Exploration
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/* Notable explorers */
{{redirect|Explorer}}
'''Exploration''' is the act of [[search]]ing or [[travel]]ing for the purpose of discovery, e.g. of unknown people, including [[space]] ([[space exploration]]), for [[Petroleum|oil]], [[gas]], [[coal]], [[ore]]s, [[cave]]s, [[water]] ([[Mineral exploration]] or [[prospecting]]), or [[information]].
Although exploration has existed as long as human beings, its peak is seen as being during the [[Age of Discovery]] when European navigators traveled around the world discovering new lands and cultures.
==Other uses==
The term may also be used metaphorically, for example persons may speak of exploring the internet, sexuality, etc.
In [[scientific research]], exploration is one of three purposes of research (the other two being description and [[explanation]]). Exploration is the attempt to develop an initial, rough understanding of some [[phenomenon]].
==Notable explorers==
*[[Pytheas]] (380 – ''c.'' 310 BC) - [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] explorer. First to circumnavigate [[Great Britain]] and to explore [[Germany]]. Reached ''[[Thule]]'', most commonly thought to be the [[Shetland Islands]] or [[Iceland]].
*[[Brendan]] the Navigator (c. 484 – c. 577) - [[Irish people|Irish]] monk, allegedly found [[Iceland]] and [[Americas|America]] in the 6th century.
*[[Dicuil]] (born in the 8th century) - [[Irish people|Irish]] monk and geographer, author of "De mensura Orbis terrae".
*The [[Papar]] - [[Irish people|Irish]] monks who lived in Iceland, 8th-9th centuries, before the [[Vikings]].
*[[Erik the Red]] (950 - 1003) - [[Norway|Norwegian]] [[Viking]] explorer. After being cast out from [[Iceland]], he sailed to [[Greenland]] and settled there.
*[[Leif Ericson]] (980 - 1020) - [[Iceland|Icelandic]] explorer. Believed to have been the first [[Europe]]an to land in [[North America]].
*[[Friar Julian]] (traveled in 1235) - [[Magyar|Hungarian]] [[Dominican Order|Dominican]] [[Dominican friar|friar]].
*[[Marco Polo]] (1254 - 1324) - [[Italian people|Italian]] explorer.
*[[Ibn Battuta]] (1304 - 1377) - [[Moroccan people|Moroccan]] explorer.
*[[James of Ireland]] (fl.1316 - 1330) - [[Irish people|Irish]] companion of [[Odoric of Pordenone]].
*[[Simon FitzSimon]] (fl.1323), [[Irish people|Irish]] author of a ''itenerum'' through [[Egypt]] and the [[Holy Land]].
*[[Zheng He]] (1371 - 1433) - [[China|Chinese]] explorer.
*[[João Fernandes Lavrador]] (1445? - 1501) - [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]] explorer. First European reaching Labrador/Newfoundland. Fernandes charted the coasts of Southwestern Greenland and of adjacent Northeastern North America around 1498. In 1501, Fernandes set sail again in discovery of lands and was never heard from again.
*[[John Cabot]] (c. 1450 - 1499) - [[Italian people|Italian]] explorer for [[England]]. Discovered Newfoundland and claimed it for the [[Kingdom of England]].
*[[Bartolomeu Dias]] (c. 1450 - 1500) - [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]] explorer. He sailed from Portugal and reached the [[Cape of Good Hope]].
*[[Christopher Columbus]] (1451 - 1506) - [[Italian people|Italian]] explorer for [[Spain]]. Sailed in 1492 and discovered the "New World" of the Americas.
*[[Amerigo Vespucci]] (c. 1454 - 1512) - [[Italian people|Italian]] explorer for [[Spain]]. Sailed in 1499 and 1502. He explored the east coast of [[South America]].
*[[Juan Ponce de León]] (c. 1460 - 1521) - [[Spanish people|Spanish]] explorer. He explored [[Florida]] while attempting to locate a [[Fountain of Youth]].
*[[Piri Reis]] (c. 1465/1470 – 1554/1555) - [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] explorer.
*[[Pedro Álvares Cabral]] (c. 1467 - c. 1520) - [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]] explorer, generally regarded as the [[Europe]]an discoverer of [[Brazil]].
