How is the word ‘discovery’ and ‘exploration’ used by Europeans? What did it mean to people who were already living in those geographical locations?

The words ‘discovery’ and exploration are not the same. The Europeans, who made colonies all over the world, used it in these contexts.

The term discovery means exposure to something, which already existed, but not known by anybody else before. It simply means finding something unexpected. An example is the discovery of America by Columbus.

The term exploration refers to finding something new and helpful, with one’s ideas and experiments. It simply means creating something. An example is an exploration of natural resources by colonising country in the weaker country.

These terms have different context with people who were already living in those geographical locations. “Discover” is a specific point of time when they or their land/territory is found by someone or something. “Explore” refers to the whole time of the search by something/somebody and also the time they (colonial country) discovered the territory/country.