Documents for "Explorers, Travelers, and Conquerors: Biographies":

• Ali Bey see Badía y Leblich, Domingo.

• Amundsen, Roald (Roald Engelbregt Grauning Amundsen) , 1872-1928, Norwegian polar explorer; the first person to reach the South Pole. He served (1897-99) as first mate on the Belgica (under the Belgian Adrien de Gerlache ) in an expedition to the Antarctic, and he commanded the Gjöa in the Arctic in the first negotiation of the Northwest Passage (1903-6); the Gjöa was the first single ship to complete the route through the Northwest Passage. His account appeared in English as Amundsen's North West Passage (1908). He then purchased Fridtjof Nansen 's Fram and prepared to drift toward the North Pole and then finish the journey by sledge. The news that Robert E. Peary had anticipated him in reaching the North Pole caused Amundsen to consider going south. He was successful in reaching the South Pole on Dec. 14, 1911, after a dash by dog team and skis from the Bay...

• Andersson, Karl Johan 1827-67, Swedish explorer in Africa. In 1850 he and Francis Galton set out from Walvis Bay (now in Namibia) to explore Damaraland and Ovamboland, but they were able only to reach the Etosha Pan...

• Andrée, Salomon August 1854-97, Swedish polar explorer. An aeronautical engineer, he was the first to attempt arctic exploration by air. His first attempt by balloon in 1896 was unsuccessful, owing largely to bad...

• Back, Sir George 1796-1878, British explorer in N Canada. He accompanied Sir John Franklin on arctic expeditions in 1818, 1819-22, and 1824-27. On an expedition (1833-35) to search for the missing John Ross, Back...

• Badía y Leblich, Domingo 1766-1818, Spanish traveler, known as Ali Bey. Posing as a Muslim, he set out from Cádiz (1803) and traveled through N Africa, Syria, and Arabia, reaching Mecca, of which he fixed the position...

• Baffin, William c.1584-1622, British arctic explorer. He was pilot on two expeditions (1615-16) sent out to search for the Northwest Passage under command of Robert Bylot, who was formerly with Henry Hudson. The first expedition vainly tried to find a channel in Hudson Bay N of Southampton Island. The second attempt, NW through Davis...

• Baker, Sir Samuel White 1821-93, English explorer in Africa. He explored the Nile tributaries in Ethiopia in 1861-62. Going up the Nile from Cairo, he reached Gondokoro in 1863. He continued his journey southward in spite...

• Balboa, Vasco Núñez de c.1475-1519, Spanish conquistador, discoverer of the Pacific Ocean. After sailing with Bastidas in 1501, Balboa probably went to Hispaniola. In 1510, fleeing from creditors, he hid on the vessel that took Enciso to Panama. After reaching Darién , Balboa took command, deposed the incompetent Enciso, and sent him to Spain as a prisoner. Balboa showed only rarely the rapacity and cruelty characteristic of the conquistador. He won the...

• Balchen, Bernt 1899-1973, Norwegian-American aviator. He headed one of the search expeditions for Amundsen and Ellsworth in 1925 and was a member of their 1926 expedition to the Arctic. Richard E. Byrd, meeting...

• Balsamo, Giuseppe see Cagliostro, Alessandro.

• Barentz, Willem d. 1597, Dutch navigator. He made three voyages (1594, 1595, 1596-97) in search of the Northeast Passage to Asia. He reached Novaya Zemlya on the first two expeditions. On the third he...

• Barth, Heinrich 1821-65, German explorer in British service. After traveling (1845-47) through the Levant and N Africa, he entered the service of the British government. He joined (1849) an expedition to the W...

• Beechey, Frederick William 1796-1856, British admiral and Arctic explorer. He accompanied an expedition N of Spitsbergen in 1818 and wrote an account of it in his Voyage of Discovery towards the North Pole (1843). He accompanied W. E. Parry to the Canadian Arctic in 1819, and in 1825-28 he commanded the Blossom in its explorations of the NW Alaska coast and search for the Northwest Passage. On this voyage he reached Point Barrow and explored Hotham inlet. He also surveyed the North African, South...

