Explorers of South Asia

Portuguese explorer (c. 1460s – 1524)

14th century Muslim Maghrebi scholar and explorer

Chinese mariner, explorer, and diplomat

Portuguese military commander and explorer (c.1467/8 – c.1521)

Xuanzang (; ; 6 April 6025 February 664), born Chen Hui or Chen Yi (), also known by his Sanskrit Dharma name Mokṣadeva, was a 7th-century Chinese Buddhist monk, scholar, traveller, and translator. He is known for the epoch-making contributions to Chinese Buddhism, the travelogue of his journey to the Indian subcontinent in 629–645, his efforts to bring at least 657 Indian texts to China, and his translations of some of these texts. He was only able to translate 75 distinct sections of a total of 1,335 chapters, but his translations included some of the most important Mahayana scriptures.

al-Masʿūdī (full name , ), –956, was a historian, geographer and traveler. He is sometimes referred to as the "Herodotus of the Arabs". A polymath and prolific author of over twenty works on theology, history (Islamic and universal), geography, natural science and philosophy, his celebrated magnum opus The Meadows of Gold () combines universal history with scientific geography, social commentary and biography.

Portuguese general, admiral, and statesman (1453–1515)

Swedish geographer, topographer, explorer, photographer, travel writer and illustrator (1865-1952)

Faxian (337–), formerly romanized as Fa-hien , Fa-hsien, and Hiuen Tsang was a Chinese Buddhist monk and translator who traveled on foot from Jin China to medieval India to acquire Buddhist scriptures. His birth name was Gong Sehi. Starting his journey about age 60, he traveled west along the overland Silk Road, visiting Buddhist sites in Central, South, and Southeast Asia. The journey and return took from 399 to 412, with 10 years spent in India.

Hungarian-British archaeologist (1862-1943)

Megasthenes ( ; , died 290 BCE) was an ancient Greek historian, indologist, diplomat, ethnographer and explorer in the Hellenistic period. He described India in his book Indica, which is now lost, but has been partially reconstructed from literary fragments found in later authors that quoted his work. Megasthenes was the first person from the Western world to leave a written description of India.

Austrian mountaineer and author (1912–2006)

Persian geographer and official (died 913)

Portuguese nobleman and soldier

'''Abu l-Abbas Ahmad bin Abi Ya'qub bin Ja'far bin Wahb bin Wadiḥ al-Ya'qubi (died 897/8), commonly referred to simply by his nisba al-Yaʿqubi''', was an Arab Muslim historian and geographer.

6th-century Greek traveller and merchant

Russian explorer

French writer

Hungarian philologist and orientalist (1784-1842)

14th-century Italian Franciscan friar, missionary, and explorer

Portuguese explorer and diplomat

Portuguese explorer and writer (1509–1583)

Italian explorer and composer (1586-1652)

Greek explorer and writer of the late 6th and early 5th centuries BCE

Portuguese explorer and diplomat

(635–713), Chinese Buddhist monk, traveler, and writer

Persian Timurid islamic scholar, diplomat and historian

French jeweler, traveler and author

French physician and traveller

Galician explorer, Navigator and Politician

thumb|Alexander the Great receives a visit from [[Thalestris, queen of the Amazons, one of the legends recounted by Onesicritus.]]

Diplomat of the Holy See

Ming dynasty translator, voyager and writer

Greek navigator and geographer

Dutch Protestant merchant, traveller and historian (1563–1611)

Portuguese Jesuit priest, missionary, and explorer (1580–1634)

Portuguese explorer

Portuguese explorer and missionary

Czech traveller, geologist and paleontologist (1838–1874)

Czech medieval chronicler

Sportwomen, explorator, traveler and writer (1903–1997)

Jesuit Italian Tibetologist (1684-1733)

Dutch explorer, writer, sinologist (1618-1672)

Austrian Jesuit missionary and explorer of China and Tibet (1623-1680), an imperial astronomer in China

Portuguese explorer

English baronet, traveller, artist and historian (1606–1682)

Ottoman admiral

Italian writer and historian

Portuguese historian (1492–c.1563)

Occitan explorer

Dutch botanist (1637-1691)

merchant and writer

Portuguese merchant/pharmacist/diplomat

Portuguese explorer and diplomat

Chinese diplomat and general

Portuguese missionary and explorer

'''Hyech'o''' (; ; 704–787), was a Silla Buddhist monk and traveller active during Korea's Three Kingdoms period. He is primarily remembered for his account of his travels in medieval India, the .

Austrian missionary

Dutch admiral (1563–1621)