# List of explorers

Explorers are listed below with their common names, countries of origin (modern and former), centuries of activity and main areas of exploration.

## List

| Name | Modern (and former) 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 (interior) |
| Afonso de Albuquerque | Portuguese | 16th | Asia |
| Buzz Aldrin | American | 20th | The Moon |
| Pero de Alenquer | Portuguese | 15th/16th | Indian Ocean |
| Alexander the Great | Greek (Macedonian) | 4th BC | Indus River, Hindu Kush |
| Jean Alfonse (João Afonso) | 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 (Arctic) |
| William Baffin | English | 17th | Northwest Passage, Canada (Arctic) |
| Ralph Bagnold | British | 20th | Libyan Desert |
| Abu Bakr II | Mali Empire | 14th | Atlantic Ocean, trans-Atlantic (allegedly) |
| 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 (Danish-born) | 18th | Northern Pacific Ocean, Bering Strait, Alaska (North America) |
| 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 (interior) |
| 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 (Canada) |
| Sebastian Cabot | Italian | 15th | Northwest Passage (Canada), Río de la Plata, Paraná River (South America) |
| 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 (including the Congo River) |
| Hermenegildo de Brito Capelo | Portuguese | 19th | African continent |
| John Carpini | Italian | 13th | Central Asia, Mongolia |
| Juan Carrasco | Spanish | 18th | Pacific Northwest |
| 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 (semi-legendary) |
| 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 (Colombia and Venezuela) |
| Diego Columbus | Portuguese | 16th | Hispaniola (Mainly Dominican Republic) |
| George Comer | American | 19th/20th | Arctic |
| Megasthenes | Greek | 3rd BCE | India |
| Niccolò Da Conti | Italian (Venetian) | 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 BCE | Sri Lanka |
| Diogo Álvares Correia | Portuguese | 16th | Brazil |
| Gaspar Côrte-Real | Portuguese | 16th | Newfoundland, Greenland |
| João Côrte-Real | Portuguese | 15th | Azores, Newfoundland (Possible exploration of North America in 1473) |
| 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 (Traveled to Lhasa) |
| 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 (80 years before Vitus Bering) |
| 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 (Newfoundland) and North American mainland (Canada) |
| 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 |
| 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 (Genoese)-Spanish | 16th | Colombia |
| Dionisio Alcalá Galiano | Spanish | 18th | Pacific Northwest |
| Juan Galindo | Spanish/Irish | 19th | Mesoamerica (Mayan remains) |
| 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 (Mayan remains) |
| 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 (Santa Catarina) |
| 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 (Australia) |
| 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 (Queensland) |
| 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 (possibly mythical) |
| 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 (Niger River and Timbuktu) |
| Pierre Martin de La Martinière | French | 17th | Norway, Lapland, northern Russia, Novaya Zemlya, Greenland and Iceland |
| Richard Lemon Lander | English | 19th | West Africa (Niger and Benue Rivers) |
| 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 | Antarctica |
| 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 (Cape Horn, Tonga Islands, Wallis and Futuna) |
| 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 (Mayan remains) |
| George Mallory | English | 20th | Mount Everest |
| Lancelotto Malocello | Italian | 13th/14th | Lanzarote (Canary Islands) |
| 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 (Pundit Brothers) | 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 (United States) |
| 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 (north), 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 (Niger River) |
| 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 (Réunion, Mauritius, and Rodrigues) |
| 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 (Venetian) | 16th | Survived the 1st circumnavigation of the world |
| Zebulon Pike | American | 19th | Louisiana Purchase (United States) |
| 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 (Venetian) | 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 |
| Posidonius | Greek | 1st BC | Gaul |
| Sydney Possuelo | Brazilian | 20th/21st | Amazon |
| Panayotis Potagos | Greek | 19th | Africa |
| Grigory Potanin | Russian | 19th | Inner Asia |
| John Wesley Powell | American | 19th | Western United States |
| Vassili Poyarkov | Russian | 17th | First Russian explorer of the Amur region |
| Mandil Pradhan | Nepalese | 21st | Himalayas |
| Gavriil Pribylov | Russian | 18th | Pribilof Islands |
| Vasili Pronchishchev | Russian | 18th | Great Northern Expedition |
| Maria Pronchishcheva | Russian | 18th | The first female Arctic explorer |
| Nathaniel Hale Pryor | American | 19th | western United States |
| Nikolai Przhevalsky | Russian | 19th | Central Asia |
| Peter Puget | English | 19th | Puget Sound |
| Pytheas | Greek | 4th BC | Northern Europe |
| Zhang Qian | Chinese | 2nd BC | Central Asia |
| Pedro Fernandes de Queirós | Portuguese | 16th/17th | Oceania |
| Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada | Spanish | 16th | From Santa Marta to the Bogotá savanna; quest for El Dorado |
| Hernán Pérez de Quesada | Spanish | 16th | Caquetá, Colombia; quest for El Dorado |
| Manuel Quimper | Spanish | 18th | Pacific Northwest |
| Emil Racoviță | Romanian | 19th/20th | Antarctica |
| John Rae | Scottish Canadian | 19th | Northwest Passage, Canada (Arctic) |
| Sir Walter Raleigh | English | 16th/17th | Virginia, Orinoco River |
| Knud Rasmussen | Danish | 20th | Arctic |
| Piri Reis | Turkish | 15th/16th | Mediterranean Sea |
| Matteo Ricci | Italian | 16th | China |
| Mario Rigby | Turks and Caicos Islander | 21st | Africa |
| Arthur Rimbaud | French | 19th | Horn of Africa (Abyssinia) |
| Luigi Robecchi | Italian | 19th | Africa |
| Anthony de la Roché | English | 17th | Antarctic (South Georgia) |
| Diogo Rodrigues | Portuguese | 16th | Mascarene Islands |
| Nicholas Roerich | Russian | 20th | Central Asia, Northeast Asia |
| Jacob Roggeveen | Dutch | 18th | South Pacific (Easter Island) |
| Cândido Rondon | Brazilian | 19th/20th | Brazilian interior (Amazon Basin) |
| James Clark Ross | English | 19th | Arctic, Antarctic |
| Sir John Ross | Scottish | 19th | Arctic |
| John Ross | Scottish Australian | 19th | Northern Territory |
| William of Rubruck | Flemish | 13th | Central Asia |
| Nikolay Rudanovsky | Russian | 19th | Sakhalin |
| Henry Russell | Irish | 19th | Pyrenees |
| Ahmad ibn Rustah | Persian | 10th | Russia, Scandinavia, Arabia |
| João de Sá | Portuguese | 15th/16th | India, African coast |
| Álvaro de Saavedra | Spanish | 16th | Papua New Guinea, Caroline Islands, Marshall Islands |
| Edward Sabine | Irish | 19th | Arctic |
| Sacagawea | Lemhi Shoshone | 18th/19th | Western United States |
| Anatoly Sagalevich | Russian | 20th/21st | Explorer of the World Ocean, seabed at the North Pole |
| Kira Salak | American | 20th/21st | Papua New Guinea, Mali, Bhutan |
| Alonso de Salazar | Spanish | 16th | Marshall Islands, Pacific Ocean |
| Agustín Lizárraga | Peruvian | 20th | Machu Picchu |
| Gadiel Sánchez Rivera | Peruvian | 21st | Amazon, Lake Titicaca |
| Sándor Kőrösi Csoma | Hungarian | 19th | Tibet |
| Yakov Sannikov | Russian | 19th | New Siberian Islands |
