Explorers

During a systematic metal detector survey in southern Arizona, Deni Seymour unearthed a 16th-century cannon likely left behind by Spanish conquistadors.

These 500-Year-Old Cannons May Help Unravel the Mysteries of the Coronado Expedition

The 16th-century artifacts were found during excavations in Arizona. Researchers say they may be the oldest firearms ever discovered in the continental United States

A 1583 portrait of Sir Francis Drake

In 1577, an English Explorer Set Out to Circumnavigate the World. Here's What His Groundbreaking Journey Accomplished

Francis Drake's successful voyage included British sailors' arrival in California and the plundering of a glut of Spanish riches that sustained Elizabeth I's empire

Archaeologists Caesar Bita and Filipe Castro dove to investigate the wreck.

A Mysterious Shipwreck Rests Just 20 Feet Below the Surface. It May Be Connected to Vasco da Gama's Final Voyage

Researchers think a coral-covered vessel discovered off the Kenyan coast could be the "São Jorge," a galleon that sank 500 years ago

Smithsonian's picks for the best history books of 2024 include The Barn, Eden Undone and The Wide Wide Sea.

The Ten Best History Books of 2024

Our favorite titles of the year resurrect forgotten histories and examine how the United States ended up where it is today

Robert Falcon Scott (far left) and his crew at the South Pole in January 1912

When a Search Party Discovered the Frozen Body of a British Explorer Who Raced to the South Pole—and Lost

On this day in 1912, a team found the remains of Robert Falcon Scott and the crew of the "Terra Nova" expedition. A would-be rescuer said he was forever haunted by the "horrible nightmare"

The Endurance was discovered resting on the seafloor east of the Antarctic Peninsula in 2022.

See the Wreck of Ernest Shackleton's 'Endurance' in Astonishing Detail With This New 3D Scan

Created from more than 25,000 high-resolution images, the digital model shows artifacts from the ill-fated expedition, including a boot, dishes and a flare gun

Andrew Irvine, back left, stands beside George Mallory and other members of the British Mount Everest expedition in 1924.

Famous Explorer's Remains Discovered on Mount Everest Offer Clues in a Century-Long Mystery

In 1924, Andrew "Sandy" Irvine joined George Mallory’s expedition to the world’s highest peak. Now, Irvine’s recently found foot and boot hint at what might have happened on that ill-fated undertaking

In the late 18th century, George Vancouver and his crew systematically sighted 75 geographical features in the Pacific Northwest, giving them entirely new names based on European taxonomy and imperial ambitions.

How Captain George Vancouver Mapped and Shaped the Modern Pacific Northwest

The British explorer named dozens of geographical features and sites in the region, ignoring the traditions of the Indigenous peoples who’d lived there for millennia

John Kunst (left), Ambassador Robert Neumann (center) and David Kunst (right) in Kabul, Afghanistan, on September 30, 1972

Why a Minnesota Man Walked Around the World, Traversing 13 Countries and 14,450 Miles in Four Years

Fifty years ago, on October 5, 1974, David Kunst completed the first verified circumnavigation of the globe on foot. Along the way, he met Princess Grace of Monaco, raised money for UNICEF and lost a brother to bandits

A photograph of the Endurance stuck in ice before it sank to the bottom of the Weddell Sea in 1915

Wreck of Shackleton's 'Endurance' Gets New Protections

The vessel will be preserved beneath Antarctic waters inside a sprawling restricted zone

Maidenhair ferns frame the cavernous entrance to a 350-foot-long cave that opens in the backyard of an Auckland suburban home.

Bringing Auckland’s Volcanic Underworld to Light

Scientists are working to map and protect the city's underground tunnels so they aren’t destroyed during construction

York, the enslaved man who accompanied Lewis and Clark on their history-making expedition, appears in the rightmost canoe in this 1905 painting by Charles Marion Russell.

The Forgotten Black Explorers Who Transformed Americans' Understanding of the Wilderness

Esteban, York and James Beckwourth charted the American frontier between the 16th and 19th centuries

Speleologists in metallurgical “cooling suits” emerge from the extreme heat of a lava tube formed by the eruption in 2021 of Mount Fagradalsfjall.

Journey Into the Fiery Depths of Earth’s Youngest Caves

What Iceland's volcanoes are revealing about early life on our planet

Camp III with Everest rising above the flank of Changtse mountain.

See Photos From the 1924 Mount Everest Expedition That Led to the Vanishing of Two Explorers

A century later, a new book captures the grand scale of the mountain and uncovers more about the expedition and the people at its center

Bruce McCandless floats freely in space with Earth 170 miles beneath him.

The Inside Story of the First Untethered Spacewalk

On February 7, 1984, astronaut Bruce McCandless ventured out into space and away from shuttle Challenger using only a nitrogen-propelled, hand-controlled backpack

Curator Frances McIntosh says the collection's survival is "nothing short of a miracle."

Shells From Captain Cook's Final Voyage Were Rescued From a Dumpster

Long presumed lost, the collection of rare shells is now on display in England

An expedition last fall captured a sonar image of a roughly plane-shaped object near Howland Island in the Pacific Ocean, which the team suggests could be Amelia Earhart's vehicle.

Have Researchers Found Amelia Earhart's Long-Lost Plane?

A new sonar image shows an airplane-shaped object resting on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, not far from where Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, went missing in 1937

Signs calling for the abolition of Columbus Day formed the backdrop for a protest in front of city hall in Flagstaff, Arizona.

The Evolution of Columbus Day Celebrations, From Italian Immigrant Pride to Indigenous Recognition

The holiday has been controversial practically since its inception

This statue of Christopher Columbus resides at Columbus Circle in front of Union Station in Washington, D.C. 

Breaking Down the United States' Historical Obsession With Christopher Columbus

Columbus became Columbus in the American Revolution—when the colonials sought out an origin story that didn’t involve the British

Isabella Bird ascended the 14,259-foot-tall Longs Peak, now part of Rocky Mountain National Park.

Following British Explorer Isabella Bird's Footsteps Through the Rockies, 150 Years Later

The intrepid Victorian-era author proved that a lady’s life could be in the mountains, and I am forever grateful for that

Page 1 of 11