Great explorers biography

Beginning from the early 15th century until the middle of the 17th century, European explorers took to the seas in search of trade, knowledge, and power.

Famous explorers names

The story of human exploration is as old as the story of civilisation, and many of the stories of these explorers have become legends over the centuries. Originally invited to the court of Kublai Khan with his father and uncle, he remained in China for 17 years where the Mongol ruler sent him on fact-finding missions to distant parts of the empire.

Polo was not the first European to reach China, but his travelogue inspired many explorers — among them, Christopher Columbus. His writings also had a significant influence on European cartography, ultimately leading to the Age of Discovery a century later. The Portuguese prince has a legendary status in the early stages of European exploration — despite never having embarked on an exploratory voyage himself.

His patronage of Portuguese exploration led to expeditions across the Atlantic Ocean and along the western coast of Africa, and the colonising of the Azores and Madeira islands. Posthumous portrait of Columbus by Sebastiano del Piombo, There are no known authentic portraits of Columbus. Instead, the Italian navigator found himself on an island that later became known as the Bahamas.

In , the Portuguese explorer set sail from Lisbon towards India. His voyage made him the first European to reach India by sea, and opened up the first sea route connecting Europe to Asia. It is not known if he died in a storm during his final voyage in , or if he returned safely to London and died shortly after.

Most famous explorers

While on a voyage to India Cabral accidentally sailed too far south west, and found himself at present-day Porto Seguro on the coast of Bahia. Several years after, the Portuguese began colonising the area. However it was too late, and the name stuck. The Portuguese explorer was the first European to cross the Pacific Ocean, and organised the Spanish expedition to the East Indies from to