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Explorers • Writers born active died
1769, Jul 16 1773-1841 1841, Apr 23
an American explorer and sea captain, known as the "Pathfinder of the Pacific." As master of the Betsey in 1797-1798, he discovered three South Pacific Islands — Fanning, Washington, and Palmyra — which are collectively known as the Fanning Islands. Acting for American investors, Fanning was agent for more than 70 commercial expeditions and voyages. His partnership Fanning & Coles built the ship Tonquin in 1807, sailed her around the world several times and sold her for $37,000 to John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company. Later the Tonquin was burned by Indians in the northwest. In 1829 he was instrumental in sending out the first American naval exploring expedition, and was greatly responsible for Congress's authorizing of the Wilkes Expedition. Fanning's memoirs, Voyages Around the World , were published in 1833.
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Explorers
Category -all- Architects Artists Astronomers Cartographers Clergy Commerce Composers Educators Explorers Governance Inventors Legal Military Naval Performers Physicians Pirates Scientists Sculptors Writers Nationality -all- Australia Canada England France Germany Hungary Ireland Mexico Peru Poland Prussia Russia Scotland Spain Switzerland United States
Sort Name Nationality Born Active Died Selected 63
Edmund Fanning [2] 1769, Jul 16 1773
1841 1841, Apr 23
Robert Rogers 1731, Nov 7 1746 1779 1795, May 18 an American colonial frontiersman. Rogers served in the British army during both the French and I... James Cook 1728, Nov 7 1755 1779 1779, Feb 14 a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the Royal Navy. Cook made detailed ma... Silvestre Velez de Escalente 1750 ca 1767 1780 1780, Apr One of the leaders of the Dominguez-Escalante Expedition, a journey under a commission from the S... Maurycy Beniowski 1746, Sep 20 1762 1786 1786, May 23 a Hungarian nobleman of Polish and Hungarian ancestry. He was an explorer, writer, the self-decla... Juan Bautista de Anza 1736, Jul 6/7 1752 1788 1788, Dec 19 a New-Spanish explorer of Basque descent, and Governor of New Mexico for the Spanish Empire. In 1... Thomas Walker 1715, Jan 25 1740 1789 1794, Nov 9 a distinguished physician and explorer from Virginia; in the mid-18th century, he was part of an ... John Ledyard 1751, Nov 1770 1789 1789, Jan 10 an American explorer and adventurer. In June 1776, Ledyard joined Captain James Cook's third and ... James Bruce 1730, Dec 14 1762 1790 1794, Apr 27 a Scottish traveller and travel writer who spent more than a dozen years in North Africa and Ethi... George Vancouver 1757, Jun 22 1772 1795 1798, May 10 an English officer of the Royal Navy, who explored and charted North America's northwestern Pacif... Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra 1744, May 22 1770 1799 1794, Mar 26 a Spanish naval officer born in Lima, Peru. Assigned to the Pacific coast Spanish Naval Departmen... John Fearn [1] 1768, Aug 24 1790 1799 unknown an English whaling ship captain, notable as the first European to discover the Pacific island of ... Francisco Dominguez 1740 ca 1757 1800 1804 ca One of the leaders of the Dominguez-Escalante Expedition, a journey under a commission from the S... Nicolas Baudin 1754, Feb 17 1769 1803 1803, Sep 16 a French explorer, cartographer, naturalist and hydrographer. At the age of 15 he joined the merc... Juan Carrasco unknown 1784 1803 unknown a Spanish naval officer, explorer, and navigator. He is remembered mainly for his work in the Pac... George Bass 1771, Jan 30 1789 1803 unknown a British naval surgeon and explorer