F

João Alvares Fagundes (Portugal, dates unknown)

ca. 1520: Explores the south coast of Newfoundland and enters the Bay of St. Lawrence.

ca. 1525: Tries to colonize Cape Breton Island.

J.A. Faguendes (in French)

J.A. Faguendes (in Portuguese)

Portuguese Exploration along the Northeast coast of North America

Fa-Hsien (also known as Faxian, China, born ca.350)

399-414: Travels through Central Asia, visiting many Buddhist monasteries, then crosses the Hindu Kush into India. Travels through large parts of India doing likewise and is the first Chinese to visit Afghanistan. Returns to China by sea, via Ceylon and Java.

A Record of the Buddhistic Kingdoms (Fa-Hsien's writings)

Marcos Farfan de los Godos (Spain)

1598-9: Sent by Oñate to find silver ore rumored there. He finds the silver mines, but they were too poor to be actually used.

Percy Harrison Fawcett (England, 1867-1925?)

1906-14: Makes several voyages surveying the Bolivian boundaries with Brazil, Paruaguay and Peru.

1925: Is lost in the Brazilian Mato Grosso rain forest, looking for an ancient city rumoured to exist there.

The Great Unkown. The Great Explorers

Nikolaus Federmann (also known as Nicolás Federman, Germany, 1506-1542)

1531-2: Explores the area around the Portuguesa River (NW Venezuela), looking for El Dorado.

1533-9: Travels from Venezuela to Colombia, hoping to conquer the rich country believed to lie there, but finds that Jimenez de Queseda reached and subdued the area before him.

Early Spanish expeditions to Colombia

Fernando Póo (Portugal, dates unknown)

ca. 1473: Reaches the Gulf of Biafra and discovers the island that is now known as Fernando Póo.

The coast of Africa

Alexandre Rodrigues Ferreira (Portugal/Brasil, 1756-1815)

1783-4: Travels through Pará.

1784-8: Makes several voyages along the Rio Negro and its tributaries. Explores the Rio Branco and its headwaters.

1788-91: Explores the Madeira and its tributaries. Explores the Mato Grosso region. Reaches the Paraguay.

Bartolomé Ferrelo (also known as Bartolomé Ferrera, Spain?)

1543: Leads the expedition of Cabrillo after the latter's death. Sails north once more and reaches Oregon.

Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo

Wilhelm Filchner (Switzerland, 1877-1957)

1911-2: Explores the Weddell Sea. Discovers Luitpold Coast and the Filchner Ice Shelf.

Wilhelm Filchner - scientist and adventurer

The first Swiss and Japanese Expedition

timeline (in German)

Ralph Fitch (England, 1550?-1611)

1581-5: Joins in Newberry's second expedition, travelling through the Middle East to India and reaching the court of the Greatmogol.

1585-91: Travels through northern India alone, reaching Bengal. Visits Birma, Ceylon and Cochin.

The First Englishmen in Bombay

Robert Fitzroy (England, 1805-1865)

1831-6: Circumnavigates, charting the coasts of South America. The voyage is best known for the fact that Darwin was its naturalist.

Matthew Flinders (England, 1774-1814)

1796: With Bass, explores Port Hacking, south of Sydney.

1798: With Bass, circumnevigates Tasmania and makes inroads to the inland by way of the Derwent and the Tamar.

18001-3: Maps the Australian south and east coasts and part of the north coast.

Pacific Explorers Library: Matthew Flinders

Matthew Flinders

Matthew Flinders: A genius in Navigation

Matthew Flinders Electronic Archive

An anthology of the discovery of Australia

image

George Bass

Alexander Forrest (Australia, 1849-1901)

Joined his brother John Forrest on his expeditions.

1879: Leads an expedition charting part of North Australia, around the Kimberley mountains and the river Fitzroy.

John Forrest (Australia, 1847-1918)

1869: Travels northeast from Perth, along Lake Barlee to Mount Weld.

1870: Travels from Perth to the Spencer Gulf in South Australia.

1874: First to cross Western Australia from west to east.

Pacific Explorers Library: John Forrest

John Forrest

Johann Reinhold Forster (Germany, 1729-1798)

Johann Georg Adam Forster (Germany, 1754-1794)

1772-5: Father and son, naturalists on Cook's second voyage.

