This is a list of maritime explorers. The list includes explorers who have substantially contributed to human knowledge of the planet's geography, weather, biodiversity, and human cultures, or who have significantly contributed to the expansion of trade and communication between populations.

Ocean explorers

NationalitySailed forNameFirst voyage of explorationLast voyage of explorationArcticNorth AtlanticIndianPacificSouth AtlanticSouthern
PortuguesePortugalde Abreu, António15071512
PortuguesePortugalde Albuquerque, Afonso1503
PortuguesePortugalde Alenquer, Pero14871488
PortuguesePortugalde Almeida, Francisco
PortuguesePortugalÁlvares, Jorge
PortuguesePortugalde Azambuja, Diogo
PortuguesePortugalde Barcelos, Pero
NewfoundlanderUnited StatesBartlett, Robert
EstonianRussiavon Bellingshausen, Fabian Gottlieb*
DanishRussiaBering, Vitus*
FrenchFrancede Bougainville, Louis Antoine
EnglishBritainByron, John
ItalianEnglandCabot, John
ItalianEngland and AragonCabot, Sebastian
PortuguesePortugalCabral, Pedro Álvares
PortugueseSpainCabrillo, João Rodrígues
VenetianPortugalCadamosto. Alvise
PortuguesePortugalCaminha, Álvaro
PortuguesePortugalde Caminha, Pero Vaz
PortuguesePortugalCão, Diogo
FrenchFranceCartier, Jacques1534
EnglishEnglandCavendish, Thomas1586-1588
FrenchFrancede Champlain, Samuel
PortuguesePortugalCoelho, Gonçalo
PortuguesePortugalCoelho, Nicolau
ItalianSpainColumbus, Christopher
EnglishBritainCook, James1768–17711776–177931
PortuguesePortugalCorte-Real, Gaspar
PortuguesePortugalCorte-Real, Miguel
PortuguesePortugalda Cunha, Tristão
EnglishEnglandDampier, William
EnglishEngland and NetherlandsDavis, John
RussianRussiaDezhnev, Semyon*
PortuguesePortugalDias, Bartolomeu
PortuguesePortugalDias, Dinis
PortuguesePortugalDias, Diogo
PortuguesePortugalDias, Pero
PortuguesePortugaldo Pó, Fernão
EnglishEnglandDrake, Francis1577–15811577–1581111
PortuguesePortugalEanes, Gil
NorwegianNorseErik the Red
IcelandicNorseEricson, Leif
PortuguesePortugalEscobar, Pedro
PortuguesePortugalFernandes, Álvaro
EnglishBritainFlinders, Matthew
EnglishEnglandFrobisher, Martin
PortuguesePortugalda Gama, Estêvão
PortuguesePortugalda Gama, Paulo
PortuguesePortugalda Gama, Vasco1497-14991524
EnglishEngland and IrelandGilbert, Humphrey
RussianRussiaGolovnin, Vasily*
PortuguesePortugalGonçalves, André
PortuguesePortugalGonçalves, Antão
PortuguesePortugalGonçalves, Lopes
PortuguesePortugalGrego, João
EnglishEnglandHudson, Henry
PortuguesePortugalInfante, João
Baltic GermanRussiavon Kotzebue, Otto*
Baltic GermanRussia and BritainKruzenshtern, Ivan Fedorovich*
FrenchFrancede Lapérouse, Jean François de Galaup, comte
PortuguesePortugal and EnglandLavrador, João Fernandes
RussianRussia and BritainLazarev, Mikhail Petrovich*
PortuguesePortugalde Lemos, Gaspar
RussianRussiaLitke, Fyodor Petrovich*
PortugueseSpain and PortugalMagellan, Ferdinand
DutchNetherlandsle Maire, Jacob
PortuguesePortugalMartins, Álvaro
PortuguesePortugalMascarenhas, Pedro
SpanishSpainde Mendaña, Álvaro1567-1569
GenoesePortugalNoli, António
PortuguesePortugalde Noronha, Fernão
GalicianPortugalda Nova, João
FrenchFrancePaulmyer, Binot
PortuguesePortugalPereira, Duarte Pacheco
PortuguesePortugalPerestrelo, Bartolomeu
GermanDenmark and HamburgPining, Didrik
PortuguesePortugalPinto, Fernão Mendes
PortuguesePortugalPires, Luís
PortugueseSpainde Queirós, Pedro Fernandes
PortuguesePortugalRodrigues, Diogo
PortuguesePortugalde Santarém, João
DutchNetherlandsSchouten, Willem
IrishBritainShackleton, Ernest
PortuguesePortugalSilves, Diogo
PortuguesePortugalde Sintra, Pedro
PortugueseSpainSoromenho, Sebastião Rodrígues
PortuguesePortugalde Sousa, Martim Afonso
DutchNetherlandsTasman, Abel
PortuguesePortugalTeixeira, Tristão Vaz
Portuguese or Spanish (Galician)Spainde Torres, Luis Váez
PortuguesePortugalTristão, Nuno
EnglishBritainVancouver, George
PortuguesePortugalVaz Corte-Real, João
PortuguesePortugalVelho, Gonçalo
ItalianFranceda Verrazzano, Giovanni
ItalianSpain and PortugalVespucci, Amerigo
EnglishBritainWallis, Samuel
Baltic GermanRussiaWrangel, Ferdinand Petrovich*
PortuguesePortugalZarco, João Gonçalves
ChineseChina (Three Kingdoms period of China)Kang Tai300
ChineseChina (Three Kingdoms period of China)Zhu Ying300
ChineseChina (Yuen dynasty)Wang Dayuan1330
ChineseChina (Ming dynasty)Zheng He14051431
ChineseChina (Ming dynasty)Ma Huan1413
ChineseChina (Ming dynasty)Fei Xin1409

See also

References and notes