Explorers and Adventurers

As well as those who explored the seas and the continents, this page includes mountaineers, polar travellers, single–handed sailors, etc.

When it says on this page that someone "discovered" some feature of the world, this generally means that they were the first European to see it. I apologise for this lack of political correctness, which is committed in the interests of succinctness.

See also Explorers: Timeline.

Circumnavigators (etc.)

Planned and led the first circumnavigation (1519–22): his flagship, the Victoria, was the only one (of five that set out) to complete the voyage				Ferdinand Magellan
Leader of the first English circumnavigation of the world (1577–80)				Francis Drake
First solo circumnavigation (1895) – in the 37–foot cutter Spray (converted to a yawl in the Straits of Magellan)				Joshua Slocum
Rowed across the Atlantic in 1966		Scottish		Chay Blyth
		English		John Ridgway
Sailed around the world in nine months and one day with only one stop, aged 66, 1966–7 – in the 54–foot ketch Gypsy Moth IV				Francis Chichester
Planned to sail around the world at the same time as Chichester, but actually left in July 1967 – returning to Plymouth 354 days later, nine days before his 60th birthday – in the 34–foot ketch Lively Lady				Alec Rose
Won the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race (1968–9) to complete the first non–stop solo circumnavigation – in the 32–foot ketch Suhaili, built by himself in India				Robin Knox–Johnston
Stepped into the sea from his trimaran Teignmouth Electron, and drowned, to avoid disgrace after cheating in the race won by Knox–Johnston				Donald Crowhurst
Failed to finish the race after his boat, the plywood trimaran Victress, sank in his desperate attempt to beat Crowhurst; committed suicide a year later				Nigel Tetley
Entered the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race with no sailing experience, but retired after rounding the Cape of Good Hope; completed the first non–stop circumnavigation from east to west, against the prevailing winds and currents (1971) – in the 59–foot ketch British Steel				Chay Blyth
First woman to skipper a boat in the Whitbread Round the World race (1977–8); finished 5th in ADC Accutrac; later became a successful novelist				Clare Francis
First solo circumnavigation by a woman (1978) – in the 53–foot Express Crusader – beating Francis Chichester's record by 2 days				Naomi James
Skipper of the first all–female crew to take part in the Whitbread Round the World race (in Maiden, 1990–1)				Tracy Edwards
British sailor who broke the record for the fastest circumnavigation, in 2005 (71 days 14 hours 18 minutes 33 seconds) – in the trimaran B&Q/Castorama. Previously (in 2001) finished second in the Vendée Globe round–the–world race, in Kingfisher vendee				Ellen MacArthur
French sailor, regained the record from MacArthur 2007–8 – beating her time by just over two weeks				Francis Joyon

Places (etc.)

Discovered in January 1820, either by Captain Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen of the Russian Navy or by Captain Edward Bransfield of the Royal Navy		Antarctica
Legendary city of gold that inspired the Spanish exploration of Central and South America		El Dorado
Malaysian mountain where five British soldiers were stranded in 1994		Kinabalu
Atlantic–Pacific sea route around the North of Canada – sought by Baffin, Frobisher and Franklin		North–West Passage
Discovered in 1596 by the Dutch explorers Jacob Heemskerk and Willem Barentsz; name comes from the Dutch for "pointed mountains"		Spitzbergen

Thor Heyerdahl

Specially–built craft that left Callao, Peru, on 28 April 1947, and was beached on an uninhabited islet off Raroia atoll in the Tuamotu islands of French Polynesia, 101 days later (7 August)		Kon–Tiki
Leader of the Kon–Tiki and Ra expeditions		Thor Heyerdahl
Thor Heyerdahl's Kon–Tiki: made of		Balsa wood
Thor Heyerdahl's Ra II (Morocco to Barbados, 1970): made of		Papyrus reed
Thor Heyerdahl's third vessel – sailed up the East coast of Africa		Tigris