Charles-Eugene de Foucauld (France, 1858-1916)

1883-4: Explores Morocco, disguised as a Russian rabbi.

1904: Settles in the Tuareg village of Tamanrasset as a missionary, and remains there until his death.

1916: Killed by a band of Muslims, possibly because they suspected him to be a spy.

Charles de Foucauld, hermit, servant of the poor

Luke Foxe (England, 1586-1635)

1631: Explores the west coast of Hudson Bay and sails through Foxe Channel, showing that neither provides a practical northwest passage.

Luke Foxe and Thomas James

John Franklin (England, 1786-1847)

1818: Second-in-command on Buchan's attempt to sail the Arctic Ocean.

1819-22: Explores the Canadian north coast from the Coppermine to Cape Herschel. - expedition timeline

1825-7: Explores the Canadian north coast from the mouth of the Mackenzie to Beechey Point. - expedition timeline

1845-7: Searches for the Northwest Passage. Dies on King William Island, as do all his men.

1847-51: Many relief expeditions are sent to Arctic Canada, and clear the geography of the area. Certainty about Franklin's fate is found by Rae in 1853-4 and McClintock in 1857-9.

Sif John Franklin: His Life and Afterlife

Sir John Franklin (PDF-format)

Sir John Franklin - 1997 is the 150th Anniversary of his Death

The Fate of Franklin

archaeology

The Franklin Trail

portrait

Simon Fraser (Canada, 1776-1862)

1805-8: Works as a fur trader in British Columbia.

1808: Follows the Fraser to its mouth.

Simon Fraser and our southern link to the sea

Simon Fraser's Contributions

Simon Fraser, the Explorer

Simon Fraser (French version)

Thomas Freeman (USA)

1806: Travels up the Red River, but is stopped by the Spanish.

John Charles Frémont (USA, 1813-1890)

1842: Travels to the Rocky Mountains and climbs Fremont Peak.

1843-4: Travels by way of the Kansas, Great Salt Lake and the Snake and Columbia Rivers to Oregon. Goes south to California and back east through the Great Basin.

1845: Travels through the Rocky Mountains and the Great Basin to California. After Mexican objections retreats to California, but soon returns, and helps fighting the Bear Flag Revolt and the American annexation of California.

1848-9: Tries to scout a railway route from St. Louis to San Francisco, but is forced to retreat from the San Juan Mountains south to Mexico because of the winter cold.

John Charles Fremont

John Charles Frémont - Explorer - Mapmaker - Soldier

John Charles Frémont

Capt. Fremont makes winter crossing of Carson Pass

Recommended Reading

Marion Du Fresne (France)

1771-2: Discovers the Crozet Islands, visits Tasmania and New Zealand. Killed in a fight with Maori.

Freydis Eiriksdottir (Iceland, dates unknown)

Daughter of Erik the Red, sister of Leif Eriksson

ca. 1004-5: Joins the expedition of Thorfinn Karlsefni to colonize Vinland. Her bravery causes the Vikings to win a battle against the eskimos.

ca. 1007-9: Leads another expedition to Vinland. Convinces her husband to kill to Icelandic brothers who had come with them, and kills the women herself.

Irish and Vikings

Emanual Freyre (Portugal, 1679-?)

1715-6: Travels with Desideri to Leh and Lhasa. Returns to India alone by way of Nepal.

Martin Frobisher (England, 1540-1594)

1576: Discovers Frobisher Bay, believing it to be a strait.

1577: Returns to Frobisher Bay, takes rocks with him which are believed to contain gold.

1578: Leads a mining expedition to Frobisher Bay. Discovers Strait Hudson. Upon return the ore appears to be worthless.

All Is Not Gold That Glistereth

Inuit and Englishmen: The Nunavut voyages of Martin Frobisher (French language version)

Sir Martin Frobisher

Sir Martin Frobisher

Vivian Ernest Fuchs (England, born 1908)

1957-8: First to cross Antarctica by land.

photograph

Louis Agasiz Fuertes (USA)

1899: Joins the Harriman expedition to Alaska as an orthinologist.

Tobias Furneaux (England, 1735-1781)

1772-4: Commander of the Adventure on Cook's second voyage. In December 1774, leaves from New Zealand alone, and sails around Cape Horn back to Great Britain.