*[[Vasco da Gama]] (c. 1469 - 1524) - [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]] explorer. The first European to sail from [[Europe]] to [[India]] by rounding the [[Cape of Good Hope]].
*[[Vasco Núñez de Balboa]] (c. 1475 - 1519) - [[Spanish people|Spanish]] explorer. The first European to cross the Isthmus of [[Panama]] and view the Pacific ocean from American shores.
*[[Francisco Pizarro]] (c. 1475 - 1541) - [[Spanish people|Spanish]] explorer. Conquered the [[Inca]] Empire.
*[[Juan Sebastián Elcano]] (1476 - 1526) - [[Spanish people|Spanish]] explorer. Completed the first [[circumnavigation]] of the globe in a single expedition after its captain, Magellan, was killed.
*[[Ferdinand Magellan]] (1480 - 1521) - [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]] explorer for Spain. Initiated the first [[circumnavigation]] of the globe in a single expedition. Sailed through [[Strait of Magellan]] and named [[Pacific Ocean]]. Died in the [[Philippines]] after claiming them for [[Spain]].
* [[Giovanni da Verrazzano]] (c. 1485 - 1528) - [[Italian people|Italian]] explorer for [[France]]. Explored the northeast coast of America, from about present day [[South Carolina]] to Newfoundland.
*[[Hernán Cortés]] (1485 - 1545) - [[Spanish people|Spanish]] explorer. Conquered the [[Aztec]] Empire for [[Spain]].
*[[Jacques Cartier]] (1491 – 1557) - [[French people|French]] explorer. Discovered [[Canada]].
*[[Hernando de Soto (explorer)|Hernando de Soto]] (c. 1496 - 1542) - [[Spanish people|Spanish]] explorer. Explored [[Florida]], mainly northwest [[Florida]], and discovered the [[Mississippi River]].
*[[Francisco Vásquez de Coronado]] (c. 1510 - 1554) - [[Spanish people|Spanish]] explorer. Searched for the Seven Cities of Gold and discovered the Grand Canyon in the process.
* [[Francisco de Orellana]] (1511-1546) - [[Spanish people|Spanish]] explorer in [[1541]]-[[1542|42]] sails the length of the [[Amazon River]].
*[[Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa]] (1532 - 1592) [[Spanish people|Spanish]] explorer of the [[Pacific]].
*Sir [[Francis Drake]] (c. 1540 - 1596) - [[English people|English]] explorer. The first English captain to [[circumnavigation|sail around the world]] and survive.
*[[Alvaro de Mendaña de Neyra]] 1541-1596 - [[Spanish people|Spanish]] explorer of the [[Pacific]].
*[[Willem Barentsz]] 1550-1597 Dutch navigator and explorer, leader of early expeditions to the far north.
*[[Pedro Fernandes de Queirós]] 1565-1614 Portuguese navigator. Explored the Pacific in the service of the Spanish Crown.
*[[Luis Váez de Torres]] (c. 1565- ) Spanish or Portuguese navigator. Explored the Pacific in the service of the Spanish Crown.
*[[Henry Hudson]] (1570 - 1611) - [[English people|English]] explorer. Explored much of the North Atlantic, including [[Labrador]], the coast of [[Greenland]], and [[Hudson Bay]]. Presumed dead in a 1611 mutiny of his own crew.
*[[António de Andrade]] (1580 - 1634) - [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]] explorer. First European reaching Tibet. His reports were the only account of the Tibet culture and geography until the second half of the 18<sup>th</sup> century.
*[[Abel Tasman]] (1603 - 1659) - Dutch explorer. Discovered [[New Zealand]] and [[Tasmania]].
*[[Evliya Çelebi]] (1611 - 1682) - Ottoman traveller.
*[[Vitus Bering]] (1681 - 1741) - [[Danish people|Danish]] explorer. Explored the [[Siberia]]n Far East and [[Alaska]] and claimed it for [[Russia]].
*[[James Cook]] (1728 - 1779) - [[English people|English]] naval captain. Explored much of the Pacific including [[New Zealand]], [[Australia]] and [[Hawaii]].
