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Meriwether Lewis
Born
The Corps of Discovery needed horses to cross the Rocky Mountains. Sacagawea made the Shoshone negotiations possible as the last link in a chain of interpreters. The National Park Service traces how the captains’ words passed through English, French, and Hidatsa on their way to Shoshone.
More about Meriwether Lewis2
James Cook
Born
On the Endeavour’s first Pacific voyage, the Ra‘iatean priest and navigator Tupaia brought extensive knowledge of islands and sea routes. The chart he helped Cook’s party create records that knowledge. Its geography makes more sense when you start from the routes Polynesian navigators already traveled.
More about James Cook3
John Rae (explorer)
In 1854, Inuit testimony gave Rae a much clearer account of what had happened to members of the missing Franklin expedition. The Inuit people he met also sold him identifiable objects, including engraved silverware. His report brought both kinds of evidence to Britain.
More about John Rae (explorer)4
John Hanning Speke
Born
Sidi Mubarak Bombay was among the East African guides who led the 1860 expedition that brought Speke back to Lake Nyanza. Speke also spent months negotiating with Mutesa, the ruler of Buganda, before he could reach the spot where the White Nile flows out of the lake.
More about John Hanning Speke5
Mary Kingsley
Born
In the chapter on the Ogooué rapids, Mary Kingsley describes M’bo steering from the bow and Pierre, the first officer, steering from the other end. Later, a village chief uses pieces of plantain leaf to show M’bo how far apart the settlements upriver are. Both scenes make it clear whose knowledge kept the canoe moving.
More about Mary Kingsley6
Samuel Hearne
Hearne’s first two attempts to reach the Coppermine River fell short. On the third, the Chipewyan leader Matonabbee led a large party from Fort Prince of Wales to the river in 1771. The seven-month journey shows how much Hearne’s commission depended on Matonabbee’s leadership.
More about Samuel Hearne7
Hiram Bingham III
Born
Melchor Arteaga accompanied Bingham to Machu Picchu in 1911, where the group met members of the Richarte and Álvarez families living nearby. Peru’s site history records both the guide and the residents. Bingham went on to publicize a place they already knew.
More about Hiram Bingham III8
John King (explorer)
Born
After the Burke and Wills expedition ran out of food at Cooper Creek, King survived because the Yandruwandha took him in and fed him. His own report records their response to finding him alone. A relief party found him living with the community in September 1861.
More about John King (explorer)9
Matthew Henson
Born
During the final push of the 1909 North Pole expedition, Henson traveled with Inughuit team members Ootah and Ooqueah, while Egingwah and Seegloo traveled with Peary. A photograph held by Bowdoin’s Arctic Museum places all four men beside Henson, making it possible to put names to the team.
More about Matthew Henson10
David Thompson (explorer)
Born
Charlotte Small traveled thousands of kilometers with Thompson on foot, by canoe, and on horseback, helping him map North America’s lands and waterways. She was also an accomplished translator and hunter. The statue pictured shows them together, and Parks Canada recognizes Small in her own right.
More about David Thompson (explorer)11
Roald Amundsen
Born
At Gjoa Haven, Amundsen learned about dog sledging and skin clothing from Netsilik Inuit. He put some of that knowledge to use on another continent. The Amundsen museum identifies the Netsilik pattern used for the anoraks and trousers on his Antarctic expedition.
More about Roald Amundsen12
Edmund Hillary
Born
Hillary and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay reached Everest’s summit together on May 29, 1953. Hillary’s diary picks up the story on the way down. At Camp VII, Charles Wylie and several Sherpas met them with lemon juice before the pair continued down to the next camps.
More about Edmund Hillary13
Alexander Mackenzie (explorer)
On his 1793 journey toward the Pacific, Mackenzie relied on reports from Indigenous people about ways west from the interior. These included routes to the Dean River and through the Bella Coola valley. His account shows a fur trader choosing between routes that other travelers already knew.
More about Alexander Mackenzie (explorer)
