The latest discoveries of the twentieth century. By the beginning of the 20th century, almost all regions of the Earth had already been explored by geographers. Time of traditional geographical discoveries - presentation. Modern travelers and their discoveries Geographical discoveries in the 17th and 20th centuries

Geographical discoveries Who was the first to make "Journey beyond the three seas"? In 1466, the embassy of the Persian Shah Shirvan was returning from Moscow to Baku. With him went a small group of Moscow merchants, which included Afanasy Nikitin. He was from Tver, which

Without the Russian pioneers, the map of the world would be completely different. Our compatriots - travelers and navigators - have made discoveries that have enriched world science. About the eight most notable - in our material.

Bellingshausen's first Antarctic expedition

In 1819, the navigator, captain of the 2nd rank, Thaddeus Bellingshausen led the first Antarctic expedition around the world. The purpose of the voyage was to explore the waters of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans, as well as to prove or disprove the existence of the sixth continent - Antarctica. Having equipped two sloops - "Mirny" and "Vostok" (under the command), Bellingshausen's detachment went to sea.

The expedition lasted 751 days and wrote many bright pages in the history of geographical discoveries. The main one - - was made on January 28, 1820.

By the way, attempts to open the white mainland were made earlier, but did not bring the desired success: there was not enough luck, or maybe Russian perseverance.

So, the navigator James Cook, summing up his second circumnavigation, wrote: “I went around the ocean of the southern hemisphere in high latitudes and rejected the possibility of the existence of the mainland, which, if it can be found, is only near the pole in places inaccessible to navigation.”

During Bellingshausen's Antarctic expedition, more than 20 islands were discovered and mapped, sketches of Antarctic species and animals living on it were made, and the navigator himself went down in history as a great discoverer.

“The name of Bellingshausen can be directly put on a par with the names of Columbus and Magellan, with the names of those people who did not retreat before the difficulties and imaginary impossibilities created by their predecessors, with the names of people who went their own way, and therefore were the destroyers of barriers to discoveries, by which epochs are designated, ”wrote the German geographer August Petermann.

Discoveries of Semenov Tien-Shansky

Central Asia at the beginning of the 19th century was one of the least explored areas of the globe. An indisputable contribution to the study of the "unknown land" - as geographers called Central Asia - was made by Peter Semenov.

In 1856, the main dream of the researcher came true - he went on an expedition to the Tien Shan.

“My work on Asian geography led me to a detailed acquaintance with everything that was known about inner Asia. In particular, the most central of the Asian mountain ranges, the Tien Shan, beckoned me to itself, on which the foot of a European traveler had not yet set foot and which was known only from scarce Chinese sources.

Semenov's research in Central Asia lasted two years. During this time, the sources of the Chu, Syrdarya and Sary-Jaz rivers, the peaks of Khan-Tengri and others were put on the map.

The traveler established the location of the Tien Shan ranges, the height of the snow line in this area and discovered the huge Tien Shan glaciers.

In 1906, by decree of the emperor, for the merits of the discoverer, they began to add a prefix to his surname - Tien Shan.

Asia Przewalski

In the 70s-80s. XIX century Nikolai Przhevalsky led four expeditions to Central Asia. This little explored area has always attracted the researcher, and traveling to Central Asia was his old dream.

Over the years of research, mountain systems have been studied Kun-Lun , the ranges of Northern Tibet, the sources of the Yellow River and the Yangtze, basins Kuku-burrow and Lob-burrow.

Przhevalsky was the second person after Marco Polo to reach lakes-bogs Lob-burrow!

In addition, the traveler discovered dozens of species of plants and animals that are named after him.

“Happy fate made it possible to make a feasible study of the least known and most inaccessible countries of inner Asia,” Nikolai Przhevalsky wrote in his diary.

Around the world Krusenstern

The names of Ivan Kruzenshtern and Yuri Lisyansky became known after the first Russian round-the-world expedition.

For three years, from 1803 to 1806. - this is how long the first circumnavigation of the world lasted - the ships "Nadezhda" and "Neva", having passed through the Atlantic Ocean, rounded Cape Horn, and then reached Kamchatka, the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin by the waters of the Pacific Ocean. The expedition refined the map of the Pacific Ocean, collected information about the nature and inhabitants of Kamchatka and the Kuriles.