Explorers by Name

Norwegian leader of the first expedition to reach the South Pole (1912) – beat Scott by 34 days; previously (1903–5) led the first expedition to sail through the North West Passage		Roald Amundsen
US naval officer and oceanographer: discovered the remains of the Titanic (1985), the Bismarck (1989), USS (aircraft carrier) Yorktown in 1998, and John F. Kennedy's PT–109 in 2002		Robert (Bob) Ballard
Danish explorer: in the service of Russia, led two expeditions (1725–31 and 1733–43) exploring the coasts of Siberia, and from there the north–western coast of America; gave his name to a sea, an island, a glacier, a land bridge and (most famously) a strait		Vitus Bering
One of the first British pair to climb the North Face of the Eiger, and leader of five major Himalayan expeditions between 1970 and 1982; knighted in 1996		Chris Bonington
Crossed Australia from south to north (Victoria to the Gulf of Carpentaria); both died of starvation on the return journey (1861)		Robert O'Hara Burke
		William Wills
First Westerner to visit Mecca, see Lake Tanganyika or sail down the Amazon; translated the Arabian Nights into English		Richard Burton
US aviator and polar explorer: claimed to have made the first flight over the North Pole in 1926 (disputed at the time, and almost certainly false); also flew over the South Pole in 1929, and led five overland expeditions in Antarctica		Richard Evelyn Byrd
Sailing from Bristol on the Mathew, in 1497, discovered Cape Breton Island (Newfoundland); believed to have been the first European exploration of the North American mainland since the Vikings in the 11th century		John Cabot
Portuguese discoverer of Brazil (1500)		Pedro Cabral
Walked around the world in 11 years (1983–94)		Ffyona Campbell
Born in Brittany in 1491: first European to travel inland in North America; described and mapped the Gulf of St. Lawrence (1534) and the St. Lawrence River (1535–6); claimed what became known as Canada for France		Jacques Cartier
First European to sight the Orinoco River (1498)		Christopher Columbus
First to circumnavigate New Zealand; discovered that it consisted of two islands (1769–70)		Captain James Cook
First to cross the Antarctic Circle, and first to circumnavigate Antarctica (1771)
Achieved the first recorded European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia (1770), and of the Hawaiian Islands (1778)
Killed by natives in Hawaii, in 1779, while attempting to kidnap a Hawaiian chief, in order to reclaim a cutter (a small sailing boat) that had been stolen from one of his ships
Secured Mexico for Spain by overthrowing the Aztec empire and destroying its capital, Tenochtitlan (1519–21)		Hernán Cortés cortes
First European to go to India and return (discovered the sea route via the Cape of Good Hope)		Vasco da Gama (1499)
French explorer that founded the city of Quebec (1608)		Samuel de Champlain
First European to explore the Amazon		Francisco de Orellana
European (Spanish) discoverer of the Mississippi		Hernando de Soto
First European to discover and sail round the Cape of Good Hope		Bartholomew Diaz
Reputedly commanded first Viking ships to reach America (c 1000)		Lief Ericcson
Viking who discovered Greenland (c 982), naming it to attract settlers		Erik the Red
First person to row solo across the Atlantic (or any other ocean) (Jan–July 1969); died in 2012, aged 74		John Fairfax
Named by the Guinness Book of Records as "the world's greatest living adventurer"; first man to visit both the North and South poles by land; first to cross Antarctica on foot; climbed Everest in 2009, aged 65; has a triple–barrelled surname, the first two barrels of which are Twisleton and Wykeham (pronounced Wickham)		Sir Ranulph Fiennes
Born in Lincolnshire, 1774; first visited Australia in 1796; circumnavigated Van Dieman's Land (Tasmania) in 1802, proving that it was an island; became the first to circumnavigate Australia, in 1803; encouraged the use of the name Australia for the continent (previously it was used for the general area of the globe); held by the French on Mauritius as a spy from 1803 to 1810; died in 1814, aged 40; various things, including a mountain range, an island, and the venue of the Australian Open Tennis Championships, are named in his honour		Matthew Flinders
Commander of the ill–fated North West Passage expedition, 1845–8		Sir John Franklin
English seaman, 1535–94: made three voyages to Canada looking for the Northwest Passage; twice returned home with a shipload of fool's gold, thinking it was real gold; knighted for his part in the defeat of the Spanish Armada (1588 – when he commanded the Triumph, the Royal Navy's biggest ship); discovered a large inlet on Baffin Island, which was named after him; died from wounds received at the siege of Brest		Martin Frobisher
Leader of the Commonwealth Trans–Antarctic Expedition, 1955–8		Sir Vivian Fuchs
Drowned off the Azores in the frigate Squirrel (1583)		Sir Humphrey Gilbert
Accompanied John Hanning Speke on the expedition that solved the problem of the Nile sources (1860), but was prevented by illness from being with Speke when he discovered Lake Victoria – and thus, effectively, the source of the Nile; one of the largest and most handsome species of gazelle was named in his honour		James Augustus Grant
Became the youngest Briton to climb Everest, in 1998 (a record since broken); became the youngest ever Chief Scout, 2009		Bear Grylls
British climber: the second Briton, and the first woman, to climb Everest alone and without oxygen (1995); died (also in 1995) while descending from the summit of K2		Alison Hargreaves

