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The Creation Of Adam (Sistine Chapel Ceiling In The Vatican)The Creation of Adam (Sistine Chapel ceiling in the Vatican), 1508-1512. Found in the collection of The Sistine Chapel, Vatican. Artist Buonarroti, Michelangelo (1475-1564). (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images via Getty Images).

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Renaissance

From Darkness to Light: The Renaissance Begins During the Middle Ages, a period that took place between the fall of ancient Rome in 476 A.D. and the beginning of the 14th century, Europeans made few advances in science and art. Also known as the “Dark Ages,” the era is often branded as a time of […]

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Christopher Columbus

Columbus Day 2023

Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus was an Italian-born explorer who set sail in August 1492, bound for Asia with backing from the Spanish monarchs King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella aboard the ships the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria. Columbus intended to chart a western sea route to China, India and the fabled gold and […]

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Portrait of Vasco da Gama

Vasco da Gama

Vasco da Gama’s Early Life and First Voyage to India Born circa 1460, Vasco da Gama was the son of a minor nobleman who commanded the fortress at Sines, located on the coast of the Alentejo province in southwestern Portugal. Little else is known about his early life, but in 1492 King John II sent […]

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Vasco Núñez de Balboa. Found in the collection of Museo Naval de Madrid. Artist: Anonymous.

Vasco Núñez de Balboa

Early Life and Career  Balboa was born in 1475 in Jerez de los Caballeros, a town in the impoverished Extremadura region of Spain. His father was believed to be a nobleman, but the family was not wealthy; like many of his class, Balboa decided to seek his fortune in the New World. Around 1500, he […]

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Extraordinary 1915 Photos from Ernest Shackleton’s Disastrous Antarctic Expedition

Frank Hurley’s photos were originally intended as scientific documentation of an unexplored continent. Instead, they recorded an epic survival story.

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The 'Endurance' Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, 1914-17, led by Ernest Shackleton

The Stunning Survival Story of Ernest Shackleton and His Endurance Crew

The discovery of Ernest Shackleton’s ship at the bottom of Antarctica’s Weddell Sea recalls a grueling expedition when men endured entrapment, hunger, frigid weather, angry seas—and near madness.

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Walter Raleigh

Why Sir Walter Raleigh Was Beheaded

400 years ago, one of England’s most famous explorers fell lethally out of favor.

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A 1581 map showing Sir Francis Drake's round-the-globe explorations.

The Untold Story of How an Escaped Slave Helped Sir Francis Drake Circumnavigate the Globe

After coordinating Drake’s hugely profitable raid on Spanish loot in Panama, ‘Diego’ became the explorer’s right-hand man.

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This Day in History

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1577

Explorer Francis Drake sets sail from England

Exploration
1580

Francis Drake circumnavigates the globe

Exploration
1522

Magellan’s expedition circumnavigates globe

Exploration
1521

Navigator Ferdinand Magellan killed in the Philippines

Exploration
1533

Pizarro executes last Inca emperor

Ancient Americas
1500

First European explorer reaches Brazil

Exploration
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