Here is a list of all famous European explorers during Tudor times
Name of European Explorer |
What was the achievement |
| Amerigo Vespucci | Origin of the name of America is credited to this explorer |
| Bartolomeu Dias | Led first European voyage around the Cape of Good Hope |
| Christopher Columbus | Credited with discovering the New World |
| Ferdinand Magellan | First around the World voyage by a European |
| Francisco Pizarro | Was a Spanish conquistador who led an expedition that conquered the Inca Empire. |
| Francisco Vasquez de Coronado | Led a large expedition from Mexico to present-day Kansas |
| Gaspar and Miguel Corte Real | Participated in exploration sponsored by the Portuguese Crown. Said to have been first to reach Newfoundland and possibly other parts of northeastern Canada. |
| Giovanni da Verrazzano | Italian explorer – NE coast of North America from Cape Fear, North Carolina to Maine |
| Henry Hudson | Discovered Hudson River |
| Hernando Cortes | Spanish conquistador who conquered the Aztec empire |
| Hernando De Soto | Spanish explorer and conquistador – expeditions in Nicaragua and the Yucatan Peninsula, and played an important role in Pizarro’s conquest of the Inca Empire. First Spanish and European expedition of the modern-day USA (through Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and most likely Arkansas). First European documented as having crossed the Mississippi River. |
| Jacques Cartier | Led three expeditions of exploration to Canada |
| Jacques Marquette | Discovered the Mississippi River with Louis Joliet |
| John Cabot | Italian explorer. 1497 discovered coast of North America under the commission of Henry VII of England. Earliest known European exploration of coastal North America |
| Juan Ponce de Leon | First European to land in Florida |
| Marco Polo | Italian merchant, explorer, and writer. Explored china and other Asian countries |
| Pedro Alvares Cabral | Portuguese nobleman, military commander, navigator and explorer regarded as the European discoverer of Brazil in 1500 |
| Samuel de Champlain | The Founder of Quebec City & “The Father of New France” |
| Sebastian Cabot | Son of John Cabot. Conducted his voyages of discovery, seeking the Northwest Passage through North America for England. |
| Sir Francis Drake | Circumnavigated the World |
| Sir Humphrey Gilbert | Established St Johns, Newfoundland |
| Sir John Hawkins | Expeditions to West Africa and South America |
| Sir Martin Frobisher | Expeditions to Labrador and Greenland |
| Sir Richard Grenville | Voyages to Virginia and Roanoke Island and the Azores |
| Sir Richard Hawkins | Voyages to South America |
| Sir Walter Raleigh | Discovered Guiana and established the Virginia colony of Roanoke Island in 1584 |
| Vasco da Gama | Portuguese explorer and the first European to reach India by sea. |
| Vasco Nunez de Balboa | First European explorer to see the Pacific Ocean from its eastern shore |
See also: