The adventurers who mapped the world, in one grid
Long before satellites, brave (and sometimes reckless) travellers filled in the map, and this word search gathers many of them. You'll be finding the famous voyagers — COLUMBUS, MAGELLAN and MARCO POLO — the sailors like COOK and DRAKE, and the polar pioneers who reached the ends of the Earth, from AMUNDSEN to SHACKLETON.
Each puzzle pulls a fresh selection from the list, so the route changes every time you play — gentle on Easy, and a longer voyage once the diagonals and backwards words appear on Hard.
Voyagers by land, sea and ice
The grid gathers explorers from every age of adventure. There are the great sea voyagers — COLUMBUS, MAGELLAN, MARCO POLO, COOK, DRAKE, CABOT, VESPUCCI, DIAS, CARTIER and the Viking ERIKSON — the explorers of the Americas CORTES, PIZARRO, BALBOA and the team of LEWIS and CLARK — and the polar and mountain pioneers AMUNDSEN, SCOTT, SHACKLETON and Everest's HILLARY. BERING, TASMAN, HUDSON, FROBISHER and STANLEY round out the map.
Triumphs, mistakes and a place named in error
Explorers' stories are full of daring and surprises. MAGELLAN's expedition was the first to sail all the way around the world (though he himself died on the way). COLUMBUS sailed west in 1492 hoping to reach Asia and bumped into the Americas instead — and bizarrely, the continents ended up named not after him but after Amerigo VESPUCCI, who realised it was a 'new world'. It's also important to remember these 'new' lands were already home to millions of people, so explorers' arrivals often had a huge and sometimes harmful impact.
The race to the poles was the last great age of exploration. In 1911 AMUNDSEN won the dash to the South Pole, narrowly beating SCOTT, whose team tragically died on the return; and SHACKLETON became a legend not for reaching a goal but for bringing every one of his men home alive after their ship was crushed by ice. Each name links a person, a place and a moment in time, which is exactly why explorers make such a rich topic where history meets geography.
Great for a history or geography topic
It's a great fit for an 'age of exploration' or maps-and-journeys unit — we use surnames to keep words short, and Easy mode uses a small grid with no diagonals or reverse words (longer names like SHACKLETON appear on Medium and Hard). Play online, print a PDF pack, or use Make Your Own to build a grid from your own list of explorers.
Frequently asked questions
Which explorers are in the word search?
Great explorers through history — Columbus, Magellan, Marco Polo, Cook, Amundsen and more. Each puzzle uses a fresh selection.
Does it include polar explorers too?
It does — sea voyagers like COLUMBUS, MAGELLAN, COOK and DRAKE, the Americas' explorers CORTES and PIZARRO, plus polar pioneers AMUNDSEN, SCOTT and SHACKLETON and the Everest climber HILLARY.
Is it good for a history or geography topic?
Great fit for an 'age of exploration' or maps-and-journeys unit. We use surnames to keep words short, and Easy mode uses a small grid with no diagonals or reverse words.