Amerigo Vespucci was a pioneering navigator and popular chronicler, as well as the man who gave the American continent its name. He explored a long stretch of the South American coastline, and was the first person to realize that this part of the world was not an unknown region of Asia, but a completely separate continent. In particular, he discovered...
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Leif Eriksson is a crucial figure in maritime exploration: this Viking navigator is believed to have discovered the Americas at the turn of the first millennium AD, over 500 years before Christopher Columbus. Indeed, at this point in history the Vikings were far better explorers than other Europeans due to their more technologically advanced ships and excellent navigation skills, which allowed...
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Ferdinand Magellan was a Portuguese navigator and explorer who is known for completing the first circumnavigation of the earth. His voyage is particularly interesting because of the discoveries that were made along the way: he discovered a previously unknown strait while sailing past America and proved once and for all that the world is not flat. In just 50 minutes,...
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Vasco da Gama was a Portuguese explorer who, along with Christopher Columbus and Ferdinand Magellan, was one of the most famous European explorers of his time. Known in particular for being the first person to open up a direct maritime route between Europe and Asia, da Gama sailed around Africa to reach the Western coast of India in the late...
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