Henry Hudson was an English sea explorer and navigator during the early 17th century, best known for his explorations of present-day Canada and parts of the northeastern United States.
Robert Bylot was an English explorer who made four voyages to the Arctic. He was uneducated and from a working-class background, but was able to rise to rank of master in the English Royal Navy.
Denmark and the former real union of Denmark–Norway had a colonial empire from the 17th through the 20th centuries, large portions of which were found in the Americas. Denmark and Norway in one form or another also maintained land claims in Greenland since the 13th century, the former up through the twenty-first century.
Sir Martin Frobisher was an English sailor and privateer who made three voyages to the New World looking for the North-west Passage. He probably sighted Resolution Island near Labrador in north-eastern Canada, before entering Frobisher Bay and landing on present-day Baffin Island. On his second voyage, Frobisher found what he thought was gold ore and carried 200 tons of it home on three ships, where initial assaying determined it to be worth a profit of £5.20 per ton. Encouraged, Frobisher returned to Canada with an even larger fleet and dug several mines around Frobisher Bay. He carried 1,350 tons of the ore back to England, where, after years of smelting, it was realized that the ore was a worthless rock containing the mineral hornblende. As an English privateer, he plundered riches from French ships. He was later knighted for his service in repelling the Spanish Armada in 1588.
William Baffin was an English navigator, explorer and cartographer. He is primarily known for his attempt to find a Northwest Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, during the course of which he was the first European to discover Baffin Bay situated between Canada and Greenland. He was also responsible for exceptional surveys of the Red Sea and Persian Gulf on behalf of the East India Company.
Bus, Buss, or Busse Island was a phantom island in the North Atlantic Ocean. It was recorded as discovered during the third expedition of Martin Frobisher in September 1578 by sailors aboard the ship Emanuel of Bridgwater and was indicated on maps as existing between Ireland and mythical Frisland at about 57° N. The island was then named for the type of vessel that its discoverers used. It is believed that Frobisher took Greenland for Frisland and Baffin Island for Greenland and Emanuel, returning home, made a mistake in dead reckoning and mistook optical effects near Greenland at around 62° N for new land.
John Davis was one of the chief navigators of Queen Elizabeth I of England. He led several voyages to discover the Northwest Passage and served as pilot and captain on both Dutch and English voyages to the East Indies. He discovered the Falkland Islands in August 1592.
Charles Francis Hall was an American Arctic explorer, best known for his collection of Inuit testimony regarding the 1845 Franklin Expedition and the suspicious circumstances surrounding his death while leading the American-sponsored Polaris expedition in an attempt to be the first to reach the North Pole. The expedition was marred by insubordination, incompetence, and poor leadership.
Luke Foxe was an English explorer, born in Kingston-upon-Hull, Yorkshire, who searched for the Northwest Passage across North America. In 1631, he sailed much of the western Hudson Bay before concluding no such passage was possible. Foxe Basin, Foxe Channel and Foxe Peninsula were named after him.
Jonas Poole was an early 17th-century English explorer and sealer, and was significant in the history of whaling.
Robert Fotherby was an early 17th-century English explorer and whaler. From 1613 to 1615 he worked for the Muscovy Company, and from 1615 until his death for the East India Company.
Captain William Penny (1809–1892) was a Scottish shipmaster, whaler and Arctic explorer. He undertook the first maritime search for the ships of Sir John Franklin. In 1840, Penny established the first whaling station in the Cumberland Sound area on Kekerten Island.
John Cunningham was a Scottish nobleman, explorer, Dano-Norwegian naval captain, and Governor of Finnmark.
William Alexander (Alex) Deer FRS was a distinguished British geologist, petrologist and mineralogist.
Godske Christoffersen Lindenov or Lindenow was a Danish naval officer and Arctic explorer. He was a commander on one of King Christian IV's expeditions to Greenland.
Christian IV's expeditions were sent by King Christian IV of Denmark-Norway to Greenland and Arctic waterways during the years 1605–1607. The expeditions were commissioned in order to locate the lost Eastern Norse Settlement and reassert sovereignty over Greenland.
Amerloq Fjord is a 36 km (22 mi) long fjord in the Qeqqata municipality in western Greenland. The fjord empties into the Davis Strait just south of Sisimiut, whose former Inuit name was also "Amerloq".
John Knight was a British explorer of Greenland and Labrador. He is known for two expeditions: he was a member of a Danish exploration of the coast of Greenland, and he led an expedition to discover the Northwest Passage, during which he was lost.
Eenoolooapik, also spelled Inuluapik, was an Inuit hunter and guide who served with British whaler William Penny and visited Scotland. Born on Blacklead Island in Cumberland Sound, Eenoolooapik moved with his family to the island of Aggijjat on the eastern coast of Baffin Island. Acquainted as a youth with Scottish whalers operating in the area, he accompanied Penny to Aberdeen, Scotland in 1839, as part of Penny's attempt to lobby for greater funding for Arctic exploration. Eenoolooapik returned to Baffin in 1840 after visiting Greenland. Alexander McDonald published a biography of Eenoolooapik in 1841, likely the only contemporary full-length biography of any Inuit published during the 19th century. In 1847, he died of tuberculosis developed during his time overseas.
