# List of maritime explorers

This is a list of maritime explorers. The list includes explorers who have substantially contributed to human knowledge of the planet's geography, weather, biodiversity, and human cultures, or who have significantly contributed to the expansion of trade and communication between populations.

## Ocean explorers

| Nationality | Sailed for | Name | First voyage of exploration | Last voyage of exploration | Indian | Pacific | South Atlantic | Southern |
| Portuguese | Portugal | de Abreu, António | 1507 | 1512 | | | | |
| Portuguese | Portugal | de Albuquerque, Afonso | 1503 | | | | | |
| Portuguese | Portugal | de Alenquer, Pero | 1487 | 1488 | | | | |
| Portuguese | Portugal | de Almeida, Francisco | | | | | | |
| Portuguese | Portugal | Álvares, Jorge | | | | | | |
| Portuguese | Portugal | de Azambuja, Diogo | | | | | | |
| Portuguese | Portugal | de Barcelos, Pero | | | | | | |
| Newfoundlander | United States | Bartlett, Robert | | | | | | |
| Estonian | Russia | von Bellingshausen, Fabian Gottlieb | | | | * | | |
| Danish | 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 | Spain | Cabrillo, João Rodrígues | | | | | | |
| Venetian | Portugal | Cadamosto. Alvise | | | | | | |
| Portuguese | Portugal | Caminha, Álvaro | | | | | | |
| Portuguese | Portugal | de Caminha, Pero 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, Pero | | | | | | |
| 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 | 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 | | | | | |