Christopher Columbus may be among the most important (if controversial) historical figures to ever live. The legacy of his voyage had resounding impacts that reverberated all the way around the globe...
In economics one hears talk of “the curse of oil” – and one might say wherever there is buried treasure there will be a curse, hyper-real or real. The most famous of all curses is of course that...
Poseidon the great god I begin to sing, he who moves the earth and the desolate sea… You are dark-haired you are blessed you have a kind heart. Help those who sail upon The sea In ships. ~Homeric...
One of the most famous voyages from England to Virginia was on the Mayflower. This ship became the symbol of the search for a new life and pilgrimage to the New World in the 17th century. 2020 marks...
The Vikings’ next step out into the Atlantic – the discovery and settlement of Iceland – is one of the best documented events of the Viking Age. Medieval Icelanders were fascinated by genealogy, not...
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...
In a recent article on the Vikings in South America , it was indicated how scientists had put forward an untenable theory to account for the presence in Chile of the Bundsö dogs from Denmark before...
The idea that humans have been completing transoceanic voyages - traveling the earth via our oceans - before Europeans set sail is, in many people's eyes, an accepted conclusion. Yet it is still...
The Age of Discovery (also known as the Age of Exploration) refers to an exciting era in European history when a number of extensive overseas voyages took place. This period lasted roughly from the...
On August 10, 1519, King Charles of Spain watched naval officers Ferdinand Magellan and Juan Sebastián Elcano set sail to the ‘Spice Islands’, now the Maluku Islands in Indonesia. 239 brave men...
Read Part 1 Tracing a Possible Route for the Voyagers Sailing southwards along the eastern seaboards of Australia and Tasmania, the voyagers would round the east coast of Antarctica and, initially,...
Today, many people believe that Christopher Columbus was not the first non-American to set foot in the New World. The Vikings, Chinese , Greeks , and Italians may have all been his predecessors...
Saint Brendan (also referred to by his various epithets ‘the Navigator’, ‘the Voyager’, ‘the Anchorite’, and ‘the Bold’) was an Irish saint who lived between the 5th and 6th centuries AD known for...
Just south of Awendaw, South Carolina, in the Francis Marion National Forest, is an example of a type of architectural artifact that still baffles archaeologists. For every explanation someone offers...
On a chilly winter day in 1929, Halil Edhem, the Director of Turkey's National Museum, was hunched over his solitary task of classifying documents. He pulled towards him a map drawn on Roe deer skin...
Henry IV of Spain – known as "The Impotent" for his weakness, both on the throne and (allegedly) in the marriage chamber – died in 1474. A long and inconclusive war of succession ensued, pitting...