This timeline of European exploration lists major geographic discoveries and other firsts credited to or involving Europeans during the
Age of Discovery and
the following centuries, between the years AD 1418 and 1957.
Despite several significant transoceanic and transcontinental explorations by European civilizations in the preceding centuries, the precise geography of the Earth outside of
Europe was largely unknown to Europeans before the 15th century, when technological advances (especially in
sea travel) as well as the rise of
colonialism,
mercantilism, and a host of other social, cultural, and economic changes made it possible to organize large-scale exploratory expeditions to uncharted parts of the globe.
The
Age of Discovery arguably began in the early 15th century with the rounding of the feared
Cape Bojador and
Portuguese exploration of the west coast of
Africa, while in the last decade of the century the
Spanish sent expeditions far across the Atlantic, where the
Americas would eventually be reached, and the Portuguese found a sea route to
India. In the 16th century, various European states funded expeditions to the interior of both North and South America, as well as to their respective west and east coasts, north to
California and
Labrador and south to
Chile and
Tierra del Fuego. In the 17th century,
Russian explorers conquered
Siberia in search of sables, while the
Dutch contributed greatly to the charting of
Australia. The 18th century witnessed the first extensive explorations of the
South Pacific and
Oceania and the exploration of
Alaska, while the 19th was dominated by exploration of the
polar regions and excursions into the heart of Africa. By the early 20th century, the poles themselves had been reached.
1500 –
Vicente Yáñez Pinzón reaches the northeast coast of what today is Brazil at a cape he names "Santa Maria de la Consolación" (
Cabo de Santo Agostinho) and sails fifty miles up a river he names the "Marañón" (
Amazon).[2]
1502–03 – On his fourth voyage to the Americas, Christopher Columbus explores the North American mainland from
Guanaja off modern
Honduras to the present-day border of
Panama and
Colombia.[2][6]
1521 – Francisco Gordillo and Pedro de Quexos find the mouth of a river they name "Rio de San Juan Bautista" (perhaps
Winyah Bay at the mouth of the
Pee Dee River in modern
South Carolina).[29]
1521 –
Cristóvão Jacques explores the Plate River and explores the
Parana River, entering it for about 23 leagues (around 140 km), to near the present city of
Rosario.[30]
1526–28 – Pizarro and his pilot
Bartolomé Ruiz explore the west coast of South America from the San Juan River south to the
Santa River (about 9°S), becoming the first Europeans to sight the coasts of
Ecuador and
Peru.[32]
1528–36 –
Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and three others are the only survivors of a group of several hundred colonists who travel from the coast of western Florida to the Rio Sinaloa in northern Mexico, where they encounter
Spanishslavers.[38]
1531 –
Diego de Ordaz ascends the Orinoco to the Atures rapids, just past its confluence with the
Meta.[31]
1532–33 – Pizarro explores and conquers inland to
Cajamarca and
Cuzco.[31]
1557–59 –
Juan Fernández Ladrillero and Cortés Hojea explore the
Chilean coast from
Valdivia (39° 48’ S) to Canal Santa Barbara (54° S); the former passes through the western entrance of the
Strait of Magellan to its eastern entrance and back.[2]
1600–01 – Prince Miron Shakhovskoi and D. Khripunov descend the
Ob to the
Ob Estuary and ascend the
Taz River, establishing the
ostrog of
Mangazeya about 161 kilometres (100 mi) to 240 kilometres (150 mi) from its mouth.[46][50]
1610 – Kondratiy Kurochkin leads an expedition, sailing in
kochi, from Turukhansk to the mouth of the
Yenisei and east to the mouth of the
Pyasina on the
Taymyr Peninsula.[43][46]
1610 – A detachment from Mangazeya ascends the Yenisei a further 640 kilometres (400 mi) to its confluence with the
Sym.[52]
1623 –
Jan Carstenszoon discovers the western coast of Cape York Peninsula from Cape Keerweer to the southern mouth of the
Gilbert River; while his consort Willem Joosten van Colster discovers "Arnhemsland" and "Speultsland" (modern
Arnhem Land and perhaps
Groote Eylandt).[62][64]
1628 – Gerrit Frederikszoon de Witt captain of the