*[[Jean François La Pérouse]] (1741–1788) was a French Navy officer and explorer whose expedition vanished in Oceania
*[[Alessandro Malaspina]] (1754-1810) - [[Italian people|Italian]] explorer. Explored the [[Pacific]] and the west coast of [[North America]] in the service of [[Spain|Spanish Crown]]
*[[Alexander MacKenzie]] (1764-1820) Scottish-Canadian explorer who in 1789, looking for the [[Northwest Passage]], followed the river now named after him to the Arctic Ocean and then in 1793 crossed the Rockies and reached the Pacific in 1793, thus beating [[Lewis and Clark Expedition|Lewis and Clark]] by 12 years.
*[[Alexander von Humboldt]] (1769 - 1859) - [[Germans|German]] explorer and scientist whose work was foundational to the field of biogeography.
*Captain [[Meriwether Lewis]] (1774 - 1809) - [[United States|American]] explorer and field scientist who led the [[Lewis and Clark Expedition]] into the [[Louisiana Purchase]] and the [[Pacific Northwest]] in 1804-1806.
*[[Edward Sabine]](October 14, 1788 – May 26, 1883) - [[Irish people|Irish]] participant in the Ross and Perry Arctic expeditions.
*[[Thomas Coulter]] (1793 – 1843) - [[Irish people|Irish]] botanist and explorer of [[Mexico]] and [[Arizona]].
*[[Charles Wilkes]] ([[April 3]], [[1798]] – [[February 8]], [[1877]]) - American naval officer and explorer who commanded the [[United States Exploring Expedition]]
*[[George Fletcher Moore]] (10 December 1798 – 30 December 1886) - early [[Irish people|Irish]] explorer of [[Australia]]
*[[Pierre-Jean De Smet]] (1801 - 1873) - Belgian missionary and explorer in North America.
*[[David Livingstone]] (1813 – 1873) - Scottish missionary and explorer in central Africa. He was the first European to see [[Victoria Falls]], which he named in honour of [[Queen Victoria]].
*[[Robert O'Hara Burke]] (1821 – c.28 June 1861) - [[Irish people|Irish]] leader of the [[Burke and Wills expedition]].
*[[Henry Morton Stanley]] (1841 – 1904) - Welsh journalist and explorer in central Africa best remembered for his search for David Livingstone, and upon finding him saying: "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"
* [[George Comer]] (1858 - 1937) - American polar explorer. The ''Comer Strait'' of northern [[Southampton Island]] and the ''[[Gough Island Moorhen|Gallinula comeri]]'' flightless bird of [[Gough Island]] were named in his honor.
* [[Fridtjof Nansen]] (1861 - 1930) - [[Norway|Norwegian]] [[explorer]], [[scientist]] and [[diplomat]]. He was the first to cross the [[Greenland]] ice cap in 1888 and drifted across the Arctic ocean with the [[Fram]] in 1893-1896 where he attempted to reach the [[North Pole]] with Hjalmar Johansen.
* [[Otto Sverdrup]] (1854 - 1930) - [[Norway|Norwegian]] [[explorer]]. Joined [[Fridtjof Nansen]] acoss Greenland in 1888 and captain on the [[Fram]] on the polar drift in 1893-1896 and the 2nd [[Fram]] expedition in 1898-1902. Mapped the Northenmost part of [[Canada]] in 1898-1902.
*[[Roald Amundsen]] (1872 - 1928) - [[Norway|Norwegian]] explorer. He led the first successful [[Antarctic]] expedition between 1910 and 1912. He was also the first ever person to successfully traverse the [[North West Passage]].
*[[Ernest Shackleton]] (1874 - 1922) - [[Irish people|Irish]] Explorer, noted for his ill-fated [[Imperial_Trans-Antarctic_Expedition|Endurance]] expedition to [[Antarctica]].
*[[Hiram Bingham III]] (1875 - 1956) - U.S. Senator from Connecticut and explorer best known for uncovering Machu Picchu.
*[[Robert Bartlett]] (1875 - 1946) - Newfoundland captain. Led over 40 expeditions to the Arctic, more than anyone before or since. Was the first to sail north of 88° N latitude.
*[[Tom Crean]] (20 July 1877 – 27 July 1938) - [[Irish people|Irish]] [[Antarctic]] explorer.
*[[Knud Rasmussen]] (1879 - 1933) - [[Greenlandic]] polar explorer and [[anthropologist]]. Rasmussen was the first to cross the [[Northwest Passage]] via [[dog sled]].