• Beke, Charles Tilstone 1800-1874, English explorer and author. In Ethiopia in 1840-43 he mapped c.70,000 sq mi (181,300 sq km) of the country, determined the approximate course of the Blue Nile, and compiled...

• Bellingshausen, Fabian Gottlieb von 1778-1852, Russian explorer, b. Sarema, Estonia. A graduate of the naval academy at Kronstadt, he commanded two ships on an extended voyage (1819-21) during which he circumnavigated Antarctica and...

• Bering, Vitus Jonassen 1681-1741, Danish explorer in Russian employ. In 1725 he was selected by Peter I to explore far NE Siberia. Having finally moved men and supplies across Siberia, Bering in 1728 sailed N through Bering Strait but sighted no land and did not recognize the importance of the...

• Block, Adriaen fl. 1610-24, Dutch navigator. Eager to establish a fur trade with the Native Americans, Amsterdam merchants sent (1613) Block and another Dutch navigator to explore the region discovered by Henry...

• Bonvalot, Pierre Gabriel Édouard 1853-1933, French explorer and author. In 1880-82 he visited central Asia, explored Kohistan, and returned to France by way of Bukhara, the Caspian sea, and the Caucasus. In 1886 he made the first...

• Borchgrevink, Carsten Egeberg 1864-1934, Norwegian-Australian antarctic explorer. He emigrated to Australia in 1888, and in 1894 he went south in a whaling vessel and at Cape Adare took part in the first landing on the...

• Borough, Stephen 1525-84, English navigator. Under the direction of Richard Chancellor he was master of the Edward Bonaventure, the first ship to round (1553) North Cape and reach Russia by the arctic route, and...

• Bougainville, Louis Antoine de 1729-1811, French navigator. He accompanied Montcalm to Canada as aide-de-camp, and he later (c.1764) established a colony on the Falkland Islands but had to surrender the settlement to Spain...

• Bransfield, Edward 1795-1852, English sea captain and antarctic explorer. In 1820, Bransfield sailed from Chile to the South Shetland Islands off the N Antarctic Peninsula. After claiming King George Island for...

• Bruce, James 1730-94, Scottish explorer in Africa. He explored Roman ruins in N Africa (1755) from Tunis to Tripoli and visited Crete, Rhodes, and Asia Minor. In 1768 he traveled down the Red Sea as far as the...

• Bruce, William Speirs 1867-1921, Scottish explorer and authority on the polar regions. He first went to the Antarctic as ship's surgeon in 1892 and later did survey work in Franz Josef Land and oceanographic work in...

• Burckhardt, Johann Ludwig 1784-1817, European explorer, b. Switzerland, educated in Germany. Supported by an English association for promoting African discovery, he visited Egypt and Syria (1809-13), rediscovered Petra (1812),...

• Burnes, Sir Alexander 1805-41, British traveler in India. As an army officer in India, he studied Asian languages. In 1832 he left Lahore in Afghan dress and traveled by way of Peshawar and Kabul across the Hindu Kush...

• Burton, Sir Richard Francis 1821-90, English explorer, writer, and linguist. He joined (1842) the service of the East India Company and, while stationed in India, acquired a thorough knowledge of the Persian, Afghan,...

• Byron, John 1723-86, British vice admiral and explorer. Sailing in 1740 with Admiral George Anson on a voyage around the world, he was shipwrecked off Chile. His Narrative of Great Distresses on the Shores of Patagonia...

• Córdoba, Fernández de For persons thus named, use Fernández de Córdoba.

• Cabot, John fl. 1461-98, English explorer, probably b. Genoa, Italy. He became a citizen of Venice in 1476 and engaged in the Eastern trade of that city. This experience, it is assumed, was the stimulus of his...

• Cabot, Sebastian b. 1483-86?, d. 1557, explorer in English and Spanish service; son of John Cabot. He may well have accompanied his father on the 1497 and 1498 voyages, and he was for many years given the credit for his father's achievements. In the 19th cent., scholars, finding discrepancies...

• Cabral, Pedro Alvares c.1467-c.1520, Portuguese navigator. A friend of Vasco da Gama, in 1500 he was sent out by Manuel I as head of a fleet destined for India. Bartolomeu Dias was one of his officers. Cabral went far west of his course and reached the coast of Brazil, which he claimed for Portugal. Proceeding onward, he reached Madagascar, Mozambique, and the Indian...