| João de Santarém | Portuguese | 15th | São Tomé and Príncipe islands |
| Gavril Sarychev | Russian | 18th/19th | Sea of Okhotsk, Baltic Sea, Aleutian Islands |
| Martin Sauer | English | 18th | Siberia, Alaska |
| Rabban Bar Sauma | Turco-Mongol | 13th | Europe, Middle East |
| Johann Schiltberger | German | 15th | Central Asia |
| Adolf Schlagintweit | German | 19th | Central Asia |
| Eduard Schlagintweit | German | 19th | Central Asia |
| Emil Schlagintweit | German | 19th | Central Asia |
| Hermann Schlagintweit | German | 19th | Central Asia |
| Robert Schlagintweit | German | 19th | Central Asia |
| Ulrich Schmidl | German | 16th | Río de la Plata |
| Willem Schouten | Dutch | 17th | South Pacific (Cape Horn, Tonga Islands, Wallis and Futuna) |
| Georg August Schweinfurth | Baltic German | 19th | East and Central Africa |
| Robert Falcon Scott | English | 19th/20th | Antarctica (South Pole) |
| Scylax of Caryanda | Greek | 6th BC | Indus River, Indian Ocean, Red Sea |
| Tibor Sekelj | Croat | 20th | Argentina |
| Mirko and Stjepan Seljan | Croat | 20th | Ethiopia, South America |
| Frederick Courtney Selous | English | 19th | Africa |
| Symon Semeonis | Hiberno-Norman | 14th | Jerusalem, Albania |
| Gomes de Sequeira | Portuguese | 16th | Caroline Islands, Pacific Ocean |
| João Serrão | Portuguese | 15th/16th | 1st Circumnavigation (also later its co-captain general); commanded the ship Santiago in the Atlantic and the Concepcion across the Pacific, Strait of Malacca, Indian Ocean |
| Francisco Serrão | Portuguese | 15th/16th | Indonesia |
| Ernest Shackleton | English-Irish | 20th | Antarctica |
| Robert Barkley Shaw | English | 19th | Central Asia |
| Eric Shipton | English | 20th | Mount Everest, southern Patagonia |
| Tanaka Shōsuke | Japanese | 17th | Mexico |
| Diogo Silves | Portuguese | 15th | Azores |
| James Simpson | English | 20th | North Greenland |
| Pero de Sintra | Portuguese | 15th | West African coast, Sierra Leone |
| Pierre-Jean De Smet | Belgian | 19th | North America |
| Jedediah Smith | American | 19th | Western United States, Rocky Mountains |
| John Smith | English | 17th | North America |
| William Smith | English | 19th | South Shetland Islands |
| Eugene Smurgis | Russian | 20th | Arctic Ocean |
| J. Dewey Soper | Canadian | 20th | Canadian Arctic |
| Hernando de Soto | Spanish | 16th | Central America, Southern United States |
| Martim Afonso de Sousa | Portuguese | 16th | Brazilian interior |
| John Hanning Speke | English | 19th | East Africa |
| Hans Staden | German | 16th | Brazil |
| Ed Stafford | English | 21st | Amazon |
| William Grant Stairs | Canadian | 19th | Central Africa |
| Henry Morton Stanley | Welsh | 19th | East Africa |
| Vilhjalmur Stefansson | Icelandic Canadian | 20th | Canadian Arctic |
| Marc Aurel Stein | Hungarian-British | 19th/20th | Central Asia |
| John Lloyd Stephens | American | 19th | Middle East, Mesoamerica (Mayan remains) |
| Paweł Strzelecki | Polish-British | 19th | the Americas, Australia (Gippsland) |
| John McDouall Stuart | Scottish | 19th | Australian Interior |
| Charles Sturt | British | 19th | Australian Interior |
| Gardar Svavarsson | Swedish | 9th | Iceland |
| Anders Svedlund | Swedish | 20th | Oceans |
| Otto Sverdrup | Norwegian | 19th/20th | Arctic |
| Ignacije Szentmartony | Croat | 18th | Amazon River |
| Abel Tasman | Dutch | 17th | Australasia, including Tasmania |
| António Raposo Tavares | Portuguese | 17th | Paraguay River, part of the Andes mountain range, Grande River, Mamoré River, Madeira River, Amazon River (Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia) Union of La Plata Basin to the Amazon River – circumnavigation of Brazil. |
| Jean-Baptiste Tavernier | French | 17th | Persia, India |
| Mikhail Tebenkov | Russian | 19th | Alaska, Aleutian Islands, Amur River |
