Search
Search Results
![Polynesian Navigation & Settlement of the Pacific](https://www.worldhistory.org/img/c/p/360x202/12542.jpg?v=1713962463)
Article
Polynesian Navigation & Settlement of the Pacific
Polynesian navigation of the Pacific Ocean and its settlement began thousands of years ago. The inhabitants of the Pacific islands had been voyaging across vast expanses of ocean water sailing in double canoes or outriggers using nothing...
![Ferdinand Magellan](https://www.worldhistory.org/img/c/p/360x202/14245.png?v=1717450923)
Definition
Ferdinand Magellan
Ferdinand Magellan, or Fernão de Magalhães (c. 1480-1521), was a Portuguese mariner whose expedition was the first to circumnavigate the globe in 1519-22 in the service of Spain. Magellan was killed on the voyage in what is today the Philippines...
![European Discovery & Conquest of the Spice Islands](https://www.worldhistory.org/img/c/p/360x202/14798.jpg?v=1716904087)
Article
European Discovery & Conquest of the Spice Islands
Clove, nutmeg, and mace are native to only a handful of tiny islands in the middle of the vast Indonesian archipelago – cloves on five Maluku Islands (the Moluccas) about 1250 km (778 mi) west of New Guinea, and nutmeg on the ten Banda Islands...
![The Portuguese Colonization of Cape Verde](https://www.worldhistory.org/img/c/p/360x202/14107.png?v=1639064703)
Article
The Portuguese Colonization of Cape Verde
The Portuguese colonization of the Cape Verde (Cabo Verde) Islands began from 1462. Initially envisaged as a base to give mariners direct access to West African trade, the Central Atlantic islands soon became a major hub of the Atlantic slave...
![Vasco Núñez de Balboa](https://www.worldhistory.org/img/c/p/360x202/16109.png?v=1656667565)
Definition
Vasco Núñez de Balboa
Vasco Núñez de Balboa (1475-1519) was a Spanish conquistador who famously discovered the Pacific Ocean after crossing the isthmus of Panama in 1513. An utterly ruthless adventurer and colonizer, Balboa was as much a danger to his fellow conquistadors...
![Traditional Pacific Island Tattoo Tools](https://www.worldhistory.org/img/c/p/360x202/10737.jpg?v=1599157803)
Image
Traditional Pacific Island Tattoo Tools
Instruments for traditional Pacific Island tattoos: hāhau (tapping stick) made of ulei wood, moli (tattoo tool) made of wood and bone, and apu paʻu (ink bowl), made of jade. Date unknown.
![A Manila Galleon in the Ladrones Islands](https://www.worldhistory.org/img/c/p/360x202/14758.png?v=1698236343)
Image
A Manila Galleon in the Ladrones Islands
A 1590 illustration showing a Spanish Manila galleon in the Ladrones Islands (Mariana Islands) in the Pacific Ocean. (From the Boxer Codex)
![Juan Fernández Islands](https://www.worldhistory.org/img/c/p/360x202/14615.png?v=1715225467)
Image
Juan Fernández Islands
A map of the Juan Fernández Islands in the eastern Pacific Ocean. The islands famously hosted the marooned mariner Alexander Selkirk (1676-1721) from 1704 to 1709. Selkirk inspired the title character of Daniel Defoe's celebrated novel...
![Dispersal of Austronesian People Across the Pacific](https://www.worldhistory.org/img/c/p/360x202/12535.png?v=1632930302)
Image
Dispersal of Austronesian People Across the Pacific
A map outlining the migratory paths of Austronesian speaking populations, including estimated dates.
![Alexander Selkirk](https://www.worldhistory.org/img/c/p/360x202/14537.png?v=1701635944)
Definition
Alexander Selkirk
Alexander Selkirk (or Selcraig, 1676-1721) was a Scotsman famously marooned for four years and four months on a desert island in the Pacific Ocean until his rescue by a passing British ship in February 1709. His story inspired the title character...