Christopher Columbus: Sailed from Spain across the Atlantic in 1492 and reached the Caribbean Ferdinand Magellan: Led the first voyage around the world (1519-1522); he died on the way Marco Polo: Venetian merchant who traveled to China in the 1200s Leif Erikson: Viking who reached North America about 1000 CE Vasco da Gama: Sailed from Portugal around Africa to India (1498) Zheng He: Chinese admiral who led huge treasure fleets in the early 1400s Ibn Battuta: Moroccan traveler who journeyed across much of the known world in the 1300s James Cook: British captain who mapped the Pacific in the 1700s Lewis and Clark: Led an expedition across the western United States (1804-1806) Sacagawea: Shoshone woman who guided and helped the Lewis and Clark expedition Roald Amundsen: Led the first team to reach the South Pole (1911) Robert Falcon Scott: British explorer who reached the South Pole in 1912, just after Amundsen Ernest Shackleton: Led a famous Antarctic expedition where his whole crew survived Edmund Hillary: With Tenzing Norgay, first to climb Mount Everest (1953) Tenzing Norgay: Sherpa who summited Everest with Hillary Neil Armstrong: First person on the Moon (1969) Yuri Gagarin: First person in space (1961) Amelia Earhart: First woman to fly solo across the Atlantic (1932) Charles Lindbergh: First solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic (1927) Henry Hudson: Explored the river and bay in North America named for him Jacques Cartier: French explorer of the St. Lawrence River (1530s) Samuel de Champlain: Explored and founded Quebec (1608) Hernan Cortes: Spanish conquistador who invaded the Aztec Empire (1519) Francisco Pizarro: Spanish conquistador who invaded the Inca Empire Juan Ponce de Leon: Spanish explorer who reached Florida (1513) Hernando de Soto: Spanish explorer in the American Southeast Francisco Coronado: Spanish explorer in the American Southwest Amerigo Vespucci: Italian explorer whose first name was used for America Bartolomeu Dias: First European sailor to round the southern tip of Africa (1488) Prince Henry the Navigator: Portuguese prince who backed ocean exploration John Cabot: Italian explorer who reached North America in 1497 for England Sir Francis Drake: English sea captain who sailed around the world (1577-1580) Abel Tasman: Dutch explorer who found Tasmania and New Zealand (1642) David Livingstone: Scottish explorer of Africa in the 1800s Mungo Park: Scottish explorer of the Niger River Matthew Henson: African American explorer who reached the North Pole area with Peary (1909) Robert Peary: American explorer who led the 1909 Arctic expedition Jacques Cousteau: French ocean explorer and filmmaker Daniel Boone: American frontiersman who helped open Kentucky Zebulon Pike: American explorer in the Rocky Mountains; Pikes Peak is named for him John Wesley Powell: Led a river trip through the Grand Canyon in 1869 Alexander von Humboldt: German scientist-explorer in South America Sally Ride: First American woman in space (1983) Alan Shepard: First American in space (1961) John Glenn: First American to orbit the Earth (1962) Samuel Hearne: English explorer of northern Canada Pytheas: Greek explorer who sailed to the far north about 325 BCE Erik the Red: Viking who founded settlements in Greenland Hanno the Navigator: Carthaginian sailor who explored Africa's west coast Jedediah Smith: American trapper who explored routes across the West Fridtjof Nansen: Norwegian polar explorer Thor Heyerdahl: Sailed a raft, the Kon-Tiki, across the Pacific in 1947 Gertrude Bell: British traveler and writer in the Middle East Mary Kingsley: British traveler who explored West Africa in the 1890s Nellie Bly: Journalist who raced around the world in 72 days (1889-1890) Annie Londonderry: Cyclist who traveled around the world in 1894-1895 Free flashcards from Peabody at peabody.kids/flashcards/fun-famous-explorers