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Venetian merchant and explorer who traveled through Asia along the Silk Road between 1271 and 1295, his accounts introduced Europe to Central Asia and China.

Chinese explorer, fleet admiral, and court eunuch during China's early Ming dynasty. He commanded expeditionary treasure voyages to Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and East Africa from 1405 to 1433.

French explorer who claimed what is now Canada for France. He was the first European to describe and map the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the shores of the Saint Lawrence River.

Norwegian explorer who was the first to reach the South Pole in 1911 and the first to traverse the Northwest Passage.

Conducted three voyages to the Pacific Ocean, accurately mapped many areas, and recorded several islands and coastlines on European maps for the first time.

Explored areas of the Arctic Ocean and northeastern North America. The Hudson Strait and Hudson Bay are named after him.

Scottish missionary and explorer who played a significant role in mapping the African continent and was one of the first Westerners to make a transcontinental journey across Africa.

Explored the Southeast of the United States, from Florida to the Mississippi, and was the first documented European to have crossed the Mississippi River.

Norse explorer from Iceland. He is thought to be the first European to have set foot on continental North America (Vinland), approximately half a millennium before Columbus.

Venetian navigator and explorer whose 1497 discovery of parts of North America under the commission of Henry VII of England is commonly held to be the first European encounter with the mainland of North America since the Vikings.

The first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe and helped defeat the Spanish Armada of 1588, was also involved in some of the earliest English slaving voyages to Africa.

The first European to reach India by sea sailing around the tip of Africa from 1497 to 1499, opening an important commercial sea route.

Conquered the Incan Empire and claimed much of South America for Spain in the 1530s, establishing the city of Lima in modern-day Peru.

Commanded the first expedition to circumnavigate the globe from 1519 to 1522, though he was killed in the Philippines, his fleet under Juan Sebastian Elcano completed the journey.

Led four voyages to the New World under the auspices of the Spanish monarchs from 1492 to 1504, mistakenly discovering the Americas while searching for a direct sea route to Asia.

Led the first American expedition to cross what is now the western portion of the United States, from May 1804 to September 1806.

French Navy officer and explorer whose expedition vanished in Oceania.

Conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large parts of mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th century.

The Italian explorer, financier, navigator, and cartographer who first demonstrated that Brazil and the West Indies did not represent Asia's eastern outskirts as initially conjectured from Columbus' voyages, the Americas are named after him.