• Cadamosto, Luigi da 1432?-1488, Venetian navigator in the service of Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal. He seems to have entered Portuguese service in 1454, and he left a record of a voyage in 1455 that is...

• Cagliostro, Alessandro, Conte di 1743-95, Italian adventurer, magician, and alchemist, whose real name was Giuseppe Balsamo. After early misadventures in Italy he traveled in Greece, Arabia, Persia, and Egypt. While in Italy, he...

• Caillié, René 1799-1838, French explorer in Africa. He was the first European to visit Timbuktu and return. The son of poor French peasants, he was obsessed with the idea of seeing Timbuktu. After 11 years of...

• Cameron, Verney Lovett kăm´eren , 1844-94, English traveler in Africa. A naval officer, he served (1868) in the British expedition against Ethiopia and assisted in the suppression of the East African slave trade. He was sent...

• Cano, Juan Sebastián del c.1476-1526, Spanish navigator, the first to circumnavigate the globe. Under Magellan he commanded the Concepción and after Magellan's death in the Philippines took command of the expedition....

• Cavendish, Thomas 1560-92, English navigator. He commanded a ship in the flotilla under Sir Richard Grenville sent (1585) by Sir Walter Raleigh to establish the first colony in Virginia. In 1586, in command of three...

• Chaillu, Paul Belloni du see Du Chaillu.

• Chancellor, Richard d. 1556, English navigator. When, largely under the inspiration of Sebastian Cabot , a group of men in England undertook to finance a search for the Northeast Passage to Asia, Chancellor was chosen as second in command under Sir Hugh Willoughby. They sailed in 1553, and Chancellor...

• Charcot, Jean Baptiste 1867-1936, French neurologist and explorer in the antarctic region; son of Jean Martin Charcot. He became (1896) director of clinics at the Univ. of Paris but soon gave up medicine for...

• Chesney, Francis Rawdon 1789-1872, British soldier and explorer in Asia. His examination of a route for the Suez Canal (1829) demonstrated the feasibility of building a canal and led the vicomte de Lesseps to undertake the project. In 1835, Chesney commanded an expedition to survey N Syria. He proved the navigability of the Tigris and Euphrates and urged the adoption of a Euphrates route to India. In...

• Clapperton, Hugh 1788-1827, British explorer, b. Annan, Scotland. After serving with the British navy in East India and Canada he made two journeys to W Africa. On the initial journey (1822-25) he was one of the...

• Columbus, Christopher Ital. Cristoforo Colombo , Span. Cristóbal Colón , 1451-1506, European explorer, b. Genoa, Italy.

• Cook, James 1728-79, English explorer and navigator. The son of a Yorkshire agricultural laborer, he had little formal education. After an apprenticeship to a firm of shipowners at Whitby, he joined (1755) the...

• Cortés, Hernán or Hernando Cortez , 1485-1547, Spanish conquistador , conqueror of Mexico.

• Corte Real, Gaspar c.1450-1501?, Portuguese explorer. Sent by King Manuel I to search for the Northwest Passage, he is said to have discovered Greenland in 1500 and may have touched on the North American coast. He...

• Cunha, Tristão da c.1460-1514?, Portuguese navigator. His most important voyage was undertaken in 1506, when he set out with 15 ships for India. He discovered three volcanic islands in the S Atlantic, one of which...

• Dampier, William 1651-1715, English explorer, buccaneer, hydrographer, and naturalist. He fought (1673) in the Dutch War, managed a plantation in Jamaica (1674), and then worked with logwood cutters in Honduras...

• Davis, John 1550?-1605, English navigator. He made his first voyage in search of the Northwest Passage in 1585, continuing the work of Martin Frobisher. On this voyage he discovered Cumberland Sound of Baffin Island and made explorations that prepared the way for his later voyages in 1586 and 1587. On the third exploration he sailed through Davis...

• Dias, Bartolomeu d. 1500, Portuguese navigator. He was the first European to round (1488) the Cape of Good Hope, which he called Cabo Tormentoso [cape of storms]. That voyage opened the road to India. Dias...

