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A few hundred years ago, the known physical world was a lot smaller. With the discovery of the 'new world' (and its gold deposits), many Europeans were emboldened to find out more about what was out there and wasted no time launching ships and staking claims. Here are many of the more successful.
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Cross-listed in Naval

Antonio de Abreu

aka: António
bornactivedied
1480 ca1500s-1510s1514 ca
a 16th-century Portuguese navigator and naval officer. He participated under the command of Afonso de Albuquerque in the conquest of Ormus in 1507 and Malacca in 1511, where he got injured. Departing from Malacca in November 1511 with three ships, in an exploratory voyage to the 'Spice Islands' of Maluku, he led the first European expedition to reach Timor a...
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Links (1)


Cross-listed in ClergyWriters

Cristobal Diatriston de Acuna

aka: Cristóbal Diatristán de Acuña
borndied
15971676 ca
a Spanish missionary and explorer. He was admitted a Jesuit in 1612, and afterwards sent on mission work to Chile and Peru, where he became rector of the college of Cuenca. In 1639 he accompanied Pedro Teixeira in his second exploration of the Amazon, in order to take scientific observations, and draw up a report for the Spanish government. His Nuevo Desc...
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Links (1)


William Adams

aka: Miura Anjin
borndied
1564, Sep 241620, May 16
an English navigator who, in 1600, was the first of his nation to reach Japan during a five-ship expedition for the Dutch East India Company. Of the few survivors of the only ship that reached Japan, Adams and his second mate Jan Joosten were not allowed to leave the country while Jacob Quaeckernaeck and Melchior van Santvoort were to go back to the Dutch Re...
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Links (1)


Cross-listed in Writers

Francisco de Aguilar

borndied
14791571 ca
a Spanish conquistador who took part in the expedition led by Hernán Cortés that resulted in the conquest of the Aztec Empire and the fall of Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec state in the central Mexican plateau. Late in his long life, in his early 80s, his fellow Dominicans urged him write an account of the Aztec conquest drawing from his experience...
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Cross-listed in Clergy

Geronimo de Aguilar

aka: Gerónimo
borndied
14891531
a Franciscan friar born in Écija, Spain. Aguilar was later involved with the 1519 Spanish conquest of Mexico, and with La Malinche he assisted Hernán Cortés in translating the indigenous language to Spanish. Aguilar and 11-12 other survivors were captured by the local Maya and scheduled to be sacrificed to Maya gods. Valdivia and four others met this fate...
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Lope de Aguirre

aka: El Loco (the Madman)
bornactivedied
1510 ca1530s-15611561, Oct 27
a Basque Spanish conquistador in South America. Nicknamed El Loco ('the Madman'), he styled himself '"Wrath of God, Prince of Freedom, King of Tierra Firme". Aguirre is best known for his final expedition down the Amazon river in search of the mythical golden King El Dorado. In 1561 Aguirre sent a letter which defied the Spanish monarch Philip II by declarin...
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Links (5)


Hernando de Alarcon

aka: Alarcón
bornactivedied
unknown1540s-1550sunknown
a Spanish navigator of the 16th century, noted for having led an early expedition to the Baja California Peninsula, meant to be coordinated with Francisco Vasquéz de Coronado's overland expedition, and for penetrating the Colorado River into California.
Timeline (1)Links (5)


Cross-listed in Clergy

Charles Albanel

bornactivedied
16161649-16961696, Jun 11
a French missionary explorer in Canada, and a Jesuit priest. In 1649, he arrived in Canada at Tadoussac where he spent many winters among the Montagnais Indians. In 1672, at the time when the Hudson's Bay Company was beginning operations, he was a leader of a French party that went by the Saguenay River, Lake Mistassini, and the Rupert River to Hudson Bay. H...
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Links (1)


Cross-listed in MilitaryGovernance

Afonso de Albuquerque

aka: Aphonso, Duke of Goa
bornactivedied
1453 ca1471-15151515, Dec 16
a Portuguese general, a "great conqueror," a statesman, and an empire builder. He is generally considered a military genius, and "probably the greatest naval commander of the age" given his successful strategy. During the last five years of his life, he turned to administration, where his actions as the second governor of Portuguese India were crucial to the...
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Timeline (1)Links (1)


