Some of the most important explorations of Western civilization (in chronological order) :
| Exploration | When | Who (explorer) |
|---|---|---|
| Northwest African coast | about 500 BC | Hanno the Navigator |
| The Mediterranean Sea | 5th century BC | Himilco the Navigator |
| Around western Europe to Thule Island | about 330 BC | Pytheas of Marseilles |
| The Middle East and India | 325 BC-280 BC | Alexander the Great |
| Greenland | 900 | Gunnbjörn Ulfsson |
| Silk Road | 1274-1295 | Marco Polo |
| Azores | 1427 | Diogo de Silves |
| Cape Bojador | 1434 | Gil Eanes |
| Sierra Leone | 1460 | Pêro de Sintra |
| Congo River | 1482 | Diogo Cão |
| Cape of Good Hope | 1487 | Bartolomeu Dias |
| Americas | 1492 | Christopher Columbus |
| Sea route to India | 1497-1498 | Vasco da Gama |
| Caribbean | 1493-1502 | Christopher Columbus |
| Jamaica | 1494 | Christopher Columbus |
| Brazil | 1500 | Pedro Álvares Cabral |
| Inland Mexico and Central America | 1519-1524 | Hernán Cortés |
| Circumnavigate the Globe | 1519-1522 | Ferdinand Magellan and Juan Sebastián Elcano |
| Timor | 1522 | Juan Sebastián Elcano |
| Peru, Inca Empire and Ecuador | 1531-1534 | Francisco Pizarro |
| The North | 1574-1631 | Henry Hudson |
| The North | 1594-1597 | Willem Barents |
| Oceania | 1642-1643 | Abel Tasman |
| Oceania | 1768-1779 | James Cook |
| North Pacific, western Alaska, east shores of Asia | 1771 | Moric Benovsky |
| Hawaiian Islands | 1778 | James Cook |
| Central America and Latin America | 1799-1803 | Alexander von Humboldt |
| North America | 1804-1806 | Lewis and Clark Expedition |
| The North Magnetic Pole | 1831-06-01 | James Clark Ross |
| Africa | 1849-1863 | David Livingstone |
| The Burke and Wills expedition (Central Australia) | 1860-1861 | Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills |
| The Northern Sea Route | 1878 | Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld |
| The South Magnetic Pole | January 16, 1909 | Douglas Mawson, Edgeworth David, and Alistair Mackay |
| The North Pole | April 6, 1909 | Robert Peary |
| The South Pole | December 14, 1911 | Roald Amundsen |
| The South Pole | January 1, 1918 | Robert Falcon Scott |
| Mount Everest Summit | May 29, 1953 | Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay |
| The Moon | July 20, 1969 | Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin (Apollo 11) |
| Mars | 1960 to present | NASA and other space agency exploration robots |
Famous quotes containing the words list of and/or list:
“My list of things I never pictured myself saying when I pictured myself as a parent has grown over the years.”
—Polly Berrien Berends (20th century)
“Weigh what loss your honor may sustain
If with too credent ear you list his songs,
Or lose your heart, or your chaste treasure open
To his unmastered importunity.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)