central Asia |
| Matthew Alexander Henson | American | 20th | Arctic |
| Louis Hennepin | Belgian-French | 17th | North American interior |
| Pedro de Heredia | Spanish | 16th | Northern Colombia |
| Bjarni Herjulfsson | Norse Viking | 10th | North America |
| William Lewis Herndon | American | 19th | Amazon basin |
| Herodotus | Greek | 5th BC | Near East, Middle East, North Africa |
| Thor Heyerdahl | Norwegian | 20th | anthropological ocean voyages |
| Sir Edmund Hillary | New Zealander | 20th | Mount Everest, Antarctica |
| Himilco the Navigator | Carthaginian | 6th BC | Northwestern coast of Europe |
| Hippalus | Greek | 1st BC | Indian Ocean |
| Clement Hodgkinson | English | 19th | New South Wales |
| Pelham Aldrich | English | 19th/20th | Arctic |
| Emil Holub | Czech | 19th | Africa |
| Robert Hottot | French | 20th | Congo River |
| Cornelis de Houtman | Dutch | 16th | sea route from Europe to Indonesia |
| Frederick de Houtman | Dutch | 16th/17th | Western Australian coast |
| William Hovell | English | 19th | Southern New South Wales |
| Du Huan | Chinese | 8th | Central Asia, Middle East, East African coast |
| Henry Hudson | English | 17th | Northwest Passage, Hudson River and Hudson Bay |
| Alexander von Humboldt | German | 19th | Latin America, Siberia |
| Hamilton Hume | Australian | 19th | Australian interior |
| James S. Hutchinson | American | 20th | Sierra Nevada |
| Hyecho | Korean | 8th | India, Persia and Central Asia |
| João Infante | Portuguese | 15th | African coast |
| Helge Ingstad | Norwegian | 20th | Newfoundland, Greenland, Alaska |
| James Irwin | American | 20th | The Moon |
| Kurbat Ivanov | Siberian Cossack | 17th | Siberia, Russian Far East, discoverer of Lake Baikal |
| Roberto Ivens | Portuguese | 19th | African continent |
| Cristóvão Jacques | Portuguese | 16th | Paraná River, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina |
| James of Ireland | Irish | 14th | Sumatra, China |
| Willem Janszoon | Dutch | 17th | Australia |
| Anthony Jenkinson | English | 16th | Russia, Persia |
| Louis Jolliet | French Canadian | 17th | Mississippi River |
| Jørgen Jørgensen | Danish | 18th/19th | Tasmania |
| Friar Julian | Hungarian | 13th | Volga Bulgaria |
| Conrad Carel Käyser | Dutch | 20th | Suriname |
| Thorfinn Karlsefni | Icelandic | 11th | Vinland |
| Johann Karl Ehrenfried Kegel | German | 19th | Kamchatka |
| George Kennan | American | 19th/20th | Russia |
| Edmund Kennedy | British-Australian | 19th | Australian interior |
| Robert Kennicott | American | 19th | Alaska, Siberia, Yukon and Northern Canada |
| Yerofey Khabarov | Russian | 17th | Second Russian to explore the Amur region |
| Khashkhash Ibn Saeed Ibn Aswad | Andalusian | 9th | Atlantic Ocean |
| Mary Kingsley | English | 19th | Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, and other South West African regions |
| Eusebio Kino | Italian | 17th/18th | Californias, Sonora and Arizona |
| Maria Klenova | Russian | 20th | One of the founders of marine geology |
| Amyr Klink | Brazilian | 20th | Antarctica |
| John Knight | English | 17th | Greenland, Labrador |
| Johan Peter Koch | Danish | 20th | Greenland |
| Alexander Kolchak | Russian | 20th | Russian Arctic |
| Ferdinand Konščak | Croatian | 17th | Baja California Peninsula |
| Fyodor Konyukhov | Russian | 20th/21st | circumnavigation, Explorers Grand Slam, pole of inaccessibility |
| Otto von Kotzebue | Baltic German | 19th | Pacific Ocean |
| Pyotr Kozlov | Russian | 20th | Mongolia, Tibet |
| Johann Ludwig Krapf | German | 19th | Ethiopia, Kenya |
| Pyotr Krenitsyn | Russian | 18th | Alaska, Aleutian Islands, Kamchatka Peninsula |
| Adam Johann von Krusenstern | Baltic German | 19th | First Russian circumnavigation |
| Francisco de Lacerda | Portuguese | 18th | Zambia |
| Juan Ladrillero | Spanish | 16th | Chile |
| Ernest Doudard de Lagrée | French | 19th | Indochina, Mekong and Yunnan |
