THE BRITISH HERITAGE ARCHIVEBritish English All entries

BRITISH LEGACY / THE COLLECTION

Explorers

British explorers have been at the forefront of discovering new lands and cultures, contributing to global knowledge and expansion. Their expeditions have had lasting impacts on geography, science, and international relations.

49 entries

James Cook: charting the Pacific

A Yorkshire-born Royal Navy officer mapped coastlines across the Pacific and Southern Oceans. His achievements in navigation and science sit alongside a record of violence, dispossession and colonial ambition.

Sir Francis Drake

Seafarer, privateer and vice-admiral whose circumnavigation and campaigns against Spain made him a celebrated—and contested—Elizabethan figure.

David Livingstone: exploration, mission and a contested legacy

The Scottish doctor and missionary travelled across central Africa, publicised the slave trade and became one of Victorian Britain’s most celebrated figures.

Sir Walter Raleigh

The Elizabethan courtier backed the Roanoke venture, sought El Dorado and wrote in the Tower of London.

Sir Ernest Shackleton

The Anglo-Irish explorer turned an Antarctic crossing that failed into a story of survival, seamanship and leadership.

Sir Richard Francis Burton: explorer, soldier and scholar

From a disguised pilgrimage to Mecca to expeditions in East Africa, Burton’s life joined exploration, military service, diplomacy and controversial literary work.

Sir John Franklin: Arctic exploration and its human cost

The Royal Navy officer led two Arctic land expeditions before his 1845 attempt to cross the Northwest Passage ended in disaster. The searches that followed expanded knowledge of the region and left a complicated legacy.

Sir Alexander Mackenzie: across North America to the Pacific

The Scottish explorer’s 1793 crossing reached the Pacific by land, north of Mexico, and helped define a life spent in the fur trade.

Henry Hudson: the search for a passage through the north

The English navigator’s voyages ranged from the Arctic to North America. They left a contested legacy of exploration, trade and colonisation.

Captain George Vancouver: charting the Pacific coast

The King’s Lynn-born Royal Navy officer led a four-year expedition whose surveys shaped knowledge of the north-west Pacific.

Sir Robert Falcon Scott

The Royal Navy officer whose Antarctic expeditions made him one of Britain’s best-known polar explorers.

John Cabot

The Italian-born navigator whose voyage across the Atlantic in 1497 was commissioned by Henry VII of England.

Sir Humphrey Gilbert: Soldier, Adventurer and Colonial Pioneer

The Devon-born half-brother of Walter Raleigh pursued English claims in Ireland and North America, culminating in the 1583 Newfoundland expedition.

William Baffin

The English navigator mapped Arctic waters, pursued the Northwest Passage and made observations that shaped later exploration.

Samuel Hearne

Explorer known for his overland journey to the Arctic Ocean, becoming the first European to reach the Coppermine River.

Sir James Clark Ross: charting the poles

The Royal Navy officer explored both polar regions, located the North Magnetic Pole and led a four-year Antarctic expedition.

James Bruce: tracing the Blue Nile

The Scottish traveller reached the Blue Nile’s source in Ethiopia, followed the river north and brought manuscripts and geographical observations back to Europe.

Mungo Park

Explorer known for his expeditions to West Africa, where he traced much of the course of the Niger River.

Sir Martin Frobisher: the Arctic voyages and the Armada

The Yorkshire sea captain searched for a passage to Asia, led three expeditions to Baffin Island and later commanded English ships against the Spanish Armada.

Charles Sturt: tracing Australia’s inland rivers

The British officer and explorer mapped the connections between Australia’s western-flowing rivers, then pursued an inland sea across some of the continent’s harshest country.

Mary Kingsley: West African journeys and writing

The English explorer and travel writer combined difficult journeys with close observation of West African societies, and became a prominent commentator on colonial policy.

Sir Ranulph Fiennes: polar journeys and a life of endurance

The British explorer’s polar circumnavigation, Antarctic crossing and Everest ascent sit alongside a career of expeditions, writing and charity fundraising.

Isabella Bird: a life measured in journeys

The Yorkshire-born writer and traveller carried readers from the Rocky Mountains to Asia, while becoming the first woman elected a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

Sir Thomas Button: the Welsh explorer who mapped Hudson Bay

A Royal Navy officer, Button led an early seventeenth-century search for the Northwest Passage and left landmarks that guided later exploration.

William Parry and the pursuit of the Northwest Passage

The Royal Navy officer’s Arctic voyages advanced British geographical knowledge and set a northern record that endured for half a century.

John Ross and the search for the Northwest Passage

The Scottish naval officer led two Arctic expeditions, surveyed the northern seas and became part of the story of Britain’s nineteenth-century exploration.

Sir Wilfred Thesiger: explorer, soldier and writer

From Ethiopia to the Empty Quarter, Thesiger travelled with local companions and recorded the lives and landscapes he encountered.

Sir Vivian Fuchs: the geologist who crossed Antarctica

Fuchs led the first overland crossing of Antarctica, combining a demanding polar journey with scientific work that helped shape British Antarctic research.

Freya Stark: journeys through Arabia and beyond

The British-Italian explorer and travel writer crossed remote parts of the Middle East, recording her journeys in books that brought readers close to the places she encountered.

Thomas Cavendish

Explorer and privateer known for his circumnavigation of the globe and his raids on Spanish settlements.

Edward John Eyre

The English explorer crossed the Nullarbor with Wylie; his later governorship in Jamaica became the subject of fierce controversy.

George Mallory: the climber who vanished on Everest

A pioneering British mountaineer, Mallory helped chart a route up Everest before disappearing with Andrew Irvine in 1924. The summit question remains unanswered.

Sir John Ross: Arctic voyages, controversy and survival

The Scottish-born Royal Navy officer explored Baffin Bay and the Arctic, endured years trapped in ice and left a complicated record of discovery.

Sir Hubert Wilkins: explorer of the poles by air and sea

The Australian-born photographer, soldier and polar explorer tested aircraft and submarines in some of the world’s most difficult conditions.

James Cook: charts, voyages and a contested legacy

The Yorkshire-born naval officer mapped Newfoundland and led three Pacific voyages whose scientific achievements and consequences continue to be debated.

Henry Morton Stanley: exploration and its consequences

The Welsh-born journalist mapped Central African rivers and became famous for finding David Livingstone. His work also helped advance King Leopold II’s ambitions in the Congo.

Edward Inglefield: Charting the Arctic

The Royal Navy officer searched for Franklin’s lost expedition, surveyed Arctic coastlines and went on to a long career at sea.

Sir William Edward Parry: charting the Arctic

The Royal Navy officer’s voyages mapped vast stretches of the Canadian Arctic and set a record for northern exploration that lasted nearly half a century.

Sir Charles Warren: Jerusalem, the Met and a complex legacy

A Royal Engineers officer, Warren helped map and excavate Jerusalem before leading the Metropolitan Police during the Jack the Ripper murders.

Richard Lemon Lander: tracing the Niger to the Atlantic

The Cornish explorer and his brother John established the course of the Niger, then returned to West Africa on a final, ill-fated expedition.