Vianen discovers "Witsland" about 21° S, sailing 320 kilometres (200 mi) along the coast and discovering
Barrow Island and parts of the
Dampier Archipelago.[62]
1628–30 – Vasilii Bugor ascends the
Upper Tunguska and portages to the upper Lena, descending it to its confluence with the
Kirenga.[46][52]
1631–32 –
Luke Foxe and
Thomas James, in separate expeditions, both circumnavigate Hudson Bay in search of a Northwest Passage; Foxe sails through
the channel and into
the basin now named after him to 66°47′N, while James winters in
the bay named after him.[59]
1632–33 –
Pyotr Beketov descends the Lena as far as its great bend, erects the ostrog
Yakutsk, and sends a detachment some 720 kilometres (450 mi) downriver (where the zimovieZhigansk is built) and another east up the
Aldan as far as the
Amga (which they also ascend in search of
yasak).[46][50]
1633–38 –
Ilya Perfilyev and Ivan Rebrov sail from Zhigansk in kochi some 800 kilometres (500 mi) downriver to the mouth of the Lena and sail along the coast east and west, reaching the mouths of the
Olenyok,
Yana, and
Indigirka rivers.[46][67]
1638–40 – Poznik Ivanov crosses the
Verkhoyansk Range into the upper reaches of the Yana, and then portages over the
Chersky Range into the Indigirka River system.[46][67]
1644 – Tasman maps the northern coast of Australia, connecting "Nova Guinea" (the Cape York Peninsula) with "the land of D'Eendracht" (Western Australia).[62]
1644–47 – Ivan Pokhabov is the first to ascend the Angara to Lake Baikal, which he crosses to the
Selenga; he later ascends it and reaches
Urga (in present-day
Mongolia).[46][50]
1648–49 –
Semyon Dezhnyov sails from the Kolyma, rounds
Cape Dezhnev (thus proving Asia and America are separate), and reaches the
Anadyr River, which he ascends for some 563 kilometres (350 mi) (here he builds the zimovieAnadyrsk).[45]
1650 – Stadukhin and Semen Motora travel from the Kolyma, across the Anyuyskiy Range, to Anadyrsk.[45]
1651–57 – Stadukhin travels from Anadyrsk to the mouth of the
Penzhina River, then west along the northern coast of the Sea of Okhotsk to
Okhotsk.[46][67]
1653–54 – Beketov ascends the
Khilok, crosses the southern Yablonoi Mountains, and descends the
Ingoda and
Shilka rivers to the latter's confluence with the
Nercha (where his men build the ostrog
Nerchinsk).[46]
1734–37 – Stepan Muravev and Mikhail Pavlov chart the Russian coast from
Arkhangelsk to just east of the
Pechora, while
Stepan Malygin charts it from there to the Ob River, including the
Yamal Peninsula.[45]
1792 –
Jacinto Caamaño enters
Clarence Strait, showing that much of the Alaska Panhandle is an archipelago and not part of the mainland, as had been presumed. He also sights the southwest coast of Revillagigedo Island.[29]
1821 – English naval officer
John Franklin explores over 800 kilometres (500 mi) of coastline from the mouth of the Coppermine River to Point Turnagain on the
Kent Peninsula.[96]
1825–26 – Franklin explores the Arctic coastline from the mouth of the Mackenzie River west to Point Beechey, while his partner
John Richardson explores east to the Coppermine River, naming
Dolphin and Union Strait and discovering "
Wollaston Land" (part of the southern coast of
Victoria Island) — combining to chart over 1,930 kilometres (1,200 mi) of coastline; Richardson also surveys the five arms of
Great Bear Lake.[102]
1826 – Scottish explorer
Alexander Gordon Laing becomes the first European to reach the fabled city of
Timbuktu, but is murdered upon leaving the city.[99]
1837 – Glazunov ascends the
Unalakleet and portages to the middle Yukon.[106]
1837–39 –
Peter Warren Dease and
Thomas Simpson reach
Point Barrow from the east; following two summers they map the region from Point Turnagain to just north of the
Castor and Pollux River on the Boothia Peninsula and chart the coastline of "Victoria Land" (Victoria Island) from Point Back to Point Parry.[107]
1838 – Pyotr Malakhov reaches
Nulato, near the confluence of the
Koyukuk and Yukon.[106]
1850–54 –
Robert McClure transits the
Northwest Passage (by boat and sledge); he and his men also chart some 2,736 kilometres (1,700 mi) of new coastline, consisting of the entire coast of Banks Island and much of the northwestern coast of Victoria Island (from just east of Point Reynolds in the north to