| Alexander Gordon Laing | Scottish | 19th | West Africa |
| Pierre Martin de La Martinière | French | 17th | Norway, Lapland, northern Russia, Novaya Zemlya, Greenland and Iceland |
| Richard Lemon Lander | English | 19th | West Africa |
| Grigori Ivanovitch Langsdorff | Russian–German | 19th | Brazil |
| Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse | French | 18th | Pacific Rim |
| Khariton Laptev | Russian | 18th | Great Northern Expedition |
| Anthony de la Roché | English | 17th | Antarctic |
| Gadifer de la Salle | French | 15th | Canary Islands |
| João Fernandes Lavrador | Portuguese | 15th/16th | Labrador |
| Joseph N. LeConte | American | 20th | Sierra Nevada |
| Albert von Le Coq | German | 19th/20th | Central Asia |
| John Ledyard | American | 18th | Australasia, Oceania, Russia |
| Miguel López de Legazpi | Spanish | 16th | Philippines |
| Ludwig Leichhardt | German | 19th | Australian interior |
| Jacob Le Maire | Dutch | 17th | South Pacific |
| Gaspar de Lemos | Portuguese | 15th | Brazil |
| Dragutin Lerman | Croatian | 19th/20th | Congo |
| Mikhail Levashev | Russian | 18th | Alaska, Aleutian Islands, Kamchatka Peninsula |
| Meriwether Lewis | American | 18th/19th | Western United States |
| Sir Martin Lindsay, 1st Baronet | Scottish | 20th | East Greenland |
| João de Lisboa | Portuguese | 15th/16th | Indian Ocean, Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina |
| St. George Littledale | English | 19th | Central Asia and North America |
| David Livingstone | Scottish | 19th | Southern and East Africa |
| Louis-Philippe Loncke | Belgian | 21st | Australia, the Andes and Iceland |
| Jim Lovell | American | 20th | Outer Space |
| Alexander Mackenzie | Scottish Canadian | 18th/19th | Canada |
| Ferdinand Magellan | Portuguese | 15th/16th | 1st circumnavigation, Philippines, Strait of Malacca, Indian Ocean |
| Jacques Mahu | French-Dutch | 16th | Cape Verde islands |
| Alessandro Malaspina | Italian-Spanish | 18th | Pacific Ocean |
| Teoberto Maler | German-Italian | 19th | Mesoamerica |
| George Mallory | English | 20th | Mount Everest |
| Lancelotto Malocello | Italian | 13th/14th | Lanzarote |
| Albert Hastings Markham | British | 19th | Arctic |
| Lourenço Marques | Portuguese | 16th | Mozambique |
| Jacques Marquette | French | 17th | Mississippi River |
| Álvaro Martins | Portuguese | 15th | Newfoundland, Cape of Good Hope |
| Pedro Mascarenhas | Portuguese | 16th | Indian Ocean, Diego Garcia |
| John Minor Maury | American | 19th | Darién Gap |
| Douglas Mawson | Australian | 20th | Antarctica |
| Robert McClure | Irish | 19th | Arctic |
| Robert McCormick | British | 19th | Arctic and Antarctic Oceans |
| Álvaro de Mendaña | Spanish | 16th | Pacific Ocean |
| António Lopes Mendes | Portuguese | 19th | Brazil, India |
| Cristóvão de Mendonça | Portuguese | 16th | East Asia, Australasia |
| Pedro de Mendoza | Spanish | 16th | South America |
| Jorge de Menezes | Portuguese | 16th | Papua New Guinea |
| Archibald Menzies | Scottish | 18th/19th | Pacific Ocean, circumnavigation |
| Alexander von Middendorff | Russian-Baltic German | 19th | Siberia, Far East, Lapland, Fergana Valley |
| Ejnar Mikkelsen | Danish | 20th | Greenland |
| Nicholas Miklouho-Maclay | Russian | 19th | New Guinea |
| Thomas Mitchell | Scottish | 19th | Australian interior |
| Richard Mohun | American | 19th/20th | Congo Free State |
| Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons | French | 16th/17th | North America |
| George Fletcher Moore | Irish | 19th | Australia |
| John Moresby | English | 19th | New Guinea coast |
| Ivan Moskvitin | Russian | 17th | First European to reach the Sea of Okhotsk |
| António Mota | Portuguese | 16th | Japan |
| Henri Mouhot | French | 19th | South East Asia |
| Francisco Antonio Mourelle | Spanish | 18th | Pacific Northwest and Pacific Ocean |
| Bimal Mukherjee | Indian | 20th | circumnavigation |
| Ludvig Mylius-Erichsen | Danish | 20th | Greenland |
