This is a list of maritime explorers. The list includes explorers which had contributed, and continue to contribute to human knowledge of the planet's geography, weather, biodiversity, human cultures, the expansion of trade, or established communication between diverse populations...

Ocean explorers

Nationality Sailed for Name First voyage of exploration Last voyage of exploration Arctic[1] North Atlantic Indian Pacific South Atlantic Southern
Portuguese Portugal de Abreu, António 1507 1512            
Portuguese Portugal de Albuquerque, Afonso 1503               
Portuguese Portugal de Alenquer,Pêro 1487 1488            
Portuguese Portugal de Almeida, Francisco                
Portuguese Portugal Álvares, Jorge                
Portuguese Portugal de Azambuja, Diogo              
Portuguese Portugal de Barcelos, Pêro                
Newfoundlander[2] United States Bartlett, Robert                
Estonian[3] Russia von Bellingshausen, Fabian Gottlieb           *[4]    
Danish[5] Russia Bering, Vitus           *    
French France de Bougainville, Louis Antoine                
English Britain Byron, John                
Italian England Cabot, John                
Italian England and Aragon Cabot, Sebastian                
Portuguese Portugal Cabral, Pedro Álvares                
Portuguese[6] Spain Cabrilho, João Rodrígues                
Venetian Portugal Cadamosto. Alvise                
Portuguese Portugal Caminha, Álvaro                
Portuguese Portugal de Caminha, Pêro Vaz                
Portuguese Portugal Cão,Diogo                
French France Cartier, Jacques 1534               
English  England Cavendish, Thomas 1586-1588               
French France de Champlain, Samuel                
Portuguese Portugal Coelho, Gonçalo                
Portuguese Portugal Coelho, Nicolau                
Italian Spain Columbus, Christopher                
English Britain Cook, James 1768–1771 1776–1779       3   1
Portuguese Portugal Corte-Real, Gaspar                
Portuguese Portugal Corte-Real, Miguel                
Portuguese Portugal da Cunha, Tristão                
English  England Dampier, William                
English England and Netherlands Davis, John                
 Russian Russia Dezhnev, Semyon           *    
Portuguese Portugal Dias, Bartolomeu                
Portuguese Portugal Dias, Dinis                
Portuguese Portugal Dias, Diogo                
Portuguese Portugal Dias, Pêro                
Portuguese Portugal do Pó, Fernão                
English England Drake,Francis 1577–1581 1577–1581     1 1 1  
Portuguese Portugal Eanes, Gil                
Norwegian Norse Erik the Red                
 Icelandic Norse Ericson, Leif                
Portuguese Portugal Escobar, Pedro                
Portuguese Portugal Fernandes, Álvaro                
English Britain Flinders, Matthew                
 English England Frobisher, Martin                
Portuguese Portugal da Gama, Estêvão                
Portuguese Portugal da Gama, Paulo                
Portuguese Portugal da Gama, Vasco 1497-1499  1524             
 English England and Ireland Gilbert, Humphrey                
Russian  Russia Golovnin, Vasily           *    
Portuguese Portugal Gonçalves, André                
Portuguese Portugal Gonçalves, Antão                
Portuguese Portugal Gonçalves, Lopes                
Portuguese Portugal Grego, João                
 English England Hudson, Henry                
Portuguese Portugal Infante, João                
Baltic German Russia von Kotzebue, Otto           *    
Baltic German  Russia and Britain Kruzenshtern, Ivan Fedorovich           *    
French France de Lapérouse,Jean François de Galaup,comte                
Portuguese Portugal and England Lavrador, João Fernandes                
 Russian Russia and Britain Lazarev, Mikhail Petrovich           *    
Portuguese Portugal de Lemos, Gaspar                
Russian Russia Litke, Fyodor Petrovich           *    
Portuguese Spain and Portugal Magellan, Ferdinand                
 Dutch Netherlands le Maire, Jacob                
Portuguese Portugal Martins, Álvaro                
Portuguese Portugal Mascarenhas, Pedro                
Spanish Spain de Mendaña, Álvaro  1567-1569              
Genoese Portugal Noli, António                
Portuguese Portugal de Noronha, Fernão                
Galician Portugal da Nova, João                
 French France Paulmyer, Binot                
Portuguese Portugal Pereira, Duarte Pacheco                
Portuguese Portugal Perestrelo, Bartolomeu                
 German Denmark and Hamburg Pining, Didrik                
Portuguese Portugal Pinto, Fernão Mendes                
Portuguese Portugal Pires, Luís                
Portuguese Spain de Queirós, Pedro Fernandes                
Portuguese Portugal Rodrigues, Diogo                
Portuguese Portugal de Santarém, João                
 Dutch Netherlands Schouten, Willem                
Irish Britain Shackleton, Ernest                
Portuguese Portugal Silves, Diogo                
Portuguese Portugal de Sintra, Pedro                
Portuguese[7] Spain Soromenho, Sebastião Rodrígues                
Portuguese Portugal de Sousa, Martim Afonso                
 Dutch Netherlands Tasman, Abel                
Portuguese Portugal Teixeira, Tristão Vaz                
Portuguese or Spanish (Galician) Spain de Torres, Luis Váez                
Portuguese Portugal Tristão, Nuno                
 English Britain Vancouver, George                
Portuguese Portugal Vaz Corte-Real, João                
Portuguese Portugal Velho, Gonçalo                
Italian  France da Verrazzano, Giovanni                
Italian Spain and Portugal Vespucci, Amerigo                
English Britain Wallis, Samuel                
 Baltic German Russia Wrangel, Ferdinand Petrovich           *    
Portuguese Portugal Zarco, João Gonçalves                
Chinese China (Three Kingdoms Period of China) Kang Tai 300               
Chinese China (Three Kingdoms Period of China) Zhu Ying 300               
Chinese China（Yuen Dynasty） Wang Dayuan 1330               
Chinese China（Ming Dynasty） Zheng He 1405  1431             
Chinese China（Ming Dynasty） Ma Huan 1413               
Chinese China（Ming Dynasty） Fei Xin 1409               

See also

References and notes

  1. ^ The numbers indicate the number of exploratory voyages. A ship sailing from port through familiar seas does not start exploring until terra incognita is sighted, or a new sea is sailed confirming the lack of land — as in the case of James Cook's second voyage, when he could confirm that the Terra Australis land mass did not exist in the regions of the Southern Ocean that he sailed.
  2. ^ Newfoundland then part of the British Empire
  3. ^ Estonia - then part of the Russian Empire
  4. ^ Indicates a voyage
  5. ^ Sailed for the Russian Empire
  6. ^ In some sources Spanish
  7. ^ In some sources Spanish
Categories