Cross-listed in Pirates

James Alday

bornactivedied
15161540s1576 ca
a 16th-century English navigator, explorer and privateer. He participated in raids against the Spanish with fellow privateers James Logan and William Cooke during the 1540s and is credited, along with more
Links (1)


Pero de Alenquer

aka: Pêro
bornactivedied
1480 ca1500s-1510s 1514 ca
a 15th-century Portuguese explorer of the African coast. Pêro was born in Alenquer, and accompanied Bartolomeu Dias on his journey around the Cape of Good Hope in 1487/1488. He was the pilot of Vasco da Gama's flagship on the latter's first voyage to India and l...
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Links (1)


Cross-listed in PiratesWriters

Jean Alfonse

aka: João Alfonso
borndied
1484 ca1544/49
a Portuguese navigator, explorer and corsair, prominent in the European age of discovery. He had an early career in Portugal and later served the King of France.His writings were published as Les voyages avantureux du Capitaine Ian Alfonce, the Rutter of Jean Alphonse and La cosmographie avec l’espère et régime du soleil du nord par Jean Fonteneau dit Al...
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Links (1)


Diego de Almagro

aka: El Adelantado, El Viejo (The Elder)
bornactivedied
1475 ca1510s-15381538, Jul 8
a Spanish conquistador and a companion and later rival of Francisco Pizarro. He participated in the Spanish conquest of Peru and is credited as the first European discoverer of Chile. Explored Peru, Chile
Links (2)


Francisco de Almeida

aka: The Great Dom Francisco
bornactivedied
1450 ca1490s-15101510, Mar 1
a Portuguese nobleman, soldier and explorer. He distinguished himself as a counsellor to King John II of Portugal and later in the wars against the Moors and in the conquest of Granada in 1492. In 1503 he was appointed as the first governor and viceroy of the Portuguese State of India (Estado da Índia). Almeida is credited with establishing Portuguese hegem...
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Timeline (1)Links (13)


Lourenco de Almeida

aka: Lourenço
bornactivedied
1480 ca1500s1508, Mar
a Portuguese explorer and military commander. He was born in Martim, Kingdom of Portugal, the son of Francisco de Almeida, first viceroy of Portuguese India. Acting under his father, Lourenço distinguished himself in the Indian Ocean, and made Ceylon (present Sri Lanka) tributary to Portugal. He belonged to the Order of Christ. He made the first Portuguese ...
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Links (1)


Cross-listed in Governance

Pedro de Alvarado

bornactivedied
1485 ca1510s-15411541, Jul 4
a Spanish conquistador and governor of Guatemala. He participated in the conquest of Cuba, in Juan de Grijalva's exploration of the coasts of the Yucatán Peninsula and the Gulf of Mexico, and in the conquest of Mexico led by Hernán Cortés. He is considered the conquistador of much of Central America, including Guatemala and El Salvador. Although renowned ...
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Links (2)


Cross-listed in Writers

Francisco Alvares

aka: Álvares
bornactivedied
14651515-1530s1536~1541
a Portuguese missionary and explorer. In 1515 he traveled to Ethiopia as part of the Portuguese embassy to emperor Lebna Dengel accompanied by returning Ethiopian ambassador Matheus. The embassy arrived only in 1520 to Ethiopia where he joined long sought Portuguese envoy Pêro da Covilhã. There he remained six years, returning to Lisbon in 1526-27 having w...
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Links (1)


Goncalo Alvares

aka: Gonçalo Álvares
bornactivedied
unknown1490s-15241524
a Portuguese explorer who actively participated in the age of discovery starting from the second voyage of Diogo Cão. In 1497 he commanded the ship São Gabriel in the epic journey of Vasco da Gama to India's and in 1505 aboard the fleet of Francisco de Almeida ...
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Links (1)