• Diaz, Bartholomew see Dias, Bartolomeu.

• Drake, Sir Francis 1540?-1596, English navigator and admiral, first Englishman to circumnavigate the world (1577-80).

• Drygalski, Erich von 1865-1949, German polar explorer. A professor of geography at the Univ. of Munich, he led an expedition that wintered (1892-93) in W Greenland. From 1901 to 1903 he led the German antarctic...

• Du Chaillu, Paul Belloni c.1831-1903, French-American explorer in Africa. Born probably in Paris, he spent his youth on the west coast of Africa, where his father was a trader in Gabon. There he learned the native...

• Dumont d'Urville, Jules Sébastien César 1790-1842, French navigator. While on duty (1819-20) in the E Mediterranean, he saw and recognized the importance of the newly discovered Venus of Milo and was influential in having the Louvre...

• Emin Pasha 1840-92, German explorer, whose original name was Eduard Schnitzer. A physician, he served (1876-78) under Gen. Charles Gordon in Sudan as a district medical officer. In 1878 he succeeded Gordon...

• Entrecasteaux, Joseph Antoine Bruni d' 1739-93, French navigator. He entered the French navy in 1754, fought (1756) at Minorca, commanded (1786) the French fleet of the East Indies, and was appointed governor of Mauritius and the Isle...

• Eric the Red fl. 10th cent., Norse chieftain, discoverer and colonizer of Greenland. He left (c.950) Norway with his exiled father and settled in Iceland. A feud resulting in manslaughter led to his banishment...

• Ericsson, Leif see Leif Ericsson.

• Filchner, Wilhelm 1877-1957, German explorer, geophysicist, and travel writer. He led several expeditions to China and Tibet, where he established magnetic stations, and also led the second German Antarctic...

• Fox, Luke 1586-1635, English explorer. As a master mariner, he set forth in 1631 to hunt for the Northwest Passage. He explored the southern shore of Hudson Bay, satisfied himself that there was no passage through it, and when scurvy struck his crew returned that same year to England. His Northwest Fox; or, Fox from the North-West Passage was published in 1635 (ed. by R. M. Christy, 1894). He gave many names to geographical features that are still used today; Foxe Basin and Foxe Peninsula were named after him. At about the time that...

• Franklin, Sir John 1786-1847, British explorer in N Canada whose disappearance caused a widespread search of the Arctic. Entering the navy in 1801, he fought in the battle of Trafalgar. On his first overland...

• Freycinet, Louis Claude Desaulses de 1779-1842, French marine officer. He was assigned (1800) to a French exploring expedition in Australian waters; after his return to Paris (1805) he edited the maps and reports of the journey. In...

• Frobisher, Sir Martin 1535?-1594, English mariner. He went to sea as a boy, and spent much of his youth in the African trade. He later gained the friendship of Sir Humphrey Gilbert , through whom he became interested in the Northwest Passage. Licensed by Queen Elizabeth I and backed by a group of merchant adventurers, Frobisher made three voyages (1576, 1577, and 1578) to the Arctic in search of the passage. On his first voyage he sailed into Frobisher Bay to S Baffin Island, and from its shores brought back some black ore thought to contain gold and an Eskimo to prove his...

• Gage, Thomas d. 1656, English traveler. He went (1612) to Spain to study and became a Dominican. He lived and traveled among the Native populations of Central America from 1625 to 1637, when he returned to...

• Gama, Vasco da c.1469-1524, Portuguese navigator, the first European to journey by sea to India. His epochal voyage (1497-99) was made at the order of Manuel I. With four vessels, he rounded the Cape of Good Hope, passed the easternmost point reached by Bartolomeu Dias in 1488, continued up the east coast of Africa to Malindi, and sailed across the Indian Ocean to Calicut. This voyage opened up a way for Europe to reach the wealth of the Indies, and out of it...

• Garnier, Marie Joseph François 1839-73, French explorer and naval officer, usually known as Francis Garnier. He served (1860-62) against Annam and China, then in the administration of Cochin China. In 1866-68 he accompanied...

