Explorers

An expedition last fall captured a sonar image of a roughly plane-shaped object near Howland Island in the Pacific Ocean, which the team suggests could be Amelia Earhart's vehicle.

Have Researchers Found Amelia Earhart's Long-Lost Plane?

A new sonar image shows an airplane-shaped object resting on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, not far from where Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, went missing in 1937

Signs calling for the abolition of Columbus Day formed the backdrop for a protest in front of city hall in Flagstaff, Arizona.

The Evolution of Columbus Day Celebrations, From Italian Immigrant Pride to Indigenous Recognition

The holiday has been controversial practically since its inception

This statue of Christopher Columbus resides at Columbus Circle in front of Union Station in Washington, D.C. 

Breaking Down the United States' Historical Obsession With Christopher Columbus

Columbus became Columbus in the American Revolution—when the colonials sought out an origin story that didn’t involve the British

Isabella Bird ascended the 14,259-foot-tall Longs Peak, now part of Rocky Mountain National Park.

Following British Explorer Isabella Bird's Footsteps Through the Rockies, 150 Years Later

The intrepid Victorian-era author proved that a lady’s life could be in the mountains, and I am forever grateful for that

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Deep-Sea Tourism or Deep-Sea Science?

Two chroniclers of explorers, including one who profiled OceanGate’s Stockton Rush, reflect on what visiting the depths of the ocean can—and can’t—teach us

An illustration by Terry Kerby of Pisces V exploring the ocean depths at Loihi.

Inside the Nerve-Racking Dive to an Active Submarine Volcano

The chief pilot of a deep-sea submersible recounts exploring Loihi, which will become Hawaii’s next island

The bathysphere on deck of the Ready, 1930-1934, from Bathysphere and Nonsuch

Inside the First Deep-Sea Dive in History

In 1930, a colorful band of researchers in the Atlantic taught us how to plumb the ocean’s depths

Theodore Roosevelt, right, and Cândido Rondon, second from right, led the fateful mission to map an uncharted waterway and document natural wonders.

Teddy Roosevelt’s Perilous Expedition on the Amazon

The dangerous—yet victorious—trip wouldn’t have been possible without Cândido Rondon, an icon of Brazilian history

Replicating the last leg of French explorer Alexandra David-Néel’s journey in the early 1900s, Elise Wortley hiked 108 miles from Lachen, in Sikkim, India, to Kanchenjunga base camp in 2017.

Adventurer Elise Wortley Recreates the Journeys of Famous Female Explorers

For historical accuracy, the 33-year-old Brit wears only the cotton dresses, yak wool coats and hobnail boots that her predecessors would have had

Members of the Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition raise the Australian flag over Heard Island on December 26, 1947.

See Rare Images of Early 20th-Century Antarctic Expeditions

For the first time, hundreds of photos, lantern slides and glass plate negatives are available to the public

Stories of the enslaved people who helped kick-start paleontology and the Native American guides who led naturalists to fossils around the continent have long been suppressed.

The First Fossil Finders in North America Were Enslaved and Indigenous People

Decades before paleontology’s formal establishment, Black and Native Americans discovered—and correctly identified—millennia-old fossils

Indigenous people brought to Spain by Hernán Cortés play the game patolli.

The Indigenous Americans Who Visited Europe

A new book reverses the narrative of the Age of Discovery, which has long evoked the ambitions of Europeans looking to the Americas rather than vice versa

Archaeologists used a remotely operated vehicle called Deep Trekker to explore the H.M.S. Erebus site.

Archaeologists Recover 275 Artifacts From Mysterious Arctic Shipwreck

Explorer John Franklin and his 128 crew members disappeared while searching for the Northwest Passage in the 1840s

A scuba diver encounters fish swimming around a reef in the Maldives.

The Top Eight Ocean Stories of 2022

The biggest saltwater moments of the year included major discoveries that inspired awe

This year's picks include Half American, Saving Yellowstone and River of the Gods.

The Ten Best History Books of 2022

Our favorite titles of the year resurrect forgotten histories and illuminate how the nation ended up where it is today

Preet Chandi trains in Chamonix before starting her journey across Antarctica.

‘Polar Preet’ Sets Out to Become the First Woman to Cross Antarctica Solo and Unsupported

After setting a record as the first woman of color to reach the South Pole unsupported last year, Preet Chandi is now tackling a 1,100-mile challenge

Marine biologist Mike Barnette and wreck diver Jimmy Gadomski explore a large segment of the Challenger Space Shuttle, which exploded in 1986. 

Divers Accidentally Find a Piece of the Challenger Space Shuttle

A documentary film crew stumbled across a section of the destroyed spacecraft that measures at least 15 by 15 feet

Griffin Post at the site of Bradford Washburn's abandoned 1937 camera cache.

Explorers Find Cameras Abandoned by Mountain Climbers in 1937

Scientists traced the movement of Canada’s Walsh Glacier to find the long-lost cache

Endurance immobilized in pack ice, as captured by crew photographer Frank Hurley in 1915

Wreck of Shackleton's 'Endurance' May 'Decay Out of Existence'

The recently discovered vessel is vulnerable on the seafloor, but raising it from the depths comes with unique challenges

Analysis of historical documents showed no evidence of the site being called Machu Picchu until 1911.

Have We Been Calling Machu Picchu by the Wrong Name?

Historical records suggest the Inca called the 15th-century citadel Huayna Picchu, before an American explorer who "discovered" the site in 1911 renamed it

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