Exploit:Spanish conquistador who explored the southwestern United State searching for the Cities of Cibola/Seven Cities of Gold and became the first European discoverer of the Grand Canyon and the Colorado river in the process.

Explorer:Francisco Vásquez de Coronado (c. 1510 - 1554)

Exploit:British explorer who made three important voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific and to Australia captaining the HMS Endeavour on his first voyage. Credited with the first circumnavigation of New Zealand as well as for the first European sighting of Hawaii where he was killed in 1779.

Explorer:James Cook (1728 - 1779)

Exploit:German polymath whose explorations of the Americas in the early 19th century, while accompanied by Frenchman Aimé Bonpland, laid the foundation to the field of bio-geography. His treatise Kosmos sought to unify multiple scientific disciplines.

Explorer:Alexander von Humboldt (1769 - 1859)

Exploit:Chinese explorer commissioned by the Yongle Emperor of the Ming dynasty in the early 15th century to explore west Asia and east Africa. His exploits were neglected even in China until the 20th century.

Explorer:Zheng He (1371 - 1433/35)

Exploit:Danish explorer who in the service of Russia explored the Siberian Far East and Alaska as he led two expeditions - the First Kamchatka Expedition and the Great Northern Expedition. The strait between the Pacific and Arctic that separates Russia's Chukchi Peninsula from the Seward Peninsula of Alaska is named for him.

Explorer:Vitus Bering (1681 - 1741)

Exploit:Ancient Greek who is thought to be the first to circumnavigate Great Britain around 325 BC. Reached Thule, most commonly thought to be the Shetland Islands or Iceland. His firsthand accounts have not survived and his exploits are known only through the writings of others.

Explorer:Pytheas (380 - c. 310 BC)

Exploit:His four voyages that changes the world were in 1492, 1493, 1498, 1502.

Explorer:Christopher Columbus (1451 - 1506)

Exploit:Easter Island was discovered by this Dutch explorer in 1722. He also found Bora Bora and Maupiti of the Society Islands, and Samoa.

Explorer:Jacob Roggeveen (1659 - 1729)

Exploit:Initiated the first circumnavigation of the globe in a single expedition. Named Pacific Ocean. Died in the Philippines after claiming them for Spain.

Explorer:Ferdinand Magellan (1480 - 1521)

Exploit:Thought to have been the first European to set foot on the North American continent and established his settlement at Vinland which is speculated to be L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland. Assumed to be born in Iceland around 970 AD.

Explorer:Leif Ericson (980 - 1020)

Exploit:Scottish explorer of Africa whose exploits appeared in 1799 as Travels in the Interior of Africa. He was the first European to see the Niger in 1796 and disappeared in 1806 while exploring its banks.

Explorer:Mungo Park (1771 - 1806)

Exploit:Basque explorer who completed the first circumnavigation of the globe in a single expedition in the carrack Victoria after Magellan, the leader of the expedition, was killed in the 1521 Battle of Mactan. He later returned to sea in 1525 in the Loaisa expedition and died of malnutrition in the Pacific Ocean.

Explorer:Juan Sebastián Elcano (1476 - 1526)

Exploit:Known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644 in the service of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and is the first European explorer to reach New Zealand, Fiji and Van Diemen's Land which is now his namesake island.

Explorer:Abel Tasman (1603 - 1659)

Exploit:Italian explorer commissioned by Francis I of France who became the first European to visit the coast between South Carolina and Newfoundland, including New York Harbor and Narragansett Bay in 1524. He is the namesake of the bridge that connects Staten Island and Brooklyn at the Narrows. Visited Brazil on his second voyage, but on his third, was killed by natives in the West Indies (likely Guadeloupe).

Explorer:Giovanni de Verrazano (c.1485 - c.1528)

Exploit:Spanish explorer and conquistador who explored Central America and played a key part in the conquest of Incas assisting Pizarro. He later led the first European expedition deep into the present-day US territory and became the European discoverer of the Mississippi on whose banks he died in 1542.

Explorer:Hernando de Soto (c. 1496 - 1542)

Exploit:Carthaginian explorer of the fifth century BC, best known for his naval exploration of the western coast of Africa.

Explorer:Hanno the Navigator

Exploit:Englishman who is the first to circumnavigate the world when he accomplished this feat between 1577-80 on Golden Hind (was initially called Pelican). He claimed the area of New Albion (present-day California) for England which started a period of conflict with Spain. He was second-in-command during the English victory on the Spanish Armada in 1588 and died in 1596 after an unsuccessful attack on Puerto Rico.

Explorer:Sir Francis Drake (c. 1540 - 1596)

Exploit:Sailed the entire length of Amazon and founded the city of Guayaquil in Ecuador. Named Amazon and inspired the 1972 Werner Herzog classic Aguirre: The Wrath of God.