During the voyage, Russian sailors crossed the equator for the first time. This event was celebrated, according to tradition, with the participation of Neptune.

A sailor dressed as the ruler of the seas asked Kruzenshtern why he had come here with his ships, because the Russian flag had not been seen in these places before. To which the expedition commander replied: "For the glory of science and our fatherland!"

Expedition of Nevelskoy

Admiral Gennady Nevelskoy is rightfully considered one of the outstanding navigators of the 19th century. In 1849, on the transport ship Baikal, he went on an expedition to the Far East.

The Amur expedition continued until 1855, during which time Nevelskoy made several major discoveries in the area of ​​the lower reaches of the Amur and the northern shores of the Sea of ​​Japan, and annexed vast expanses of the Amur and Primorye to Russia.

Thanks to the navigator, it became known that Sakhalin is an island that is separated by the navigable Tatar Strait, and the mouth of the Amur is accessible for ships to enter from the sea.

In 1850, the Nikolaevsky post was founded by the Nevelsky detachment, which today is known as Nikolaevsk-on-Amur.

“The discoveries made by Nevelsky are invaluable for Russia,” wrote Count Nikolai Muravyov-Amursky , - many previous expeditions to these lands could achieve European fame, but not one of them achieved domestic benefit, at least to the extent that Nevelskoy did it.

North Vilkitsky

The purpose of the hydrographic expedition of the Arctic Ocean in 1910-1915. was the development of the Northern Sea Route. By chance, the captain of the 2nd rank Boris Vilkitsky assumed the duties of the head of navigation. The icebreaking ships Taimyr and Vaygach put to sea.

Vilkitsky moved through the northern waters from east to west, and during the voyage he managed to compile a true description of the northern coast of Eastern Siberia and many islands, received the most important information about currents and climate, and also became the first who made a through voyage from Vladivostok to Arkhangelsk.

The expedition members discovered the Land of Emperor Nicholas I. I., known today as Novaya Zemlya - this discovery is considered the last of the significant ones on the globe.

In addition, thanks to Vilkitsky, the islands of Maly Taimyr, Starokadomsky and Zhokhov were put on the map.

At the end of the expedition, the First World War began. Traveler Roald Amundsen, having learned about the success of Vilkitsky's voyage, could not resist exclaiming to him:

“In peacetime, this expedition would stir up the whole world!”

Kamchatka campaign of Bering and Chirikov

The second quarter of the 18th century was rich in geographical discoveries. All of them were made during the First and Second Kamchatka expeditions, which immortalized the names of Vitus Bering and Alexei Chirikov.

During the First Kamchatka campaign, Bering, the leader of the expedition, and his assistant Chirikov explored and mapped the Pacific coast of Kamchatka and Northeast Asia. They discovered two peninsulas - Kamchatsky and Ozerny, Kamchatsky Bay, Karaginsky Bay, Cross Bay, Providence Bay and St. Lawrence Island, as well as the strait, which today bears the name of Vitus Bering.

Companions - Bering and Chirikov - also led the Second Kamchatka Expedition. The goal of the campaign was to find a route to North America and explore the islands of the Pacific.

In Avacha Bay, the expedition members founded the Petropavlovsk prison - in honor of the ships of the voyage "Saint Peter" and "Saint Pavel" - which was later renamed Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

When the ships set sail for the shores of America, by the will of evil fate, Bering and Chirikov began to act alone - because of the fog, their ships lost each other.

"Saint Peter" under the command of Bering reached the western coast of America.

And on the way back, the expedition members, who had many difficulties, were thrown by a storm onto a small island. Here the life of Vitus Bering ended, and the island on which the expedition members stopped to spend the winter was named after Bering.
"Saint Pavel" Chirikov also reached the shores of America, but for him the voyage ended more safely - on the way back he discovered a number of islands of the Aleutian ridge and safely returned to the Peter and Paul prison.

