WI: The greatest explorer pre 1500
What if a contest was held to determine who was the greatest explore pre 1500? Who would you vote for? Here are the candidates.
Harakhuf- explored Nubia, Nile River and Red Sea
Hanno the Navigator- explored North and West Africa
Pytheas- explored the British Isles, Rhine and Elbe rivers.
Zhang Qian- explored Central Asia
Ibn Fadlan- explored Iraq, Persia, the Volga River, the Caspian Sea and the Aral Sea
Leif Eriksson- explored Iceland, Greenland and Newfoundland
Fa Xian- Explored China, India, Sri Lanka, Java and Central Asia
William of Rubruck- explored eastern Mediterranean, Lebanon, Crimean peninsula, Central Asia, Mongolia
Marco Polo- explored Syria, Iraq, Persia, Central Asia, China, Java, Turkey
Zheng He- explored Java, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Somalia, Arabia
Ibn Battuta- explored Mali, North Africa, Arabia, Iraq, India, Burma and China
Source
The DK book "Explorers" by Sir Ranulph Fiennes