Prince Albert Sound in the south), in the process discovering
Prince of Wales Strait and
McClure Strait.[113][114]
1851 – Rae charts over 965 kilometres (600 mi) of the southern coastline of Victoria Island, from Cape Back to Pelly Point.[110]
1851 –
Erasmus Ommanney,
Sherard Osborn and William Browne chart the northern half of
Prince of Wales Island, Osborn west to Sherard Osborn Point (72°20’ N) and Browne east to
Pandora Island; meanwhile, Robert D. Aldrich charts the west coast of the Bathurst Island group north to Cape Aldrich (about 76°11’ N, on
Île Vanier) and Dr. Abraham Bradford charts the east coast of Melville Island north to Bradford Point.[78][115]
1852 –
Edward Augustus Inglefield reaches 78° 28’ N, entering Smith Sound; also charts Jones Sound as far west as 84° 10’ W.[116]
1852–53 –
Edward Belcher sails two of his squadron to the northwestern coast of the Grinnell Peninsula, wintering at 77° 52’ N, 97° W; later circumnavigates the peninsula via Arthur Strait (now Fiord), discovering
Cornwall and
North Kent.[112]
1853 –
Richard Vesey Hamilton and
George Henry Richards chart the Sabine Peninsula of Melville Island from Cape Mudge east to Bradford Point; the latter, along with Sherard Osborn, also charts the northern coast of Bathurst Island.[112][117]
1853 –
George Mecham discovers
Prince Patrick and
Eglinton Islands and charts the southwest corner of Melville Island; along with
Francis Leopold McClintock, he charts nearly the entire coast of Prince Patrick; McClintock also charts the northwest coast of Melville Island, from Cape Fisher northwest to Cape Scott and south along its west coast to Cape Purchase.[117][118]
1853–54 – American explorer
Elisha Kent Kane and his men chart the
Kane Basin and discover
Kennedy Channel. One of his men, William Morton, reaches as far north as Kap Constitution (81°22’N).[119]
1853–56 – Livingstone becomes the first to traverse Africa from west to east, traveling from
Luanda in Angola to
Quelimane in
Mozambique; also explores much of the upper Zambezi and discovers and names
Victoria Falls.[89]
1854 – Rae charts the Boothia Peninsula from the Castor and Pollux River north to Point de la Guiche, discovering
Rae Strait and proving the insularity of King William Island.[110]
1859 – McClintock charts the remaining 193 kilometres (120 mi) of the continental coastline of America (on the west coast of the Boothia Peninsula), while his companion
Allen Young charts the southern half of Prince of Wales Island.[112]
1881–83 –
Adolphus Greely explores the interior of Ellesmere Island, discovering
Lake Hazen; one of his men,
James Booth Lockwood, crosses the island and reaches
Greely Fiord, as well as sledging eastwards to the vicinity of Kap Washington (reaching 83° 23’08" N in the process).[123]
1893–96 –
Fridtjof Nansen and
Hjalmar Johansen sledge to 86°13'06" N; their ship, the
Fram, under
Otto Sverdrup, drifts in the ice from the New Siberian Islands west to the northwest coast of Spitsbergen, reaching 85°55'05" N—a new record for a ship.[122]
1903–06 – Norwegian polar explorer
Roald Amundsen leads the first expedition to traverse the entire
Northwest Passage, in the sloop Gjøa; Godfred Hansen, his second-in-command, charts the east coast of Victoria Island north to Cape Nansen (72°02'N, 104°45'W).[130]
1908–09 –
Frederick Cook and Peary each claim to have reached the
North Pole—the former is a fraud, the latter widely doubted.[122]
1910–11 –
Bernhard Hantzsch crosses Baffin Island from Cumberland Sound to the
Koukdjuak River, exploring the west coast of the island north to 68°45’N.[78]
1911–12 – Amundsen becomes the first person to reach the
South Pole. Scott and his team reach the Pole over a month later, all perishing on the return journey.[129]
1913–14 –
Boris Vilkitsky and Per Novopashennyy discover
Severnaya Zemlya, surveying parts of its eastern coast from
Mys Arkticheskiy to Mys Vaygacha (its southeast point), as well as much of its south coast west to Mys Neupokoyeva.[132]
^[1]The Coming of the Portuguese by Paul Lunde, London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies, in Saudi Aramco World – July/August 2005 Volume 56, Number 4,
^Ferguson, D. W. The discovery of Ceylon by the Portuguese in 1506 (Journal of the Ceylon Asiatic Society, vol. xix, no. 59, 1907, pp. 284–384).
