Mind Blowing Images of History’s First Explorers

Trista - July 27, 2022

27. The Birth of National Geographic

Israel Russell’s expedition to Mount St. Elias to survey and map the area in 1890 was not only crucial for the scientific community but also for anyone who loves reading National Geographic. Russell spent two years exploring the Alaskan border and sharing his findings which were sponsored by the National Geographic Society, which back then was a club for wealthy people who were interested in traveling and exploration. The photographs that were taken by Russell and his team are now part of the history that is still going strong 134 years after its foundation.

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26. Theodore Roosevelt the Explorer

The 26th president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, after losing re-election, decided that the next step in his journey was to explore the Amazon, something that almost took his life. The Roosevelt- Rondon Scientific Expedition into the Rio Dúvuda in Brazil was led by Teddy. Colonel Cándido Rondon was sponsored by the American Museum of Natural History and collected new insect and animal specimens that were never seen before. The trip was hazardous, with three people dying and Teddy getting an infection from a wound on his leg. Because of it, they rename the river “Rio Roosevelt” for putting his life at risk.

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25. The Highest Andes

American-born mountaineer Edward Fitzgerald met his new best friend, Swiss guide Matthias Zurbriggen while on a hiking trip. Together they set their goal to be the first ones to go with a team to survey and study the high plateau regions of the southern Andes. Not only were they successful, but Fitzgerald ended up writing a book about it named The Highest Andes in 1899. Afterward, they climbed Mount Aconcagua, the tallest mountain in the Americas, spending six weeks surveying the area and later going all the way to the top, becoming the first one to do so successfully.

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24. Going to the Extreme of Human Capability

There are people that want to test how much a body can endure in higher places, and that’s what mountaineer, Alison Hargreaves did when she decided that her goal was to climb the three tallest mountains in the world without using supplementary oxygen or any type of support by herself. So that’s what she did when she climbed Mount Everest in 1995. This explorer even climbed the north faces of the Alps in a single season and was the first one to do it. Sadly, she passed away while descending K2, the second-highest mountain in the world.

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23. Discovering a Continent

Amerigo Vespucci was an explorer at the same time as Columbus was. He is most known for being the first one to recognize that the continent Columbus had discovered was, in fact, not Asia, but an entirely new continent unknown to the modern world. In fact, in 1496, this explorer even got to meet and talk to Columbus himself. In 1503, he wrote a letter to his patron Lorenzo di Pier Francesco de’ Medici, telling him why he felt the new continent was not Asia because it was much larger than initially described. Most importantly, it was nothing like Asia had been described previously.

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22. Dreaming of Climbing Mont Blanc

Henriette d’Angeville loved to walk and climb since she could remember, so there is a wonder that all she wanted to do was climb one of the highest mountains in Europe. Which she did in 1838, making her the first woman to climb Mont Blanc with barely any tools. Even when a guide suggested she join two all-male groups, she refused and went on to climb it with scarcely any help but with a crowd cheering her on. Her team of explorers left on September 4, 1838, at 2 am, and by 1:15 pm, she made it to the top, celebrating with champagne and releasing doves to let everyone know she had made it.

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21. Lost Burial At Sea

Sir Francis Drake was known best for his many conquests against Spanish ships and towns, as well as being the first Englishman to sail around the world. Sent by Queen Elizabeth in 1577 to South America, Drake spent the next few years capturing loot and attacking Spanish-owned territories. In 1588 the Queen rewarded his efforts with a Knighthood. When he died in 1596, he was buried in a full suit of armor and then sealed in a lead-lined coffin and buried at sea off the coast of Panama. Divers and treasure hunters seek his coffin to this day.

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20. Sailing Alone Around The World

He is primarily regarded as the first man to traverse the world alone in his sailboat single-handedly. On June 21, 1892, he relaunched the boat named The Spray, which he spent the last year rebuilding. Then, on April 24, 1895, Captain Slocum left the safe harbor at Boston, Massachusetts. Eventually, he found his way to Gibraltar, then to Brazil. From there, this explorer had to wait 40 days to enter the Pacific Ocean due to storms. Soon then, he found his way to Australia, crossed the Indian Ocean, and headed for home.

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19. Exploration of the Human Condition

Not all exploration happens at the tops of mountains or in the farthest reaches and coastlines. Some of the most crucial inquiries happen within ourselves, as evidenced by the tale of Pocahontas. Initially, she was born to a tribal chieftain in what is now Virginia. She did not marry or even really know much about John smith; the story about her saving his life is apocryphal. She did, however, marry a man named John Rolfe. They married on April 5, 1614, and she declared herself a Christian and took the name Rebecca, and they had one child named Thomas.

