My favorite explorer is Magellan, simply since he knew what he was doing when he started his voyage. He had a goal and he met that goal. First to circumnavigate the world worthy of prestige one would think. Christopher Columbus was a lucky moron. He did not even know the cardinal directions! He was heading towards India!!

Why are Native Americans called Indians? A mistake, Columbus thought that he was in India at the time. India is on the other side of the world for Josana's sake. It was a miracle he made it to land before his crew committed a mutiny on him.

He may have made an extremely important discovery that changed the world forever, but that does not make him a great explorer. If the best marksman in the world shoots a near to impossible shot but misses no one is going to criticize him to much since the shot is nearly improbable. Now if someone else walks up with the same rifle looks in the general direction of the shot and pulls the trigger and makes the shot is that nobody worthy of the title best marksman in the world?

I would say Vasco De Gama (SP?), he was the first European to sail from Europe, around Africa, to India, and then China. He opened up a whole new trade route for Europeans that included India, China, eventually Australia, which gave Europe a whole slew of new technologies and allies.

I like astronauts a lot. idk, Columbus doesn't just seem as the "greatest" explorer. hell, he even thought America was India.

Magellan was cool, but he died before finishing his exploration so that's epic fail.

meh, maybe that's why i like astronauts more. I'm into the now, i can't get excited about people who found shit a long ass time ago...

I've always liked Juan Ponce de Leon, and his quest for the fountain of eternal youth. But that's just to date. Not to date, Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise would be the galaxy's greatest explorer.

No, Christopher Columbus was not even the first to discover America. I know of three sources that prove it. There have been Viking relics discover in the Americas that predate Columbus. Also, there was evidence that people from China may have discovered America and also people believe the Book of Kells has evidence that monks may have been there about the same time the Chinese were.

I have even read that there might have been visitors even earlier than that that stopped coming when Rome started conquering Europe. There is a Mystery Spot, in Masssachusetts I believe, that has buildings that are almost an exact replica of old Drudic buildings in Europe, among other items like a few similarities in languages of certain groups of Native Americans to older European Languages. Plus, if you believe the land bridge theory, then Native Americans discovered it long before.

In addition, Columbus used slaves to help get him to America.

I don't like the idea of slaves.

I think perhaps Marco Polo or modern day astronauts may have him beat.

no, i'd have to disagree. the greatest explorers of all time are: Charles Grant, Bill Owens, Dr. Michaels, Dr. Peter Duval, & Cora Peterson.

I once explored the inner workings of the female mind.

And I found it far more perilous than any new world,

So I have to insist that I am the greatest explorer.

The idea of exploring is just cool. I agree with Pyg that today astronauts capture the imagination far better than past explorers.

Why is no one remembering Marco Polo?!

No, I don't think he was. He did absolutely terrible things to the settlers he came across. Enslaved them and treated them terribly.