Notable Explorers and Adventurers
This list is comprised of some of history's most recognizable explorers and adventurers.
| Name | Lifespan | Other Names | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abel Tasman | 1603-1659 |  | |
| Adam Johann von Krusenstern | 1770-1846 | | |
| Adolf Henrik Lindstrøm | 1866-1939 | | |
| Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld | 1832-1901 | (Nils) | |
| Adolf Overweg | 1822-1852 | | |
| Afonso de Albuquerque | 1453-1515 | (Alfonso) | |
| Alan Shepard | 1923-1998 | | |
| Aleksey Leonov | 1934-2019 | (Aleksei, Alexey) | |
| Alexander MacKenzie | 1764-1820 | | |
| Alexander von Humboldt | 1769-1859 | | |
| Alexandra David-Néel | 1868-1969 | | |
| Alonso de Ojeda | c. 1466-c. 1515 | | |
| Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca | c. 1490-c. 1559 | | |
| Álvaro de Mendaña y Neira | 1542-1595 | | |
| Amelia Earhart | 1897-1937 | | |
| Amerigo Vespucci | 1454-1512 | | |
| Andrés de Urdaneta | 1498-1568 | (Andrew) | |
| Antonio Pigafetta | c. 1491-c. 1531 | | |
| Apsley Cherry-Garrard | 1886-1959 | (George, Benet) | |
| Ármin Vámbéry | 1832-1913 | | |
| Arvid Adolf Etholén | 1799-1876 | | |
| Aurel Stein | 1862-1943 | (Marc, Márk) | |
| Bartolomeu Dias | 1450-1500 | | |
| Benjamin of Tudela | 1130-1173 | | |
| Bill Tilman | 1898-1977 | (William) | |
| Bjarni Herjólfsson | 9xx-c. 1000 | | |
| Cândido Rondon | 1865-1958 | | |
| Charles Marie de La Condamine | 1701-1774 | | |
| Charles Lindbergh | 1902-1974 | | |
| Charles Sturt | 1795-1869 | | |
| Christopher Columbus | c. 1451-1506 | (Cristobal, Cristoforo) | |
| Chuck Yeager | 1923-2020 | (Charles) | |
| Cornelis de Houtman | 1565-1599 | | |
| David Livingstone | 1813-1873 | | |
| Davy Crockett | 1786-1836 | (David) | |
| Diego de Almagro | 1479-1538 | | |
| Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar | 1465-1524 | | |
| Diogo Cão | c. 1452-1486 | | |
| Douglas Mawson | 1882-1958 | | |
| Edmund Hillary | 1919-2008 | | |
| Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin | 1930- | (Buzz) | |
| Erik the Red | 950-1003 | (Eric) | |
| Ernest Shackleton | 1874-1922 | (Henry) | |
| Evliya Çelebi | 1611-c. 1682 | (Mehmed) | |
| Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen | 1778-1852 | | |
| Ferdinand Konščak | 1703-1759 | (Fernando) | |
| Ferdinand Magellan | 1480-1521 | | |
| Ferdinand von Wrangel | 1797-1870 | | |
| Fernão Mendes Pinto | 1509-1583 | (Ferdinand) | |
| Francis Drake | 1540-1596 | | |
| Francis Younghusband | 1863-1942 | | |
| Francisco de Almeida | 1450-1510 | | |
| Francisco de Orellana | 1511-1546 | | |
| Francisco Pizarro | c. 1471-1541 | | |
| Francisco Vázquez de Coronado | 1510-1554 | | |
| Frederick Cook | 1865-1940 | | |
| Fridtjof Nansen | 1861-1930 | | |
| Gene Cernan | 1934-2017 | (Eugene) | |
| George Bass | 1771-1803 | | |
| George Mallory | 1886-1924 | | |
| George Vancouver | 1757-1798 | | |
| Giovanni da Pian del Carpine | 1182-1252 | (John) | |
| Giovanni Belzoni | 1778-1823 | | |
| Giovanni Caboto | c. 1450-c. 1499 | (John) | |
| Giovanni da Verrazzano | 1485-1528 | | |
| Gustav Adolf Fischer | 1848-1886 | | |
| Gustav Adolf von Götzen | 1866-1910 | | |
| Hamilton Hume | 1797-1873 | | |
| Hanno the Navigator | ?-c. 440 BC | | |
| Harriet Quimby | 1875-1912 | | |
| Zheng He | 1371-1435 | | |
| Heinrich Barth | 1821-1865 | | |
| Henry the Navigator | 1394-1460 | (Henrique) | |
| Henry Hudson | c. 1570-1611 | | |
| Henry Morton Stanley | 1841-1904 | | |
| Hernán Cortés | 1485-1547 | (Hernándo) | |
| Hernando de Soto | c. 1496-1542 | (Ferdinando) | |
| Ingólfur Arnarson | ?-8xx | (Ingólfr) | |
