pytheas st. brendan · abel tasman 1603 - 1653 a dutch explorer who was the first known european to...

Pytheas 350BC - 285BC

The first Greek to visit and describe the British Isles and the Atlantic coast of Europe.

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St. Brendan 484 - 578

A Celtic abbot who (according to a legend) made a voyage across the Atlantic to reach the 'Promised Land of the

Saints' (which is thought to be the Canary Islands today).

Marco Polo 1254 - 1324

A traveller and writer from Venice who was one of the

first westerners to visit China.


Ibn Battuta 1304 - 1368

An explorer from Morocco who travelled over 75,000 miles and visited almost all of the Muslim

countries and many others.

Zheng He 1371 - 1433

A Chinese commander who went on seven expeditions, exploring the world and developing trade links for the Chinese emperor.


Christopher Columbus 1451 - 1506

An Italian explorer who is known as 'the man who discovered

America' (although there were already people living there and a

European called Leif Ericsson had already been there).

Ferdinand Magellan 1480 - 1521

A navigator from Portugal who was the first European to cross the Pacific Ocean. He also played an important part in the first circumnavigation of the world, although he died before

the journey was completed.


Hernán Cortés 1485 - 1547

A Spanish conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire.

Francis Drake 1540 - 1596

A sailor who was the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe. He was also a vice

admiral in the fleet that defeated the Spanish Armada.


Walter Raleigh 1552 - 1618

An English adventurer who tried to set up the first

English colony in America.

Abel Tasman 1603 - 1653

A Dutch explorer who was the first known European to reach Tasmania and New Zealand, and to sight the Fiji islands.


Anders Celsius 1701 - 1744

A Swedish astronomer who invented the Celsius

temperature scale and took part in an expedition that

confirmed that the Earth is slightly flattened at the poles.

James Cook 1728 - 1779

A British navigator who explored and mapped large areas of the Pacific Ocean, New Zealand and Australia.


Matthew Flinders 1774 - 1814

An English navigator who was the leader of the first

circumnavigation of Australia.

Simon Fraser 1776 - 1862

A Canadian fur trader and explorer who discovered the

Fraser River in British Columbia.


Sacagawea 1788 - 1812

A woman from the Lemhi Shoshone tribe who played an important part in the first

American expedition to cross the western portion of the

United States.

Charles Sturt 1795 - 1869

An Australian explorer who went on an exploration down

the Murrumbidgee and Murray rivers. He explored large areas

of land in New South Wales and South Australia.


Charles Wilkes 1798 - 1877

An American explorer and naval officer who first sighted a region in Antarctica that was

later named Wilkes Land.

Isabella Bird 1831 - 1904

A travel writer and photographer whose travel books helped

people to learn about life around the world, during a time when women rarely travelled alone.


Karl Mauch 1837 - 1875

A German explorer who discovered goldfields in

southern Africa and the ancient ruins of Great Zimbabwe.

Mary Henrietta Kingsley 1862 - 1900

An English traveller who was the first European to enter parts of

Gabon. This area had tribes who were known to be cannibals.


Gertrude Bell 1868 - 1926

A writer and archaeologist from Britain who helped to establish modern Iraq after World War I.

Amelia Earhart 1897 - 1937

An American pilot who was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.


Jacques Cousteau 1910 - 1997

A French naval officer and ocean explorer who studied the sea and life in the water.

Phillip Garth Law 1912 - 2010

An Australian explorer who mapped more than 5,000km of Antarctic coastline. As a result

of his studies, he became known as 'Mr. Antarctica’.


Neil Armstrong 1930 - 2012

An American astronaut who was the first person

to walk on the Moon.

Yuri Gagarin 1934 - 1968

A Soviet pilot and cosmonaut who was the first human to journey into outer space.


Junko Tabei 1939 - 2016

A Japanese mountaineer who was the first woman to reach the

summit of Mount Everest.

Ranulph Fiennes 1944 -

A British explorer who holds many endurance

records and was the first person to completely

cross Antarctica on foot.


Ann Bancroft 1955 -

An American explorer who was the first woman to reach the

North Pole by sled and on foot. She was also the leader of the

first team of women to ski across Greenland.

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