James Cook, son of a farm laborer and onetime shopkeeper's apprentice, became one of England's greatest explorers. On his final voyage, Cook was stabbed to death during the season of war in Hawaii. This title helps you learn how this daring explorer charted far-flung regions of the globe.

Sir Francis Drake rose from humble beginnings on an English farm to become one of the country's most widely acclaimed heroes. As a result of his early exploits at what amounted to piracy in the Caribbean, he acquired great wealth and fame. This title shows how this man's career opened the way for more exploration by the English.

Captain Meriwether Lewis and William Clark discovered and described 122 species of Western birds and animals and 178 plants. Their 200,000-word journals continue to be a source of fascination to Americans. This title shows how these two adventurers are celebrated as among the greatest of American explorers.

La Salle is one of the best-known but least-understood explorers of human history. Celebrated for following the Mississippi to its mouth in Louisiana, he was berated for failing to relocate that same area when he came by sea. This title describes the man whose journeys encouraged explorers from other European nations to survey the southeastern US.

After two years of training with the British Mount Everest Expedition, Edmund Hillary, along with Nepalese Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, completed the challenging climb to become the first men to reach the summit of the world's highest peak, Mount Everest, on May 29, 1953. This title helps you learn about this daring explorer and his accomplishments.

Most explorers are famous for their successes and triumphs, but Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton never met his ultimate goal of crossing the Antarctic continent. Instead, he is best known for an expedition that took a horrible turn for the worse.

Lets you discover how a young captain battled mutiny, starvation, illness, and conflicts with his own countrymen to be remembered in history as the first to circumnavigate the globe.

In his voyages to India, beginning in 1497, Vasco da Gama revolutionized the economy of Europe. This biography of Vasco da Gama not only presents the life of this famous Portuguese navigator but also describes his impact on world events during the 16th century.

Tells the story of an ambitious man who was heralded as a heroic conqueror, a ruthless explorer who presented his king with a territory nine times larger than Spain itself, and a skilled military commander whose actions forever altered the land that we know today as Mexico."

A biography about the first explorer to establish a French presence in North America, an accomplishment that allowed the next generation of French sailors to create the first settlements in Canada.