First Britons to climb Everest (1975)	Scotsman (died in a ski–ing accident in the Alps, 16 months later)		Dougal Haston
	Englishman		Doug Scott

First to walk to the North and South Poles (1996); first to complete the "Explorer' Grand Slam" (all four poles – geographical and magnetic – and the seven continental summits – 1998)			David Hempleman–Adams
First European to see Niagara Falls; also suggested the site of Detroit as suitable for settlement			Father Louis Hennepin
First man to make an undisputed journey on foot to the North Pole (1969)			Wally Herbert
One of the first pair to reach the summit of Mount Everest (1953); leader of the third party to reach the South Pole (1957/8)			Edmund Hillary
Prussian polymath (1769–1859): travelled extensively in the Americas between 1799 and 1804, and gave his name to literally dozens of places and features – most famously a cold current that flows northwards along the Pacific coast of South America – as well as a crater and a sea on the Moon, and a species of penguin			Alexander von Humboldt
Leader of the first expedition to reach the summit of Everest			John Hunt
Portrayed in Castaway by Amanda Donohue			Lucy Irvine
Portrayed in Castaway by Oliver Reed			Gerald Kingsland
Swedish aeronaut who accompanied Richard Branson on many of his balloon record attempts – including (a) the first flight across the Atlantic in a balloon (1987), (b) a flight from Japan to Canada in 1991, which broke the distance record for a balloon flight, and (c) an attempt to make the first round–the–world flight in a balloon (with Steve Fossett), taking off in Morocco but making a forced landing in the Pacific Ocean seven days later (on Christmas Day 1998)			Per Lindstrand
First European to see Victoria Falls or Lake Nyasa			Dr. David Livingstone
Met by Henry Morton Stanley at Ujiji, on the shores of Lake Tanganyika (now in Tanzania) in 1871, having been in Africa since 1866 and thought by many to have been dead for years
Leader of the first expedition to circumnavigate the Earth (captain of the Vittoria, and commander of the Trinidad, San Antonio, Concepción, and Santiago); first European to cross the Pacific Ocean, 1520 – and named it; killed in the Philippines in 1521			Ferdinand Magellan
38–year–old English schoolteacher, died on Mount Everest in 1924: his body was found 75 years later, but with no conclusive evidence either way, speculation continues as to whether he and his companion Andrew Irvine (whose body has never yet been found) were successful in their summit bid			George Leigh Mallory
Second to row solo across the Atlantic, and the first from west to east (May–July 1969); see John Fairfax			Tom McClean
First to climb Everest alone and without oxygen			Reinhold Messner
Norwegian leader of the team that made the first crossing of the Greenland interior (on skis), in 1888; won international fame after reaching a record northern latitude of 86°14' during his Fram expedition of 1893–6 (an attempt to reach the geographical North Pole); also invented a passport for homeless persons, and won the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1922 for his work in aid of Russian famine victims and refugees in Asia Minor			Fridtjof Nansen
Crossed the English Channel in a solar–powered balloon, 1981			Julian Nott
Member of Captain Scott's Antarctic expedition, 1911–12, walked out to his death in a blizzard on the return journey rather than delay the others			Captain Lawrence Oates
