Discoverers Web: Alphabetical List: D

D

Vasco da Gama (Portugal, 1460?-1524)
1497-9: Leader of the first Portuguese expedition to India. Finds a new route over the Atlantic Ocean, taking a great bend to the west instead of following the African coast.
1502-4: Leader of a large expedition to the Indies. Attacks several African cities and kills all passengers on a ship filled with pilgrims from Mecca. Trades in Cochin and attacks Calicut.
1524: Sent to India to battle corruption, but dies of illness a few months after arrival.
The Portuguese Empire

Eduard Dallmann (Germany, 1830-1896)
1873-4: Hunts for whales near the Antarctic Peninsula. Charts Graham Land.
1884-5: Navigates 60km upstream the Sepik (New Guinea).
timeline (in German)

William Dampier (England, 1651-1715)
Spends most of his years from 1681 one as a buccaneer.
1686-91: Guides a pirat ship from Mexico to Guam and the Philippines. After mutineers have left captain Charles Swan behind, he visits New Holland (Australia) and roams through Southeast Asia.
1698-9: Leads a navy expedition to search for Terra Australis. Explores western Australia and the Dampier archipelago, discovers New Britain and shipwrecks on Ascension.

Darius I (Persia, reign 521-486 BC)
516: Failed expedition against the Scythians around the Danube.
ca. 510: Sends out ships from the Indus to Egypt.
492, 490: Twice attempts and fails to conquer Greece.
He also made military gains in the Caucasus and Punjab.
Greek Explorers

Charles Robert Darwin (England, 1809-1882)
1831-6: Naturalist on Fitzroy's expedition. Travels through the coastal regions of South America, collects specimens and fossils, witnesses a great earthquake in Chile and visits the Galápagos and several other islands.
1858: Together with Wallace, presents the Theory of Evolution.
Life and Times of Charles Darwin
The Charles Darwin page
Darwin at Tierra del Fuego
The Voyage of the Beagle: site 1, site 2
autobiography

Alexandra David-Néel (France, 1868-1969)
1911-1917: Travels through India, Sikkim, Burma, Vietnam, Korea and Japan.
1918: From Beijing, travels to Kumbum, a monastery on the Chinese-Tibetan border, and stays there for more than 3 years, studying Buddhism and translating holy texts.
1921-5: Travels from Kumbum to Lhasa and stays in the city incognito for two months, then returning to India.
1937-45: Lives in China and Tibet.
same site in French
interview with Barbara and Michael Foster (biographers of David-Neel, real audio)

John Davis (England, 1550?-1605)
1585: Looking for the northwest passage, follows the west coast of Greenland to present-day Godthaab, then crosses Davis Strait and explores the entrance to Cumberland Sound.
1586: Explores the coasts of Greenland and Davis Strait.
1587: Follows the Greenland coast north to 72° North (Upernavik), explores the coast of Baffinland and rediscovers the entrance to Strait Hudson.
1598: Pilot of one of the first Dutch voyages to the East Indies.
1601-1603: Pilot of the first voyage of the East India Company.
1605: Pilot of an expedition of a rival group to the East Indies. Killed by Japanese pirates.
John Davis - 1585, 1586, 1587

John Day (England)
1480: Sends out the first of several Bristol voyages trying to find land in the west. Some claim that Newfoundland has been found on one of these voyages between 1480 and 1497.

Peter Warren Dease (UK)
1837-9: With Thomas Simpson charts the Canadian and Alaskan North Coast from the mouth of the Mackenzie to Point Barrow and from the mouth of the Coppermine to Bootha peninsula.
Peter Warren Dease and Thomas Simpson
Dease, Peter Warren

Bento De Goes (Portugal, 1562-1607)
alphabetized under the G

Alonso De León (also known as Alonzo DeLeon, Spain, 1639-1691)
1686: Leads an expedition to the Rio Grande, looking for La Salle.
1687: Crosses the Rio Grande and travels along the Texan coast.
1688: Finds Jarry in western Texas, and brings him to Mexico.
1689: Finds the ruins of Fort St.Louis, the fort La Salle had built in Texas.
1690: Founds a mission and a settlement in east Texas.
De León, Alonso
Alonzo DeLeon

George Washington De Long (USA, 1844-1881)
1879-81: Attempts to reach the North Pole by ship through Bering Strait. After his ship is crushed by the ice, escapes with 32 crew members in open boats, reaches the New Siberian Islands and from there the Lena delta, where De Long as well as several other members of the expedition die of starvation.

Dixon Denham (England, 1786-1828)
1821-5: With Clapperton and Oudney, crosses the Sahara from Tripoli to Bornu and discovers Lake Chad.
Hugh Clapperton

Ippolito Desideri (Italy, 1684-1733)
1715-6: Travels with Freyre from Delhi to Leh and then through Tibet to Lhasa. Remains in Lhasa until 1721 and studies Tibetan language and culture.

Semen Ivanov Dezhnev (also known as Semyon Ivanovich Dezhnyov, Russia, 1605-1672)
1648: Descends the Kolyma River and navigates along the Siberian Arctic coast and through Bering Strait to the Chukotski Peninsula.