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18. First Through the Ocean of Ice

Roald Amundsen was absolutely sure, even at a very young age, that he wanted to explore the wilderness as an adult. Amundsen initially promised his mother that he would not go out to sea. Still, when she died, this explorer immediately quit his University schooling to set up expeditions. His first successful trip was in 1903, where he became the first known man to make it through the Northwest Passage, a difficult part of the Atlantic Ocean that is frequently clogged with ice. Then in October 1911, he began his expedition with four other men to reach the South Pole, which he accomplished on December 14, 1911.

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17. Exploration Is the Spice of Life

Pedro Álvares Cabral was a Portuguese nationalist and explorer. His biggest claim of fame is that he was the first European to have discovered what is now the country of Brazil. Cabral initially left Portugal with 13 ships, following the initial route of Vasco da Gama; however, on April 22, 1500, Cabral got sight of land that ended up being Brazil, where this explorer stayed for ten days before resuming his trip to India. While in India, he traded for spices and other goods and ran into mercenaries and destructive storms. He returned to Portugal with just five ships and refused to travel to India again.

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16. To the Top of Mount Everest

We may never know if the team of George Mallory and Andrew Irvine ever made it to the top of Mount Everest. In 1922, he took part in what was called the 1922 British Mount Everest expedition, and this was his second attempt at making the summit. These explorers were last seen some 245 meters from the top of the mountain and then were never heard from again. Amazingly, 75 years later, Mallory’s body was located and retrieved. However, they still did not answer if they actually reached the top.

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15. Climbing the Rocks Of Destiny

Siegfried Herford is most known in his era for initiating “gritstone climbing” alone with partners John Laycock and Stanley Jeffcoat. This is a process for climbing large rocks and boulders. In 1914, Herford and his companions successfully climbed the Central Buttress of Scafell, setting a new benchmark for rock climbing in the British Isles. This method and practice allowed for more personal exploration of people in their immediate areas. In 1911, he invented what is known as the “girdle traverse,” setting new standards for rock climbing.

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14. New Heights for Arctic Exploration

A wealthy heiress whose parents encouraged a healthy outdoor lifestyle, Louise Arner Boyd inherited their estate when they passed on in 1920—using her enormous wealth to fund her own scientific expeditions on the coasts of Greenland. She used her time to document, photograph, collect and survey hundreds of plant and animal species. However, her most important call to fame was in 1955, when she became the first woman in the world to fly above the North Pole in a privately chartered DC-4 plane.

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13. A Turning Point for Humanity

The travels, conquest, and exploration of Christopher Columbus are generally viewed as a turning point in human history. Before his exploration, little was known about the rest of the planet and the other type of people that inhabited it. While remaining a controversial figure, it is no doubt that his quests connected humanity together like no one that had come before. His travels lead the pathways to human learning, expansion, and development. His legacy is felt all over the world, whether entire countries named after him like Columbia or undoubtedly as small as a street named after him in your local area.

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12. Traveling the Coastlines

Before Christopher Columbus, there was a man known as Giovanni Caboto. He was known to have led three expeditions to the Americas. His first expedition was poorly run, and he was forced to return to England before it got very far. In his second and most important expedition, it is known that he managed to sail across the Atlantic and make it to an unknown point in Canada, which in celebration of the 500th anniversary, was officially declared to be Cape Bonavista Newfoundland. He did not travel inland, but he did sail the coast but had no contact with any other people.

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11. Frozen in a Different Direction

Just as important to the exploration of the North Pole is the South Pole, and there was no more prominent name for it at the time than Ernest Shackleton. He was leading the Nimrod expedition, which took place between the years 1907 and 1909. The journey, named after the 40-year-old small ship he had to use, Shackleton and his expedition made it to the farthest South anyone ever had at the time, to latitude 88° 23′ S. He was just under 100 miles from the actual South Pole. Upon his return to the United Kingdom, Shackleton was given Knighthood by King Edward the VII.

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10. Meteorites, Inuits, and the North Pole

Robert Peary has many credentials to his name. His first expedition launched in 1891 to 1892, and during this first trip, he confirmed to all that Greenland was, in fact, entirely an island. In another expedition taking place in 1894, Peary reached the Cape York Meteorite, located 23 miles just east of Cape York. His best and the most known trip took place from 1898 to 1902, in which he and fellow explorer and member of the expedition Matthew Henson both claimed to have reached what was considered the North Pole at the time.