^Ganong, W. F., Crucial Maps in the Early Cartography and Place-Nomenclature of the Atlantic Coast of Canada, with an introduction, commentary and map notes by Theodore E. Layng (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1964), Chapter II: "João Àlvares Fagundes," 45–97.
^
abcdefghijklmnopqHayes, Derek (2004). America Discovered: A Historical Atlas of North American Exploration. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre.
^John/Silva, Harold/Maria Beatriz Nizza da (1992). Nova História da Expansão Portuguesa (direcção de Joel Serrão e A. H. de Oliveira Marques)- O Império Luso-brasileiro (1500–1620), vol. VI. Lisboa: Editorial Presença. pp. 114–170.
^
abcdGoodman, Edward J. (1992). The Explorers of South America. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
^
abcdefQuanchi, Max, and John Robson (2005). Historical dictionary of the discovery and exploration of the Pacific Islands. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press.{{
cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link)
^Fonseca, José Nicolau da (1994). An historical and archaeological sketch of the city of Goa: preceded by a short statistical account of the territory of Goa. New Delhi: Asian Educational Services.
ISBN81-206-0207-2.
^Kelsey, Harry (1986). Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo. San Marino: The Huntington Library.
^
abcdefVaughan, Richard (2007). The Arctic: A History. Stroud: A. Sutton.
^Bawlf, Samuel (2003). The Secret Voyage of Sir Francis Drake, 1577–1580. Walker & Company.
^
abcdefghijkLincoln, W. Bruce (2007). The Conquest of a Continent: Siberia and the Russians. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.
^
abcdefghijklmnoLantzeff, George V., and Richard A. Pierce (1973). Eastward to Empire: Exploration and Conquest on the Russian Open Frontier, to 1750. Montreal: McGill-Queen's U.P.{{
cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link)
^[2]Count Moric Benyovszky: A Hungarian Cruzoe in Asia, Fr, Manuel Teixeira, page 129
^Fischer, Steven R. (2005). Island at the End of the World: the Turbulent History of Easter Island. London: Reaktion.
^Tcherkezoff, Serge (2008). First contacts in Polynesia: the Samoan case (1722–1848) : western misunderstanding about sexuality and divinity. Canberra: ANUE Press.
^
abParkman, Francis (1893). France and England in North America: A Series of Historical Narratives. Boston: Little, Brown.
^Champagne, Father Antoine. The Vérendryes and Their Succossors, 1727–1760 (MHS Transactions, Series 3, No. 25, 1968–69 Season).
^
abcdHough, Richard (1994). Captain James Cook: a biography. New York: Norton.
^Farquhar, Francis P. (2007). History of the Sierra Nevada. University of California Press.
ISBN978-0-520-25395-7.
^Hayes, Derek (2001). Historical atlas of the North Pacific Ocean: maps of discovery and scientific exploration, 1500–2000. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre.
^
abHayes, Derek (1999). Historical atlas of the Pacific Northwest: Maps of exploration and discovery; British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Yukon. Seattle: Sasquatch Books.
^
abMackenzie, Alexander (1801). Voyages from Montreal, on the river St. Lawrence, through the continent of North America, to the Frozen and Pacific oceans; in the years 1789 and 1793. London: T. Cadell, jun. and W. Davies.
^Keith, Lloyd (2001). North of Athabasca: Slave Lake and Mackenzie River documents of the North West Company, 1800–1821. Rupert's Land Record Society series. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press.
^Cook, F. A. Captain Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, 1819–21. The Discovery of Alexander I., Peter I., and other islands (Bulletin of the American Geographical Society of New York, Vol. XXXIII, 1901, pp. 36–41).
^
abcdeBockstoce, John R. (2009). Furs and Frontiers in the Far North: the Contest Among Native and Foreign Nations for the Bering Strait Fur Trade. New Haven: Yale University Press.
^Hillary, Edmund (1955). High Adventure: The True Story of the First Ascent of Everest. Hodder & Stoughton, London.
^Curran, Jim (1995). K2: The Story of the Savage Mountain. Hodder & Stoughton.
ISBN978-0-340-66007-2.