of Australia. At the age of 18 he was accepted in London as ... Adam Johann von Krusenstern 1770, Nov 19 1793 1806 1846, Aug 24 a Baltic German admiral and explorer, who led the first Russian circumnavigation of the globe. Af... Francisco de Eliza 1759 1773 1809 1825, Feb 19 a Spanish naval officer, navigator, and explorer. He is remembered mainly for his work in the Pac... Meriwether Lewis 1774, Aug 18 1800 1809 1809, Oct 11 an American explorer, soldier, politician, and public administrator, best known for his role as t... Louis Antoine de Bougainville 1729, Nov 12 1753 1811 1811, Aug 31 a French admiral and explorer. A contemporary of the British explorer James Cook, he took part in... Zebulon Pike 1779, Jan 5 1799 1813 1813, Apr 27 an American brigadier general and explorer for whom Pikes Peak in Colorado is named. As a United ... Daniel Boone 1734, Oct 22 1755 1816 1820, Sep 26 an American pioneer, explorer, woodsman, and frontiersman, whose frontier exploits made him one o... Jose de Bustamante y Guerra 1759, Apr 1 1770 1817 1825, Mar 10 a Spanish naval officer, explorer, and politician. With Alessandro Malaspina, they proposed to t... Charles C. Brodhead 1772, Apr 20 1797 1817 1852, Sep 14 The Brodhead clan was one of high repute and station. Charles’ great-great-grandfather was Dan... Johann Ludwig Burckhardt 1784, Nov 24 1809 1817 1817, Oct 15 a Swiss traveller, geographer, and orientalist. He wrote his letters in French and signed Louis. ... John Young 1742 ca 1780 1819 1835, Dec 17 a British subject who became an important military advisor to KamehamehaI during the formation of... Joseph Banks 1743, Feb 13 1766 1820 1820, Jun 19 a British naturalist, botanist and patron of the natural sciences. Banks made his name on the 176... William Smith 1790 1811 1820 1847 the English captain born in Blyth, Northumberland, who discovered the South Shetland Islands, an ... Alexander Gordon Laing 1793, Dec 27 1810 1826 1826, Sep 26 a Scottish explorer and the first European to reach Timbuktu via the north/south route. Explored ... Hugh Clapperton 1788, May 18 1801 1827 1827, Apr 13 a Scottish naval officer and explorer of West and Central Africa. Born in Annan, Dumfriesshire, w... John Oxley 1784 1802 1828 1828, May 25 an explorer and surveyor of Australia in the early period of British colonisation. He served as S... Manuel Quimper 1757 1770 1829 1844, Apr a Spanish Peruvian explorer, cartographer, naval officer, and colonial official. He participated ... William Clark [2] 1770, Aug 1 1789 1829 1838, Sep 1 an American explorer, soldier, Indian agent, and territorial governor. Along with Meriwether Lewi... James Weddell 1787, Aug 24 1800 1829 1834, Sep 9 a British sailor, navigator and seal hunter who in February 1823 sailed to latitude of 74°15'S (... Grigori Ivanovitch Langsdorff 1774, Apr 8 1803 1830 1852, Jun 9 a German-Russian naturalist and explorer. He was a member and correspondent of the Russian Imperi... Jose Maria Narvaez 1768 1780 1831 1840, Aug 4 a Spanish naval officer, explorer, and navigator notable for his work in the Gulf Islands and Low... Cayetano Valdes y Flores 1767 1782 1833 1835 a commander of the Spanish Navy, explorer, and captain general who served in the French Revolutio... Richard Lemon Lander 1804, Feb 8 1820 1834 1834, Feb 6 a Cornish explorer of western Africa. Explored the Niger and Benue Rivers. While journeying upstr... William Henry Ashley 1778 ca 1808 1838 1838, Mar 26 an American who pioneered as a miner, land speculator, manufacturer, territorial militia officer,... Sir George Back 1796, Nov 6 1808 1839 1878, Jun 23 a British naval officer, explorer of the Canadian Arctic, naturalist and artist. As a boy, he wen... W. Price