Why do explorers travel

These accomplishments paved the way for others to explore and reach the riches of Asia. Engraving by Jacques de Gheyn. View Site Map. Donations to the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, Inc. The tax identification number is Haitian Creole. Chinese Simplified. Not once. The thought never crossed my mind. Are you a risk taker? Georgetown University associate professor and neuroscientist John W Vanmeter studies risk for a living and has a good idea of why people like Smith never think about quitting.

There are two regions of the brain that promote and counteract risky behaviour. The limbic system is driven by novelty and is particularly sensitive to reward from positive and negative stimuli. The prefrontal cortex, on the other hand, makes executive decisions and puts the break on potentially risky decisions.

Those who are driven to explore, Vanmeter explained, may have more activity in the limbic system. Smith is not alone in feeling rewarded by exploration. Do you thrive on positive reinforcement? The positive reinforcement that follows this sense of achievement is fuelled by dopamine, which causes a natural high and creates a state of euphoria. Native peoples, who often served as unsung guides, are essential to success.

Weaver includes famous explorations, from the Lewis and Clark expedition to the first moon landing. But he was far from being either the lone visionary or the arch villain of competing classroom mythologies.

Taken together, this millennia-long record of travel provides a reminder of the extreme hardships involved in venturing into the unknown. So what drives humans to such lengths? For Weaver, the answer lies in human nature. Pytheas of Massalia, B. First known reporter of the arctic and the midnight sun. Early Christian Europeans had inherited from the Jews a powerful prophetic tradition that drew upon apocalyptic biblical texts in the books of Daniel, Isaiah and Revelations.

They connected the Christianization of the world with the second coming of Christ. If secular and religious traditions evoked utopian visions of the New World, they also induced nightmares. The ancients described wonderful civilizations, but barbaric, evil ones as well. Moreover, late medieval Christianity inherited a rich tradition of hatred for non-Christians derived in part from the Crusaders' struggle to free the Holy Land and from warfare against the Moors.

European encounters with the New World were viewed in light of these preconceived notions. To plunder the New World of its treasures was acceptable because it was populated by pagans. In , Giovanni da Verrazzano was commissioned to locate a northwest passage around North America to India.

He was followed in by Jacques Cartier , who explored the St. Lawrence River as far as present-day Montreal. In , Jean Ribault headed an expedition that explored the St. Johns River area in Florida. But the Spanish soon pushed the French out of Florida, and thereafter, the French directed their efforts north and west. Instead, the French traded with inland tribes for furs and fished off the coast of Newfoundland. New France was sparsely populated by trappers and missionaries and dotted with military forts and trading posts.

Although the French sought to colonize the area, the growth of settlements was stifled by inconsistent policies. Initially, France encouraged colonization by granting charters to fur-trading companies. Then, under Cardinal Richelieu, control of the empire was put in the hands of the government-sponsored Company of New France.

The company, however, was not successful, and in the king took direct control of New France. Although more prosperous under this administration, the French empire failed to match the wealth of New Spain or the growth of neighboring British colonies. The Dutch were also engaged in the exploration of America. Formerly a Protestant province of Spain, the Netherlands was determined to become a commercial power and saw exploration as a means to that end. In the newly formed New Netherland Company obtained a grant from the Dutch government for the territory between New France and Virginia.

About ten years later another trading company, the West India Company, settled groups of colonists on Manhattan Island and at Fort Orange. The Dutch also planted trading colonies in the West Indies. By the mid-sixteenth century, however, England had recognized the advantages of trade with the East, and in English merchants enlisted Martin Frobisher to search for a northwest passage to India.

Between and Frobisher as well as John Davis explored along the Atlantic coast.