Further reading
Morris, Richard B. and Graham W. Irwin, eds. Harper encyclopedia of the modern world: a concise reference history from 1760 to the present (1970)
online
This timeline of European exploration lists major geographic discoveries and other firsts credited to or involving Europeans during the
Age of Discovery and
the following centuries, between the years AD 1418 and 1957.
Despite several significant transoceanic and transcontinental explorations by European civilizations in the preceding centuries, the precise geography of the Earth outside of
Europe was largely unknown to Europeans before the 15th century, when technological advances (especially in
sea travel) as well as the rise of
colonialism,
mercantilism, and a host of other social, cultural, and economic changes made it possible to organize large-scale exploratory expeditions to uncharted parts of the globe.
The
Age of Discovery arguably began in the early 15th century with the rounding of the feared
Cape Bojador and
Portuguese exploration of the west coast of
Africa, while in the last decade of the century the
Spanish sent expeditions far across the Atlantic, where the
Americas would eventually be reached, and the Portuguese found a sea route to
India. In the 16th century, various European states funded expeditions to the interior of both North and South America, as well as to their respective west and east coasts, north to
California and
Labrador and south to
Chile and
Tierra del Fuego. In the 17th century,
Russian explorers conquered
Siberia in search of sables, while the
Dutch contributed greatly to the charting of
Australia. The 18th century witnessed the first extensive explorations of the
South Pacific and
Oceania and the exploration of
Alaska, while the 19th was dominated by exploration of the
polar regions and excursions into the heart of Africa. By the early 20th century, the poles themselves had been reached.
1500 –
Vicente Yáñez Pinzón reaches the northeast coast of what today is Brazil at a cape he names "Santa Maria de la Consolación" (
Cabo de Santo Agostinho) and sails fifty miles up a river he names the "Marañón" (
Amazon).[2]
1502–03 – On his fourth voyage to the Americas, Christopher Columbus explores the North American mainland from
Guanaja off modern
Honduras to the present-day border of
Panama and
Colombia.[2][6]
1521 – Francisco Gordillo and Pedro de Quexos find the mouth of a river they name "Rio de San Juan Bautista" (perhaps
Winyah Bay at the mouth of the
Pee Dee River in modern
South Carolina).[29]
1521 –
Cristóvão Jacques explores the Plate River and explores the
Parana River, entering it for about 23 leagues (around 140 km), to near the present city of
Rosario.[30]
1526–28 – Pizarro and his pilot
Bartolomé Ruiz explore the west coast of South America from the San Juan River south to the
Santa River (about 9°S), becoming the first Europeans to sight the coasts of
Ecuador and
Peru.[32]
1528–36 –
Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and three others are the only survivors of a group of several hundred colonists who travel from the coast of western Florida to the Rio Sinaloa in northern Mexico, where they encounter
Spanishslavers.[38]
1531 –
Diego de Ordaz ascends the Orinoco to the Atures rapids, just past its confluence with the
Meta.[31]
1532–33 – Pizarro explores and conquers inland to
Cajamarca and
Cuzco.[31]
1557–59 –
Juan Fernández Ladrillero and Cortés Hojea explore the
Chilean coast from
Valdivia (39° 48’ S) to Canal Santa Barbara (54° S); the former passes through the western entrance of the
Strait of Magellan to its eastern entrance and back.[2]
1600–01 – Prince Miron Shakhovskoi and D. Khripunov descend the
Ob to the
Ob Estuary and ascend the
Taz River, establishing the
ostrog of
Mangazeya about 161 kilometres (100 mi) to 240 kilometres (150 mi) from its mouth.[46][50]
1610 – Kondratiy Kurochkin leads an expedition, sailing in
kochi, from Turukhansk to the mouth of the
Yenisei and east to the mouth of the
Pyasina on the
Taymyr Peninsula.[43][46]
1610 – A detachment from Mangazeya ascends the Yenisei a further 640 kilometres (400 mi) to its confluence with the
Sym.[52]
1623 –
Jan Carstenszoon discovers the western coast of Cape York Peninsula from Cape Keerweer to the southern mouth of the
Gilbert River; while his consort Willem Joosten van Colster discovers "Arnhemsland" and "Speultsland" (modern
