Famous explorers 

Geographical exploration is travel land, by sea, or in space, for the purpose of discovering unknown areas or routes. People who undertake such journeys are called explorers.

Explorers have different motives. For example, who amongst us does not want to know what is over the next hill? Even as children we have a desire to explore beyond the familiar streets of our neighbourhoods. There are some men who want to accomplish something so great that their names will be remembered after their death. Some countries want to be pioneers in certain fields in order to make a mark among the nations of the world.

In 1453, following the capture of Constantinople, the Ottoman Turks blocked the overland route from Europe to Asia. Because there was such a great demand for Indian spices and skills in Europe at that time, many European explorers undertook voyages to find a new route by sea to India and China.

European church leaders also wanted to send missionaries to convert the people of other lands to the Christian faith.

European kings wanted to extend their power by establishing colonies overseas and to become richer by taking gold, silver, precious stones, and other natural resources from their colonies.

Some important explorers of the time were:

Marco Polo-an Italian explorer (1254-1324)

Marco Polo came from Venice in Italy. His father was a merchant who imported goods from Asia. When Marco Polo was sixteen years old, his father took him on a long expedition all the way to China.

They sailed from Venice and continued their journey eastward across land. Travelling through Turkey and Armenia, they reached Tabriz, the great pearl market of the world. After three years of travelling over the mountains and plains of the Silk Route, surviving many life-threatening situations, they reached China. They were overwhelmed to discover the riches of Asia.

Marco Polo met Kublai Khan, the ruler at that time, whose enormous power and riches amazed the young Italian. He stayed with Khan for seventeen years and acquired great wealth in jewels and gold. During his stay, he travelled the length and breadth of China. He went across the Karakorum mountains and beyond the plains of the Indus valley. His journey through Asia lasted twenty-four years.

                             

 He was the first European to cross the entire continent of Asia and leave a record of what he saw and heard. On his return to Italy, he compiled his experiences of his travels and of Kublai Khan's life and empire in a book. Marco Polo's travels influenced European trade and resulted in further exploration by the people of Europe.

Ibn-e-Batuta-an Arab explorer (1304-77)

Ibn-e-Batuta was born in Tangier, Morocco. He started his travels at the age of twenty in 1325. First he travelled to Makkah with a caravan to perform Hajj. Though the journey was dangerous, he was fascinated by all he saw while passing through Egypt, Syria, and Palestine. The account of his travels to Islamic countries was most useful since before this there was hardly any information available about them.

After he had performed Hajj a second time, Ibn-e-Batuta went to East Africa and then, in 1332, to India where he was welcomed by the Sultan of Delhi, Muhammad Tughlaq and given a job as a judge.. He was sent to China by the Sultan as his emissary. On the way to China, he lost everything apart from his prayer mat in a violent sea storm. In China, he saw paper money for the first time and was most impressed. Finally, he visited Sumatra, an island of Indonesia, which was at that time the farthest outpost of the Muslim world. Ibn-e-Batuta survived wars, attacks by bandits, storms, and shipwrecks during his journey and finally returned home to Tangier in 1349.

Ibn-e-Batuta then left on another expedition to West Africa, to see the kingdom of Mall and returned to Morocco in 1354. In all, he spent about twenty-nine years travelling, during which he visited all Muslim states and met sixty different rulers. Towards the end of his life, he wrote stories of his travels in an interesting book named Rihla.

Vasco da Gama-a Portuguese explorer (1469-1524)

In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, European countries were seeking new lands and trade routes by sea. Vasco da Gama was the first to discover a sea route from Europe to India. As a navigator, when leaving the port of Lisbon in 1497 with a fleet under his command, he plotted his route of exploration to take advantage of the winds. After passing the Cape of Good Hope, Mozambique Island, and Mombasa, he arrived at Calicut in 1498. The Journey had taken about ten months. His route is still followed by sailing vessels today.

On his return to Portugal in 1499. Vasco da Gama had completed the longest sea voyage of that time. After pioneering the sea route to India, Lisbon became the centre of the European spice trade. The route also laid the foundation for the Portuguese Empire to trade with the ports of East Africa, south and west India, and Indonesia for centuries.

Neil Armstrong-the first man to walk on the Moon

Neil Armstrong was born in 1930, in the United States of America. At the age of six, he flew in an aeroplane for the first time. That was the starting point of his immense love for aeroplanes and flying. He was issued a pilot's licence on his sixteenth birthday. A flight enthusiast, he built a wind tunnel in the basement of his home where he performed experiments using the model planes he made.

After a successful career with National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) in Cleveland, Ohio, where he was a test pilot for such aircraft as the F 100, F 101, F 102, F 104, F 5D, and B 47, Neil Armstrong decided to become an astronaut. As the training for the Apollo programme got under way. he rated highly among those being considered for the important role of the first American on the Moon.

In January 1969 he was selected as commander of Apollo 1. Along with his fellow astronauts, Michael Collins and Edwin Aldrin, he performed the first successful docking of two vehicles in space. On 20 July 1969, with his companion, Edwin Aldrin, Armstrong landed on the Moon in the Lunar Module, and became the first person ever to step onto the Moon's surface.

Neil Armstrong had completed a degree in Aeronautical Engineering in 1955. After a gap of many years, in 1970, he earned a Master's degree in Aerospace Engineering.

Valentina Tereshkova-the first woman in space

Colonel-Engineer Valentina Tereshkova has the distinction of being the first woman in space. She was born on 6 March 1937 in the former USSR. Her father was a tractor driver and her mother worked in a textile plant. At the age of 18, Valentina too joined a textile mill. She completed her education while working.

Being adventurous by nature, she joined an amateur parachuting club. Her love for parachuting was such that she went a step further and became an astronaut. In 1961 the Soviet space programme began to consider sending women into space. Till then no other country had embarked upon such a plan. Valentina volunteered her services.

After a series of tests and interviews, she got selected due to her sheer hard work and determination to succeed. On 16 June 1963 the Vostok 5 mission was launched which orbited the Earth 48 times. The flight lasted 2.95 days. During her space mission, Tereshkova's radio call name was 'Chaika,' which means 'seagull' in Russian.

For her outstanding achievement, Valentina Tereshkova was given the United Nations Gold Medal of Peace. Russia bestowed upon her the title 'Hero of the Soviet Union'. She was also given the Order of Lenin.

Some people think that there are no remaining regions of the Earth to be explored. Discoveries in the future may be in the search of natural resources in the unknown environments of different planets of the universe where we may explore for oil and gas, two of the most important needs of mankind. What do you think?