EXPLORATION IN HISTORY

EXPLORATION
IN HISTORY
Gary H. Kitmacher
NASA
Johnson Space Center
Exploration and Discovery
600 BC
Phoenicians explore the
Mediterranean
475 BC
Hanno the Carthaginian Navigator
explores the coast of Africa
Hanno the Navigator
325 BC
Alexander the Great
Alexander the Great
300 BC
Pytheas explores the British Isles
and Iceland
Pytheas
120 BC
Eudoxus the Greek travels
to India
Eudoxus
399 AD
Fa Hsien
Circumnavigates China and the far East
700 AD
Norse Explorers
Eric the Red
1000 AD
Colonization of Vinland (Greenland)
North America
1200 AD
Polynesians
1271 AD
Marco Polo
Journies to the Far East
Marco Polo
1325
Tangier to Africa, Europe and Asia
to China
1415
Chinese Exploration of Africa
1488
Bartolomeu Dias
First Voyage around
Africa’s Cape of Good Hope
1492
Christopher Columbus
Searches for a route to the
Indies, and makes the modern
discovery of the
Western Hemisphere
1497
Vasco da Gama
Portugal to
East Africa and
India
1503
Amerigo Vespucci
identification of the fourth continent
1513
Balboa
First European to see the
Pacific Ocean, from Panama
1513
Ponce de Leon
first modern European in North America, Florida
searches for the fountain of youth
and discovers the Gulf Stream
1519
first circumnavigation
of
the earth
1520
Hernan Cortes
Explores Central America
Hernan Cortes
1528
first to cross
North America
1532
subdued the
Inca army
1535
Jacques Cartier
charting of the
St. Lawrence River
and Eastern Canada
1541
first from Florida
to the
Mississippi River
1570
First to sail
in the
North Pacific
Ocean
1576
Martin Frobisher
Searches for the northwest passage,
Discovers Frobisher Bay
1609
discovery of
the Hudson River
and Hudson Bay
1642
New Zealand,
Tasmania and
Fiji Islands
1741
Aleutian Islands, Alaska,
Russian Colonization
1768
scientific exploration
of the Pacific Ocean
1768
scientific exploration
of the Pacific Ocean
1789
charted the
Canadian
northwest
1801
Circumnavigation of
Australia
1804
Corps of Discovery
Explores
North America
1842
Charted the
Ross Sea and
Ross Ice Shelf
1856
Searching for the
Source of the Nile
1860
Cambodian temples at Angkor
1871
exploration of
Africa
1885-1935
Central Asia, Tibet and NW China
Traces the Silk Road
1903 Northwest Passage, Arctic
1911, first to the South Pole
Crossed the North Pole by Dirigible
1909
First to reach
the North Pole
1911
Discovery of Machu Picchu,
Peru
1903
First Controlled Heavier
than Air Flight
Wright Brothers
1909
First Flight Across
Water
Louis Bleriot
1919
NC-4 - first aircraft to
cross the Atlantic Ocean
US Navy
1923
Fokker T-2
First aircraft to cross
the US non-stop
Kelly and Macready
1924
Douglas World Cruiser –
first aircraft to circumnavigate
the earth
US Army
1927
Lindbergh flies
New York to Paris
Charles A. Lindbergh
1934
Wiley Post
First flight into the
Stratosphere and
Discovery of the Jet Stream
Wiley Post
1935
China Clippers
First commercial flights
Across the oceans
Juan Trippe
1961
Yuri Gagarin
First in Space
Yuri Gagarin
1968
Apollo 8
Circles the Moon
Borman, Lovell
and Anders
1969
Neil Armstrong
First on the Moon
Armstrong
Technology