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9. Ice Fails to Stop the Messenger

Frequently momentous achievements get overshadowed by more known ones. While Amelia Earhart was well documented and set her own records, she was certainly not the only one to do so. In the lifetime of Beryl Markham, she set the record for the first person to fly from Great Britain to North America across the turbulent Atlantic ocean all by herself in one single flight, non-stop. The flight took place on September 16, 1936, and lasted for over 20 hours. However, her plane, named The Messenger, had ice clog the fuel lines causing her to crash land on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. She survived the landing and lived until the age of 83.

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8. A First for the Entire World

These days, traveling to the other side of the world and back is a relatively simple act. But then consider that Ferdinand Magellan’s expedition was the first to do it all the way back in 1522. The primary journey was to find a Westward route to the Spice Islands. This voyage started in 1519 and led the Spanish-funded explorer across the Atlantic ocean, down the seaboard to South America, leading to the discovery of the Strait Of Magellan on the southern tip of South America. From there, the fleet crossed the expansive Pacific Ocean and landed in the Philippines.

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7. Shipwrecks in the North Seas

Vitus Bering was a Danish national who was enlisted by Russia to explore the Asian Pacific Coasts and areas surrounding them. The first major expedition was named the First Kamchatka Expedition and was financed by Peter the Great in 1724. The journey led to the discovery and confirmation of the Bering Strait, a gap of ocean between the Russian and American continents. Based on this success, a second expedition named Great Northern Expedition was launched in 1733. As one of the largest explorations of its kind in history, this expedition led to the discoveries of the Commander Islands, the Aleutian Islands, and the European discovery of what is now Alaska.

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6. The Amazing Amelia Earhart

Aviation exploration is rife with stories and legends, but none is more well known than the disappearance of Amelia Earhart. While her disappearance and death were never solved and might never be, her records and achievements will always be a part of Aviation and exploration history. She was not only the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, but she was also the first to fly in an autogyro and to do so across the United States. She was the first person to fly solo between Hawaii and California, as well as the first woman to fly coast to coast across the United States.

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5. Around the World Three Times

James Cook initially joined the British Merchant navy when he was just a teenager, where he stayed until 1755, when he joined the Royal Navy. In his first-ever expedition, Cook sailed to what is now New Zealand and completed the first detailed map of the area. He also made the first European contact with the Maori tribes. On his Second Expedition, Cook attempted to travel to Antarctica but was unsuccessful. Instead, he traveled south and returned to New Zealand to restock. Before heading home, he traveled to the South and mapped out what is known as Cape Horn today. Cook became the first European to discover the Hawaiian Islands on his third and final voyage.

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4. Twice Frozen, 18 Times Honored

Fridtjof Nansen originally started his education as a Zoologist but quickly switched over to being a renowned explorer. His first significant expedition led him and a team of explorers to cover the expanse of Greenland’s ice-covered ground on June 3, 1888. They encountered temperatures of nearly 50 below zero F and snow that acted like mud to pull their supplies through. Between 1983 and 1896, he leads the Fram Expedition to reach the North Pole. Though the trip was not successful, they did manage to achieve the highest altitude record at the time of 86°13.6′N before having to call off the trip. In his life, he was awarded or honored 18 times by 11 different countries for his contributions.

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3. The Case of the Missing Z

We see from movies and stories all the time of the heroic explorer vanishing into the deep, expansive Jungle. This is precisely what happened to Percy Fawcett and his son Jack. They both disappeared in 1925 while exploring the jungles of what is now Brazil without so much as a trace. Yet, items owned by the explorer seem to randomly pop up through history, such as in 1979 when Fawcett’s signet ring was found in a Pawn Shop, sparking renewed interest in the story and the idea that Fawcett and his son were killed by bandits.

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2. Around The World in Less Than 80 Days

It started as a simple suggestion in 1888 from a woman known as Nellie Bly (pen name of the actual journalist, inventor, and industrialist Elizabeth Cochran Seaman) that she would take a real trip around the world and turn the fictional book ‘Around The World in 80 Days’ into a reality. On November 14, 1889, Bly boarded the ship Augusta Victoria and began her journey. The round trip ended up taking just 72 days and was just short of 25,000 miles in length. She traveled utterly alone, with little more than a few changes of clothing and a small bag of money that she carried around her neck.

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1. A Solid Gold Find

Howard Carter is perhaps the best-known explorer of antiquities in the modern era. His most notable discovery is the fully sealed and intact Tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun in November of 1922. Inside the Tomb were over 5000 different items, including gilded couches, food, incense, trumpets, thrones, and a fully intact solid gold coffin holding the mummified remains of the Pharaoh. It took well over ten years for Carter to catalog the contents of the Royal burial site thoroughly. Carter died on March 2, 1939, from Hodgkin’s disease. He only had nine people attend his funeral.

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