Exploration

Since the earliest times, people have been curious about the world in which they live. For more than 3,000 years, explorers have charted most of Earth’s surface by land and sea. Often these brave pioneers went out into the unknown inspired by more than mere curiosity. Sometimes they went in search of riches, or to find new and less overcrowded places to live, or in a quest for scientific knowledge. In the course of mapping the world, explorers quashed many myths while bringing back true stories that could seem even stranger than fiction.

In ancient times, people such as the Phoenicians explored new regions in their quest for trading partners. The Greeks and Romans also discovered more about the world as their empires expanded. People began to read about far-flung places in books by classical geographers such as Strabo.