With Lieutenant Cook (as he was at that time) sailed the botanist Joseph Banks, the astronomer Charles Green, and a small retinue of scientific assistants and artists.

Famous Explorers - The Greatest Explorers of All Time

Christopher Columbus (1451 – 1506) An Italian explorer, Columbus made four ground-breaking voyages to the Americas (1st journey was in 1492 to the Bahamas).Francisco Pizarro helped Vasco Núñez de Balboa discover the Pacific Ocean and, after conquering Peru, founded its capital city, Lima. His real name is Zuan Chabotto, and under the auspices of King Henry VII of England was instrumental in the discovery of sections of North America. He is also one of the first Europeans to sail to the East Indies and Spice Islands, along with Francisco Serrão and António de Abreu. One of the earliest North America settlements that this Norwegian helped establish was on what is today Newfoundland, Canada.

The Great Explorer - Twinkl The Great Explorer - Twinkl

Sailing in uncharted seas, Columbus greatly extended the knowledge of crossing the Atlantic and paved the way for the Spanish conquest of the Americas. After reaching latitude 40°S, without sight of land, he sailed west to New Zealand, whose coasts he charted in a little over six months to show that they were not part of a southern continent. Marco Polo (1254–1324) was an Italian explorer who traveled to the Far East and back to his hometown Venice in the matter of 24 years. In 1519, with the support of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (also known as Spain’s King Charles I), Magellan set out to find a better route to the Spice Islands.

On May 10, 1497, Vespucci embarked on his first voyage, departing from Cadiz with a fleet of Spanish ships. Cook set new standards in the extent and accuracy of his surveys, but to see his voyages simply in terms of geographical knowledge would be to miss their broader significance. These guys would have found their way across entire oceans using only the sun, wind direction, colours in the sea, movement of the waves, and the presence of birds. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. On his second expedition, from 1829-30, Sturt traced the Murrumbidgee River to its junction with the Murray River and with the help of the local Aborigines (native Australians) located the mouth of the Murray at Lake Alexandrina.

Significant Explorers KS1 Resources - Twinkl Significant Explorers KS1 Resources - Twinkl

Magellan also made the first crossing from the Atlantic into the Pacific and also the first successful crossing of the Pacific Ocean.Polo was not the first European to reach China, but his travelogue inspired many explorers – among them, Christopher Columbus. Tickets can be purchased from the Great Orme Explorer sales representative at the entrance to the pier, on the bus or through the Llandudno and Conwy Tourist Information Centres. After two years of plundering, pirating and adventuring, he sailed his ship into Plymouth Harbour on 26 September 1580. He’d been on his way back to Greenland (the country he’d colonized after being exiled from Iceland) from a casual trip to Norway (where he’d converted to Christianity) when his boat was blown off course and ran aground in America!

Captain Cook: Explorer, Navigator and Pioneer - BBC Captain Cook: Explorer, Navigator and Pioneer - BBC

A Venetian merchant and adventurer, Marco Polo travelled along the Silk Road from Europe to Asia between 1271 and 1295. Xuanzang was a remarkable Buddhist scholar whose exploits took him from China to India and back again over an incredible 16 year period. For example, after catching frostbite on his left hand during a casual jaunt to the North Pole in 2000, he literally chopped his own fingers off when he got home to the UK (because he couldn’t face waiting 5 months for surgery). After a hair-raising escape from the dangers of the Great Barrier Reef he reached the northern tip of Australia at Cape York, where he annexed the east coast on the grounds that it was terra nullius, no person's land. Wanderlust must have coursed through his veins, with each trip pumping and fuelling his love of it even further.The stories of Ibn Battuta’s adventures is chronicled in a book entitled Rihla which means “Journey.