• Gerlache, Adrien de 1866-1934, Belgian naval officer and explorer. Sailing with Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen who would later be the first to reach the South Pole, Gerlache led a scientific expedition to Antarctica in 1897-99. During the expedition his ship became trapped in ice for more than a year...

• Gilbert, Sir Humphrey 1537?-1583, English soldier, navigator, and explorer; half brother of Sir Walter Raleigh. Knighted (1570) for his service in the campaigns in Ireland, he later (1572) served in the Netherlands. Convinced of the existence of a Northwest Passage , he explained his theories in his famous Discourse (ed., with some additions, by George Gascoigne in 1576), which inspired the voyages of Martin Frobisher and John Davis and for many years motivated English exploration in the northern regions. In 1578, Gilbert was granted a patent by Queen Elizabeth I to found colonies in America and other lands. His first...

• Golovnin, Vasily Mikhailovich 1776-1831, Russian explorer and writer. Sent in 1807 to make a geographical survey of Kamchatka and the Russian possessions in Alaska, he was captured and imprisoned (1811-13) by the Japanese...

• Gosnold, Bartholomew fl. 1572-1607, English explorer and colonizer. In 1602 he commanded the Concord on a voyage of exploration. He navigated the coast from Maine to Narragansett Bay, naming Cape Cod and several islands and building a small fort on Cuttyhunk, westernmost of the Elizabeth Islands...

• Hall, Basil 1788-1844, British naval officer and traveler. In the service from 1802 to 1823, he commanded vessels on scientific assignments and voyages of exploration. He wrote of them in his Account of a Voyage...

• Hedin, Sven Anders 1865-1952, Swedish explorer in central Asia. Following soon after Przhevalsky , Hedin explored Tibet, Xinjiang, and the Kunlun and Trans-Himalaya ranges and discovered the sources of the Brahmaputra...

• Hudson, Henry fl. 1607-11, English navigator and explorer. He was hired (1607) by the English Muscovy Company to find the Northeast Passage to Asia. He failed, and another attempt (1608) to find a new route was also fruitless. Engaged (1609) for the same purpose by the Dutch East India Company, he sailed in the Half Moon to Spitsbergen, where extreme ice and cold brought his crew near mutiny. Hudson, determined not to lose his reputation as an explorer, disregarded his instructions and sailed westward hoping to...

• Jackson, Frederick George 1860-1938, British arctic explorer. He explored (1893-94) the tundra in arctic Russia and in Lapland, and he commanded (1894-97) the Jackson-Harmsworth expedition that explored Franz Josef Land...

• James, Thomas 1593?-1635?, English navigator and explorer (1631) of James Bay. Financed by Bristol merchants, he sailed in command of the Henrietta Maria in the spring of 1631 to find the Northwest Passage to the East. Having explored James Bay (the south extension of Hudson Bay), which was named for him, he wintered on Charlton Island, and in the summer of 1632 continued his attempt to find the...

• Janszoon, Willem fl. late 16th-early 17th cent., Dutch navigator and colonial governor; his name also appears was Jansz or Janssen. Janszoon served (1603-11, 1612-16, 1618-28) in the Dutch East Indies. Sailing on...

• Joliet, Louis see Jolliet, Louis.

• Jolliet, Louis 1645-1700, French explorer, joint discoverer with Jacques Marquette of the upper Mississippi River, b. Quebec prov., Canada. After a year's study of hydrography in France and some years as a trader and trapper on the Great Lakes, Jolliet was appointed (1672) as...

• Kotzebue, Otto von 1787-1846, Russian naval officer and explorer; son of A. F. F. von Kotzebue. He accompanied A. J. von Krusenstern on his circumnavigation (1803-6) and himself commanded two voyages around the...

• López de Legaspi, Miguel see Legaspi, Miguel López de.

• La Pérouse, Jean François de Galaup, comte de 1741-c.1788, French navigator. A naval captain, in 1785 he took command of two frigate French government expedition that was to search for the Northwest Passage from the Pacific side and to...

• La Salle, Robert Cavelier, sieur de 1643-87, French explorer in North America, one of the most celebrated explorers and builders of New France.

• Lander, Richard Lemon 1804-34, English explorer. He accompanied Clapperton to the Niger River in 1827 and brought back Clapperton's journal, which was published (1829) with an account of Lander's return to the coast...

