Explorers

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The Unsolved Mystery of the Tunnels at Baiae

Did ancient priests fool visitors to a sulfurous subterranean stream that they had crossed the River Styx and entered Hades?

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The Neverending Hunt for Utopia

Through centuries of human suffering, one vision has sustained: a belief in a terrestrial arcadia

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The Woman Who Took on the Tycoon

John D. Rockefeller Sr. epitomized Gilded Age capitalism. Ida Tarbell was one of the few willing to hold him accountable

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The Loneliest Shop in the World

The original lifeboat, the James Caird, built in 1914, had an open top, exposing its inhabitants to the elements.

Reliving Shackleton's Epic Endurance Expedition

Tim Jarvis's Plan to Cross the Antarctic in an Exact Replica of the James Caird

Captain Lawrence "Titus" Oates with ponies

Sacrifice Amid the Ice: Facing Facts on the Scott Expedition

Captain Lawrence Oates wrote that if Robert Scott's team didn't win the race to the South Pole, "we shall come home with our tails between our legs"

The last photo of Mawson's Far Eastern Party, taken when they left the Australasian Antarctic Party's base camp on November 10, 1912. By January 10, 1913, two of the three men would be dead, and expedition leader Douglas Mawson would find himself exhausted, ill and still more than 160 miles from the nearest human being.

The Most Terrible Polar Exploration Ever: Douglas Mawson’s Antarctic Journey

A century ago, Douglas Mawson saw his two companions die and found himself stranded in the midst of Antarctic blizzards

“It is splendid to have people who refuse to recognise difficulties,” British Capt. Robert Falcon Scott wrote early in the expedition to the South Pole. But they would after they set out from the pole.

The Doomed South Pole Voyage's Remaining Photographs

A 1912 photograph proves explorer Captain Robert Scott reached the South Pole—but wasn't the first

Amundsen at the South Pole, one hundred years ago today

The Path of Exploration

Henry Morton Stanley, photographed in 1872 at age 31, is best known for his epic search for the missionary David Livingstone, whom he finally encountered in 1871 in present-day Tanzania.

Henry Morton Stanley's Unbreakable Will

The explorer of Dr. Livingstone-fame provides a classic character study of how willpower works

Port Louis, Mauritius, in the first half of the 19th century

Naval Gazing: The Enigma of Étienne Bottineau

In 1782, an unknown French engineer offered an invention better than radar: the ability to detect ships hundreds of miles away

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

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