This is a list of some of the most important explorations of State Societies, in chronological order:

Before 1400

ExplorationWhenWho (explorer)
Northwest African coast (West Africa)about 500 BCHanno the Navigator
The Mediterranean Sea5th century BCHimilco the Navigator
Around western Europe to Thule Islandabout 330 BCPytheas of Marseilles
Hawaiian IslandsBy c. 800Hawaiʻiloa (mythical)
Greenland, Iceland, and Faroes900Gunnbjörn Ulfsson
Americas (North America)999Leif Ericson
Brazil (South America) - controversialc. 14th century CEAbu Bakr II
Sahelian kingdoms1351–1354Ibn Battuta

15th century

ExplorationWhenWho (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.1427–1460Several navigators: Portuguese or serving Portugal, most under the sponsorship of Henry the NavigatorPortuguese maritime exploration
Galápagos Islands or Rapa Nuic. 1480Tupaq Inka Yupanki. 1594–1597. Rediscovered by the Spanish."Third Inca expansion"[es]
Congo River, Angola and Namibia1482–1485Diogo CãoPortuguese maritime exploration
South Africa. Connected the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean. South Atlantic Volta do Mar winds.1482–1485Bartolomeu DiasPortuguese maritime exploration
Caribbean, Venezuela (South America) and Central America. Use and development of the North Atlantic routes.1493–1502Christopher ColumbusSpanish colonization of the Americas
Atlantic Ocean (outer routes) and Indian Ocean, sea route to India (Europe to Asia)1497–1499Vasco da GamaPortuguese 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.1500–1501Pedro Álvares Cabral and Diogo Dias, among othersPortuguese maritime exploration Portuguese colonization of the Americas

16th century

ExplorationWhenWho (explorer)Context
Timor, Moluccas (Australasia - Pacific Ocean)1512–1513António de Abreu and Francisco SerrãoPortuguese maritime exploration
Circumnavigation of the globe. Connection from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean (Americas to Asia).1519–1522Ferdinand Magellan and Juan Sebastián ElcanoSpanish colonization of the Americas Spanish colonization of the Philippines
Mexico1519–1521Hernán CortésSpanish colonization of the Americas Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire
Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia and east of the Inca Empire1525–1527Aleixo GarciaSpanish colonization of the Americas
Traveled across the Southwest of North America (completely)1528Álvar Núñez Cabeza de VacaSpanish colonization of the Americas
Peru, Inca Empire and Ecuador1531–1534Francisco PizarroSpanish colonization of the Americas Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire
Ecuador and Brazil. Length of the Amazon River.1531–1534Francisco de OrellanaSpanish colonization of the Americas
Canada, Saint Lawrence River1534–1542Jacques CartierFrench colonization of the Americas
Bolivia, Argentine Northwest, Chile1535–1537Diego de AlmagroSpanish colonization of the Americas Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire
Colombia, Conquest of the Muisca1536–1537Gonzalo Jiménez de QuesadaSpanish colonization of the Americas
Pacific Ocean's Volta do Mar (Asia to the Americas)1564–1565Andrés de UrdanetaSpanish colonization of the Americas Spanish colonization of the Philippines
North, Canada (Hudson Bay)1574–1631Henry Hudson
North1594–1597Willem Barents

17th century

ExplorationWhenWho (explorer)
Siberia and Pacific coast1649–1641Ivan Yuryevich Moskvitin
Australiac. 1640Makassar People before. Explored by Abel Tasman.
Tasmania, New Zealand1642–1643Abel Tasman
Brazil (circumnavigation), Paraguay, Bolivia and Peru. Connected the River Plate Basin to the Andes and to the mouth of the Amazon River.1648–1651António Raposo Tavares
Western Patagonia[1669–1673Nicolás Mascardi
Western Patagonia1675–1676Antonio de Vea

18th century

ExplorationWhenWho (explorer)
Oceania1768–1779James Cook
North Pacific, western Alaska, Far East Eurasian Coast1771Moric Benovsky
Central America and Latin America1799–1803Alexander von Humboldt

19th century

ExplorationWhenWho (explorer)
Northwest Plateau of North America1804–1806Lewis and Clark Expedition
The North Magnetic Pole1831-06-01James Clark Ross
Interior of Africa1851–1873David Livingstone
The Burke and Wills expedition (Central Australia)1860–1861Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills
Inland eastern Patagonia1875–1877]]Perito Moreno
Exploration of the Zambeze river region, Central Africa, Angola, Mozambique, Zambia, Zaire1877Serpa Pinto
The Northern Sea Route1878Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld

20th century

ExplorationWhenWho (explorer)
The South Magnetic PoleJanuary 16, 1909Douglas Mawson, Edgeworth David, and Alistair Mackay
The North PoleApril 6, 1909Robert Peary
The South PoleDecember 14, 1911Roald Amundsen
The South PoleJanuary 17, 1912Robert Falcon Scott
Mount Everest summitMay 29, 1953Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay
The MoonJuly 20, 1969Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin (Apollo 11)
Mars1960–presentNASA and other space agency exploration robots

See also