Explorers

Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus (c. 1451 – 20 May 1506) was an Italian navigator, colonizer, and explorer whose voyages across the Atlantic Ocean led to general European awareness of theAmerican continents in the Western Hemisphere. With his four voyages of exploration and several attempts at establishing a settlement on the island of Hispaniola, all funded by Isabella I of Castile, he initiated the process of Spanish colonization which foreshadowed generalEuropean colonization of the "New World".  

Vasco da Gama

Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈvaʃku dɐ ˈɡɐmɐ]) (Sines orVidigueira, Alentejo, Portugal, around 1460 or 1469 – 24 December 1524 in Kochi, India) was aPortuguese explorer, one of the most successful in the European Age of Discovery and the commander of the first ships to sail directly from Europe to India. For a short time in 1524 he was Governor of Portuguese India under the title of Viceroy.

Marco Polo

Marco Polo (English pronunciation: /ˈmɑrkoʊ ˈpoʊloʊ/  (   listen); Italian pronunciation: [ˈmarko ˈpɔːlo]) (c. 1254 – January 8, 1324) was a merchant from the Venetian Republic who wrote Il Milione, which introduced Europeans to Central Asia and China. He learned about trading whilst his father and uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo, travelled through Asia and met Kublai Khan. In 1269, they returned to Venice to meet Marco for the first time. The three of them embarked on an epic journey to Asia, returning after 24 years to find Venice at war with Genoa; Marco was imprisoned, and dictated his stories to a cellmate. He was released in 1299, became a wealthymerchant, married and had 3 children. He died in 1324, and was buried in San Lorenzo.

James Cook

Captain James Cook FRS RN (7 November [O.S. 27 October] 1728 – 14 February 1779) was anEnglish explorer, navigator and cartographer, ultimately rising to the rank of Captain in the Royal Navy. Cook was the first to map Newfoundland prior to making three voyages to the Pacific Ocean during which he achieved the first European contact with the eastern coastline ofAustralia and the Hawaiian Islands as well as the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand.[1]

Cook joined the British merchant navy as a teenager[2] and joined the Royal Navy in 1755. He saw action in the Seven Years' War, and subsequently surveyed and mapped much of the entrance to the Saint Lawrence River during the siege of Quebec. This allowed General Wolfe to make his famous stealth attack on the Plains of Abraham, and helped to bring Cook to the attention of the Admiralty and Royal Society.