| Pedro Teixeira | Portuguese | 17th | Amazon River |
| Tristão Vaz Teixeira | Portuguese | 15th | Madeira Islands |
| Wilfred Thesiger | English | 20th | Africa, Middle East |
| David Thompson | Welsh–English | 18th/19th | Western Canada, Pacific Northwest |
| Guðríður Þorbjarnardóttir | Icelandic | 11th | North America |
| Harold William Tilman | English | 20th | Himalayas, Patagonia |
| Yermak Timofeyevich | Russian | 16th | Siberia |
| Tenjiku Tokubei | Japanese | 17th | South East Asia, India |
| Eduard Toll | Baltic German | 19th | Arctic |
| Luis Váez de Torres | Spanish Galician | 16th/17th | Australasia |
| Nuno Tristão | Portuguese | 15th | West African coast, Guinea-Bissau |
| Petrus Johannes Truter | Dutch | 19th | Bechuanaland |
| Hasekura Tsunenaga | Japanese | 17th | Mexico, Europe |
| Benjamin of Tudela | Jewish Navarrese | 12th | Mediterranean Sea, Arabian Peninsula, Red Sea, Persian Gulf |
| Andrés de Urdaneta | Spanish | 16th | Pacific Ocean, Manila Galleon route |
| Jules Dumont d'Urville | French | 19th | Antarctica |
| Cayetano Valdés y Flores | Spanish | 18th | Pacific Northwest |
| George Vancouver | English | 18th | Pacific coast of North America |
| Ludovico di Varthema | Italian | 15th/16th | Arabian Peninsula, Indian Ocean, Southeast Asia |
| Gonçalo Velho | Portuguese | 15th | Azores |
| François de La Vérendrye | French Canadian | 18th | Western Canada |
| Louis-Joseph Gaultier de La Vérendrye | French Canadian | 18th | Great Plains |
| Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye | French | 18th | Great Plains |
| Giovanni da Verrazzano | Italian | 16th | East Coast of the United States |
| Amerigo Vespucci | Italian | 15th/16th | Eastern South American coast, Caribbean |
| Flóki Vilgerðarson | Norse Viking | 9th | Iceland |
| Ruy López de Villalobos | Spanish | 16th | Pacific Ocean, Philippines |
| Vandino and Ugolino Vivaldi | Italian | 13th | Africa, in a failed attempt to reach India |
| Sebastián Vizcaíno | Spanish | 16th | Northwest Pacific, California Coast |
| Willem de Vlamingh | Dutch | 17th | Southwest Australian coast |
| Maarten Gerritsz Vries | Dutch | 17th | Northwest Pacific (Hokkaido, Sakhalin) |
| Lionel Wafer | Welsh | 17th | Malay Archipelago, Isthmus of Panama |
| Jean-Frédéric Waldeck | French | 19th | Mesoamerica (Mayan remains) |
| Thomas Walker | American | 18th | Eastern United States |
| Samuel Wallis | British | 18th | First recorded visit to Tahiti |
| Gino Watkins | English | 20th | East Greenland & Labrador |
| Langdon Warner | American | 20th | the Silk Road |
| Alfred Wegener | German | 20th | Greenland |
| John White | English | 16th | Roanoke Island |
| Jim Whittaker | American | 20th | Mount Everest, Antarctica |
| Frederick Whymper | English | 19th | Alaska, Kamchatka, Yukon |
| Charles Wilkes | American | 19th | Pacific Ocean |
| Edward Adrian Wilson | English | 19th/20th | Antarctica |
| Ernest Henry Wilson | English | 19th/20th | East Asia, East Africa, Central and South America, Australia, New Zealand |
| James Wilson | British | 18th | Pacific Islands |
| Thomas Braidwood Wilson | Scottish Australian | 19th | Australia |
| Harry de Windt | French | 19th/20th | Eurasia |
| Fanny Bullock Workman | American | 19th/20th | Himalaya |
| Ferdinand von Wrangel | Baltic German | 19th | Northern Russia |
| Xuanzang | Chinese | 7th | Indian subcontinent, Central Asia |
| John Young | Scottish-English | 18th | Hawaii |
| Sir Francis Younghusband | British | 19th/20th | Central Asia |
| Topa Inca Yupanqui | Inca | 15th | Pacific |
| João Gonçalves Zarco | Portuguese | 15th | Madeira Islands |
| Gonzalo García Zorro | Spanish | 16th | Colombia |
| Karl Helbig | German | 20th | Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Central America |