Exploration

Navigators, astronauts, and adventurers who pushed the boundaries of the known world.

1254–1324 · Venetian explorer of the Silk Road

1304–1369 · Greatest medieval traveler, visited 44 countries

1371–1433 · Chinese admiral, great maritime explorer

Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus

1451–1506 · Sailed to the Americas in 1492

1469–1524 · First European to reach India by sea

Ferdinand Magellan

Ferdinand Magellan

1480–1521 · First circumnavigation of Earth

Sir Francis Drake

Sir Francis Drake

1540–1596 · English sea captain, circumnavigator

Captain James Cook

Captain James Cook

1728–1779 · Mapped the Pacific, reached Australia

1872–1928 · First to reach the South Pole

Ernest Shackleton

Ernest Shackleton

1874–1922 · Heroic Antarctic explorer, Endurance expedition

1897–1937 · First woman to fly solo across the Atlantic

Jacques Cousteau

Jacques Cousteau

1910–1997 · Ocean explorer, pioneered scuba diving

1919–2008 · First to summit Mount Everest

1930–2012 · First human to walk on the Moon

1934–1968 · First human in space

Key Events in Exploration

1271 Marco Polo begins journey to China

1405 Zheng He begins first of seven voyages

1488 Bartolomeu Dias rounds the Cape of Good Hope

1492 Columbus reaches the Americas

1498 Vasco da Gama reaches India by sea

1519 Magellan begins first circumnavigation

1607 Jamestown colony founded

1768 Captain Cook begins first voyage to the Pacific

1804 Lewis and Clark begin expedition across North America

1831 Darwin begins voyage on HMS Beagle

1869 Suez Canal opens, connecting Mediterranean and Red Sea

1909 Robert Peary claims to reach the North Pole

1911 Amundsen reaches the South Pole

1927 Lindbergh completes first solo transatlantic flight

1953 Hillary and Tenzing summit Mount Everest

1957 Sputnik 1 launched; Space Age begins

1961 Yuri Gagarin becomes first human in space

1969 Apollo 11: humans walk on the Moon

1977 Voyager probes launched to explore outer solar system

2012 Curiosity rover lands on Mars

2019 New Horizons flies past Arrokoth in the Kuiper Belt