- Sven Hedin
Sven Anders Hedin (February 19, 1865 - November 26, 1952) was a Swedish explorer, geographer and geopolitician. Hedin was born in Stockholm. Between 1886 and 1892 he studied geology, mineralogy, zoology, and Latin in Stockholm, Uppsala, Berlin, and Halle. He was a student of Ferdinand von Richthofen. Between his graduation in 1892 and 1935 he led several expeditions to Central Asia. In 1902 he was the last Swede ever to be ennobled with a hereditary title. - Marco Polo
Marco Polo (September 15 1254 - January 9 1324 at earliest but no later than June 1325) was a Venetian trader and explorer who gained fame for his worldwide travels, recorded in the book "Il Milione" ("The Million" or "The Travels of Marco Polo"). Polo, together with his father Niccolò and his uncle Maffeo, was one of the first Westerners to travel the Silk Road to China (which was then called "Cathay") and visit the Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, … - Vasco da Gama
Dom Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira ((Sines or Vidigueira, Alentejo, Portugal, ca. either 1460 or 1469 - December 24, 1524 in Kochi, India) was a Portuguese 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. - John Whitehead
John Whitehead (June 30, 1860 - June 2, 1899) was an English explorer and naturalist. Whitehead travelled in Borneo between 1885 and 1888, where he collected a number of zoological specimens new to science, including Whitehead's Broadbill ("Calyptomena whiteheadi"). On his return he wrote "The Explorations of Mount Kina-Balu" (1893). Between 1893 and 1896 he explored in the Philippines, again collecting many new species, including the Philippine Eagle, … - Ibn Battuta
Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Battuta (Arabic: "' was a Berber Sunni Islamic scholar and jurisprudent from the Maliki Madhhab (a school of Fiqh, or Sunni Islamic law), and at times a Qadi or judge. However, he is best known as a traveler and explorer, whose account documents his travels and excursions over a period of almost thirty years, covering some 73,000 miles (117,000 km). These journeys covered almost the entirety of the known Islamic world, … - Francis Younghusband
Lieutenant Colonel Sir Francis Edward Younghusband (31 May, 1863 - 31 July, 1942) was a British Army officer, explorer, and spiritualist. He is remembered chiefly for his travels in the Far East and Central Asia and his writings on the subject. - Vitus Bering
Vitus Jonassen Bering (also, less correctly, "Behring") (August 1681-December 19, 1741) was a Danish-born navigator in the service of the Russian Navy, a captain-"komandor" known among the Russian sailors as Ivan Ivanovich. He was born in the town of Horsens in Denmark and died at Bering Island, near the Kamchatka Peninsula. After a voyage to the East Indies, he joined the Russian Navy in 1703, … - Freya Stark
Dame Freya Madeleine Stark, DBE (b. 31 Jan1893, Paris France - d. 9 May 1993, Asolo Italy) was a British travel writer. In between that time, she was famous for her experiences in the Middle East, her writing, and her cartography. Freya Stark was not only one of the first Western women to travel through the Arabian deserts (Hadhramaut); she often travelled solo into areas where few Europeans, let alone women, had ever been. - Zheng He
Zheng He (1371-1433), was a Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat and fleet admiral, who made the voyages collectively referred to as the travels of "Eunuch Sanbao to the Western Ocean" (Chinese: 三保太監下西洋) or "Zheng He to the Western Ocean", from 1405 to 1433 - Wilfred Thesiger
Sir Wilfred Patrick Thesiger, KBE, DSO, (3 June, 1910 - August 24, 2003) was a British explorer and travel writer born in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. His father was a British diplomat. - L. A. Waddell
Lieutenant Colonel Laurence Austine Waddell (1854 - 1938) was a British explorer, collector in Tibet, and author. Waddell traveled extensively in India throughout the 1890s (including Sikkim and areas on the borders of Nepal and Tibet) and wrote about the Tibetan Buddhist religious practices he observed there. Stationed with the British army in Darjeeling, Waddell learned the Tibetan language and even visited Tibet several times secretly, in disguise. - Zhou Man
Zhou Man, was a 15th century Chinese admiral and explorer. He was born into a wealthy merchant family in the year 1378; when he was six years old, his father died on an overseas voyage to Korea. Mourning his father's death, he left his mother and his four younger siblings behind. He worked his way into the emperor's staff by the age of 22. At 32, he was assigned "Grand Leader of All Vessels Commanded by the Emperor's Swift Hand." Zhou, … - Gerard Leachman
Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Gerard E. Leachman CIE DSO (1880 - August 12, 1920), was a British soldier and spy who travelled extensively in Arabia. Leachman was commissioned into the Royal Sussex Regiment and served in India and in the Boer War. He spent most of his career as a political officer and spy in Iraq, where he was instrumental in pacifying warring tribes to bring stability to the new country. Leachman also made various expeditions further south into Arabia, … - Afonso de Albuquerque
Afonso de Albuquerque or Afonso d'Albuquerque (1453, Alhandra - Goa, December 16, 1515) was a Portuguese naval general whose activities helped establish the Portuguese colonial empire in the Indian sea. - T. E. Lawrence
Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Edward Lawrence, CB, DSO (August 16, 1888 - May 19, 1935), known professionally as T. E. Lawrence, was a British soldier renowned especially for his liaison role during the Arab Revolt of 1916-18, but whose vivid personality and writings, along with the extraordinary breadth and variety of his activities and associations, have made him the object of fascination throughout the world as "Lawrence of Arabia". - Nikolai Przhevalsky
Nikolai Mikhaylovich Przhevalsky, also spelled Przewalski and Prjevalsky, was a Russian geographer and explorer of Central and Eastern Asia. Although he never reached his final goal, Lhasa in Tibet, he discovered the only extant species of wild horse and added immensely to the store of European knowledge on Central Asia. Przhevalsky was born in Smolensk into a noble Belarusian family, and studied there and at the military academy in St. - Emil Trinkler
Emil Trinkler (May 19, 1896, Bremen - April 19, 1931, Bremen) was a German geographer, explorer of Asia ("Asienforscher"). - Gertrude Bell
Gertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell was a British writer, traveller, political analyst, administrator in Arabia, and an archaeologist who found Mesopotamian ruins. She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1917. Bell and T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) are recognized as almost wholly responsible for creating the Hashimite dynasty in Jordan and the modern state of Iraq. - St. John Philby
Harry St. John Bridger Philby CIE (April 3, 1885 - September 30, 1960), also known as Jack Philby or Sheikh Abdullah, his Arabic name, was an Arabist, explorer, writer, and British colonial office intelligence operative. He was born at St. John's, Badulla, Ceylon (now called Sri Lanka), and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied oriental languages under E.G. Browne and was a friend and classmate of Jawaharlal Nehru, … - Nain Singh
Nain Singh (नैन सिंह) was one of the first of the pundits who explored the Himalayas for the British. He mapped the trade route through Nepal to Tibet, determined for the first time the location and altitude of Lhasa, and mapped a large section of the Tsangpo, the major Tibetan river. In 1865, with his cousin Mani Singh, Nain Singh left Dehra Dun, the Geometrical Survey of India's northern India headquarters, for Nepal. - Paulo da Gama
Paulo da Gama, pron., (died at Angra do Heroísmo, July 1499) was a Portuguese explorer, son of Estevão da Gama and the older brother of Vasco da Gama. He took part on the first sea trip from Europe to India, led by his brother, commanding the ship "São Rafael", which would be later scuttled in the return trip. Paulo da Gama joined the "São Gabriel", but, already sick, died the day after his ship arrived at the Azores. - Bertram Thomas
Bertram Thomas (June 13, 1892 - December 27, 1950), was an English civil servant who is the first documented Westerner to cross the Rub' al Khali (Empty Quarter). He was born in Easton in Gordano near Bristol and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. After working for the Civil Service, he served in Belgium during World War I before being posted to the Somerset Light Infantry in Mesopotamia (now Iraq) between 1916 and 1918. - Mamiya Rinzo
Mamiya Rinzo was a Japanese explorer who lived during the late Edo period. Later in his life he would become an undercover agent for the Tokugawa shogunate. He is best known for his exploration and mapping of Sakhalin (known to the Japanese as 樺太, "Karafuto"), which resulted in his discovery that Sakhalin was indeed an island and not connected to the Asian continent. Mamiya was born in 1775 in Tsukuba District, Hitachi Province, in what is now Tsukubamirai, … - Francisco de Almeida
Francisco de Almeida, also known as "the Great Dom Francisco" (born c.1450 in Lisbon; died March 1, 1510 at the Cape of Good Hope), was a Portuguese nobleman, soldier and explorer. He distinguished himself as a counsellor to King John II of Portugal and later in the wars against the Moors and in the conquest of Granada in 1492. In 1503 he was appointed as the first governor and viceroy of the Portuguese State of India ("Estado da Índia"). - Pyotr Kozlov
Pyotr Kuzmich Kozlov (born October 3, 1863 near Smolensk; died September 26, 1935 in Peterhof) was a Russian explorer who continued the studies of Nikolai Przhevalsky in Mongolia and Tibet. Although prepared by his parents for military career, Kozlov chose to join Przhevalsky's expedition and continued travelling in Asia with his successors, Pevtsov and Roborovsky. In 1895, he took general command of the expedition from ailing Roborovsky. - Odoric Of Pordenone
Odoric of Pordenone (real name Odoric Mattiussi or Mattiuzzi) ("c". 1286 - 14 January 1331) was one of the chief travellers of the later Middle Ages. His account of his visit to China was an important source for the account of John Mandeville; many of the uncredible reports in Mandeville have proven to be garbled versions of Odoric's eyewitness descriptions. - Albert Von Le Coq
Albert von Le Coq (1860 - 1930) was a German archaeologist and explorer of Central Asia. He was heir to a sizable fortune derived from breweries and wineries scattered throughout Central and Eastern Europe, thus allowing him the luxury of travel and study at the Berlin Ethnological Museum. Serving as assistant to the head of the Museum, Professor Grunwedel, Le Coq helped plan and organize expeditions into the regions of western Asia, specifically areas near the Silk Road. - Charles Montagu Doughty