| Jacob Roggeveen | 1659-1729 | | |
| Jacques Cartier | 1491-1557 | | |
| Jacques Cousteau | 1910-1997 | (Yves) | |
| James Bruce | 1730-1794 | | |
| James Cook | 1728-1779 | | |
| James Augustus Grant | 1827-1892 | | |
| James Clark Ross | 1800-1862 | | |
| Jan van Riebeeck | 1619-1677 | (Johan) | |
| Calamity Jane | 1852-1903 | (Martha) | |
| Jean de Béthencourt | 1362-1425 | | |
| Jean François de Galaup | 1741-1788 | (John) | |
| Jeanne Baret | 1740-1807 | | |
| John Davis | c. 1550-1605 | | |
| John Franklin | 1786-1847 | | |
| John Glenn | 1921-2016 | | |
| John Ledyard | 1751-1789 | | |
| John Oxley | 1784-1828 | | |
| John Wesley Powell | 1834-1902 | | |
| John Smith | 1580-1631 | | |
| John Hanning Speke | 1827-1864 | | |
| John Lloyd Stephens | 1805-1852 | | |
| John McDouall Stuart | 1815-1866 | | |
| Juan Díaz de Solís | 1470-1516 | | |
| Juan Sebastián Elcano | 1476-1526 | | |
| Juan Ponce de León | 1474-1521 | | |
| Jules Dumont d'Urville | 1790-1842 | | |
| Leif Erikson | c. 970-c. 1020 | | |
| Lope de Aguirre | 1510-1561 | | |
| Louis Antoine de Bougainville | 1729-1811 | | |
| Louis Hennepin | 1626-1705 | | |
| Marco Polo | 1254-1324 | | |
| Martin Behaim | 1459-1507 | | |
| Mary Kingsley | 1862-1900 | | |
| Matthew Flinders | 1774-1814 | | |
| Meriwether Lewis | 1774-1809 | | |
| Michael Collins | 1930-2021 | | |
| Miguel López de Legazpi | 1502-1572 | (Michael) | |
| Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Battuta | 1304-1369 | | |
| Mungo Park | 1771-1806 | | |
| Neil Armstrong | 1930-2012 | | |
| Niccolò de' Conti | 1395-1469 | (Nicholas, Nicolò) | |
| Nikolay Przhevalsky | 1839-1888 | | |
| Pedro Álvares Cabral | c. 1467-c. 1520 | (Peter) | |
| Pedro Fernandes de Queirós | 1565-1614 | (Peter) | |
| Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa | 1532-1592 | (Peter) | |
| Pêro da Covilhã | c. 1460-1526 | (Pedro, Peter) | |
| Peter Skene Ogden | 1790-1854 | | |
| Peter Pond | 1739-1807 | | |
| Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza | 1852-1905 | (Peter, Pietro) | |
| Pytheas | 380-310 BC | | |
| Zhang Qian | 195-113 BC | | |
| Reinhold Messner | 1944- | | |
| René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle | 1643-1687 | | |
| Richard Francis Burton | 1821-1890 | | |
| Richard E. Byrd | 1888-1957 | (Evelyn) | |
| Roald Amundsen | 1872-1928 | | |
| Robert Bartlett | 1875-1946 | | |
| Robert Peary | 1856-1920 | | |
| Robert Falcon Scott | 1868-1912 | | |
| Roland Garros | 1888-1918 | (Eugène, Adrien, Georges) | |
| Ruy López de Villalobos | 1500-1544 | | |
| Samuel Baker | 1821-1893 | | |
| Samuel de Champlain | 1574-1635 | | |
| Sebastiano Caboto | c. 1474-c. 1557 | (Sebastian) | |
| Semyon Dezhnyov | 1605-1673 | (Simon) | |
| Sven Hedin | 1865-1952 | | |
| Tenzing Norgay | 1914-1986 | | |
| Teoberto Maler | 1842-1917 | (Teobert) | |
| Thomas Mitchell | 1792-1855 | | |
| Thor Heyerdahl | 1914-2002 | | |
| Valentina Tereshkova | 1937- | | |
| Vasco Núñez de Balboa | c. 1475-1519 | | |
| Vasco da Gama | c. 1469-1524 | | |
| Vicente Yáñez Pinzón | c. 1462-c. 1514 | | |
| Vitus Bering | 1681-1741 | | |
| Vladimir Komarov | 1927-1967 | | |
| Walter Raleigh | 1552-1618 | | |
| Willem Barentsz | 1550-1597 | (William) | |
| Willem Janszoon | 1570-1630 | | |
| William Adams | 1564-1620 | | |
| William Baffin | 1584-1622 | | |
| William Clark | 1770-1838 | | |
| William Dampier | 1651-1715 | | |
| William Hovell | 1786-1875 | | |
| William Edward Parry | 1790-1855 | | |
| Xuanzang | c. 602-664 | (Hsuan-tsang) | |
| Yermak Timofeyevich | 1537-1585 | | |
| Yuriy Gagarin | 1934-1968 | (Yuri) | |
| Zebulon Pike | 1779-1813 | |