Note : This site uses Javascript extensively. While you will still be able to read articles, it is recommended you turn on Javascript for your browser. CLICK HERE if you are unsure how to do that...
Explorers • Military born active died
1516 1536-1570s 1595 ca
a Spanish Conquistador. In 1536 he began his military career. In 1548 he was in Granada and in 1550 he embarked to the Indies with his brother Alonso de Zurita. In 1553 went on to the kingdom of Peru. At the beginning of 1557, by order of the Viceroy Hurtado de Mendoza he was sent with an expedition of 700 soldiers under the command of his son García Hurtado de Mendoza, to Chile. From there by order of the new Governor Mendoza, he was sent with a command of 70 men with the position of Lieutenant Governor and Greater Justice for the province of Tucuman, Juries and Diaguitas. He crossed the Andes Mountains and arrived at Santiago del Estero in May 1558.
78
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- England France Germany Italy Japan Netherlands Portugal Russia Spain Turkey
Sort Name Nationality Born Active Died Selected 78
Juan Perez de Zurita 1516 1536
166 1595 ca
Diego de Almagro 1475 ca 1510 1538 1538, Jul 8 a Spanish conquistador and a companion and later rival of Francisco Pizarro. He participated in t... Hernan Ponce de Leon unknown 1510 1539 unknown a Spanish conquistador who participated in the discovery of Panama, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua in ... Francisco Alvares 1465 1515 1539 1536~1541 a Portuguese missionary and explorer. In 1515 he traveled to Ethiopia as part of the Portuguese e... Pedro de Alvarado 1485 ca 1510 1541 1541, Jul 4 a Spanish conquistador and governor of Guatemala. He participated in the conquest of Cuba, in Jua... Francisco de Orellana 1490/1511 1540 1542 1546, Nov a Spanish explorer and conquistador. He completed the first known navigation of the entire length... Jacques Cartier 1491, Dec 31 1534 1543 1557, Sep 1 a French explorer of Breton origin who claimed what is now Canada for France. Jacques Cartier was... Ruy López de Villalobos 1500 ca 1520 1544 1544, Apr 4 a Spanish explorer who sailed the Pacific from Mexico to establish a permanent foothold for Spain... Martim Afonso de Sousa 1500 ca 1530 1545 1571, Jul 21 a Portuguese fidalgo, explorer and colonial administrator. Born in Vila Viçosa, he was commander... Bartholomeus Welser VI 1512, Oct 26 1540 1546 1546, May the son of Bartholomeus V. Welser (the elder), he journeyed to Venezuela to join an expedition by... Hernan Cortes 1485 1504 1547 1547, Dec 2 a Spanish Conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought... Inigo Ortiz de Retes 1505 ca 1538 1548 unknown a 16th-century Spanish maritime explorer, who navigated the northern coastline of the Pacific–M... Francisco Xerez 1495 1514 1549 1565 ca a Spanish explorer-turned-historian, the personal secretary of conquistador Francisco Pizarro. He... Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca 1490 ca 1520 1549 1557 ca a Spanish explorer of the New World, and one of four survivors of the 1527 Narváez expedition. D... James Alday 1516 1540 1549 1576 ca a 16th-century English navigator, explorer and privateer. He participated in raids against the Sp... Lourenço Marques unknown 1540 1549 unknown a 16th-century Portuguese trader and explorer. Marques explored the area that is now Maputo Bay i... Sebastian de Belalcazar 1479/80/95 1507 1551 1551 a Spanish conquistador. He entered Nicaragua with Francisco Hernández de Córdoba in 1524 during... Fernao Pires de Andrade unknown 1510 1552 1552 a Portuguese merchant, pharmacist, and official diplomat under the explorer and Portuguese Malacc... Francis Xavier 1506, Apr 7 1534 1552 1552, Dec 3 a Navarrese Roman Catholic missionary, born in Javier (Xavier in Navarro-Aragonese), Kingdom of N... Piri Reis 1467 ca 1481 1553 1553 an Ottoman admiral, geographer, and cartographer. Piri began engaging in government-supported pri... Pedro de Valdivia 1497, Apr 17 1520 1553 1553, Dec 25 a Spanish conquistador and the first royal governor of Chile. After serving with the Spanish army... Pedro Mascarenhas 1470 1512 1555 1555, Jun 16 a Portuguese explorer and