Expeditions
People known for voyages and expeditions.
People in Expeditions
27 profiles
AviatorAmelia Earhart
Becoming the first woman to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic.
Ocean explorerJacques Cousteau
Opening the underwater world to divers and television audiences.
ExplorerRoald Amundsen
Leading the first expedition to reach the South Pole.
NaturalistAlexander von Humboldt
Showing how climate, landscape and living things connect.
ExplorerIbn Battuta
Leaving an extensive account of travels across Africa and Asia in the Rihla.
ExplorerSacagawea
Helping the Lewis and Clark expedition through interpreting and cultural knowledge.
ExplorerEdmund Hillary
Reaching Everest’s summit with Tenzing Norgay in the first confirmed ascent.
ExplorerErnest Shackleton
Bringing his Endurance expedition’s men home after their ship was crushed by Antarctic ice.
ExplorerZheng He
Leading Ming China’s great maritime expeditions across the Indian Ocean.
ExplorerTenzing Norgay
Reaching Everest’s summit with Edmund Hillary in the first confirmed ascent.
ExplorerJunko Tabei
Becoming the first woman to climb Everest and the Seven Summits.
ExplorerWanda Rutkiewicz
Becoming the first woman to climb K2 and the first European woman to summit Everest.
ExplorerFanny Bullock Workman
Setting women’s altitude records and documenting Himalayan and Karakoram expeditions.
ExplorerAlexandra David-Néel
Travelling to Lhasa in 1924 and writing influential accounts of Tibetan Buddhism.
ExplorerIsabella Bird
Writing vivid accounts of journeys through the Rocky Mountains, Japan and other regions.
WriterDervla Murphy
Writing Full Tilt after travelling overland from Ireland to India by bicycle.
ExplorerFreya Stark
The travel writer whose journeys through Iran and southern Arabia produced vivid accounts of places little described in English.
ExplorerJeanne Baret
The first woman known to have completed a voyage around the world.
ExplorerMatthew Henson
Playing a central role in Robert Peary’s Arctic expeditions and disputed 1909 North Pole claim.
ExplorerFridtjof Nansen
Crossing Greenland’s ice cap and pioneering international support for refugees.
ExplorerThor Heyerdahl
Crossing the Pacific on the Kon-Tiki raft in 1947.
ExplorerAbel Tasman
Leading the first recorded European voyages to Tasmania and New Zealand.
ExplorerXuanzang
Travelling from China to India to study Buddhism and bringing texts back for translation.
ExplorerFaxian
Travelling to India for Buddhist texts and recording the journey in A Record of Buddhist Kingdoms.
ExplorerHyecho
Leaving a rare eyewitness account of eighth-century Buddhist Asia.
ExplorerAhmad ibn Fadlan
Recording a tenth-century journey to the Volga and an eyewitness account of a Rus funeral.
WriterLeo Africanus
Writing the influential Description of Africa.