Find out more about the greatest 16th Century Explorers, including Walter Raleigh, Francis Drake, Amerigo Vespucci, Juan Ponce de León and Samuel de Champlain.
Francis Drake1540 AD, British
Navigator
Walter Raleigh22 January 1554, British
Politician, Writer, Explorer, Aristocrat
Amerigo Vespucci09 March 1454, Italian
Discoverer of South America
Juan Ponce de León1474 AD, Spanish
Explorer
Samuel de Champlain31 July 1574, French
Explorer
Hernando de Soto1500 AD, Spanish
Explorer
Vasco Núñez de Balboa1475 AD, Spanish
Spanish Explorer
Pedro de Alvarado1485 AD, Spanish
Explorers
Francisco Vásquez de Coronado1510 AD, Spanish
Explorers
William Adams24 September 1564, British
First ever Western Samurai
Samuel de ChamplainFrench
Diplomat, Explorer
Martin FrobisherBritish
Matteo Ricci06 October 1552, Italian
explorer, cartographer, writer, missionary,
Francisco Vázquez de Coronado
Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo13 March 1499, Portuguese
Navigator
Antonio PigafettaItalian
Willem Janszoon1570 AD, Dutch
Navigator
Juan de Oñate
Francisco de AlmeidaPortuguese
Christopher Newport30 November 1561, British
explorer
Pedro de Valdivia17 April 1497, Spanish
Explorer, Military personnel
Duarte BarbosaPortuguese
Willem Barentsz1550 AD, Dutch
explorer, cartographer
Alonso de Ojeda1466 AD, Spanish
explorer, conquistador
Ruy López de Villalobos1500 AD, Spanish
explorer
Thomas Cavendish19 September 1560, British
explorer
Jean Ribault1520 AD, French
explorer
Gaspar Corte-Real
John Davis30 September 1550, British
explorer
Will Adams24 September 1564, British, American
Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca1490 AD, Spanish
explorer, writer
Pedro Álvares CabralPortuguese