• Ledyard, John 1751-89, American adventurer, b. Groton, Conn. He studied at Dartmouth for year, but left college to ship as a sailor. In 1776 he joined Capt. James Cook 's last expedition. Having seen the Pacific Northwest and traded for furs there, he was fired with a desire to establish a post in the region. Though Cook had not found the fabled Northwest Passage , Ledyard was convinced that a practicable route could be found. Failing to obtain support in America for his scheme for an exploratory expedition, he went to France. There he was encouraged by...

• Legaspi, Miguel López de d. 1572, Spanish navigator, conqueror of the Philippines. In 1545 he went to Mexico and was later chosen by the viceroy to head an expedition for the conquest of the Philippines. He sailed in...

• Leichhardt, Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig 1813-1848?, Prussian explorer of Australia. He led (1844-45) an expedition from Moreton Bay to Port Essington and in 1848 set out from Moreton Bay to cross the central part of the continent east...

• Leif Ericsson Old Norse Leifr Eiriksson, fl. AD 999-1000, Norse discoverer of America, b. probably in Iceland; son of Eric the Red. He spent his youth in Greenland and in 999 visited Norway, where he was converted to Christianity and commissioned by King Olaf I to carry the faith to Greenland. According to the "Saga of Eric the Red" in the collection of sagas known as Hauksbok, it was on the return voyage from Norway to Greenland in 1000 that Leif Ericsson, blown off his course, discovered hitherto unknown lands in which he found grapes, self-sown wheat, and a species of...

• Leo Africanus c.1465-1550, Moorish traveler in Africa and the Middle East. His Arabic name was Al-Hasan ibn Muhammad. Captured by pirates, he was sent as a slave to Pope Leo X. He became a Christian, adopting...

• Livingstone, David 1813-73, Scottish missionary and explorer in Africa, the first European to cross the African continent. From 1841 to 1852, while a medical missionary for the London Missionary Society in what is...

• Magellan, Ferdinand Port. Fernão de Magalhães, Span. Fernando de Magallanes, c.1480-1521, Portuguese navigator who sailed for Portugal and Spain. Born of a noble family, he was reared as a page in the royal household. He served (1505-12) in Portuguese India under Francisco...

• Marchand, Jean Baptiste 1863-1934, French explorer and general. Sent to Africa (1897) to establish French control of the headwaters of the White Nile, Marchand led a heroic trek through uncharted terrain. In 1898 he...

• Marco Polo see Polo, Marco.

• Marquette, Jacques 1637-75, French missionary and explorer in North America, a Jesuit priest. He was sent to New France in 1666 and studied Native American languages under a missionary at Trois Rivières. In 1668 he was sent as a missionary to the Ottawa, spent a winter at Sault Ste Marie, and in 1669 reached La Pointe mission on Chequamegon Bay. When fear of the Sioux drove the Ottawa and Huron...

• McClintock, Sir Francis Leopold 1819-1907, British arctic explorer. As a lieutenant in the navy he was assigned to his first arctic service in 1848, when Sir James Clark Ross went in search of the lost expedition of Sir John...

• McClure, Sir Robert John Le Mesurier 1807-73, British arctic explorer. He entered the navy and in 1848 accompanied Sir James Clark Ross to the arctic. As a naval captain he was given command (1850) of the Investigator, one of the two ships that were to search the western part of the Arctic Archipelago for Sir John Franklin. Passing through the Bering Strait, he coasted along Alaska and Canada, then went by way of...

• Meares, John 1756?-1809, British naval officer, explorer, and trader. He served in the navy, in which he attained the rank of lieutenant, until after the Peace of Paris (1783), when he entered the merchant...

• Nachtigal, Gustav 1834-85, German explorer in Africa. He went (1869) on a mission for the king of Prussia to the sultan of Bornu. He visited the central Sahara region and reached Khartoum in 1874. In 1884 he...

• Nansen, Fridtjof 1861-1930, Norwegian arctic explorer, scientist, statesman, and humanitarian. The diversity of Nansen's interests is shown in his writings, which include Eskimo Life (1893), Closing-Nets for Vertical...