* [[Auguste Piccard]] (1884-1962), physicist, balloonist, hydronaut- Explored the stratosphere and the deep sea
*[[Ahmed Hassanein|Ahmed Pasha Hassanein]] (1889 - 1946) - [[Egyptians|Egyptian]] explorer, diplomat, one of two non-European winners of Gold Medal of [[Royal Geographical Society]] in 1924, King's chamberlain, fencing participant to 1924 Olympics, photographer, author and discoverer of [[Jebel Uweinat]], and writer of "The Lost Oases" book in three languages.
*Colonel Noel [[Andrew Croft]] (1906 - 1998) - held the record for the longest self-sustaining journey across the Arctic in the 1930s for 60 years.
*[[Sir Edmund Percival Hillary]] (1919–2008) - New Zealand explorer, together with [[Tenzing Norgay]], the first to climb Mount Everest on [[May 29]], [[1953]].
*[[Yuri Gagarin]] ([[March 9]], [[1934]] – [[March 27]], [[1968]]) - [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] [[cosmonaut]] who on [[April 12]] [[1961]] became the first man in [[outer space|space]] and the first human to orbit [[Earth]].
*[[Neil Armstrong]] (born [[August 5]], [[1930]]) - American [[astronaut]] - First [[human]] being to set foot on the [[Moon]] on [[July 20]], [[1969]].
*[[Robert Ballard]] - born in 1942) - undersea explorer; discovered the shipwreck of the ''[[RMS Titanic]]'''.
*[[Dr. E. Lee Spence]] (1947- ) - undersea explorer and pioneer underwater archaeologist: discovered numerous shipwrecks including ''[[H.L. Hunley]]'' the first submarine in history to sink an enemy ship; and the ''[[Georgiana]],'' said to have been the most powerful Confederate cruiser.
*[[Reinhold Messner]] (born [[September 17]], [[1944]]) - Italian mountaineer, first man to climb all the 14 peaks higher than 8,000 meters.
* [[Frank Cole]] (1954 - 2000) - [[Canada|Canadian]] [[explorer]], [[filmmaker]] and [[life extensionist]]. He was the first North American to cross the [[Sahara]] desert in 1990 alone on camel. He was murdered by bandits during a second crossing in 2000.
==Exploration by area==
*[[Norse colonization of the Americas]]
*[[European exploration of Arabia]]
*[[Chronology of European exploration of Asia|European exploration of Asia]]
*[[European exploration of Africa]]
*[[European exploration of Australia]]
*[[Exploration of the High Alps]]
*[[Exploration of Mercury]]
*[[Exploration of Venus]]
*[[Exploration of the Moon]]
*[[Exploration of Mars]]
== See also ==
*[[Exploration of Asia]]
*[[Expedition]]s
*[[BSES Expeditions|BSES (British Schools Exploring Society) Expeditions]]
*[[Age of Exploration]]
*[[Cave exploration]]
*[[Degree Confluence Project|Confluence exploration/hunting]]
*[[Desert exploration]]
*[[Global Vision International]]
*[[Polar exploration]]
*[[Space exploration]]
*[[Urban exploration]]
*[[List of explorers]]
*[[Mineral exploration]]
*[[Time travel]]
*[[Explorer (newspaper)]]
==External links==
{{Wiktionary}}
* [http://www.oceanexplorer.noaa.gov Ocean Explorer] - Public outreach site for explorations sponsored by the Office of Ocean Exploration.
* [http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/history/history.html NOAA, Ocean Explorer History]
* [http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/gallery/gallery.html NOAA, Ocean Explorer Gallery] - A rich collection of images, video, audio and [http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/podcast/06oceanexplorer_podcast.xml podcast].
* [http://www.explore.noaa.gov NOAA's Office of Ocean Exploration]
*[http://www.edhelper.com/explorers.htm Explorers worksheets and printables for teachers]
*[http://www.saharasafaris.org/hassaneinbey/ Hassanein Bey of the Libyan Desert, RGS Gold Medalist of 1924] - NGS article of 1924, biography, etc.
*[http://www.nationalgeographic.com/field/explorers National Geographic Explorers] - National Geographic Explorers
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