Bartolomeu Dias (also known as Bartholomew Diaz, Portugal, 1450?-1500)
1487-8: Follows the African coast southward, missing the Cape of Good Hope in a storm and reaching the south coast at Mossel Bay. Follows the coast further east until the mouth of the Great Fish River, and discovers the Cape of Good Hope on the return voyage.
1497: Establishes a trading post in Elmina (Ghana).
1500: Accompanies Cabral on his voyage to India, but is lost with his complete ship in a storm near the Cape of Good Hope.
The coast of Africa

Dinis Dias (Portugal, dates unknown)
1445: Discovers Cape Verde, the westernmost point of Africa.
The coast of Africa

Melchior Díaz (Spain, ?-1540)
1540: Sent forward by Francisco de Coronado to scout Cibola.
1540: Sent to the mouth of the Colorado by Coronado to meet Alarcón, who would go there with supply ships for Coronado, but finds that the latter has already left.
California discovered

Peter Dillon (UK, 1788-1847)
1826: Finds remnants of the expedition of La Pérouse on the Santa Cruz, and hears that La Pérouse has shipwrecked on Vanikoro.
1827-8: Visits Vanikoro, collects information about the shipwreck and brings back a number of objects from the expedition.

Francisco Atanasio Dominguez (Spain)
1776-7: With Escalante explores the area east of Santa Fe, looking for a route to California. Explores Colorado, Utah and Arizona.

Andrés Dorantes de Carranza (Spain)D
1535-7: Survivor of the Narvaez expedition. With Cabeza de Vaca, Maldonado and Esteban/Estevanico (Dorantes's slave) travels from Texas to Mexico on foot.
Dorantes de Carranza, Andrés
Andres Dorantes de Carranza
Windows to the Unknown - Cabeza de Vaca
The Estevanico Society

Agvan Dorjiev (Russia, 1853-1938)
Buriat Buddhistic lama
Studied in Tibet, became a teacher to the Dalai Lama.
1898, 1900, 1901: Travels to Moscow as a Tibetan representative.
1904: Flees from Lhasa for the British attack.

Charles Montagu Doughty (England, 1843-1926)
1876-8: Travels through Arabia, living among bedouin tribes.

Francis Drake (England, 1541?-1596)
1570: Privateers on the Panaman coast
1572-3: Returns to Panama, sacks the city of Nombre de Dios, captures the Spanish silver train and crosses the isthmus of Panama.
1577-80: Circumnavigates, being blown south in a storm coming from the Straits of Magellan sees that Tierra del Fuegos is an island, captures several Spanish ships, follows the coast north, probably to present day Vancouver Island and crosses the Pacific to the Philippines and the Moluccas.
1588: Plays an important role in the defeat of the Spanish armada.
1595-6: With Hawkins, leads an unsuccesfull expedition to capture Spanish settlements in the West Indies.
Sir Francis Drake
A Very Basic Biographical Sketch of Francis Drake
Francis Drake
Sir Francis Drake (the capture of the Silver Train)
A Synopsis of the Circumnavigation
Sir Francis Drake - several pages on Drake.
Sir Francis Drake
The controversy: Where did Drake stay in California?

Erich Dagobert von Drygalski (Germany, 1865-1949)
1901-3: Sails south from Kerguelen to Antarctica and conducts important scientific research.
Adventures during the Antarctic winter
timeline (in German)

Paul Belloni Du Chaillu (USA (born in France), 1835-1903)
1856-9: Explores the Gabon, Ogowe and Muni rivers. First European to see a gorilla alive.
1863-4: Again travels through Gabon. Meets pygmies and obtained photographs and specimens of gorillas.

Marion Du Fresne (France)
Alphabetized under the F.

Daniel Greysolon, Sieur Dulhut (also known as Duluth, France, 1636-1710)
1678-80: Explores the Region around Lake Superior, rescues Hennepin from his capture by the Sioux and brings him back to Lake Michigan.
1683-5: Visits the region around Lake Superior once again, trying to get the local Indians in the French sphere of influence.
Dulhut (in French)
Daniel Greysolon, Sieur Du Lhut

Jules-Sébastien-César Dumont d'Urville (France, 1790-1842)
1826-9: Discovers and charts several Pacific islands, collects specimens and learns about the fate of La Pérouse's expedition.
1837-40: Sees the Antarctic Peninsula and Joinville Island, cruises the south Pacific and discovers Adélie Coast (Antarctica).
Dumont d'Urville, le dernier des "marins-savants" (in French)
Jules-Sebastien-Cesar Dumont d'Urville

Jean Baptiste Point DuSable (French-American, 1750?-1818)
1770s: Moves gradually from New Orleans up the Mississippi to Illinois, then settles on the coast of Lake Michigan where he builds a trading post that later grows out to become the city of Chicago.

Henri Duveyrier (France, 1840-1892)
1859-61: Explores the areas south of the Atlas Mountains.
Les Touareg du Nord (Duveyrier's book)