Samuel de Champlain, cartographer, explorer, colonial administrator (born circa 1567 in Brouage, France; died 25 December 1635 in Québec City). Champlain played a major role in founding New France from 1603 to 1635.

Jacques Cartier, navigator (born between 7 June and 23 December 1491 in Saint-Malo, France; died 1 September 1557 in Saint-Malo, France).

On October 22, 1854, after a treacherous Atlantic crossing during which his ship, the Prince Rupert, narrowly survived pack ice and a vicious storm that ripped apart four of its sails, Arctic explorer Dr. John Rae arrived in England.

Sir Alexander Mackenzie, fur trader, explorer (born around 1764 near Stornoway, Scotland; died 12 March 1820 near Dunkeld, Scotland).

Simon Fraser, explorer, fur trader (born 20 May 1776 in Mapletown, Hoosick Township, New York; died 18 August 1862 in St Andrews West, Canada West). Simon Fraser is best known for his daring exploration of the Fraser River.

Joseph-Elzéar Bernier was Canada's greatest seaman, a man of strong will and extraordinary ingenuity. It is largely due to him that the Canadian flag now flies over the Arctic Archipelago.

The significance of the Cretaceous fossil resources was realized during the "Great Canadian Dinosaur Rush" (1911-1925), when more than 300 skeletons found their way into the displays of museums around the World.

Mina Benson's background did not suggest she would one day perform a feat of wilderness exploration that no other woman has ever approached. Her husband, writer Leonidas Hubbard Jr, was her connection with wilderness exploration, but in a way that neither could have foreseen, nor wished.

Born in London of Welsh parents, David Thompson was an outsider, struggling to find a foothold in the empire that had consumed his country. He described himself as “a solitary traveler, unknown to the world.

We associate the self-taught artist Paul Kane (1810-71) with romantic paintings of Aboriginal people and credit him with accurately depicting specific individuals, their affiliations, and the landscapes of the "Great Nor'West.

On January 11, 1914, Vilhjalmur Stefansson's flagship, Karluk, was crushed and sunk by the tumultuous, rumbling ice of the East Siberian Sea. Not an auspicious start for an invasion, but that is exactly what it turned out to be.

While the Arctic may seem a wasteland to some, to Henry Larsen it beckoned as a land of personal challenge and reward. He was born and lived his youth by the sea at Hvaler in southeast Norway where salty breezes constantly blew and boats were at hand to enjoy them.

On March 19, 1687, somewhere in the trackless wilderness of southern Texas, the French explorer Cavalier de La Salle approached the camp of a party he had sent ahead to find food. La Salle sensed that something was wrong and shouted "Where is my nephew?" "Gone to the dogs," was the reply.

The great Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen clung grimly to the tiller of his little ship Gjoa. Adrift in the remote waters of Simpson Strait, the Gjoa had just spent 2 agonizing weeks in August 1905 avoiding the death grip of the polar ice.

At some point in the 1650s, two adventurers from New France embarked on a journey that eventually revolutionized the fur trade and changed the course of Canadian history.

Sir Alexander Mackenzie, propelled by the fur trade and his own wanderlust, was the first person to traverse the North American continent north of Mexico.

Louis Jolliet, explorer, cartographer, king’s hydrographer, fur trader, seigneur, organist, teacher (baptized 21 September 1645 in Québec City; died between 4 May and 18 Oct 1700 likely near Île d'Anticosti).

"I arrived there on the 3rd of July,” wrote Samuel de Champlain in 1608, "when I searched for a place suitable for our settlement, but I could find none more convenient or better situated than the point of Quebec.”

Étienne Brûlé, explorer, interpreter (b probably at Champigny-sur-Marne, France c 1592; d in Huronia c June 1633). Brûlé was the first Frenchman to live among the Native people. Champlain wrote that Brûlé was sent among the ALGONQUIN, likely in 1610, in exchange for a young Algonquin.

James Williams Tyrrell, explorer, mine promoter (b at Weston, Canada W 10 May 1863; d at Bartonville, Ont 16 Jan 1945), brother of Joseph Burr TYRRELL. James was educated in civil engineering.

Leif Ericsson, Norse explorer of America (b at Iceland), son of ERIC THE RED. He spent his youth in GREENLAND and around 999 visited Norway, where, according to one source he was converted to Christianity and commissioned by King Olaf Tryggvason to carry the faith to Greenland.