John Cunningham (Danish:Hans Kønig;c. 1575 – 9 December 1651) was a Scottish nobleman, explorer,Dano-Norwegian naval captain, andGovernor of Finnmark.

In 1605, Cunningham became captain of the 60-ton Danish naval shipTrost.^[1] Along with the 70-tonDen Røde Løve and the 20-tonKatten, the ships were directed by the Danish King,Christian IV, to re-establish contact with theNorse settlements in Greenland, the first ofthree annual expeditions sent between 1605 and 1607. Cunningham served as the chief commander, following the piloting ofJames Hall and commandingGodske Lindenov in theLøven andJohn Knight in theKatten.

During the Lindenov expedition of 1606, Cunningham served as the captain of theLøven under Lindenov's command. In 1615, Cunningham was among the commanders aboard the naval expedition underGabriel Kruse sent toSpitsbergen to demand tolls from foreign whalers. There, Cunningham encounteredRobert Fotherby,Thomas Edge, andAdriaen Block. The following year, he captained theGabriel as part of the naval expedition under Jørgen Daa sent to rid the coasts of Norway, theFaeroes, and Iceland of illegal whalers and pirates.

In 1619, Cunningham was madeGovernor of Finnmark in the far north, a post he retained until his death in 1651. There, he presided over 52 witch trials, nine of which afflicted theSami population.^[2]

• 17th-century explorers
• 17th-century Scottish people
• 1570s births
• 1651 deaths
• 17th-century Royal Dano-Norwegian Navy officers
• British explorers of the Arctic
• Scottish explorers

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from September 2019
• Articles containing Danish-language text
• CS1 Danish-language sources (da)
• Year of birth uncertain