‘Discovery, Invention and Exploration’ Archives
Lost Colony Roanoke Island
Lost Colony (Roanoke Island) Lost Colony is the name applied to the first English colony in the Americas in what is now northeastern North Carolina. The people who disappeared are called the “Lost Colonists.” First Expedition In July 1584, an English exploratory expedition under captains Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe, sponsored by [...]
Periplus
Periplus The term periplus (plural form, peripli) is the Latin transcription of the Greek periplous (plural form periploi) for “a sailing around” or “circumnavigation.” In its usage, as associated with the explorations of the ancient Greeks and Romans, it came to refer to maritime voyages in general, along stretches of coasts as well as [...]
Jacques-Yves Cousteau
Jacques-Yves Cousteau (1910–1997) French oceanographer Jacques Cousteau was born in Saint André de Cubzac, France. He attended the French Naval Academy in Brest and became a gunnery officer. After serving in the Far East in 1934–35, he trained to be a navy pilot but was injured in an automobile accident. Swimming was part of his [...]
Hernan Cortes
Hernán Cortés (Hernando Cortés, Hernando Cortez) (1485–1547) Spanish conquistador in Mexico and Central America Hernán Cortés was born in Medillín, a town in central Spain’s Estremadura region. His father had been a captain in the Spanish army, and his family, although of the nobility, was of modest means. At the age of 14, Cortés [...]
Ptolemy
Ptolemy (Ptolemy of Alexandria; Claudius Ptolemaeus) (ca. A.D. 90–ca. A.D. 150) Hellenized Egyptian geographer, astronomer, mathematician in ancient Alexandria, Egypt A hellenized Egyptian, Ptolemy was a native of Alexandria, Egypt, and a leading scholar and scientist among that city’s Greek intellectual community in the second century [...]
Who Really Discovered America?
Who Really Discovered America? Why is our country named after Amerigo Vespucci, who very few people have ever heard of, rather than Christopher Columbus? Vespucci (1454–1512) was an Italian explorer who was the first person to realize that the Americas were separate from the continent of Asia. He sailed in search of a passage to India in [...]
Marco Polo
Marco Polo (1254–1324) A lot of what we know about the Far East and the Silk Road comes from the travels of Marco Polo. This amazing, intrepid traveler was born in thirteenth-century Venice, a powerful trading city in Italy. Marco’s father and uncle were among the first European traders to make their way east all the way to China along the [...]
Sounding Line
Sounding Line Probably the earliest navigator’s instrument invented was the sounding line. This is a long line with knots marking distance (the knots marked fathoms, which is a unit for measuring the depth of water and is equal to 1.8 meters or 2 yards). A lead weight was at the end of the line, helping it to sink to the bottom. By counting [...]
Viking Navigation
Viking Navigation Ancient mariners may have had an understanding of the migration patterns of birds and whales. Irish monks and Vikings (Norsemen) traveled from island to island most likely by following migrating birds. They were sailing so far North that during the summer months—or the months of the midnight sun—there would be no stars to [...]
Chip Log
Chip Log A chip log was a device that sailors used to measure speed. Chip refers to a “chip of wood” and log refers to the book where these kinds of details were recorded. The wood was wedge-shaped and measured about 18 inches long. It was tied to a rope that was on a large spool at the back of the boat. The rope was knotted every 47 feet, [...]
