Geography, Traveling, Wars and warfare
James Cook was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy. He made detailed maps of Newfoundland prior to making three voyages to the Pacific Ocean, during which he achieved the first recorded European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands, and the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand.
Amerigo Vespucci was an Italian explorer, financier, navigator, and cartographer who was born in the Republic of Florence. Sailing for Portugal around 1501–1502, Vespucci demonstrated that Brazil and the West Indies were not Asia's eastern outskirts but a separate, unexplored land mass colloquially known as the New World. In 1507, the new continent was named America after the Latin version of Vespucci's first name.
Art, Geography, Traveling, Science
Ibn Battuta was a Muslim Moroccan scholar and explorer who widely travelled the medieval world. Over a period of thirty years, Ibn Battuta visited most of the Islamic world and many non-Muslim lands, including North Africa, the Horn of Africa, West Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia and China. Near the end of his life, he dictated an account of his journeys, titled A Gift to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Travelling, usually simply referred to as The Travels. This account of his journeys provides a picture of medieval civilisation that is still widely consulted today.
Art, Geography, Science, Health
Abū Rayḥān Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Al-Bīrūnī (973–1050), known as Al-Biruni in English, was an Iranian scholar and polymath. He was from Khwarezm — a region which encompasses modern-day western Uzbekistan, and northern Turkmenistan.
John Dee was an English mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, occult philosopher, and advisor to Queen Elizabeth I. He devoted much of his life to the study of alchemy, divination, and Hermetic philosophy. He was also an advocate of England's imperial expansion into a "British Empire", a term he is generally credited with coining.
Geography, Business and economy
Jason "Jay" Gould was a leading American railroad developer and speculator. He has been portrayed as one of the ruthless robber barons of the Gilded Age, whose success at business made him one of the richest men of his era. He was hated and reviled, with few defenders then and now.
Art, Geography, Traveling, Politics, Science, Wars and warfare
Sir Richard Francis Burton was a British explorer, geographer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, cartographer, ethnologist, spy, linguist, poet, fencer, and diplomat. He was famed for his travels and explorations in Asia, Africa and the Americas, as well as his extraordinary knowledge of languages and cultures. According to one count, he spoke 29 European, Asian and African languages.
Yeongjo of Joseon was the 21st king of the Korean Joseon Dynasty. He was the second son of King Sukjong. His mother was Consort Suk of the Choi clan. Before ascending to power, his name was Prince Yeoning. In 1720, a few months after the accession of his older brother, King Gyeongjong as the 20th King, Yeoning became the Royal Prince Successor Brother. This induced a large controversy between political factions. Nevertheless, four years later, at the death of Gyeongjong, Yeongjo ascended the throne.
Jedediah Strong Smith, was a clerk, frontiersman, hunter, trapper, author, cartographer, and explorer of the Rocky Mountains, the North American West, and the Southwest during the early 19th century. After 75 years of obscurity following his death, Smith was rediscovered as the American whose explorations led to the use of the 20-mile (32 km)-wide South Pass as the dominant point of crossing the Continental Divide for pioneers on the Oregon Trail.
Edmond Halley, FRS was an English astronomer, geophysicist, mathematician, meteorologist, and physicist. He was the second Astronomer Royal in Britain, succeeding John Flamsteed in 1720.
Henri Désiré Landru was a French serial killer and real-life "Bluebeard".
Captain Matthew Flinders was an English navigator and cartographer, who was the leader of the first circumnavigation of Australia and identified it as a continent.
Abu Abdullah Muhammad al-Idrisi al-Qurtubi al-Hasani as-Sabti, or simply al-Idrisi, was an Arab Muslim geographer, cartographer and Egyptologist who lived in Palermo, Sicily at the court of King Roger II. Muhammed al-Idrisi was born in Ceuta, then belonging to the Almoravids.
Peter Aufschnaiter was a Tyrolean mountaineer, agricultural scientist, geographer, and cartographer. His experiences with fellow climber Heinrich Harrer during World War II were depicted in the 1997 film Seven Years in Tibet.
Art, Society, Geography, Traveling, Science
Matteo Ricci, S.J., was an Italian Jesuit priest and one of the founding figures of the Jesuit China missions. His 1602 map of the world in Chinese characters introduced the findings of European exploration to East Asia. He is considered a Servant of God in Roman Catholicism.