Some of the best explorers the world has seen came from European countries like Italy, Portugal, England and Spain. These were the explorers who dared to venture out into the seas to further the interests of their respective countries and kings. Given below are some of the most popular explorers the history has ever seen:
1] Pedro Alvares Cabral
The credit of discovering Brazil goes to the Portuguese explorer Pedro Alvares Cabral. During the course of his journey into theAmericas, one of the ships under his command also discovered the present dayMadagascar. He is known to have died of Malaria few years after he discovered these important land masses.
2] Ferdinand Magellan
Ferdinand was possibly one of the most celebrated adventurers to have come fromPortugal. He is among the first sailors to have led an expedition to cross the vast Pacific Ocean before venturing into theAtlantic Ocean. His mission was to expand the throne and improve the trade route for the King Charles I. Ferdinand was renowned for his extreme leadership and spirit.
3] James Cook
In addition to being an explorer, the famous British Captain James Cook is remembered for being a cartographer and navigator. He was among the first adventurer to have navigated through a section of Australian coast. It is believed that most of his expeditions included a battery of scientists and many thousands of animals and plants for the king. Most of the campaigns undertaken by James Cook were successful.
4] John Cabot
John Cabot was one of most famous Italian explorer to have made his way across the sea. He is known to have reached the new world fromBristolafter he set sail in one of his ships northwards. The credit of building the first ever Catholic Church in the new world goes to John Cabot.
5] Marco Polo
He is possibly one explorer who needs no introduction. Most of his expeditions are well documented. He is known to have traveled more than 15000 miles in all of 24 years that he set aside for expedition purposes. Christopher Columbus is believed to have been inspired by the voyages undertaken by Marco Polo and the reason why he visitedChinaduring one of his expeditions.
6] Ibn Battuta
Ibn Battuta traveled over 75000 miles during his lifetime and is known to have covered most parts of Asia, including a number of cities inChina. Most of his adventures are well documented by his writer and this includes descriptions of various cities inChina,Indiaand other countries.
7] Vasco Da Gama
One of the best known Portuguese explorers, Vasco Da Gama was given the job of protecting trading stations of the Portuguese King from the French. Whilst he did this job with great success, he is also best remembered for having undertaken voyages around the coast of African continent and then on toIndia.
8] Christopher Columbus
In spite of being well remembered for his sailing and navigating abilities, Christopher Columbus was never known for his calculating abilities. A testimony for this fact can be reiterated that he estimated the trip to the new world to be 3000 nautical miles when it was 12000 nautical miles! However, his abilities as a sailor were unquestionable. In fact, he was able to figure out the direction of winds and use that to his advantage.
9] Amerigo Vespucci
The credit of sailing up to the coast ofSouth Americaand dealing with the natives there goes to the Italian explorer, Amerigo Vespucci. In addition to this, he was a great cartographer and navigator.
10] Leif Ericson
Just like his father, Eric the Red, Leif Ericson was an outlaw. It is widely believed that he made his landings on the shores of the States and Greenland inCanadaas early as 1005 AD. Nonetheless, the credit of discovering Americas goes to Christopher Columbus, who came later.
Written by Elizabeth James who blogs for Emergency Food Storage, the Survival Food company.
