William Dampier, a pirate with a penchant for coconuts, led a life that epitomized the duality of adventure and exploration. Born in 1651, his early years were marked by a desire for knowledge,...
Erik the Red is one of the most interesting figures in Norse history. Epitomizing the Viking spirit of adventure and conquest, Erik is widely (and mistakenly) remembered as the first European to...
At a time when the outlines of the known world were a mystery to many, and even the most powerful empires had no idea about the realms beyond their distant borders, the scholars of the Muslim world...
Throughout human history, the call of the unknown has driven explorers to embark on daring voyages into uncharted waters. These intrepid explorers have braved treacherous seas, and unknown dangers,...
Back in the 1730s, a group of daring Frenchmen embarked on a mission to calculate the true size and shape of the Earth. Led by Charles Marie de la Condamine as part of the famed French Geodesic...
Marco Polo may be a household name, but few know that his famous literary masterpiece, The Travels of Marco Polo , was not only written while he was in prison, but was penned by somebody else. Marco...
The HMS Endeavour is the famous ship that Captain James Cook used on the first expedition to Australia in 1768 AD. The wreck of the ship that enabled this voyage is now believed to have been found...
Until now it was believed that the Azores island group was discovered by Portuguese sailors in the 15th century. However, a new study shows Norse explorers had brought animals to the islands 700...
A traditional English fruitcake is not what researchers in the Antarctic expected to find inside an explorer’s camp. Having survived over a century of snow, ice and wind on what is regarded as one of...
Even today, many people still believe that Christopher Columbus was the person who “discovered” America when he landed there in 1492. That belief overlooks the fact that indigenous people had already...
Many think of globalization as a modern and corporate phenomenon , and it has been readily linked to the spread of coronavirus. But modern globalization isn’t new. Archaeological research shows it...
Vasco da Gama was a Portuguese sailor and explorer who lived between the 15th and 16th centuries. Not only is da Gama a significant figure in the history of Portugal and Europe, but he is also an...
The age of discovery is certainly one of the most dramatic periods of European history - a period of revolutionary voyages and contacts with the fascinating and mysterious New World . Many prominent...
By Peter C. Mancall / The Conversation Sometime in the autumn of 1621, a group of English Pilgrims who had crossed the Atlantic Ocean and created a colony called New Plymouth celebrated their first...
Juan Ponce de León was one of the first Europeans known to have set foot on what is today the United States of America. This was due to his expedition to the area now known as Florida (the first one...
The year is 1526. Onto the wild and wooded lands of what is today Georgia in the United States, European feet had never permanently walked. These forests and river valleys, the wild rolling hills of...
Hy-Brasil is a mysterious island appearing on maps from 1325 to the 1800s. In Irish myth, it was said to be clouded in mist except for one day every seven years, when it became visible but still...
Archaeologists working at a famous burial site in London have identified the remains of a very important British explorer and navigator. They have found the coffin and remains of Captain Matthew...
Evidence which shows that ancient Egyptians had already crossed the Atlantic 3,000 years ago, long before Columbus in 1492, comes not only from the mimicking of cultural traditions as seen in Peru...
The islands of the South Pacific are best known as tropical paradises and many of them also have long histories and fascinating cultures. Talietumu is an archaeological site in the Polynesian islands...
In AD 1499 England launched its very first English-led expedition to "Terra Nova” (New World) and now researchers studying a 16th century scroll have found King Henry VII awarded William Weston, one...
Marine archaeologists are about to announce that they have solved one of the greatest maritime mysteries of all time. They believe that they have finally discovered the wreck of HMS Endeavour, the...
Harkhuf the Explorer, while traveling through Nubia, received an urgent message from the Pharaoh himself. “Come to the Palace at once!” the king’s letter read. “Drop everything!” This was unusual...
Pedro Alvares Cabral was a Portuguese explorer and navigator who lived between the 15th and 16th centuries. He is generally given credit for being the first person from Europe to have ‘discovered’...