Arnhem Land and perhaps
Groote Eylandt).[62][64]
1628 – Gerrit Frederikszoon de Witt captain of the
Vianen discovers "Witsland" about 21° S, sailing 320 kilometres (200 mi) along the coast and discovering
Barrow Island and parts of the
Dampier Archipelago.[62]
1628–30 – Vasilii Bugor ascends the
Upper Tunguska and portages to the upper Lena, descending it to its confluence with the
Kirenga.[46][52]
1631–32 –
Luke Foxe and
Thomas James, in separate expeditions, both circumnavigate Hudson Bay in search of a Northwest Passage; Foxe sails through
the channel and into
the basin now named after him to 66°47′N, while James winters in
the bay named after him.[59]
1632–33 –
Pyotr Beketov descends the Lena as far as its great bend, erects the ostrog
Yakutsk, and sends a detachment some 720 kilometres (450 mi) downriver (where the zimovieZhigansk is built) and another east up the
Aldan as far as the
Amga (which they also ascend in search of
yasak).[46][50]
1633–38 –
Ilya Perfilyev and Ivan Rebrov sail from Zhigansk in kochi some 800 kilometres (500 mi) downriver to the mouth of the Lena and sail along the coast east and west, reaching the mouths of the
Olenyok,
Yana, and
Indigirka rivers.[46][67]
1638–40 – Poznik Ivanov crosses the
Verkhoyansk Range into the upper reaches of the Yana, and then portages over the
Chersky Range into the Indigirka River system.[46][67]
1644 – Tasman maps the northern coast of Australia, connecting "Nova Guinea" (the Cape York Peninsula) with "the land of D'Eendracht" (Western Australia).[62]
1644–47 – Ivan Pokhabov is the first to ascend the Angara to Lake Baikal, which he crosses to the
Selenga; he later ascends it and reaches
Urga (in present-day
Mongolia).[46][50]
1648–49 –
Semyon Dezhnyov sails from the Kolyma, rounds
Cape Dezhnev (thus proving Asia and America are separate), and reaches the
Anadyr River, which he ascends for some 563 kilometres (350 mi) (here he builds the zimovieAnadyrsk).[45]
1650 – Stadukhin and Semen Motora travel from the Kolyma, across the Anyuyskiy Range, to Anadyrsk.[45]
1651–57 – Stadukhin travels from Anadyrsk to the mouth of the
Penzhina River, then west along the northern coast of the Sea of Okhotsk to
Okhotsk.[46][67]
1653–54 – Beketov ascends the
Khilok, crosses the southern Yablonoi Mountains, and descends the
Ingoda and
Shilka rivers to the latter's confluence with the
Nercha (where his men build the ostrog
Nerchinsk).[46]
1734–37 – Stepan Muravev and Mikhail Pavlov chart the Russian coast from
Arkhangelsk to just east of the
Pechora, while
Stepan Malygin charts it from there to the Ob River, including the
Yamal Peninsula.[45]
1792 –
Jacinto Caamaño enters
Clarence Strait, showing that much of the Alaska Panhandle is an archipelago and not part of the mainland, as had been presumed. He also sights the southwest coast of Revillagigedo Island.[29]
1821 – English naval officer
John Franklin explores over 800 kilometres (500 mi) of coastline from the mouth of the Coppermine River to Point Turnagain on the
Kent Peninsula.[96]
1825–26 – Franklin explores the Arctic coastline from the mouth of the Mackenzie River west to Point Beechey, while his partner
John Richardson explores east to the Coppermine River, naming
Dolphin and Union Strait and discovering "
Wollaston Land" (part of the southern coast of
Victoria Island) — combining to chart over 1,930 kilometres (1,200 mi) of coastline; Richardson also surveys the five arms of
Great Bear Lake.[102]
1826 – Scottish explorer
Alexander Gordon Laing becomes the first European to reach the fabled city of
Timbuktu, but is murdered upon leaving the city.[99]
1837 – Glazunov ascends the
Unalakleet and portages to the middle Yukon.[106]
1837–39 –
Peter Warren Dease and
Thomas Simpson reach
Point Barrow from the east; following two summers they map the region from Point Turnagain to just north of the
Castor and Pollux River on the Boothia Peninsula and chart the coastline of "Victoria Land" (Victoria Island) from Point Back to Point Parry.[107]
1838 – Pyotr Malakhov reaches
Nulato, near the confluence of the
Koyukuk and Yukon.[106]
1850–54 –
Robert McClure transits the
Northwest Passage (by boat and sledge); he and his men also chart some 2,736 kilometres (1,700 mi) of new coastline, consisting of the entire coast of Banks Island and much of the northwestern coast of Victoria Island (from just east of Point Reynolds in the north to
