Explorers

Marco Polo

May 15, 1275

Marco Polo (1254-1324) was a Venetian merchant believed to have journeyed across Asia at the height of the Mongol Empire. He first set out at age 17 with his father and uncle, traveling overland along what later became known as the Silk Road. Upon reaching China, Marco Polo entered the court of powerful Mongol ruler Khubilai Khan, who dispatched him on trips to help administer the realm. Marco Polo remained abroad for 24 years. Though not the first European to explore China—his father and uncle,

Bartolomeu Dias

Feb 3, 1488

Bartolomeu became the first European mariner to round the southern tip of Africa, opening the way for a sea route from Europe to Asia.

Columbus

Aug 3, 1492

Columbus set sail in search of a faster route to India but instead discovered the America's.

Francisco Vasquez de Coronado

Sep 22, 1510

Explored the coast of Mexico. The expedition team of Francisco Vázquez de Coronado is credited with discovery of the Grand Canyon and several other famous landmarks in the American Southwest.

Hernando Cortes

Feb 23, 1521

Hernando was the leader of an expidition that lead to the fall of the Aztecs.

Giovanni da Verrazzano

Jan 7, 1524

One of the ships reaches North America.

Jacques Cartier

Apr 20, 1534

Cartier sailed on April 20, 1534, with two ships and 61 men, and arrived 20 days later. He explored the west coast of Newfoundland, discovered Prince Edward Island and sailed through the Gulf of St. Lawrence, past Anticosti Island.

Hernando de Soto

May 8, 1541

Hernando de Soto was was the first European to document the river. In June 1543, they sailed down the Mississippi River in seven boats, which sailed into the Gulf of Mexico six weeks later with 311 surviving Spaniards and an unknown number of Indian slaves.

Sir Francis Drake

Jun 17, 1577

Francis Drake participated in some of the earliest English slaving voyages to Africa and earned a reputation for his privateering, or piracy, against Spanish ships and possessions. Sent by Queen Elizabeth II to South America in 1577, he returned home via the Pacific and became the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe;

Samuel de Champlain

Jan 26, 1601

Champlain's earliest travels were with his uncle, and he ventured as far as Spain and the West Indies. From 1601 to 1603, he was a geographer for King Henry IV, and then joined François Gravé Du Pont's expedition to Canada in 1603. The group sailed up the St. Lawrence and Saguenay rivers and explored the Gaspé Peninsula, ultimately arriving in Montreal. Although Champlain had no official role or title on the expedition, he proved his mettle by making uncanny predictions about the network of lake

Henry Hudson

Apr 4, 1610

Considered one of the world's most famous explorers, Henry Hudson, born in England circa 1565, never actually found what he was looking for. He spent his career searching for different routes to Asia, but he ended up opening the door to further exploration and settlement of North America.

Jacques Marquette

Jun 17, 1673

Marquette's group traveled westward to Green Bay in present-day Wisconsin, ascended the Fox River to a portage that crossed to the Wisconsin River and entered the Mississippi near Prairie du Chien on June 17, 1673. Following the river to the mouth of the Arkansas River—within 435 miles of the Gulf of Mexico—Marquette and Joliet learned that it flowed through hostile Spanish domains. Fearing an encounter with Spanish colonists and explorers, they decided to return homeward by way of the Illinois