History
50 Years Ago: The First Ascent of Everest’s Southwest Face
On Sept. 24, 1975, Doug Scott and Dougal Haston...
How Arab Traders Hid the Secrets of Cinnamon from Europe
At this point, it's fairly common knowledge that the...
The 1874 Rocky Mountain Locust Plague That Blotted Out the Sun
In the late 19th century, settlers pushing into the...
Medieval Manuscript Adds More Proof That Shroud of Turin is Fake
The Shroud of Turin is a length of linen...
Where Was the Lost Kingdom of Punt? New Clues Point to the Horn of Africa
Ancient Egyptian pharaohs, including the famous Hatshepsut, sent sea...
Pobeda: The Snow Leopards’ Most Dangerous Summit
Pobeda Peak (7,439m), also known as Jengish Chokusu or...
Great Tales in Mountaineering History: Ulugh Muztagh, 1985
Ulugh Muztagh (6,973m) is an extremely remote peak on...
Ahnenerbe: The Nazi Obsession with Pseudo-Archaeology
Steven Spielberg's portrayal of the Nazis in the Indiana...
Exploration Mysteries: The Tucson Artifacts Hoax
On a typically balmy mid-September day in southern Arizona...
Why Do These Cozy British Farmhouses Display Ancient Skulls?
The average home -- manor, farm, or otherwise --...
Benedikt Roezl and the 19th-Century Orchid Monomaniacs
You've almost certainly owned an orchid at least once...
The Long Search for the ‘Tryall,’ Australia’s First Shipwreck
In May of 1622, the English East India Company...
Greenlandic Ice Cores Chart 12,000 Years of Civilization
Like the inverse of the mythical butterfly flapping its...
Remembering South Korean Mountaineer Kim Chang-ho
Kim Chang-ho was a South Korean mountaineer who summited...
40th Anniversary of First Paragliding Descent From an 8,000m Summit
On July 11, 1985, Pierre Gevaux made the first...
Why Rich Europeans Ate Up All The Egyptian Mummies
While Egyptian kings and queens are the most famous...
A Climbing History of Nanga Parbat’s Deadly Rakhiot Face
At 8,125m, Nanga Parbat in Pakistan’s Gilgit-Baltistan is the...
SS Bessemer, the Disastrous Seasickness-Proof Ship
Perhaps the most famous ship in exploration history, the Fram...
A Climbing History of Nanga Parbat’s Rupal Face
The ninth-largest mountain in the world, Pakistan's 8,125m Nanga...
How A Scottish Botanist Stole the Secrets of Tea from China
In 2023, the world consumed more than 7.3 billion...
