Exploration is the act of searching an unfamiliar area in order to learn about it. It involves the discovery of new information. Human beings explore even when they have everything they need where they are. They are the only mammal that does this.
Neanderthals existed for hundreds of thousands of years in Eurasia. But their range was limited compared to modern humans. In less than 500,000 years humans have explored and spread out to all the continents. Exploration had its most dramatic rise during the Age of Discovery. This is when European explorers sailed and charted much of the rest of the world. Humans have explored geographically even into outer space. They explore ideas, art, even the very nature of life.
Early historic explorations
Phoenicians
The Phoenicians were a culture that existed in the coastal region of the Levant as early as the 3rd millennium BC. They were not a significant culture until about 1100 BC. By the 9th century BC the Phoenicians had became the dominant culture in the Mediterranean Sea. They grew wealthy through trade. Instead of war they used trade agreements and alliances to expand their colonies. The Phoenicians developed advanced navigational skills and had the best ships in the Mediterranean. They explored over land routes and developed caravan routes to trade with distant places. Carthage got its start as a Phoenician colony on the north coast of Africa. It grew to be their largest and most successful colony.
Carthaginians
Gradually the western Mediterranean Phoenician colonies all came under the control of Carthage. The Carthaginians were explorers too. Two major explorations are mentioned by early writers. Both took place around 500 BC. Pliny the Elder wrote that Carthage sent an explorer named Himilco to explore the remote parts of Europe. The report, or periplus (sailing record), has not survived but other early writers have seen it. He had as many as 60 ships in his fleet. He would have traveled along the Iberian Peninsula up the coast of Gaul. Avienus, a Roman writer of the 4th century AD, wrote about the expedition. Himilco moved north from Brittany to the British Isles. It is likely he was looking for tin, a rare metal at the time. He reached a land called , “The Holy Island”, generally believed to be Ireland.
About the same time, Hanno the Navigator was sent to explore the western coast of Africa. His periplus has survived and is one of the earliest surviving manuscripts. The periplus records landmarks, ports and sailing distance between them. It is a guide for other ship captains to follow. Hanno's 60 ships moved south along the African coast. He may have reached as far as an island off the coast of Sierra Leone. There is no record of any other explorations of the west Africa coast until the time of Henry the Navigator, the Portuguese explorer.
Greek explorers
One of the first scientific explorers was Pytheas of Massalia. He was an ancient Greek from the then Greek colony of Massalia (now Marseille). He made a voyage to northwestern Europe in about 325 BC. He circumnavigated Great Britain. Pytheas was the first person on record to describe the Midnight Sun. He is the first known scientific visitor and reporter of the Arctic polar ice. His account of the tides is the earliest known to suggest the moon as their cause.
Chinese exploration
During the 2nd century BC, the Han dynasty explored much of the eastern part of the Northern Hemisphere. In 139 BC, the Han diplomat Zhang Qian traveled west in an unsuccessful attempt to secure an alliance with the Da Yuezhi. He discovered countries the Chinese did not even know existed. He had traveled as far as the Indus River in northwestern India.
Medieval explorations
Vikings
During the Viking Age Three different groups of Vikings can be identified from different parts of Scandinavia. The Danes, Swedes (also called the "Rus") and Norwegian vikings. The 'Rus', founded the settlement of Kiev. Named for themselves they called it Russland (later known as Russia). Swedish Viking explorer Garðar Svavarsson was the first to circumnavigate Iceland in 870 and establish that it was an island. About 890 CE Vikings, led by Ohthere of Norway, traveled north above the Arctic Circle to the White Sea.
About 982, the Norwegian Erik the Red explored Greenland. In 986 he returned to Iceland, from where he sailed. He convinced others to follow him and founded the first settlement there. By the year 1000 there were a thousand settlers living there. Erik's second of three sons, Leif Erikson was probably the first European to set foot on North America. He landed at a place he called "Vinland".
