Exploration

The adventures of Livingstone, Amundsen and Hillary are well-known, but some lesser-known explorers have tales to tell that are just as intriguing. We've picked three who tackled the world by car.

An overview of the history of the Age of Exploration and its impact on the geography of the world, from the About Geography site.

Exploration is the act of searching for the purpose of discovery of information or resources. Exploration occurs in all non-sessile animal species, including humans. In human history, its most dramatic rise was during the Age of Discovery when European explorers sailed and charted much of the rest of the world for a variety of reasons. Since then, major explorations after the Age of Discovery have occurred for reasons mostly aimed at information discovery.

Find out more about the history of Exploration of North America, including videos, interesting articles, pictures, historical features and more. Get all the facts on History.

Research vessels come in all shapes and sizes for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. Over the past eight decades, the research institute has purchased smuggling ships, converted troop carriers, commissioned deep sea drillers, and built a catamaran out of surplus pontoons.

Most of us were taught that Christopher Columbus discovered America. Yet it is far from clear cut. There are alternative theories about who got here first - some well-documented, others much more flimsy in their scholarship. A new book probes their merits.

A biography of the life of Ferdinand Magellan, the Portuguese explorer who is credited with circumnavigating the Earth.

With a landmass of 9.6 million square kilometers, and the most eclectic geographic terrain in any continent on Earth, China is decidedly history's least explored nation. This inaccessibility is further compounded by a staunchly self-isolated people, making the Chinese amongst the world's most mysterious, and least understood, cultures.

Find out more about famous explorers, conquistadors and voyagers that helped discover land around the globe. Get all the facts on History.

Explore History's Voyages with The Great Courses. If you like historic adventures, you're going to love this course.