Explorers
cartographer
ocean
mountaineer
aviation
navigator

Leif Erikson
Born around 970 in Norse Iceland, Leif Erikson sailed west from Greenland circa 1000 and became the

Christopher Columbus
Born in Genoa in 1451, Columbus lobbied courts for a decade before Spain backed his Atlantic crossin

Vasco da Gama
Born around 1460 in Sines, Portugal, da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope and reached Calicut in 14

Abel Tasman
Born in 1603 in the Netherlands, Abel Tasman was a Dutch navigator and explorer who, in service of t

Zheng He
Born in 1371 into a Muslim family in Yunnan, Zheng He became a eunuch at the Ming court. Commanding

Ferdinand Magellan
Born around 1480 in Portugal, Magellan led a Spanish fleet west in 1519 and crossed the Pacific. He

James Cook
Born in 1728 to a Yorkshire farm family, Cook rose from coal-ship sailor to Royal Navy captain. Thre

Francis Drake
Born around 1540 to a Devon farming family, Francis Drake rose from humble origins to become England

Prince Henry the Navigator
Born in 1394 as a Portuguese prince, Henry the Navigator never sailed the open ocean himself yet bec
overland

Marco Polo
Born around 1254 in Venice, Marco Polo traveled to China with his father and uncle, served Kublai Kh

Mamiya Rinzō
Born in 1775 in Japan, Mamiya Rinzo explored Sakhalin and in 1809 confirmed it was an island by cros

David Livingstone
Born in 1813 in Blantyre, Scotland, Livingstone was a missionary and explorer who surveyed the Afric

Meriwether Lewis
Born in Virginia in 1774, Meriwether Lewis was an American explorer, naturalist, and soldier who led

Matsuura Takeshirō
Born in 1818 in Japan, Matsuura Takeshiro surveyed Hokkaido six times, producing detailed maps and e

Ibn Battuta
Born in 1304 in Tangier, Ibn Battuta set out on pilgrimage at 21 and spent 30 years travelling 120,0

Sacagawea
Born around 1788 into the Lemhi Shoshone people, Sacagawea was a Native American woman who, at age s

Xuanzang
Born in 602 CE during the Sui dynasty, Xuanzang was a Tang dynasty Buddhist monk, scholar, translato
polar

Roald Amundsen
Born in 1872 in Norway, Amundsen was the first through the Northwest Passage, first to the South Pol

Robert Falcon Scott
Born in 1868 in Devonport, Scott was a Royal Navy officer who led two Antarctic expeditions. He reac

Ernest Shackleton
Born in 1874 in Ireland, Shackleton was an Antarctic explorer. His ship Endurance was crushed by ice

Fridtjof Nansen
Born in Norway in 1861, Fridtjof Nansen was a polymath who achieved world-class distinction in polar
space

Valentina Tereshkova
Born in 1937 in Yaroslavl Oblast, Tereshkova became the first woman in space on June 16, 1963, orbit

Yuri Gagarin
Born in 1934 in Klushino, Soviet Union, Gagarin became the first human in space on April 12, 1961, o

Neil Armstrong
Born in 1930 in Wapakoneta, Ohio, Armstrong was a test pilot and astronaut who on July 20, 1969, bec




