Explorers & leaders

In 1497 John Cabot tried to find a shorter route to Asia. Find out about Cabot and his son and their achievements.

What did Columbus want to do? Why did he want to sail west? And what exactly did he find?

In the 18th century, Captain Cook mapped the Pacific, New Zealand and Australia, radically changing understanding of world geography.

Francis Drake was an experienced and daring seafarer who successfully circumnavigated the world between 1577-80.

The Portuguese sailor Ferdinand Magellan was the first navigator to sail around the World.

Sir John Franklin was an officer in the Royal Navy and an Arctic explorer, best remembered for his surveys of the Arctic.

Horatio Nelson's victories and courage caught the public imagination in his life-time, and the Victorian period following his death.

As a young man, Tsar Peter I of Russia travelled to Europe to study new developments in technology, especially shipbuilding.

During his lifetime, Ralegh was one of the best-known men in England. He was a courtier, politician, soldier, seaman, explorer, historian and poet.

In 1901-04 Captain Robert Falcon Scott (1868-1912) was the first person to explore Antarctica extensively by land.

After Scott died attempting to reach the South Pole in 1912, Shackleton decided to attempt to journey across the continent via the South Pole.

Explorer Matthew Flinders was the first man to circumnavigate Australia and the first to use the name 'Australia'.