History

An image of something mechanica on the Titanicl underwater

Unseen Footage Shows Discovery of Titanic Wreck

It's been 40 years since a team from Woods...
A scene showing a boat, men and trees

Where Was the Lost Kingdom of Punt? New Clues Point to the Horn of Africa

Ancient Egyptian pharaohs, including the famous Hatshepsut, sent sea...
A snowy campsite on Pobeda.

Pobeda: The Snow Leopards’ Most Dangerous Summit

Pobeda Peak (7,439m), also known as Jengish Chokusu or...
Ulugh Muztagh from the south.

Great Tales in Mountaineering History: Ulugh Muztagh, 1985

Ulugh Muztagh (6,973m) is an extremely remote peak on...
Nazis excavating a site.

Ahnenerbe: The Nazi Obsession with Pseudo-Archaeology

Steven Spielberg's portrayal of the Nazis in the Indiana...
Two crosses and a spear head

Exploration Mysteries: The Tucson Artifacts Hoax

On a typically balmy mid-September day in southern Arizona...
Zdenek Hruby.

Remembering Czech Alpinist Zdenek Hruby

Zdenek Hruby climbed some of the world’s highest peaks...
A broken skull on a windowsill

Why Do These Cozy British Farmhouses Display Ancient Skulls?

The average home -- manor, farm, or otherwise --...
vintage illustration of an orchid

Benedikt Roezl and the 19th-Century Orchid Monomaniacs

You've almost certainly owned an orchid at least once...
Lionel Terray.

Remembering Lionel Terray

Today, July 25, would be the 104th birthday of...
A painting of a ship from two angles

The Long Search for the ‘Tryall,’ Australia’s First Shipwreck

In May of 1622, the English East India Company...
Greenland

Greenlandic Ice Cores Chart 12,000 Years of Civilization

Like the inverse of the mythical butterfly flapping its...
Kim Chang-ho.

Remembering South Korean Mountaineer Kim Chang-ho

Kim Chang-ho was a South Korean mountaineer who summited...
Pierre Gevaux flying from Gasherbrum II in 1985.

40th Anniversary of First Paragliding Descent From an 8,000m Summit

On July 11, 1985, Pierre Gevaux made the first...
old jars of mummy powder

Why Rich Europeans Ate Up All The Egyptian Mummies

While Egyptian kings and queens are the most famous...
Photo from the 1953 German-Austrian Nanga Parbat expedition.

A Climbing History of Nanga Parbat’s Deadly Rakhiot Face

At 8,125m, Nanga Parbat in Pakistan’s Gilgit-Baltistan is the...
A transected diagram of the SS Bessemer

SS Bessemer, the Disastrous Seasickness-Proof Ship

Perhaps the most famous ship in exploration history, the Fram...
From left to right: Mark Twight, Barry Blanchard, Ward Robinson, and Kevin Doyle in front of the Rupal Face of Nanga Parbat in 1988.

A Climbing History of Nanga Parbat’s Rupal Face

The ninth-largest mountain in the world, Pakistan's 8,125m Nanga...
A portrait of a man superimposed on a picture of a Chinese tea plantation

How A Scottish Botanist Stole the Secrets of Tea from China

In 2023, the world consumed more than 7.3 billion...
Audubon's painting of an eagle

Hoax or Mistake? The Bird Audubon Painted That Never Existed

On Dec. 3, 1827, an engraving changed the world...
museum quipu

Quipu: The Inca’s Mysterious Recording Device

Long before Spanish colonization, the indigenous people of Peru...
A painting of a wolf attacking two children.

The Werewolf Hunting Craze in 17th-Century France

In September of 1573, authorities in the Franche-Comté region...
old black and white photo of climber with ice ax over his head

The 75th Anniversary of The First Ascent Of An 8,000m Peak: Annapurna I

Seventy-five years ago, on June 3, 1950, French mountaineers...

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