Prince Albert Sound in the south), in the process discovering
Prince of Wales Strait and
McClure Strait.[113][114]
1851 – Rae charts over 965 kilometres (600 mi) of the southern coastline of Victoria Island, from Cape Back to Pelly Point.[110]
1851 –
Erasmus Ommanney,
Sherard Osborn and William Browne chart the northern half of
Prince of Wales Island, Osborn west to Sherard Osborn Point (72°20’ N) and Browne east to
Pandora Island; meanwhile, Robert D. Aldrich charts the west coast of the Bathurst Island group north to Cape Aldrich (about 76°11’ N, on
Île Vanier) and Dr. Abraham Bradford charts the east coast of Melville Island north to Bradford Point.[78][115]
1852 –
Edward Augustus Inglefield reaches 78° 28’ N, entering Smith Sound; also charts Jones Sound as far west as 84° 10’ W.[116]
1852–53 –
Edward Belcher sails two of his squadron to the northwestern coast of the Grinnell Peninsula, wintering at 77° 52’ N, 97° W; later circumnavigates the peninsula via Arthur Strait (now Fiord), discovering
Cornwall and
North Kent.[112]
1853 –
Richard Vesey Hamilton and
George Henry Richards chart the Sabine Peninsula of Melville Island from Cape Mudge east to Bradford Point; the latter, along with Sherard Osborn, also charts the northern coast of Bathurst Island.[112][117]
1853 –
George Mecham discovers
Prince Patrick and
Eglinton Islands and charts the southwest corner of Melville Island; along with
Francis Leopold McClintock, he charts nearly the entire coast of Prince Patrick; McClintock also charts the northwest coast of Melville Island, from Cape Fisher northwest to Cape Scott and south along its west coast to Cape Purchase.[117][118]
1853–54 – American explorer
Elisha Kent Kane and his men chart the
Kane Basin and discover
Kennedy Channel. One of his men, William Morton, reaches as far north as Kap Constitution (81°22’N).[119]
1853–56 – Livingstone becomes the first to traverse Africa from west to east, traveling from
Luanda in Angola to
Quelimane in
Mozambique; also explores much of the upper Zambezi and discovers and names
Victoria Falls.[89]
1854 – Rae charts the Boothia Peninsula from the Castor and Pollux River north to Point de la Guiche, discovering
Rae Strait and proving the insularity of King William Island.[110]
1859 – McClintock charts the remaining 193 kilometres (120 mi) of the continental coastline of America (on the west coast of the Boothia Peninsula), while his companion
Allen Young charts the southern half of Prince of Wales Island.[112]
1881–83 –
Adolphus Greely explores the interior of Ellesmere Island, discovering
Lake Hazen; one of his men,
James Booth Lockwood, crosses the island and reaches
Greely Fiord, as well as sledging eastwards to the vicinity of Kap Washington (reaching 83° 23’08" N in the process).[123]
1893–96 –
Fridtjof Nansen and
Hjalmar Johansen sledge to 86°13'06" N; their ship, the
Fram, under
Otto Sverdrup, drifts in the ice from the New Siberian Islands west to the northwest coast of Spitsbergen, reaching 85°55'05" N—a new record for a ship.[122]
1903–06 – Norwegian polar explorer
Roald Amundsen leads the first expedition to traverse the entire
Northwest Passage, in the sloop Gjøa; Godfred Hansen, his second-in-command, charts the east coast of Victoria Island north to Cape Nansen (72°02'N, 104°45'W).[130]
1908–09 –
Frederick Cook and Peary each claim to have reached the
North Pole—the former is a fraud, the latter widely doubted.[122]
1910–11 –
Bernhard Hantzsch crosses Baffin Island from Cumberland Sound to the
Koukdjuak River, exploring the west coast of the island north to 68°45’N.[78]
1911–12 – Amundsen becomes the first person to reach the
South Pole. Scott and his team reach the Pole over a month later, all perishing on the return journey.[129]
1913–14 –
Boris Vilkitsky and Per Novopashennyy discover
Severnaya Zemlya, surveying parts of its eastern coast from
Mys Arkticheskiy to Mys Vaygacha (its southeast point), as well as much of its south coast west to Mys Neupokoyeva.[132]
^[1]The Coming of the Portuguese by Paul Lunde, London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies, in Saudi Aramco World – July/August 2005 Volume 56, Number 4,
^Ferguson, D. W. The discovery of Ceylon by the Portuguese in 1506 (Journal of the Ceylon Asiatic Society, vol. xix, no. 59, 1907, pp. 284–384).
