Explorers

cartographer

Inō Tadataka

Born in 1745 in Japan, Ino Tadataka began studying astronomy at fifty. Over seventeen years he walke

ocean

Jacques Cousteau

Born in 1910 in France, Cousteau co-invented the Aqua-Lung and explored the oceans aboard Calypso fo

mountaineer

Edmund Hillary

Born in 1919 in New Zealand, Edmund Hillary was a mountaineer, explorer, and philanthropist who, tog

Reinhold Messner

Born in 1944 in South Tyrol, Italy, Reinhold Messner is widely regarded as the greatest mountaineer

aviation

Amelia Earhart

Born in 1897 in Kansas, Amelia Earhart was an American aviator and aviation pioneer who became the f

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