Zebulon Pike

Zebulon Montgomery Pike ( * January 5, 1779, † April 27, 1813 ) was an American officer and explorer.

The Pikes Peak, a mountain in Colorado, was named after him. Langer's Pike expedition, often compared with the famous Lewis and Clark expedition, mapped much of the southern land area of the Louisiana Purchase.

Pike was born in Lamberton, New Jersey. His father, he also was called Zebulon Pike, was an officer of the United States Army under General George Washington. Pike junior grew up in various Army outposts and entered 1794 as a cadet in the regiment of his father's.

After an unremarkable military career, he was ordered by General James Wilkinson to explore the headwaters of the Mississippi River. This first expedition was relatively unsuccessful, but after his return in 1806 he was sent out again and now led the actual Pike Expedition (July 15, 1806 to July 1, 1807 ) to explore the West. This trip was his life's work and ended with a prison in the then Spanish New Mexico.

Pike fell in 1813 in a combat mission in Ontario.

Several Pike counties in the United States have been named after him.