Explorers

The Waldseemüller map, printed in 1507, depicted the New World in a new way.

The Waldseemüller Map: Charting the New World

Two obscure 16th-century German scholars named the American continent and changed the way people thought about the world

Controversy over Meriwether Lewis' death has descendants and scholars campaigning to exhume his body at his grave site in Tennessee.

Meriwether Lewis' Mysterious Death

Two hundred years later, debate continues over whether the famous explorer committed suicide or was murdered

The 11 minutes of powered descent to the lunar surface was Buzz Aldrin's most memorable moment in the lunar module.

Q and A: Astronaut Buzz Aldrin on the Moon

Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon, reflects on the Apollo 11 mission

Explorer Robert Scott built a hut at Cape Evans during his 1910-1913 expedition; all five members of his team perished.

Finding Feisty Fungi in Antarctica

In a place where no one believed they existed–-treeless Antartica–wood fungi are feasting on polar exploration relics

Frederick Cook and Robert Peary both claimed they discovered the North Pole.

Who Discovered the North Pole?

A century ago, explorer Robert Peary earned fame for discovering the North Pole, but did Frederick Cook get there first?

Bingham (in Peru in 1911) wrote of a "jungle-covered maze."

Who Discovered Machu Picchu?

Controversy swirls as to whether an archaeologist's claim to fame as the discoverer of Machu Picchu has any merit

Cameos

Adventures of a Portuguese Poet

Wild-hearted Luis Vaz de Camoes’ years abroad are not well-known, but that hasn’t lessened his legend

William Edgar Geil on the Great Wall at Luowenyu, June 7, 1908. William Lindesay had thumbed through Geil’s book The Great Wall of China, and was stunned by the photographs, particularly one showing Geil near a tower on a remote section of the wall. Lindesay had a photo of himself in that very spot but noticed that in his the tower was missing.

A Yankee in China

William Lindesay follows the trail of forgotten traveler, William Edgar Geil, the first man to traverse the Great Wall of China

Polo wrote of men with dogs’ features (a French illustration, c. 1412), among several other fantastic creatures.

Wonders and Whoppers

Following in Marco Polo's footsteps through Asia leads our intrepid author to some surprising conclusions

"Getting to the Pacific by ship, without having to go over land, was the biggest challenge of that period," says Helen Nadar. "[Magellan's] the one that solved it" (above, a color engraving).

The Man Who Sailed the World

Ferdinand Magellan's global journey gave him fame, but took his life

The Astoria Column serves as a memorial for the explorers Lewis and Clark with President Jefferson.

Lewis and Clark: The Journey Ends

The triumphant return of the Lewis and Clark expedition

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Me and Meriwether

The secret diary of William Clark

Vikings sailing to Iceland

The Vikings: A Memorable Visit to America

The Icelandic house of what is likely the first European-American baby has scholars rethinking the Norse sagas

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Splendid Isolation

When the first astronauts to walk on the Moon returned from their July 1969 lunar expedition, they were confined to quarters

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Finally, the Top of the World

A witness to the first ascent of Mount Everest recalls Edmund Hillary's aplomb, Tenzing Norgay's grace and other glories of the "last earthly adventure"

Engraving of the Arctic explorer Charles Francis Hall

Arctic Arsenic

Charles Francis Hall was murdered during an expedition that might have taken him to the North Pole decades before Peary. Or was he?

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Looking for Henry Hudson

Set adrift by mutineers during his expedition to find a Northwest Passage, the famous explorer was never heard from again. What was his fate?

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