colonial administrator. He was the first European to discover the islan... Hans Staden 1525 ca 1547 1555 1579 ca a German soldier and explorer who voyaged to South America in the middle of the sixteenth century... Domingo Martinez de Irala 1509 ca 1530 1556 1556 ca a Spanish Basque conquistador. He headed for the Americas in 1535 enrolled in the expedition of P... Sebastian Cabot 1474 ca 1494 1557 1557, Dec an Italian explorer, likely born in the Venetian Republic. He was the son of Italian explorer Joh... Hernando de Alarcon unknown 1540 1559 unknown a Spanish navigator of the 16th century, noted for having led an early expedition to the Baja Cal... Lope de Aguirre 1510 ca 1530 1561 1561, Oct 27 a Basque Spanish conquistador in South America. Nicknamed El Loco ('the Madman'), he styled himse... Miguel Lopez de Legazpi 1502 ca 1528 1565 1572, Aug 20 a Basque Spanish navigator and governor who established the first Spanish settlement in the East ... Pedro Menendez de Aviles 1519, Feb 15 1565 1565 1574, Sep 17 a Spanish admiral and explorer from the region of Asturias, Spain, who is remembered for planning... Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesado 1506/09 1535 1573 1579, Feb 16 a Spanish explorer and conquistador in Colombia. He explored the northern part of South America. ... Diogo Rodrigues 1495 ca 1507 1577 1577, Apr 21 a Portuguese explorer of the Indian Ocean who sailed as an ordinary helmsman under the command of... Thomas Doughty [1] 1545 1577 1578 1578, Jul 2 an English nobleman, soldier, scholar and personal secretary of Christopher Hatton. His associati... Guillaume Le Testu 1509 ca 1560 1579 1573 a French privateer, explorer and navigator. He was one of the foremost cartographers of his time ... Yermak Timofeyevich 1537 ca 1582 1585 1585, Aug 5/6 a Cossack who started the Russian exploration and conquest of Siberia, in the reign of Tsar Ivan ... Martin Frobisher 1535 1585 1585 1595 an English seaman and privateer (licensed pirate) who made three voyages to the New World to look... Paulo Dias de Novais 1510 ca 1575 1589 1589 a Portuguese colonizer of Africa in the 16th century and the first Captain-Governor of Portuguese... John White 1540 ca 1580 1589 1593 an English artist and early pioneer of English efforts to settle North America. He was among thos... Pero Escobar unknown 1470 159 unknown a 15th-century Portuguese navigator who discovered São Tomé, Annobon, and Príncipe islands, to... Joao da Nova 1460 ca 1500 159 1509, Jul a Galician explorer of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans at the service of Portugal. He is credited ... Thomas Cavendish 1560 1587 1592 1592 an English explorer and a privateer known as "The Navigator" because he was the first who deliber... Sir Francis Drake 1540 ca 1563 1596 1596, Jan 27/28 an English sea captain, privateer, navigator, slaver, and politician of the Elizabethan era. Drak... Willem Barentsz 1550 ca 1594 1597 1597, Jun 20 a Dutch navigator, cartographer, and Arctic explorer. He went on three expeditions to the far nor... Sir Robert Dudley [2] 1574, Aug 7 1594 1603 1649, Sep 6 an English explorer and cartographer. In 1594, he led an expedition to the West Indies, of which ... Luis Vaez de Torres 1565 ca 1606 1607 unknown a 16th- and 17th-century maritime explorer of a Spanish expedition noted for the first recorded ... Anthony Shirley 1565 1590 1609 1637 an English traveller, whose imprisonment in 1603 by King James I caused the English House of Comm... Matteo Ricci 1552, Oct 6 1577 1610 1610, May 11 an Italian Jesuit priest and one of the founding figures of the Jesuit China missions. His 1602 m... Henry Hudson 1567 ca 1607 1611 1611 an English sea explorer and navigator in the early 17th century. Hudson made two attempts on beha... Tanaka Shosuke unknown 1610 1614 unknown an important Japanese technician and trader in metals from Kyoto during the beginning of the 17th... Jacob Le Maire 1585 ca 1615 1616 1616, Dec 22 a Dutch mariner who circumnavigated the earth in 1615 and 1616. Eendracht rounded Cape Horn, pro... Sir Walter Raleigh 1554 ca 1569 1618 1618, Oct 29 an English landed gentleman, writer, poet, soldier, politician, courtier, spy, and