Notable & Famous Explorers Posters “M...-”
for social studies teachers and home schoolers, theme decor in office.

Alexander Mackenzie
b. 1764; Outer Hebrides, Scotland
d. 3-12-1820; Dunkeld (Bright's Disease)

In 1789 Alexander Mackenzie became the first European to cross North America from the Lake Athabasca, the northwestern hub of the interior fur trade in present-day northern Alberta, to the Pacific Ocean. He called the river he followed “Disappointment” because it didn't turn out to be the long sought, and fabled, Northwest Passage. It was later named the Mackenzie River.

Ferdinand Magellan
b. c. Spring 1480; Portugal
d. 4-27-1521; Phillipines

Ferdinand Magellan was the leader of the first expedition to sail completely around the world. ...

Jacques Marquette
b. 6-10-1637; Laon, France
d. 5-18-1675; near present day Ludington, Michigan

Jacques Marquette, known as Pere Marquette, was a Jesuit missionary to the French colony of Quebec in present day Canada. He founded the first European settlement in Michigan at Sault Ste. Marie, and later St. Ignace (1671) which is now the northern end of the Straits of Mackinaw bridge.

In 1673 Pere Marquette with French-Canadian explorer Louis Jolliet were the first non-Native Americans to see and map the northern portion of the Mississippi River.

Robert McClure
b. 1-28-1807; Wexford, Ireland
d. 10-17-1873; England

In 1854 Robert McClure became the first to transit the Northwest Passage using boat and sledge. Earlier in his naval career he was part of the Franklin search expeditions (1848–1849), first under James Clark Ross as first lieutenant of Enterprise and then as captain of the Investagator in 1850.

McClure and his crew were also the first to circumnavigate the Americas.

A strait at the edge of the Canadian Northwest Territories is named for McClure, as well as a crater on the Moon.

Ynes Mexia
b. 5-24-1870; Washington, DC
d. 7-12-1938; Berkeley, CA

Botanist Ynes Mexia travels led her to collect thousands of specimens in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Peru, and at Mt. McKinley.

The daughter of a Mexican diplomat and American mother, Ynes was educated in the US and Canada, eventually becoming a social worker in San Francisco. While a student at Berkeley she took trips with the Sierra Club and became interested in the natural world.

Henri Mouhot
b. 5-15-1826; Montbéliard, Doubs, France
d. 11-10-1861; Naphan, Laos

Henri Mouhot is best known for his popularization of the ruins of Angkor, the region of Cambodia serving as the seat of the Khmer empire. He was married to the daughter of English explorer Mungo Park.

• People of Southeast Asia Poster Map

John Muir
b. 4-21-1838; Dunbar, East Lothian, Scotland
d. 12-24-1914; Los Angeles, CA

John Muir, an explorer of Nature, and a walker, was the founder of the Sierra Club. His work helped save Yosemite Valley in the central Sierra Nevada Mountains of California.

“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.” -
John Muir, 1901

FYI ~ Muir is featured on the California State Quarter with the Half Dome monolith and the California Condor.

John Muir quotes ~
• “Nature chose for a tool, not the earthquake or lightning to rend and split asunder, not the stormy torrent or eroding rain, but the tender snow-flowers noiselessly falling through unnumbered centuries.”
• “I never tried to abandon creeds or code of civilization; they went away of their own accord... without leaving any consciousness of loss.” ~ 1865 letter to friend Emily Pelton
• “.... God has to nearly kill us sometimes, to teach us lessons.”

• John Muir ecard