Jorge Alvares

aka: Álvares
bornactivedied
unknown1510s-15211521, Jul 8
credited as the first European explorer to have reached China and Hong Kong by sea. Álvares made first contact on Asian soil in Guangdong, Southern China in May 1513. Upon landing, he raised a Padrão from the king of Portugal, where they landed on Lintin Island in the Pearl River estuary. Based on information from their captain, they were to hope to find t...
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Links (1)


Charles John Andersson

bornactivedied
1827, Mar 41850s-18671867, Jul 9
a Swedish explorer, hunter and trader as well as an amateur naturalist and ornithologist. He is most famous for the many books he published about his travels, and for being one of the most notable explorers of southern Africa, mostly in present day Namibia.
Links (1)


Cross-listed in Clergy

Antonio de Andrade

aka: António
bornactivedied
15801600-16341634, Mar 19
a Jesuit priest and explorer from Portugal. Engaged in missionary activity in India, was the first known European to have crossed the Himalayas and reached Tibet, establishing the first Catholic mission on Tibetan soil.
Links (1)


Fernao Pires de Andrade

aka: Fernão Pires
bornactivedied
unknown1510s-15521552
a Portuguese merchant, pharmacist, and official diplomat under the explorer and Portuguese Malacca governor Afonso de Albuquerque. His encounter with Ming China in 1517—after initial contacts by Jorge Álvares and Rafael Perestrello in 1513 and 1516, respectively—marked the resumption of direct European commercial and diplomatic contact with China.
Links (1)


Cross-listed in Governance

Juan Bautista de Anza

bornactivedied
1736, Jul 6/71752-17881788, Dec 19
a New-Spanish explorer of Basque descent, and Governor of New Mexico for the Spanish Empire. In 1772, Anza proposed an expedition to Alta California to the Viceroy of New Spain. This was approved by the King of Spain and on January 8, 1774, with 3 padres, 20 soldiers, 11 servants, 35 mules, 65 cattle, and 140 horses, Anza set forth from Tubac Presidio, south...
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Timeline (1)Links (15)


Cross-listed in ArtistsWriters

Jacques Arago

borndied
1790, Mar 61855, Nov 27
a French writer, artist and explorer, author of a Voyage Round the World. Jacques Arago joined Louis de Freycinet on his 1817 voyage around the world aboard the ship Uranie, which inspired his witty Voyage autour du monde. Although Arago lost his sight in 1837, he went on traveling and writing for the theater. In Curieux voyage autour du monde (1853), he tel...
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Links (1)


Cross-listed in GovernanceCommerce

William Henry Ashley

bornactivedied
1778 ca1808-18381838, Mar 26
an American who pioneered as a miner, land speculator, manufacturer, territorial militia officer, politician, frontiersman, trapper, fur trader, entrepreneur, and hunter. Ashley was best known for being the co-owner with Andrew Henry of the highly successful Rocky Mountain Fur Incorporated, otherwise known as "Ashley's Hundred" for the famous mountain men wo...
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Timeline (2)Links (12)


Pero de Ataide

aka: Pêro de Ataíde
bornactivedied
1450 ca1500s1504, Feb/Mar
a Portuguese sea captain in the Indian Ocean active in the early 1500s. He was briefly captain of the first permanent Portuguese fleet in the Indian Ocean, taking over from Vicente Sodré, and the author of a famous letter giving an account of its fate.
Links (1)


Vasco de Ataide

aka: Ataíde
bornactivedied
unknown1500sunknown
a Portuguese sailor whose ship was a part of Pedro Álvares Cabral 1500 expedition to India. His ship went missing early in the voyage and so was not present when the fleet accidentally became the first recorded European presence in Brazil. Little is known about him, even less than about his brother Pêro de Ataíde. On Tuesday, 24 March 1500 the ship he cap...
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Links (1)


Cross-listed in Military

Diogo de Azambuja

bornactivedied
14321450s-15091518
a Portuguese noble. He was a knight of the Order of Aviz in the service of the Infante Dom Pedro, son of the Regent Infante Peter, Duke of Coimbra. After Peter's defeat and death in the battle of Alfarrobeira (1449), he accompanied his master into exile. He was already over the age of 70 in 1506 when Manuel I placed him in charge of building a fortress calle...
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Links (1)

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