Author of Travels in the Interior of Africa (1799) – killed by natives while navigating the River Niger, 1805			Mungo Park
US naval officer: claimed to have been the first to reach the North Pole, in 1909, but his claim was disputed in a 1989 book by the British explorer Wally Herbert (who said the closest he got was 60 miles away)			Admiral Robert Peary
First person to reach the Stratosphere (1931 – 15,785m, 51,775 ft)			Auguste Piccard
Secured Peru for Spain by conquering the Incas; founded the city of Lima			Francisco Pizarro
Venetian merchant traveller, set off with his father and uncle in 1271 to visit the court of Kublai Khan; served in the court of Kublai Khan 1275–92; described his travels in a book published in about 1300, with a title that translates into English as Books (sic) of the Marvels of the World; died in Venice in 1324, aged 69			Marco Polo
Huguenot lieutenant on George Vancouver's 1792 expedition, who gave his name (courtesy of Vancouver) to the body of water that he explored, in what would later become Washington state			Peter Puget
Led expeditions to the Caroní (1595) and the Orinoco (1616) in search of gold. On the latter his son was killed during an attack on a Spanish settlement, and he himself was executed following his return, in order to appease the Spanish ambassador			Sir Walter Raleigh
Sailed around the world in Lively Lady, 1967–8			Alec Rose
Dutch navigator, first to round Cape Horn (1616); named it after his birthplace (Hoorn)			Willem Schouten
Irish–born member of Scott's first expedition (1901–4) and leader of three further Antarctic expeditions (1907–09, 1914–17, 1921–22), the second of which (known as the Imperial Trans–Antarctic Expedition) located the South magnetic pole; died on his fourth expedition, in 1922			Sir Ernest Shackleton
First European to see Lake Victoria – and, as such, the discoverer of the source of the Nile			John Hanning Speke
Welsh–born US journalist – discovered Lake Edward; Liberal MP for Lambeth North, 1895–1900			Henry Morton Stanley
Met Dr. David Livingstone (whom many believed to have been dead for years) at Ujiji (now in Tanzania) in 1871 – when he is said to have uttered the immortal words, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"
First British woman to climb Everest (1993)			Rebecca Stephens
First woman to climb Everest (1975 – died in 2016)			Junko Tabei
Dutch seafarer: discovered New Zealand (South Island) and the island that he named Van Dieman's land, after his patron, in 1642			Abel Tasman
Sherpa who was one of the first pair to reach the summit of Mount Everest (1953)			Tensing (Norgay)
First Briton to climb Everest without oxygen (1988)			Stephen Venables
Florentine merchant explorer (1454–1512) after whom America was named; may have been the first European to recognise it as a continent in its own right; explored the Atlantic coast of South America 1499–1502, discovered the mouth of the Amazon			Amerigo Vespucci
Leader of the first party to climb the Matterhorn (14 July, 1865)			Edward Whymper
Former British Army officer, known for his extended walking expeditions, through books and Channel 4 documentaries: Walking the Nile (2015), Walking the Himalayas (2015), Walking the Americas (2017), From Russia to Iran (2017)			Levison Wood

© Haydn Thompson 2017–24