Where Did England Explore? A Global Survey of English Exploration

English exploration spanned centuries and continents, driven by trade, colonization, science, and naval power. Here's a regional breakdown of major areas explored or claimed by England/Britain:

North America

• Canada: Newfoundland (Cabot 1497), Hudson Bay, Arctic Archipelago, Pacific coast (Vancouver)
• Thirteen Colonies / USA: Roanoke (1585), Jamestown (1607), New England, Mid-Atlantic, South
• Pacific Northwest: Cook, Vancouver, Puget Sound, Columbia River
• Arctic: Northwest Passage searches (Frobisher, Franklin, Rae, Amundsen)

South America & Caribbean

• Guianas: British Guiana (Guyana), Suriname (briefly), Falklands
• Brazil: Limited to trade posts; Portugal dominated
• Southern Cone: Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego (FitzRoy, Darwin on Beagle)

Africa

• West Africa: Gambia, Sierra Leone, Gold Coast (Ghana), Nigeria — trade, then colonies
• East Africa: Kenya, Uganda, Zanzibar, Somaliland — explorers (Speke, Burton, Livingstone, Stanley)
• Southern Africa: Cape Colony (from Dutch 1806), Rhodesia (Zambia/Zimbabwe), Bechuanaland (Botswana)
• Nile Valley: Egypt (occupation 1882), Sudan

Asia

• Indian Subcontinent: EIC trade → Company Rule → British Raj (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh)
• Southeast Asia: Malaya, Singapore, Borneo, Burma, Hong Kong
• East Asia: China (treaty ports), Japan (opening), Korea (brief)
• Middle East: Aden, Persian Gulf protectorates, Palestine/Transjordan, Iraq (mandates)

Australia & Oceania

• Australia: Cook 1770 (east coast); colonies from 1788
• New Zealand: Treaty of Waitangi 1840
• Pacific: Fiji, Solomons, Gilbert & Ellice (Kiribati/Tuvalu), Pitcairn, Tonga
• Antarctica: Ross, Scott, Shackleton — British Antarctic Territory claim

Key Figures

Cabot, Drake, Raleigh, Hudson, Cook, Vancouver, Franklin, Livingstone, Stanley, Scott, Shackleton, and countless naval officers, traders, missionaries, and surveyors.