Explorer:Francisco de Orellana (1511 - 1546)

Exploit:He was a volunteer on Columbus' second voyage and is credited with leading the first official European expedition to Florida. A persisting myth says that he searched for the Fountain of Youth but what is definitely true is that he was the first governor of Puerto Rico.

Explorer:Juan Ponce de León (c. 1460 - 1521)

Exploit:French explorer who made 20-30 Atlantic trips and founded Quebec and New France; first European to describe the Great Lakes. Memorialized as "Father of New France" and "Father of Acadia".

Explorer:Samuel de Champlain (1567 - 1635)

Exploit:Portuguese mariner and the first European navigator to round the southern tip of Africa in 1488. Revolutionized southward sailing by demonstrating that the most effective route lay in sailing a westerly course (and not to hug the coast of Africa).

Explorer:Bartholomeu Dias (c. 1450 - 1500)

Exploit:Italian explorer who was commissioned by Henry VII, and whose exploits are the earliest European exploration of North America since the Norse visits to Vinland. Discovered Newfoundland and claimed it for England and the place he landed is said to be Cape Bonavista.

Explorer:John Cabot (c. 1450 - 1499); Giovanni Caboto

Exploit:Regarded as first European discoverer of the sea route to Brazil and claimed the country for Portugal according to the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494). Also the first person who led the first known expedition to have touched four continents (Europe, Africa, America, and Asia).

Explorer:Pedro Álvares Cabral (c. 1467 - c. 1520)

Exploit:English explorer who explored much of the North Atlantic, including Labrador, the coast of Greenland, and what is now his namesake bay. Abacuk Pricket's diary is the best source of the circumstances of his disappearance after a mutiny on Half Moon in 1611 when he was attempting to find the Northwest Passage.

Explorer:Henry Hudson (1570 - 1611)

Exploit:American explorer who was the leader of the Corps of Discovery expedition whose mission was to explore the territory of the Louisiana Purchase and the Pacific Northwest in 1804-1806. He died of gunshot wounds in 1809 with causes still unclear.

Explorer:Captain Meriwether Lewis (1774 - 1809)

Exploit:Scottish-Canadian explorer who in 1789, looking for the Northwest Passage, followed the river now named after him to the Arctic. Then in 1793, he crossed the Rockies and reached the Pacific Ocean thus beating Lewis and Clark by 12 years.

Explorer:Alexander MacKenzie (1764-1820)

Exploit:Norwegian explorer who led the first successful Antarctic expedition between 1910 and 1912 to the South Pole. Prior to that, from 1903 to 1906, he led the first expedition to successfully traverse the Northwest Passage on Gjøa. Disappeared in 1928 while flying on a rescue mission in the Arctic and his remains were never found.

Explorer:Roald Amundsen (1872 - 1928)

Exploit:American explorer whose claim to fame is being the first to reach the geographic North Pole on April 6, 1909. He was accompanied by Matthew Henson who might have accomplished the feat narrowly before him.

Explorer:Robert Edwin Peary (1856 - 1920)

Exploit:Discovered the sea route to India when he successfully landed in Calicut in 1498 with world changing consequences. The Portuguese epic Os Lusíadas was written in his honor by Luís de Camões.

Explorer:Vasco da Gama (c. 1469 - 1524)

Exploit:French-Breton who sailed on three voyages between 1534 and 1542 and became the first European to map the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the Saint Lawrence River. Named Canada deriving it from the Huron-Iroquois word for "kanata" (village) and incorrectly interpreting it.

Explorer:Jacques Cartier (1491 - 1557)

Exploit:British officer of the Royal Navy best known for his 1791–95 expedition which explored and charted North America's northwestern Pacific Coast regions. A major Canadian city and island and a couple of notable mountains are named for him.

Explorer:George Vancouver (1757 - 1798)

Exploit:Said to have founded the first settlement in Greenland and got his epithet due to the color of his hair/beard. His son is a famous explorer in his own right.

Explorer:Erik the Red (950 - 1003)

(Son is Leif Erikson)

Exploit:French Navy officer and explorer whose scientific expedition vanished in Oceania in 1788 (likely).

Explorer:Jean François La Pérouse (1741–1788)

Exploit:French explorers best known for exploring the Great lake regions for fur. Their joining the English led to the formation of the Hudson's Bay Company in 1670.

Explorer:Radisson and Groseilliers

Exploit:The first European to cross the Isthmus of Panama and view the Pacific ocean from American shores. Credited with establishing the first permanent European settlement in Americas (Colombia) and is still honored in Panama which named its currency for him.

Explorer:Vasco Núñez de Balboa (c. 1475 - 1519)