swap_horiz Samuel de Champlain Alternatives

1

Ferdinand Magellan

Ferdinand Magellan was a Portuguese navigator who entered Spanish service and commanded an expedition that departed in 1...

Pacific Maritime Portuguese Circumnavigation

9.2 Excellent

2

Vasco da Gama

Vasco da Gama was a Portuguese navigator whose first voyage reached India by sea in 1498 after rounding the Cape of Good...

Maritime Portuguese Indian Ocean Age Of Exploration

8.9 Great

3

Xuanzang

Xuanzang was a 7th-century Chinese Buddhist monk who traveled overland to India around 629–645 CE to collect sacred text...

Asia Ancient Chinese Terrestrial

8.9 Great

4

Vasco Núñez de Balboa

Vasco Nunez de Balboa was a Spanish explorer and colonial administrator active in the early 16th century. In 1513 he cro...

Spanish Pacific Panama Terrestrial

8.1 Great

5

Alexander Mackenzie

Alexander Mackenzie was a Scottish-born fur trader and explorer whose journeys mapped major waterways across what is now...

18TH Century Canada British Terrestrial

8.1 Great

6

Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca

Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca was a Spanish explorer who, after a failed 1527 expedition to Florida, spent eight years wand...

Spanish North America Terrestrial Age Of Exploration

7.8 Good

7

Alexandra David-Néel

Alexandra David-Néel was a French-Belgian explorer, writer, opera singer, and student of Asian religions whose travels c...

French Asia 20TH Century Terrestrial

7.8 Good

8

Jacques Cartier

Jacques Cartier was a French navigator whose three voyages to North America between 1534 and 1542 helped establish Franc...

French Canada Maritime St Lawrence

7.5 Good

9

René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle

René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle (1643-1687) was a French explorer who led expeditions across the Great Lakes region and...

French North America 17TH Century Mississippi

7.4 Good

10

Francisco de Orellana

Francisco de Orellana (c. 1511–1546) was a Spanish conquistador and explorer credited as the first European to navigate...

Spanish South America Terrestrial Age Of Exploration

7.4 Good

11

René Caillié

René Caillié was a French explorer who in 1828 became the first non-Muslim European to visit Timbuktu in present-day Mal...

French 19TH Century Africa Terrestrial

7.4 Good

12

Jacques Marquette

Jacques Marquette (1637–1675) was a French Jesuit missionary and explorer who, alongside fur trader Louis Jolliet, led t...

French North America 17TH Century Mississippi

7.3 Good

13

Louis Joliet

Louis Jolliet was a French-Canadian explorer prominent in the mapping of North America during the 17th century. He is be...

French North America 17TH Century Mississippi

7.2 Good

14

Hernán Cortés

Hernán Cortés was a Spanish conquistador who led the military campaign that resulted in the fall of the Aztec Empire and...

Spanish Mesoamerica Terrestrial Conquistador

7.1 Good

15

Francisco Pizarro

Spanish conquistador who conquered the Inca Empire between 1532 and 1572, capturing and executing emperor Atahualpa and...

Spanish South America Terrestrial Conquistador

6.9 Fair

16

Hernando de Soto

Hernando de Soto was a Spanish explorer and conquistador who led an expedition from Cuba into Florida in 1539 and across...

Spanish North America Terrestrial Conquistador

6.9 Fair

17

Captain John Smith

Captain John Smith was an English soldier and explorer who helped establish the first permanent English settlement in No...

British Virginia North America Terrestrial

6.9 Fair

18

Francisco Vásquez de Coronado

Spanish explorer who from 1540 to 1542 led an expedition through the American Southwest searching for the mythical Seven...

Spanish North America Southwest Terrestrial

6.8 Fair

19

Juan Ponce de León

Spanish explorer who in 1513 led the first known European expedition to Florida and is traditionally credited with searc...

Spanish Florida North America Terrestrial

6.7 Fair

20

Walter Raleigh

English explorer and courtier who sponsored expeditions to North America in the 1580s and organized the failed Roanoke C...

British South America Guiana Terrestrial

6.6 Fair