explorer. He i... Gaspar de Lemos unknown 1500 162 unknown a Portuguese explorer and captain of the supply ship of Pedro Álvares Cabral's fleet that discov... Pedro Paez 1564 1589 1622 1622, May 25 a Spanish Jesuit missionary in Ethiopia. Páez is considered by many experts on Ethiopia to be th... William Baffin unknown 1612 1622 1622, Jan 23 an English navigator and explorer. In 1615, Baffin entered the service of the Company for the dis... Willem Schouten 1567 ca 1615 1625 1625 a Dutch navigator for the Dutch East India Company. He was the first to sail the Cape Horn route ... Adriaen Block 1567 ca 1590 1627 1627, Aug a Dutch private trader and navigator who is best known for exploring the coastal and river valley... Juan de Onate 1550 1595 1629 1626/1630 a Novohispanic Conquistador, explorer, and colonial governor of the Santa Fe de Nuevo México pro... Nicolas de Cardona unknown 1610 1629 unknown a Spanish entrepreneur and adventurer with residence in Seville, who was involved in the explorat... Joao Cabral 1599 1620 1629 unknown a Portuguese Jesuit missionary, who, along with Estêvão Cacella, were the first Europeans to en... Jan Carstensz unknown 1620 1629 unknown a 17th-century Dutch explorer. In 1623, Carstenszoon was commissioned by the Dutch East India Com... Etienne Brule 1592 ca 1610 1633 1633, Jun ca the first European explorer to journey beyond the St. Lawrence River in what is today Canada. Tak... Antonio de Andrade 1580 1600 1634 1634, Mar 19 a Jesuit priest and explorer from Portugal. Engaged in missionary activity in India, was the firs... Tomas de Cardona unknown 1611 1639 unknown a rich explorer, trader, and teacher of Spanish royal palace from the 17th century, who invested ... Pedro Teixeira unknown 1637 1639 1641, Jul 4 a Portuguese explorer who became, in 1637, the first European to travel up the entire length of t... Jean Nicolet 1598 ca 1610 1642 1642, Nov 1 a French coureur des bois noted for exploring Green Bay of Lake Michigan, in what is now the U.S.... Hendrik Brouwer 1581 1606 1643 1643, Aug 7 a Dutch explorer, admiral, and colonial administrator both in Japan and the Dutch East Indies. He... Maarten Gerritsz Vries 1589, Feb 18 1640 1649 1647 a 17th-century Dutch cartographer and explorer, the first Western European to leave an account of... Andres de Urdaneta 1498, Nov 30 1520 165 1568, Jun 3 a Basque circumnavigator, explorer and Augustinian friar. As a navigator he achieved the "second"... Myles Standish 1584 ca 1603 1656 1656, Oct 3 an English military officer hired by the Pilgrims as military adviser for Plymouth Colony. He acc... Antonio Raposo Tavares 1598 1618 1658 1658 Explored Paraguay River, part of the Andes mountain range, Grande River, Mamoré River, Madeira R... Abel Tasman 1603 1633 1659 1659, Oct 10 a Dutch seafarer, explorer, and merchant, best known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644 in the serv... Anthony Jenkinson 1529 1550 166 1610/1611 one of the first Britons to explore Muscovy and present day Russia. Jenkinson was a traveller and... Abraham Blauvelt 1600 ca 1630 1663 1663 ca a Dutch privateer and explorer mapping much of Central America in the 1630s, after whom both the ... Jean-Baptiste Tavernier 1605 1630 1668 1689 a 17th-century French gem merchant and traveler. Tavernier, a private individual and merchant tra... Sir Christopher Myngs 1625 1650 1669 1666 English naval officer and pirate. He first appears prominently as the captain of the Elisabeth, ... Pedro Fernandes de Queiros 1565 1590 169 1614 a Portuguese navigator best known for his involvement with Spanish voyages of discovery in the Pa... Charles Albanel 1616 1649 1696 1696, Jun 11 a French missionary explorer in Canada, and a Jesuit priest. In 1649, he arrived in Canada at Tad... Sebastián Vizcaíno 1548 1580 170 1624 a Spanish soldier, entrepreneur, explorer, and diplomat whose varied roles took him to New Spain,... Willem Janszoon 1570 ca 1598 171 1630 a Dutch navigator and colonial governor. Janszoon served in the Netherlands East Indies in the pe... Tenjiku Tokubei 1612 1626 172 1692 ca a Japanese adventurer and writer of the early 17th century. He traveled to Southeast and South As...
