Exploration: Did you mean...?

The Silk Road was a network of ancient trade routes, formally established during the Han Dynasty of China in 130 BCE, which linked the regions of the ancient world in commerce between 130 BCE-1453 CE. The Silk Road was not a single route...

The 1502 Cantino World Map, acquired by Alberto Cantino from a Portuguese original in Lisbon. The map shows the world as then known to Europeans and indicates the line decided by the 1494 treaty of Tordesillas which demarcated two spheres...

1598 Map of the Three Arctic Voyages (1594–1596) by Willem Barentsz. Spitsbergen (now Svalbard) is mapped for the first time and indicated as "Het Nieuwe Land" (Dutch for "the New Land"), centre-left.

A map of the world drawn by Juan de la Cosa (c. 1450-1510). Made in 1500 on leather-backed parchment. (National Naval Museum of Madrid)

A marble relief plaque depicting a ship in African waters. 2nd - 3rd century CE. (Archaeological Museum, Sagunto, Spain)

A posthumous portrait of the Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan (c. 1480-1521) whose expedition was the first to circumnavigate the globe in 1519-22. (The Mariner's Museum Collection, Newport News, VA)

A Depiction of Willem Barentsz's three expeditions in search of the coveted Northeast Passage to Cathay (China) and the Spice Islands. Woodcut. 1598.

A speculative portrait of Henry Hudson (c. 1565 -1611 CE) that was made around 1885. Hudson was an English sea navigator who explored areas of present-day Canada and parts of the modern New York metropolitan area. He was working for the Dutch...

An artist's depiction of Roman soldiers exploring a tropical forest or jungle. From the game Old World.

A portrait of Jaques Cartier (1491-1557 CE) a French-Breton maritime explorer. He was the first European who mapped the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the shores of the Saint Lawrence River. He was also the one who named these lands "The Country...