* Christopher Columbus (Italian)
* Vasco da Gama (Portuguese)
* Ferdinand Magellan (Portuguese)
* Juan Sebastián Elcano (Spanish)
* Samuel de Champlain (French)
* Henry Hudson (English)
* Willem Janszoon (Dutch)
* Abel Tasman (Dutch)
* James Cook (English)
* Louis Antoine de Bougainville (French)
Scientists:
* Nicolaus Copernicus (Polish)
* Galileo Galilei (Italian)
* Johannes Kepler (German)
* Isaac Newton (English)
* Robert Hooke (English)
* Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (Dutch)
Cartographers:
* Gerardus Mercator (Flemish)
* Abraham Ortelius (Flemish)
* Johannes Blaeu (Dutch)
* Willem Blaeu (Dutch)
Merchants:
* The Medici family (Italian)
* The Fugger family (German)
* The Welser family (German)
* The Dutch East India Company
* The British East India Company
Rulers:
* King John II of Portugal
* King Manuel I of Portugal
* King Charles V of Spain
* Queen Elizabeth I of England
* King Louis XIV of France