This is a list of some of the most important explorations of State Societies, in chronological order:
Before 1400
15th century
| Exploration | When | Who (explorer) | Context |
|---|
| Great permanent wind wheel of Volta do Mar, the North Atlantic Gyre. Recognition of the Sargasso Sea, Madeira, Azores and West African coast. Cape Verde. | 1427–1460 | Several navigators: Portuguese or serving Portugal, most under the sponsorship of Henry the Navigator | Portuguese maritime exploration |
| Galápagos Islands or Rapa Nui | c. 1480 | Tupaq Inka Yupanki. 1594–1597. Rediscovered by the Spanish. | "Third Inca expansion"[es] |
| Congo River, Angola and Namibia | 1482–1485 | Diogo Cão | Portuguese maritime exploration |
| South Africa. Connected the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean. South Atlantic Volta do Mar winds. | 1482–1485 | Bartolomeu Dias | Portuguese maritime exploration |
| Caribbean, Venezuela (South America) and Central America. Use and development of the North Atlantic routes. | 1493–1502 | Christopher Columbus | Spanish colonization of the Americas |
| Atlantic Ocean (outer routes) and Indian Ocean, sea route to India (Europe to Asia) | 1497–1499 | Vasco da Gama | Portuguese maritime exploration |
| Brazil, South Atlantic Volta do Mar, Indian Ocean, Madagascar, gate of the Red Sea (Bab-el-Mandeb Strait); India. Voyage that united Europe, Americas, Africa and Asia. | 1500–1501 | Pedro Álvares Cabral and Diogo Dias, among others | Portuguese maritime exploration Portuguese colonization of the Americas |
16th century
17th century
18th century
19th century
20th century
| Exploration | When | Who (explorer) |
|---|
| The South Magnetic Pole | January 16, 1909 | Douglas Mawson, Edgeworth David, and Alistair Mackay |
| The North Pole | April 6, 1909 | Robert Peary |
| The South Pole | December 14, 1911 | Roald Amundsen |
| The South Pole | January 17, 1912 | Robert Falcon Scott |
| Mount Everest summit | May 29, 1953 | Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay |
| The Moon | July 20, 1969 | Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin (Apollo 11) |
| Mars | 1960–present | NASA and other space agency exploration robots |
See also