^Ganong, W. F., Crucial Maps in the Early Cartography and Place-Nomenclature of the Atlantic Coast of Canada, with an introduction, commentary and map notes by Theodore E. Layng (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1964), Chapter II: "João Àlvares Fagundes," 45–97.
^
abcdefghijklmnopqHayes, Derek (2004). America Discovered: A Historical Atlas of North American Exploration. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre.
^John/Silva, Harold/Maria Beatriz Nizza da (1992). Nova História da Expansão Portuguesa (direcção de Joel Serrão e A. H. de Oliveira Marques)- O Império Luso-brasileiro (1500–1620), vol. VI. Lisboa: Editorial Presença. pp. 114–170.
^
abcdGoodman, Edward J. (1992). The Explorers of South America. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
^
abcdefQuanchi, Max, and John Robson (2005). Historical dictionary of the discovery and exploration of the Pacific Islands. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press.{{
cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link)
^Fonseca, José Nicolau da (1994). An historical and archaeological sketch of the city of Goa: preceded by a short statistical account of the territory of Goa. New Delhi: Asian Educational Services.
ISBN81-206-0207-2.
^Kelsey, Harry (1986). Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo. San Marino: The Huntington Library.
^
abcdefVaughan, Richard (2007). The Arctic: A History. Stroud: A. Sutton.
^Bawlf, Samuel (2003). The Secret Voyage of Sir Francis Drake, 1577–1580. Walker & Company.
^
abcdefghijkLincoln, W. Bruce (2007). The Conquest of a Continent: Siberia and the Russians. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.
^
abcdefghijklmnoLantzeff, George V., and Richard A. Pierce (1973). Eastward to Empire: Exploration and Conquest on the Russian Open Frontier, to 1750. Montreal: McGill-Queen's U.P.{{
cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link)
^[2]Count Moric Benyovszky: A Hungarian Cruzoe in Asia, Fr, Manuel Teixeira, page 129
^Fischer, Steven R. (2005). Island at the End of the World: the Turbulent History of Easter Island. London: Reaktion.
^Tcherkezoff, Serge (2008). First contacts in Polynesia: the Samoan case (1722–1848) : western misunderstanding about sexuality and divinity. Canberra: ANUE Press.
^
abParkman, Francis (1893). France and England in North America: A Series of Historical Narratives. Boston: Little, Brown.
^Champagne, Father Antoine. The Vérendryes and Their Succossors, 1727–1760 (MHS Transactions, Series 3, No. 25, 1968–69 Season).
^
abcdHough, Richard (1994). Captain James Cook: a biography. New York: Norton.
^Farquhar, Francis P. (2007). History of the Sierra Nevada. University of California Press.
ISBN978-0-520-25395-7.
^Hayes, Derek (2001). Historical atlas of the North Pacific Ocean: maps of discovery and scientific exploration, 1500–2000. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre.
^
abHayes, Derek (1999). Historical atlas of the Pacific Northwest: Maps of exploration and discovery; British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Yukon. Seattle: Sasquatch Books.
^
abMackenzie, Alexander (1801). Voyages from Montreal, on the river St. Lawrence, through the continent of North America, to the Frozen and Pacific oceans; in the years 1789 and 1793. London: T. Cadell, jun. and W. Davies.
^Keith, Lloyd (2001). North of Athabasca: Slave Lake and Mackenzie River documents of the North West Company, 1800–1821. Rupert's Land Record Society series. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press.
^Cook, F. A. Captain Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, 1819–21. The Discovery of Alexander I., Peter I., and other islands (Bulletin of the American Geographical Society of New York, Vol. XXXIII, 1901, pp. 36–41).
^
abcdeBockstoce, John R. (2009). Furs and Frontiers in the Far North: the Contest Among Native and Foreign Nations for the Bering Strait Fur Trade. New Haven: Yale University Press.
^Hillary, Edmund (1955). High Adventure: The True Story of the First Ascent of Everest. Hodder & Stoughton, London.
^Curran, Jim (1995). K2: The Story of the Savage Mountain. Hodder & Stoughton.
ISBN978-0-340-66007-2.
Further reading
Morris, Richard B. and Graham W. Irwin, eds. Harper encyclopedia of the modern world: a concise reference history from 1760 to the present (1970)
online