Most Famous Spanish Explorers
Spain has produced 86 notable explorers throughout history, led by Hernán Cortés. Rankings are drawn from a cross-verified academic dataset of 152,953 people.
Category All
Citizenship All
HC
Hernán Cortés Spanish Explorer 1485 – 1547
#
393
SC
Santiago Calatrava Spanish Engineer Born 1951
#
1,809
FP
Francisco Pizarro Spanish Conquistador 1478 – 1541
#
2,687
VN
Vasco Núñez de Balboa Spanish Explorer 1475 – 1519
#
5,383
HD
Hernando de Soto Spanish Explorer 1495 – 1542
#
5,534
JP
Juan Ponce de León Spanish Explorer 1474 – 1521
#
6,424
PD
Pedro de Valdivia Spanish Explorer 1497 – 1553
#
10,929
DD
Diego de Almagro Spanish Explorer 1475 – 1538
#
12,963
ML
Miguel López de Legazpi Spanish Explorer 1502 – 1572
#
16,119
LD
Lope de Aguirre Spanish Explorer 1518 – 1561
#
16,953
AD
Alonso de Ojeda Spanish Explorer 1466 – 1515
#
17,506
PD
Pánfilo de Narváez Spanish Explorer 1478 – 1528
#
22,290
PM
Pedro Menéndez de Avilés Spanish Explorer 1519 – 1574
#
22,294
JR
Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo Spanish Explorer 1499 – 1543
#
25,011
JD
Juan de Garay Spanish Explorer 1528 – 1583
#
25,038
MA
Martín Alonso Pinzón Spanish Explorer 1441 – 1493
#
25,416
SD
Sebastián de Belalcázar Spanish Explorer 1480 – 1551
#
27,452
JD
Juan de Grijalva Spanish Explorer 1480 – 1527
#
30,815
JD
Juan de Oñate Spanish Explorer 1550 – 1626
#
31,230
JB
Juan Bautista de Anza Spanish Explorer 1736 – 1788
#
33,204