Current Events > Who were the greatest explorers in history?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I'd go Polynesians, Italians, Portuguese in that order.

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Polynesians, definitely.

I mean, look at this map they used:



Maps in ancient times look ridiculous nowadays, but this one probably takes the cake. There are instructions on the right of it, sure. A fat lot of good that does for my used-to-modern-maps eyes. Can't even begin to understand the thing apart from the 'shells are islands' bit.

The kicker is that these things... actually worked. These people actually used these crude things to accurately map out the wide ocean and to move between islands as they willed. With no other pointer, landmark, etc. to guide them, just open water in every direction as far as the eye can see.

Just by being practically usable, it beats the hell out of that ridiculous nonsense that drew mermaids in the ocean and fountain-turtles where China ought to be, and shows that these guys must've been badasses with balls of steel to get around the ocean only armed with something like that.

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thats fascinating, thank you.

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Some credit is due to the first humans to ever leave Africa and start populating the planet

the first humans* to leave africa are extinct, though.

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So I googled a bit and learned the Marshall Islanders also used stick charts. A dismaying bit of trivia I learned when digging up stuff about the bedbug epidemic is that many Marshall Islanders were relocated to the US where they ended up working for poultry farms where they were perpetually wet due to hosing down the cages.

I

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The Spanish since their mission is the one that gets credited for the new world discovery. The Vikings found us first, but couldnt tell anybody apparently.

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Carthaginians

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Whoever travels to Mars/other solar systems.

Distant_Rainbow posted...

Polynesians, definitely.

I mean, look at this map they used:



Maps in ancient times look ridiculous nowadays, but this one probably takes the cake. There are instructions on the right of it, sure. A fat lot of good that does for my used-to-modern-maps eyes. Can't even begin to understand the thing apart from the 'shells are islands' bit.

The kicker is that these things... actually worked. These people actually used these crude things to accurately map out the wide ocean and to move between islands as they willed. With no other pointer, landmark, etc. to guide them, just open water in every direction as far as the eye can see.

Just by being practically usable, it beats the hell out of that ridiculous nonsense that drew mermaids in the ocean and fountain-turtles where China ought to be, and shows that these guys must've been badasses with balls of steel to get around the ocean only armed with something like that.

Not only that, but Polynesian use of the stars makes decked out Europeans with all their charts, compasses, and sextants look like novices in comparison.

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Dora & Boots