Charles Montagu Doughty (1843 - 1926) was an English poet, writer, and traveller. He is best known for his 1888 travel book "Travels in Arabia Deserta", a work in two volumes which, though it had little immediate influence upon its publication, slowly became a kind of touchstone of ambitious travel writing, one valued as much for its language as for its content. T.E. Lawrence rediscovered the book and caused it to be republished in the 1920s, … - Alexandra David-Néel
Alexandra David-Néel born Louise Eugénie Alexandrine Marie David was a French explorer, anarchist, spiritualist, Buddhist and writer, most known for her visit to Lhasa, Tibet, in 1924, when it was forbidden to foreigners. David-Néel wrote over 30 books about Eastern religion, philosophy, and her travels. Her teachings influenced beat writers Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, and philosopher Alan Watts. - John Wood
John Wood (1812 - November 14, 1871) was a Scottish naval officer, surveyor, cartographer and explorer, principally remembered for his exploration of central Asia. Wood was born in Perth, Scotland. After schooling at Perth Academy, he joined the British Indian Navy and soon demonstrated a flair for surveying. Many of the maps of southern Asia which he compiled remained standard for the rest of the nineteenth century. - Niccolò da Conti
Niccolò Da Conti (also Nicolò de' Conti was a Venetian merchant and explorer, born in Chioggia, who traveled to India and Southeast Asia during the early 15th century. Da Conti departed from Venice about 1419 and established himself in Damascus, Syria, where he studied Arabic. Over a period of 25 years, he traveled as a Muslim merchant to numerous places in Asia. - Jorge Álvares
Jorge Álvares is credited as the first Portuguese explorer to have reached China and Hong Kong. - Pedro Mascarenhas
Pedro Mascarenhas (1470- June 23, 1555) was a Portuguese explorer and colonial administrator. He was the first European to discover the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia in 1512. He also encountered the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius in 1512, although he may not have been the first Portuguese explorer to do so; earlier expeditions by Diogo Dias and Alfonso de Albuquerque may have encountered the islands. - Alois Musil
Alois Musil (June 30, 1868 in Rychtářov near Vyškov - April 12, 1944 in Otryby near Český Šternberk) was a Czech explorer, orientalist and writer. Musil was born in family of a poor farmer and was given to study to be priest. After a break he finished the study in 1895. His unhealthy lifestyle caused him a serious lung disease. Musil took up bible study in newly opened religious institute in Jerusalem but left in disappointment after 14 months. - Ahmad Ibn Fadlan
Ahmad ibn Fadlān ibn al-Abbās ibn Rašīd ibn Hammād was a 10th century Muslim writer and traveler who wrote an account of his travels as a member of an embassy of the Abbasid Caliph of Baghdad to the king of the Volga Bulgars, the "Kitāb ilā Malik al-Saqāliba" - Georg Wilhelm Steller
Georg Wilhelm Steller (March 10, 1709 - November 14, 1746) was a German botanist, zoologist, physician and explorer, who worked in Russia and present-day Alaska. Steller was born in Windsheim, near Nuremberg and studied at the University of Wittenberg. He then traveled to Russia to work at the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, arriving in November 1734. Steller was appointed as naturalist on Vitus Bering's Second Kamchatka Expedition, … - Benjamin Of Tudela
Benjamin of Tudela (fl. 12th century) was a medieval Navarrese Jewish rabbi and explorer. In his journey he passed through large swathes of Europe, Asia, and Africa. His vivid descriptions of western Asia preceded those of Marco Polo by a hundred years. With his broad education and vast knowledge of languages, Benjamin of Tudela is a major figure in the history of geography and Judaism. - William Gifford Palgrave
William Gifford Palgrave (1826-1888) was an Arabic scholar, born at Westminster, England. He was the son of Sir Francis Palgrave, K.H. and Elizabeth Turner. He was educated at the Charterhouse School, then occupying its original site near Smithfield, and under the head-mastership of Dr. Saunders, afterwards Dean of Peterborough. Among other honours he won the school gold medal for classical verse, and proceeded to Trinity College, Oxford, where he obtained a scholarship, … - Yermak Timofeyevich
Yermak Timofeyevich, Cossack leader and explorer of Siberia. His exploration of Siberia marked the beginning of the expansion of Russia towards this region and its colonization. ("Timofeyevich" is his patronimic, not the last name, so in references it must be looked up at "Yermak" or "Yermak Timofeyevich".) In 1558, the Stroganov merchant family received their first patent for colonizing "the abundant region along the Kama River", … - Giovanni da Pian del Carpine
Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, or John of Plano Carpini or John of Pian de Carpine or Joannes de Plano (c. 1180-1252) was one of the first Europeans to enter the court of the Great Khan of the Mongol Empire and the author of the earliest important Western work on northern and central Asia, Rus, and other regions of the Tatar dominion.
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