• Niebuhr, Karsten 1733-1815, German traveler in Arabia. He was sole survivor of a party of five (of whom the best known was Peter Forskal, a Swedish naturalist) sent by Frederick V of Denmark to explore Arabia...

• Ohthere fl. 880, Norse explorer. His account of his voyage around the North Cape, along Lapland, and into the White Sea was incorporated by Alfred the Great in the introduction to his Anglo-Saxon...

• Orléans, Henri Philippe Marie, prince d' 1867-1901, French explorer and author, b. England; son of Robert, duke of Chartres. After a journey (1889) from Siberia to Siam, by way of Tibet, and a visit (1892) to SE Africa, he left (1895)...

• Pérouse, Jean François de Galaup, comte de La see La Pérouse.

• Park, Mungo 1771-1806, British explorer in Africa, b. Selkirk, Scotland. After serving as a surgeon with the East India Company, he was employed by the African Association to explore the course of the Niger...

• Parry, Sir William Edward 1790-1855, British arctic explorer and rear admiral. He entered the navy at 13 and made his first voyage to the Arctic under Sir John Ross in 1818 in search of the Northwest Passage. He was then put in command of the Hecla and the Griper in an expedition (1819-20) to hunt for the passage. Parry sailed westward through Lancaster Sound and discovered and named Melville Island and others of the Queen Elizabeth Islands , as well as naming Barrow Strait. Two other unsuccessful attempts were made (1821-23, 1824-25) to find the Northwest Passage, in the course of which Fury and Hecla Strait was discovered and new information about the Arctic was disclosed. By discovering the entrance to the passage and the way to the north magnetic pole, Parry had also found important whaling grounds...

• Paul Knutson fl. 1354-64, Norse leader, alleged explorer of America. In 1354 or 1355 King Magnus VII of Norway directed him to conduct an expedition to Greenland to insure the continuity of Christianity there....

• Pinto, Fernão Mendes c.1509-1583, Portuguese traveler. For some 20 years he traveled in Africa and Asia, journeying to far places and experiencing great hardships, including years as a slave. His account, Peregrinação...

• Pinzón, Martín Alonso d.1493, Spanish navigator. The commander of the Pinta on Columbus's first voyage to the New World in 1492, he was already an experienced seaman and an influential citizen of Palos de la Frontera. The support given to Columbus by Pinzón and his brothers is not definitely known, but it was important to the eventual success of the expedition. For reasons that are not clear, he abandoned...

• Pizarro, Francisco c.1476-1541, Spanish conquistador, conqueror of Peru. Born in Trujillo, he was an illegitimate son of a Spanish gentleman and as a child was an illiterate swineherd. Pizzaro accompanied Ojeda to...

• Pizarro, Gonzalo c.1506-1548, Spanish conquistador, brother of Francisco Pizarro. A lieutenant of his brother in the conquest of Peru, Gonzalo aided in the defense of Cuzco (1536-37) against the Inca Manco Capac ,...

• Pizarro, Hernando fl. 1530-60, Spanish conquistador, half brother of Francisco Pizarro. Much older than his half brothers, Francisco, Juan, and Gonzalo, and, unlike them, legitimate by birth and educated, Hernando...

• Pizarro, Juan d. 1536, Spanish conquistador, brother of Francisco Pizarro. He aided Francisco in the conquest of Peru. With his other brothers, Gonzalo and Hernando, he fought against the Inca Manco Capac during...

• Polo, Marco 1254?-1324?, Venetian traveler in China. His father, Niccolò Polo, and his uncle, Maffeo Polo, had made (1253-60) a trading expedition to Constantinople. A war blocked their return, and they...

• Queiros, Pedro Fernandes de c.1560-1614, Portuguese navigator. In Spanish service, he sailed (1595) as second in command of the expedition of Alvaro de Mendaña de Neira to the Pacific. The expedition traveled to the...

• Rezanov, Nikolai Petrovich 1764-1807, Russian trader, an official of the Russian American Company. He headed an expedition to Alaska in 1803. There he found (1805) the settlement at Sitka in desperate need of food and decided to go to California to obtain supplies. He reached (1806) what is...

