Marco Polo

10 Great Explorers of Ancient World

Wanderlust was one primary reason behind these 10 truly great explorers to leave a legacy when exploration is into consideration. Today, though technology is improving day-by-day, travelling whole world still seems to be a challenging task. A huge respect lies behind people who explored the world right from the ancient times to almost notify the world with lot of discoveries. Legacy left by them are still being followed in the modern world. We have come up with the 10 great explorers of ancient world who are worth admiring even today.

10. John Cabot (1450-1500)

John Cabot

John Cabot, a maritime explorer was born in 1450 in Italy. He explored the coastal parts of Northern America. Lived in the same time period as that of Christopher Columbus. Cabot initiated his first voyage but was unfortunately a big time failure. However, he never gave up on his failure, which made him the most renowned explorers in the world. In 1497, he hailed towards Ireland, Atlantic, and Peninsula and returned back to Bristol in England. Very unfortunate to note that, his death is still considered a mystery and contradictory. Many schools, streets, squares, towers and so on were named after Cabot in Italy, England, Canada for his honor and legacy.

9. Roald Amundsen (1872-1928)

Roald Amundsen

Roald Amundsen is a well-known explorer of all times, who was the first person to reach South Pole and North Pole. He undertook the first expedition to travel through Northwest Passage in the Arctic region. Born in 1872 in Norway, his passion was to explore places in wilderness. He showed the world on how to encounter the harshness of pole regions and counter disease scurvy. Honestly even difficult to imagine the places like Antarctic to explore today, where Amundsen with huge grit explored multiple places. Additionally, many names were named after the exploration of Amundsen. In 1921, he was lost during a rescue missions and there are many suspicions of him being killed by plane crash.

8. Captain James Cook (1728-1779)

Captain James Cook

James cook was the first European to discover Hawaii. Born in 1728 in Yorkshire, UK, he was a captain of Royal Navy. Cook became the first European to explore Australia’s east coast. Very accurate in terms of maps, people followed his map till the late 20th century and called him the “master mapmaker”. Cook sailed three voyages and discovered Pacific Islands, Hawaii and Cook Islands. In his first voyage, he reached New Zealand, and then hailed to Antarctic Circle to finally reach the freezing zone of Western Canada and Alaska. In 1779, he became prey in hands of Hawaiian tribes while trying to invade the Islands and take over the king of Hawaii hostage.

7. Xuan Zang (602-664)

Xuan Zang

Xuan Zang was a Chinese Buddhist monk born in 602. To gain in-depth knowledge on Buddhism, Zang travelled almost all the place in China since his early stage of life. In 627, he started his journey from Gansu and finally reached India. On reaching India, he could cover most of the Northern parts of India to study Indian and Chinese Buddhism. His book “Great Tang Records on the Western Regions” became the main source for the study of medieval central Asia and India, during 646. Great research work by Zang for over 17 years helped many scientists to find ancient sites. Finally, his exploration came to an end as he died in 664.

6. Amerigo Vespucci (1454-1512)

Amerigo Vespucci

The country “America” today, was named from one of greatest explorers of all time, Amerigo Vespucci. Italian by native, Vespucci explored took four voyages and the last was allegedly recognized to be in 1503. The initial thought process put forward by Vespucci proved wrong of Brazil and West Indies from representing as part of Asia. He discovered two well-known cities today, Rio-de-Janerio and Rio de la Plata. In 1500, he also discovered the mouth of Amazon River. Wanderlust in his travel, the passion behind his voyage brought a new continent name “America” after Asia, Europe, and Africa.

5. Vasco da Gama (1469-1524)

Vasco da Gama

Vasco da Gama, a Portuguese explorer born in 1469, was instrumental in establishing a sea trade between Portugal and India. In his first voyage, he left Portugal in 1487 and reached India in 1498, spending close to a decade. He introduced the spices of pepper and cinnamon to Europe. Further, Portugal’s monopoly could not be challenged. His sea route was between Europe and India, passing through Southern Africa, which was considered a milestone in World history of exploration. Vasco was a renowned figure to establish colonial empire in Asia and India. In his second voyage, Vasco was brutally killed by rival traders. He was held responsible for killing about 400 Muslim pilgrims on board setting all together on fire. Finally, he died suffering from Malaria in 1524.

4. Marco Polo (1254-1324)

Marco Polo

Born in 1254, Marco Polo was a merchant from city of Venice. His four years trip to Asia influenced the trading between Europe and East India. Further, he reached China from Karakoram to the city of Beijing. He spent about 24 years in Asia and returned to Venice in 1295. In the very next year, he was caught during the battle of Curzola. “The Travels of Marco Polo” book was written by him, which gave Europeans a comprehensive glimpses of China, Japan and India.

3. Ibn Battuda (1304-1369)

Ibn Battuda

Ibn Battuda is considered as history’s greatest travelers who was a Morocco sailor born in 1304. He travelled during the medieval world for over 30 years. Battuda explored countries such as North America, Iraq, Persia, Somalia and the Arabian Peninsula between 1325 and 1332. He had taken both sea and land to reach Black Sea area. During mid-14th century he explored even Spain and Africa. Bible of his travel over his life term is written in the book “The Travels”. Even today, he inspires many Muslims and travel writers across the globe in terms of exploration. His passion against travel is considered remarkable.

2. Christopher Columbus (1451-1506)

Christopher Columbus

In 1472, with the help of king Ferdinand from Spain, Christopher Columbus along with 120 crew members sailed to discover a whole new world. He handled on a Watling’s Island in the Bahamas. Further, he named it as San Salvador. Subsequently, Columbus explored Cuba, Jamaica and Haiti. Also spotted the lands of South America in the third sail and explored Trinidad, Tobago and Grenada. Finally, his last voyage was in 1502, where he reached Panama, Costa Rica and Honduras. Very interesting to note that he travelled almost all the places through sea.

1. Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521)

Ferdinand Magellan

Magellan was the first explorer in history to circumnavigate the globe and the first voyager to cross Pacific Ocean. Born for a Portuguese family in 1480, he was appointed by a king of Spain to find a round to Maluku islands, which was located west of New Guinea in 1505. Additionally, Maluku Islands was also recognized as “Spice Islands”. In 1519, about five ships carrying 270 crew members left Spain under the command of Magellan. They travelled through Canary Islands, Brazil, Ecuador, and Cape Virgins.  The 600 Km long passage near Cape Virgins is currently recognized as “Strait of Magellan”. The Expedition reached Philippines in 1521, which was the first exploration of Europeans reaching the place. Magellan couldn’t complete the entire voyage as he was killed during the “Battle of Mactan” in 1521 in Philippines in a very brutal manner.

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