Exploration is the act of searching or traveling for the purpose of discovery, e.g. of unknown regions, including space (space exploration), or oil, gas, coal, ores, caves, water (also known as prospecting), or information.

Exploration has existed as long as human beings, but its peak is seen as being during the Age of Exploration when European navigators travelled around the world.

In scientific research, exploration is one of three purposes of research (the other two being description and explanation). Exploration is the attempt to develop an initial, rough understanding of some phenomenon.

Notable explorers since 1 CE

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• Erik the Red (950 - 1003) - Viking explorer. After being cast out from Iceland, he sailed to Greenland and settled.
• Leif Ericson (980 - 1020) - Norse explorer. The first European known to have discovered North America.
• Marco Polo (1254 - 1324) - Italian explorer.
• Zheng He (1371 - 1433) - Chinese explorer.
• John Cabot (c. 1450 - 1499) - Italian explorer. Discovered Newfoundland and claimed it for the Kingdom of England.
• Bartolomeu Dias (c. 1450 - 1500) - Portuguese explorer. He sailed from Portugal and reached the Cape of Good Hope.
• Christopher Columbus (1451 - 1506) - Italian explorer. Sailed in 1492 and discovered the "New World" of the Americas.
• Juan Ponce de León (c. 1460 - 1521) - Spanish explorer. He explored Florida while vainly trying to find the Fountain of Youth.
• Vasco da Gama (c. 1469 - 1524) - Portuguese explorer. He sailed from Portugal to India by rounding the Cape of Good Hope.
• Vasco Núñez de Balboa (c. 1475 - 1519) - European Explorer. The first European to cross the Isthmus of Panama and view the Pacific ocean from American shores.
• Francisco Pizarro (c. 1475 - 1541) - Spanish explorer. Conquered the Inca Empire.
• Ferdinand Magellan (1480 - 1521) - Portuguese explorer. Sailed around Cape Horn and named Pacific Ocean. He died in the Philippines which he claimed for Spain but his ship made it back.

After Magellan died, Juan Sebastián Elcano took his place. Del Cano got all the glory back in Portugal.

• Giovanni da Verrazzano (c. 1485 - 1528) - Italian explorer. Explored the northeast coast of America, from Newfoundland to about present day South Carolina.
• Hernán Cortés (1485 - 1545) - Spanish explorer. Conquered the Aztec Empire for Spain.
• Jacques Cartier (1491 – 1557) - French explorer. Discovered Canada.
• Hernando de Soto (c. 1496 - 1542) - Spanish explorer. Explored Florida, mainly northwest Florida, and discovered the Mississippi River.
• Francisco Vásquez de Coronado (c. 1510 - 1554) - Spanish explorer. Searched for the Seven Cities of Gold and discovered the Grand Canyon in the process.
• Sir Francis Drake (c. 1540 - 1596) - English explorer. The first Englishman to sail around the world and survive.
• Vitus Bering (1681 - 1741) - Danish explorer. Explored the Siberian Far East and Alaska and claimed it for Russia.
• James Cook (1728 - 1779) - English naval captain. Explored much of the Pacific including New Zealand, Australia and Hawaii.
• Alexander von Humboldt (1769 - 1859) - German explorer and scientist whose work was foundational to the field of biogeography.
• Captain Meriwether Lewis (1774 - 1809) - American explorer and field scientist who led the Lewis and Clark Expedition into the Louisiana Purchase and the Pacific Northwest in 1804-1806.
• Robert Bartlett(1875 - 1946) - Newfoundland captain. Led over 40 expeditions to the Arctic, more than anyone before or since. Was the first to sail north of 88° N latitude.
• Sir Edmund Percival Hillary (born July 20, 1919) - New Zealand explorer. The first to climb Mount Everest with Tenzing Norgay.
• Reinhold Messner (born 17 September 1944) - Italian mountaineer, first man to climb all the 14 peaks higher than 8,000 meters.

Exploration by area

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• Exploration of Asia
• Exploration of the Pacific
• African exploration
• Exploration of the Americas
• European exploration of Asia
• European exploration of Africa
• European exploration of Australia
• European exploration of North America
• Exploration of the High Alps
• Exploration of the moon
• Exploration of Mars

See also

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• Age of Exploration
• List of explorers
• Cave exploration
• Desert exploration
• Ocean exploration
• Polar exploration
• Space exploration
• Urban exploration
• Confluence hunting/exploration

Exploration

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