Introduction to Exploration
Exploration, a search that enlarges knowledge of the world, the solar system, or the universe. Although exploration is as old as humanity itself, the map of the world still contained large blank spots as recently as the 1870's. Even today many places on the earth still have not been systematically explored. With the coming of space travel, exploration seems barely to have begun.
There are many practical reasons for exploration---to find new sources of raw materials, new trade routes, or better living conditions; to win great wealth; to gain a military advantage over an enemy; to spread religion; or to add to scientific knowledge. Often none of these reasons fully explains why explorers are willing to brave the hardships they must face---unfriendly oceans, mountains, jungles, and deserts; extremes of heat and cold; hunger and loneliness. Behind the practical reasons there lies a motivation so strong that it is irresistible---curiosity, the spirit of adventure, the challenge of the unknown.
An explorer's discoveries will leave a mark on civilization only if others understand and accept them. Otherwise the explorer is little more than a voyager, or traveler. The Vikings provide a good example. They are believed to have been the first Europeans to reach America, about 1000 A.D. At that time, Europe was not interested in a new world, and nothing came of the Viking discoveries. When Christopher Columbus landed in America 500 years later, Europe was ready to expand its horizons through exploration and colonization.
The progress of exploration is closely related to the development of transportation. Early peoples could explore only as far as their feet could carry them. The development of land, sea, and eventually, air transportation permitted exploration of the entire world. Then rockets expanded exploration beyond the limits of the earth.
Explorers have made possible the spread of civilization. They have linked together the people of the world so that each may benefit from the accomplishments of the others. One of the most far-reaching results of exploration was the opening of America for colonization. New sources of raw materials discovered by explorers have resulted in new industries and higher living standards.
History
The ancient peoples of the Mediterranean region were probably the first to extend exploring beyond their immediate surroundings. The Egyptians knew something of Arabia as early as 3000 B.C. Phoenician and Greek sailors were familiar with the Black Sea and with much of the eastern Mediterranean Sea before 600 B.C. Later, the Carthaginians extended exploration to Spain and the west coast of Africa. In the fourth century B.C., Alexander the Great pushed the limits of the world known by Mediterranean peoples to the Indus River valley in India. Then Roman legions entered the area that became Germany and heard tales of the lands to the north and east---Scandinavia and the Baltic region.
Exploration came to a standstill after the fall of Rome in the fifth century A.D. Then, in the 11th and 12th centuries, the Crusaders came into contact with peoples from the East and trade grew between Europe and Asia. This trade was monopolized by the Italian cities. The desire of western European states to share its profits led to a search for new routes.
The first major discovery was made in 1488 when Bartholomeu Dias found a new route to the East by sailing around Africa. Columbus landed in America four years later and the Age of Discovery had begun. One navigator followed another in sketching in the main outlines of the world's oceans, continents, and islands. Other explorers charted coastlines and rivers of the new lands and pushed inland.
Explorers were followed by surveyors, who made and corrected maps; by naturalists, who studied plant and animal life; by geologists, who sought new mineral deposits; and, frequently, by missionaries and colonists. In North America and Africa the missionaries often arrived first.
With no more continents, islands, lakes, or rivers left to discover, explorers turned their attention to other targets---the magnetic poles, the North and South poles, the highest peaks, the lowest ocean depths. This exploration, which began in the 19th century, continued into the 20th. It has been marked by such events as the reaching of the North Pole and the South Pole early in the century; the climbing of Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world, in 1953; and the descent of the bathyscaphe Trieste I to 35,802 feet (10,912 m) in the Pacific Ocean in 1960. The undersea world offered a new region for discovery.
The systematic exploration of outer space began with the invention of the telescope in the 17th century. Explorers remained earth-bound, however, until powerful rockets were developed during and after World War II. The first probes into outer space were made in the 1950's with rockets and satellites. The first crewed orbital flight around the earth took place in 1961; the first crewed landing on the moon, in 1969. During the 1970's and 1980's, probes were sent to several planets, including Mars, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn. In 1990 a probe was launched toward the sun.