Oral Histories of Travel and Exploration

Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer who is credited with discovering the Americas in 1492.

Ferdinand Magellan was a Portuguese explorer who led the first expedition to circumnavigate the globe.

Matthew Henson was an African American explorer who accompanied Robert Peary on his expedition to the North Pole in 1909.

John Speke was a British explorer who discovered the source of the Nile River in 1858.

Liv Arnesen was a Norwegian explorer who became the first woman to reach the South Pole in 1994.

Hiram Bingham was an American explorer who discovered the lost city of Machu Picchu in 1911.

Edmund Hillary was a New Zealand mountaineer who, along with Tenzing Norgay, became the first person to climb Mount Everest in 1953.

Ibn Battuta was a Moroccan explorer who traveled extensively across the Sahara Desert and other parts of the world in the 14th century.

Vasco Núñez de Balboa was a Spanish explorer who became the first European to reach the Pacific Ocean in 1513.

Roald Amundsen was a Norwegian explorer who became the first person to navigate the Northwest Passage in 1903-1906.

Robert Peary was an American explorer who claimed to have reached the North Pole in 1909.

Howard Carter was a British archaeologist who discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922.

Wiley Post was an American aviator who became the first person to circumnavigate the globe by air in 1931.

Ernest Shackleton was an Irish explorer who led the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition in 1914-1917, which attempted to cross the Antarctic continent.

Roald Amundsen was a Norwegian explorer who became the first person to reach the South Pole in 1911.