Hannu was an ancient Egyptian explorer; he made the first recorded exploring expedition. Hennu is said to have sailed down the Red Sea to explore the southeastern areas of the Arabian peninsula (called Punt) around 2750 B.C (during Egypt’s 2nd dynasty). He sailed to what is now part of eastern Ethiopia and Somalia. He returned to Egypt with treasures, including myrrh (a spice) and precious metals. Hannu wrote of his exploration in stone. (Hannu is sometimes called Hennu, which is also the name of a sacred boat of Egyptian gods).
Dirck Hartog was a Dutch explorer who was the first European to chart of the western coast of Australia. Hartog sailed from Amsterdam on the ship called Eendracht. He traveled around the Cape of Good Hope to Java, and then sailed on to western Australia. He landed in 1616 on a small island now named for him (Dirk Hartog Island). To mark his landfall, Hartog nailed an inscribed pewter plate (which noted details of his exploration and visit) to a post on the north end of the island; this area is now called Cape Inscription. Almost a century later (in 1696), the Dutch explorer Willem de Vlamingh landed on Dirk Hartogs Island. He found the commemorative plate, replaced it with a new inscribed plate, and brought Hartog’s original plate to Amsterdam. Hartog’s historic plate is now in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
Sir John Hawkins [also spelled Hawkyns] (1532- 1595) was an English naval officer, slave trader, privateer, and cousin of Sir Francis Drake.
Hawkins sailed to Hispaniola (now Haiti) in 1562-1563 for a London syndicate of businessmen in order to trade Guinean (West African) slaves in the Spanish West Indies. Hawkins was the first English slave trader. He was hated by the Spanish, who did not want foreigners entering their highly profitable slave-trading business. Queen Elizabeth backed a second and third slave-trading expedition (1564-1565).
During a third West Indies slave-trading trip with Drake, a need for repairs sent their six ships to a harbor in San Juan de Ulua, near Veracruz, Mexico. The Spanish fleet then attacked the English ships; only two ships survived (those commanded by Hawkins and Drake).
This attack led to a series of battles that later culminated in a war between the Spain and England. In this war, England crushed the Spanish Armada in 1588 and became the dominant world power. Hawkins was third in command during this struggle. He invented the strategy of blockading the Spanish Armada at the Azores (islands in the Atlantic Ocean far off the coast of Spain) and stealing the treasures that the Spanish had stolen from the New World.
Hawkins died on Nov. 12, 1595, before an attack of Puerto Rico; he and Drake had sailed with 27 ships to raid the Spanish West Indies.
Sue Hendrickson (December 2, 1949 - ) is a self-taught fossil hunter (specializing in fossil inclusions in amber), marine archaeologist, adventurer and explorer. In South Dakota in 1990, Hendrickson found the remarkable T. rex fossil that is now known as Sue. This T. rex fossil is the largest and most complete T. rex found to date. Sue (the fossil) is now displayed at the Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Prince Henry (Henrique) the Navigator (1394-1460) was a Portuguese royal prince, soldier, and patron of explorers. Henry sent many sailing expeditions down Africa’s west coast, but did not go on them himself. Thanks to Prince Henry’s patronage, Portuguese ships sailed to the Madeira Islands (1420), rounded Cape Bojador (Eannes, 1434), sailed to Cape Blanc (1441), sailed around Cap Vert (1455), and went as far as the Gambia River (Cadamosto, 1456) and Cape Palmas (Gomes, 1459-1460).
Matthew Alexander Henson (Aug. 8, 1866 - March 9, 1955) was an American explorer and one of the first people to visit the North Pole. He was on most of Robert E. Peary’s expeditions, including the 1909 trip to the North Pole.
Heriolf was one of the Viking settlers who who sailed with Eric the Red in A.D. 986 and settled in the new colony that Eric established in Greenland. Heriolf was among 400 to 500 settlers who traveled with Eric the Red from Breidafjord, Iceland, in 14 ships to settle in southern Greenland. After doing well for a while, the settlement experienced unusually cold weather. What happened to Heriolf after settling in Greenland is unknown.
Bjarni Herjulfsson was an Icelandic explorer who was possibly the first European to see the continent of North America, but he did not go ashore. In 985 or 986, he spotted Vinland (what is now probably Nova Scotia) after being blown off course on a journey from Iceland to Greenland. Upon his return, he spoke of a hilly, forested land west of Greenland. Leif Ericsson probably heard of Vinland from Herjulfsson, and roughly 14 years later, sailed there.
Sir Edmund Percival Hillary (1919-2008) was a mountain climber, Antarctic explorer, and beekeeper from New Zealand. Hillary and the Nepalese mountaineer Tenzing Norgay, were the first people to reach the top of Mount Everest on May 29, 1953. Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world (29,028 feet = 8,848 m). Hillary went on many other adventures, including other expeditions than to Mt. Everest, reaching the South Pole by tractor on Jan. 4, 1958, and climbing Mt. Herschel (10,941 feet = 3,335 m) in 1967 (his was the first expedition to climb it), and leading the first expedition to jet boat up the Ganges River to find its source. Hillary wrote many books about his adventures, including High Adventure (1955), The Crossing of Antarctica (1958; with Fuchs), and No Latitude for Error (1961), and Nothing Venture, Nothing Win (1975).
William Hilton Hovell (1786 - 1875) was an English sea captain and overland explorer of Australia. Hovell, together with Hamilton Hume (an Australian explorer) and six convicts, travelled overland through southeast Australia (the Berrima-Bong Bong District) to look for any large rivers. They set out in 1824 from Appin (where Hume lived), near Sydney, and travelled overland from Gunning to Corio Bay, discovering the Murray River, the Murrumbidgee River and Mount Bland; they named Mount Disappointment. They traveled 670 miles, and 150 miles less on the return trip. They returned in 1825.
Henry Hudson (1565-1611) was an English explorer and navigator who explored parts of the Arctic Ocean and northeastern North America. The Hudson River, Hudson Strait, and Hudson Bay are named for Hudson.
Baron Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) was a Prussian naturalist and explorer who explored much of Central and South America. Humboldt and his friend, the French botanist Aime Bonpland, explored the coast of Venezuela, the Amazon and Orinoco Rivers, and much of Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Mexico (1799-1805).
On their many expeditions, Humboldt and Bonpland collected plant, animal, and mineral specimens, studied electiricity, did extensive mapping of northern South America, climbed mountains, observed astronomical phenomena, and performed many scientific observations.
Hamilton Hume (1797-1872) was an Australian explorer. Hume discovered Lake Bathurst when he was only 20 years old. Hume, together with William Hovell (an English sea captain) and six convicts, travelled overland through southeast Australia (the Berrima-Bong Bong District) to look for any large rivers. They set out in 1824 from Appin (where Hume lived) and travelled from Gunning to Corio Bay, discovering the Murray River, the Murrumbidgee River, and Mount Bland. They returned in 1825. Hume was rewarded with hundreds of acres of land