Exploring - Europe Looks East (1400+)

Age of Discovery or Age of Exploration
The extensive overseas exploration was led by the Portuguese. Prince Henry, the Navigator (1394-1460) the fourth child of King John 1, was the central administrative figure in the early days sending the new caravel ships to other continents through the systematic exploration of Western Africa.

Diogo Cao (c.1452-c.1486) was one of the notable navigators.He made 2 voyages along the coast of Africa in the 1480s - explored the River Congo and the coasts of the present day Angola and Namobia. On his trips he took stone pillars engraved with the Portuguese royal arms (padraos) which he erected in every new place he discovered.

Bartolomeu Dias (c.1450- 1500) was a Portuguese mariner and explorer. He was the first European mariner to round the southern tip of Africa.He explored an an additional 1,000 miles of African coastline. At the time he received little recognition of his accomplishments.

Vasco da Gama (1460 or 1469 - 1524) was the first European to reach India by sea. His voyage to India by way of Cape of Good Hope (1497-9) was the first to link Europe and Asia by an ocean route.

Vitus Jonassen Bering, also known as Ivan Ivanovich Bering,(1681-1741) was a Danish cartographer and explorer and an officer in the Russian Navy in Russian.
He lead 2 Russian expeditions - First Kamchatka and the Great Northern -exploring the north-eastern coast of the Asian Continent and the western coast on the North American continent Vitus became ill and the island he died on was named after him - Bering Island. The Strait, Sea, Glacier and Land Bridge were also named in his honour.

Aleksei Ilyich Chirikov (1703-1748) was deputy to Vitus Bering during the Great Northern Expedition. He took part in creating the final map of the Russian discoveries in the Pacific Ocean. He also had islands and capes named after him.

Johann Ludwig Burckhardt/ John Lewis/ Jean Louis Burckhatdt (1784-1817) a Swiss traveller, geographer and Orientalist assumed the moniker of Sheikh Ibrahim Ibn Abdullah during his travels in Arabia. He rediscovered the ruins of the ancient Nabataean city of Petra in Jordan. He visited Mecca and wrote down in his journals detailed observations of the city.

Gertrude Bell (1868- 1926) was an English writer, traveller, administrator, & archaeologist who explored & mapped Syria- Palestine, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor and Arabia. Her knowledge was highly influential in British imperial policy- making.

Sven Anders Hedin (1865-1952) was Swedish geographer topographer, explorer, photographer, travel writer and illustrator. He made 4 expeditions to Central Asia and visited many countries. His adventure stories for young readers and his lecture tours abroad made him world famous. ** Central Asia Atlas** published posthumously.

Dame Freya Nadekine Stark DBE (1893-1993) was an Anglo-Italian explorer and travel writer.- wrote more than 24 books. First non-Arab to travel through the Southern Arabian desert.