Hunt 1783, Mar 20 1810 1840 1842, Apr 13 an early pioneer of the Oregon Country in the Pacific Northwest of North America. An American and... David Thompson 1770, Apr 30 1784 1843 1857, Feb 10 a British-Canadian fur trader, surveyor, and map-maker, known to some native peoples as "Koo-Koo-... George Everest 1790, Jul 4 1806 1843 1866, Dec 1 a Welsh surveyor and geographer, and the Surveyor General of India from 1830 through 1843. Everes... Joseph Nicollet 1786, Jul 24 1830 1843 1843, Sep 11 a French geographer, astronomer, and mathematician known for mapping the Upper Mississippi River ... Pawel Strzelecki 1797, Jun 24 1834 1843 1873, Oct 6 a Polish explorer and geologist who in 1845 also became a British subject. Strzelecki left Poland... Otto von Kotzebue 1787, Dec 30 1815 1846 1846, Feb 15 a Baltic German navigator in Russian service. Kotzebue set out on July 30, 1815 to find a passage... James Clark Ross 1800, Apr 15 1818 1849 1862, Apr 3 a British naval officer and explorer remembered today for his exploration of the Arctic (in the H... Johann Karl Ehrenfried Kegel 1784, Oct 3 1840 1849 1863, Jun 25 a German agronomist and explorer of the Kamchatka Peninsula. In 1841 he was sent by the Russian g... Ludwig Leichhardt 1813, Oct 23 1840 1849 1848 ca a Prussian explorer and naturalist, most famous for his exploration of northern and central Austr... Charles Sturt 1795, Apr 28 1828 1851 1869, Jun 16 a British explorer of Australia, and part of the European exploration of Australia. He led severa... Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen 1778, Sep 9 1796 1852 1852, Jan 13 a Baltic-German officer in the Imperial Russian Navy, cartographer and explorer, ultimately rose ... John Lloyd Stephens 1805, Nov 28 1834 1852 1852, Oct 13 an American explorer, writer, and diplomat. He initially entered law practice in New York. After ... Stephen Bishop 1821 ca 1838 1857 1857 an American cave explorer and self-taught geologist known for being one of the first people to ex... John McDouall Stuart 1815, Sep 7 1838 1862 1866, Jun 5 a Scottish explorer and one of the most accomplished of all Australia's inland explorers. Stuart ... Ferdinand von Wrangel 1796, Dec 29 1817 1864 1870, May 25 a Baltic German explorer and seaman in Russian service, Honorable Member of the Saint Petersburg ... John Rae 1813, Sep 30 1833 1864 1893, Jul 22 a Scottish doctor who explored parts of Northern Canada, found the final portion of the Northwest... Jim Bridger 1804, Mar 17 1822 1868 1881, Jul 17 was among the foremost mountain men, trappers, scouts and guides who explored and trapped the Wes... Jean-Frederic Waldeck 1766, Mar 16? 1790 1869 1875, Apr 30 a French antiquarian, cartographer, artist and explorer. Waldeck is remembered primarily for the... Charles Wilkes 1798, Apr 3 1830 1869 1877, Feb 8 an American naval officer and explorer. He led the United States Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842 ... Sir Edward Sabine 1788, Oct 14 1818 1871 1883, Jun 26 an Irish astronomer, geophysicist, ornithologist, explorer, soldier and the 30th President of the... Charles Darwin 1809, Feb 12 1827 1872 1882, Apr 19 an English naturalist and geologist, best known for his contributions to the science of evolution... David Livingstone 1813, Mar 19 1840 1873 1873, May 1 a Scottish Congregationalist pioneer medical missionary with the London Missionary Society and an... John C. Fremont 1813, Jan 21 1833 1890 1890, Jul 13 an American military officer, explorer, and politician who became the first candidate of the anti... Peter Skene Ogden 1790, Feb 12 1810 193 1854, Sep 27 a fur trader and a Canadian explorer of what is now British Columbia and the American West. Betwe...