| Gustav Nachtigal | German | 19th | Africa |
| Naddoddur | Norse Viking | 9th | Iceland |
| Nain Singh Rawat | Indian | 19th | Tibet, Himalayas and Central Asia |
| Fridtjof Nansen | Norwegian | 19th/20th | Arctic |
| José María Narváez | Spanish | 18th | Pacific Northwest |
| Nearchus | Greek | 4th BC | Arabian Sea, Persian Gulf |
| Nehsi | Egyptian | 15th BC | Land of Punt |
| Arthur Henry Neumann | English | 19th | Africa |
| Gennady Nevelskoy | Russian | 19th | Sakhalin |
| Jean Nicolet | French | 17th | Northwest Territory |
| Joseph Nicollet | French-American | 19th | Mississippi and Missouri Rivers |
| António Noli | Portuguese | 15th | Cape Verde islands |
| Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld | Finnish | 19th | Arctic |
| Tenzing Norgay | Nepalese | 20th | Mount Everest |
| Fernão de Noronha | Portuguese | 15th/16th | Atlantic Ocean |
| João da Nova | Galician-Portuguese | 16th | Atlantic and Indian Oceans |
| Paulo Dias de Novais | Portuguese | 16th | Angola |
| Kazimierz Nowak | Polish | 20th | Africa |
| Vanessa O'Brien | American and British | 20th/21st | Mountaineering and Challenger Deep in Marianas Trench |
| Sebastián de Ocampo | Spanish | 16th | Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico |
| Addison O'Dea | American | 21st | The Sahara |
| Odoric of Pordenone | Italian | 14th | Persia, India and China |
| Peter Skene Ogden | Canadian | 19th | Snake River country, Western United States |
| Alonso de Ojeda | Spanish | 15th/16th | South America, Caribbean |
| Juan de Oñate | Spanish | 16th | American Southwest |
| Francisco de Orellana | Spanish | 16th | South America, Amazon River |
| Simone Orlandini | Italian | 21st | Arctic, Tibet |
| Íñigo Órtiz de Retes | Spanish | 16th | Papua New Guinea |
| John Oxenham | English | 16th | Panama, Pacific Ocean |
| John Oxley | English | 19th | Australia |
| Pedro Páez | Spanish | 16th/17th | Ethiopia |
| Juan Pardo | Spanish | 16th | Southeastern United States |
| Mungo Park | Scottish | 18th/19th | West Africa |
| William Parry | English | 19th | Arctic |
| James Ohio Pattie | American | 19th | Western United States |
| Fiann Paul | Icelandic | 21st | Arctic, Antarctic, Oceans |
| Nathaniel Pearce | English | 19th | Ethiopia |
| Robert Peary | American | 19th/20th | Arctic |
| Paul Pelliot | French | 19th/20th | central Asia |
| Diogo Fernandes Pereira | Portuguese | 15th/16th | Madagascar, Mascarenes |
| Duarte Pacheco Pereira | Portuguese | 15th | Atlantic Ocean, Brazil |
| Bartolomeu Perestrelo | Portuguese | 15th | Madeira Islands |
| Juan Pérez | Spanish | 18th | Pacific Northwest |
| Maksim Perfilyev | Siberian Cossack | 17th | Eastern Siberia, first Russian to reach Transbaikalia |
| Ivan Petlin | Siberian Cossack | 17th | First Russian to reach China |
| Auguste Piccard | Swiss | 20th | Earth's atmosphere, the deep sea |
| Jacques Piccard | Swiss | 20th | the deep sea |
| Antonio Pigafetta | Italian | 16th | Survived the 1st circumnavigation of the world |
| Zebulon Pike | American | 19th | Louisiana Purchase |
| Alonso Alvarez de Pineda | Spanish | 16th | Gulf Coast |
| Fernão Mendes Pinto | Portuguese | 16th | India, Far East, Japan |
| Serpa Pinto | Portuguese | 19th | Southern Africa |
| Martin Alonzo Pinzón | Spanish | 15th | Caribbean |
| Vicente Yáñez Pinzón | Spanish | 15th/16th | Caribbean, Brazil |
| Luís Pires | Portuguese | 15th | abortive voyage to Brazil |
| Francisco Pizarro | Spanish | 16th | Hispaniola, Panama, Peru |
| Fernão do Pó | Portuguese | 15th | West African coast |
| Marco Polo | Italian | 13th/14th | China, Mongol Empire, India |
| Juan Ponce de León | Spanish | 15th/16th | Florida |
| Peter Pond | American | 18th/19th | Canada interior |
| Fedot Popov | Russian | 17th | The first European expedition through the Bering Strait |
| António da Silva Porto | Portuguese | 19th | Angola interior |
| Gaspar de Portolà | Spanish | 18th | Alta and Baja California< |