• Rogers, Woodes 1679?-1732, British privateer and colonial administrator. A romantic figure, Rogers plundered (1708-9) Spanish commerce in the Pacific and rescued Alexander Selkirk from the Juan Fernández islands....

• Schomburgk, Sir Robert Hermann 1804-65, English traveler and explorer, b. Germany. Under the direction of the Royal Geographical Society he went on a trip of botanical and geographical exploration to British Guiana (now Guyana)...

• Schouten, Willem Cornelis 1567?-1625, Dutch navigator. In 1615 he sailed from Texel island, Holland, in command of an expedition whose objective was to evade the trade restrictions of the Dutch East India Company by...

• Speke, John Hanning 1827-64, English explorer in Africa. He joined Sir Richard Burton in his expeditions to Somaliland (1854) and to E central Africa (1857-59). Together they discovered (1858) Lake Tanganyika; then...

• Stanley, Sir Henry Morton 1841-1904, Anglo-American journalist and empire builder, b. Denbigh, Wales. Originally named John Rowlands, he took the name of his adoptive father in New Orleans, where Stanley went in 1857. After...

• Tasman, Abel Janszoon 1603?-1659, Dutch navigator. In the service of the Dutch East India Company from c.1632 to 1653, he made several trading and exploring voyages in the Pacific and Indian oceans. On a voyage...

• Tavernier, Jean Baptiste 1605-89, French traveler in Asia. He undertook six voyages, which took him as far as the East Indies and Java, and he acquired a fortune in the trade of precious stones. Ennobled (1669) by Louis...

• Thorfinn Karlsefni fl. 1002-15, Icelandic leader of an attempt to colonize North America. He appeared in Greenland in 1002 and married Gudrid, widow of one of the sons of Eric the Red. He set out c.1010 with an expedition...

• Valle, Pietro della 1586-1652, Italian traveler in Asia. He sailed (1614) from Venice; spent a year in Constantinople, where he studied Turkish and Arabic; then traveled in Egypt, the Holy Land, Arabia, Persia, and...

• Vancouver, George 1757-98, English navigator and explorer. He sailed on Capt. James Cook's second and third voyages. After 1780 he served under Admiral George Rodney in the West Indies, taking part in the great...

• Vasco da Gama see Gama, Vasco da.

• Verrazano, Giovanni da c.1480-1527?, Italian navigator and explorer, in the service of France, possibly the first European to enter New York Bay. Sailing west to reach Asia, Verrazano explored (1524) the North American...

• Vespucci, Amerigo 1454-1512, Italian navigator in whose honor America was named, b. Florence. He entered the commercial service of the Medici and in 1492 moved to Seville. He accompanied Alonso de Ojeda in 1499, but by agreement the two separated shortly before land was sighted in the West Indies, and Vespucci alone explored the mouths of the Amazon. Subsequently he sailed along the northern shore...

• Vizcaíno, Sebastián c.1550-c.1628, Spanish explorer and merchant. After an unsuccessful attempt to plant a colony in Lower California (1596), he sailed (1602) to explore the California coast, where he discovered and...

• Weyprecht, Karl 1838-81, German arctic explorer. With Julius von Payer he made a voyage to Novaya Zemlya in 1871. Weyprecht and Payer were leaders of an Austrian expedition (1872-74) to the arctic in the course...

• White, John 1575-1648, English colonizer. An Anglican priest of moderate Puritan belief, White wished to establish a colony for Puritans. He helped form (1628) the New England Company, which later became...

• Wilkins, Sir George Hubert 1888-1958, British explorer, b. Australia. He made a number of trips to Antarctica and to the Arctic. Valuable experience gained when he accompanied Vilhjalmur Stefansson's expedition (1913-18) to...

• Wissmann, Hermann von 1853-1905, German explorer in Africa. He crossed (1880-82) Africa from Luanda to Zanzibar and, on behalf of Leopold II of Belgium, explored (1883-85) the Kasai River system in the Congo basin. As...

• Younghusband, Sir Francis Edward 1863-1942, British explorer, b. India. He explored Manchuria in 1886. The following year he journeyed from China to India, crossing the Gobi desert and the Mustagh Pass (alt. c.19,000 ft/5,791 m)...