"Non-Yasak Lands" by Ivan Moskvitin

Little is known about the life of Ivan Moskvitin, but this man nevertheless went down in history, and the reason for this was the new lands he discovered.

In 1639, Moskvitin, leading a detachment of Cossacks, set sail for the Far East. The main goal of the travelers was to "find new unclaimed lands", to collect furs and fish. The Cossacks crossed the rivers Aldan, Maya and Yudoma, discovered the Dzhugdzhur ridge, which separates the rivers of the Lena basin from the rivers flowing into the sea, and along the Ulya river they entered the Lamskoye, or Sea of ​​Okhotsk. Having explored the coast, the Cossacks opened the Taui Bay and entered the Sakhalin Bay, rounding the Shantar Islands.

One of the Cossacks said that the rivers in the open lands “are sable, there are a lot of animals, and fish, and the fish is big, there is no such thing in Siberia ... there are so many of them - just run a net and you can’t drag it out with fish ... ".

The geographical data collected by Ivan Moskvitin formed the basis of the first map of the Far East.

The opinion that all geographical discoveries have long been made and geographers have nothing to give to the world is wrong.

Indeed, the great geographical discoveries that brought the world knowledge about new continents, large rivers, mountain ranges and countries occurred before the 20th century. But even in the XX-XXI centuries, researchers continue to amaze the world with the discovery of unexplored places on our planet, only the quality and nature of these discoveries have changed. Long-distance travels across the seas and continents were replaced by viewing and analyzing space images at the desk. At the service of geographers are now the methods of geophysics and geochemistry, aerial photography, radar photography from special satellites. The very concept of "geographical discovery" has expanded and now includes not only the study of land and water depths, but also air, because modern geography is obliged to identify the laws and patterns that govern each geographical component and their relationship with each other.

It was in the 20th century that it became possible to determine the exact position of the North and South Poles (1909-1911). Thanks to images from space, geographers managed to spatially orient objects (mountains, rivers), give them a coordinate base and clear references. Already well-known rivers and lakes are the object of close research by geographers, because many of them have changed their course and moved hundreds of kilometers away from each other and from the water bodies into which they used to flow (this trend is observed in the Aral Sea and the Caspian Lake).

Through space photography, many new high-altitude lakes in the Himalayas and a mountain range in Antarctica covered with a half-kilometer layer of ice have been discovered (2009). These mountains, reminiscent of the Alps in their territory and height, but 10 times older than them (the Alps are about 50 million years old), rise up to 3 thousand kilometers, and even geographers did not know about their existence.

New technologies have allowed geographers to approach from a different point of view long-explored areas of the Earth, and this made it possible to discover cyclic multi-kilometer circles-cavities - nuclear structures. Their study leads scientists to believe that the Earth was once riddled with huge craters and resembled the surface of the Moon.

A significant world geographical event was the discovery by Russian scientists of the subglacial Lake Vostok (named after the research station Vostok, which was located on it) in Antarctica. According to rough estimates, the lake is a million years old and during this time it has never come into contact with atmospheric air, being reliably covered by a 4-kilometer thick ice layer. Is there life in the lake? What happens if lake water comes into contact with air? How to take water samples in such a way that water does not come into contact with the modern atmosphere? Behind all these questions lie future discoveries. By studying water samples, scientists hope to accurately reconstruct Earth's climate, chemical composition and atmospheric properties even before glaciers appeared. If living organisms are found in the lake (and the conditions are quite suitable: + 10 ° C and the most powerful oxygen saturation of water is 50 times higher than on the surface of the Earth) - this will become another geographical discovery.

By the beginning of the 20th century, almost all regions of the Earth had already been explored by geographers. The time of traditional geographical discoveries, which consisted in the description of previously unknown lands, has basically passed. In the twentieth century, a new geography was born, which tried to answer the question: Why is our Earth arranged in this way and not otherwise? Early 20th century

But even in the 20th century, there were still many white spots on the map of the Earth. These included, first of all, the vast unexplored regions of the Arctic and Antarctic. These remote spaces with a harsh, sometimes fatal climate for humans, were inaccessible for a long time. It was not until more advanced technology became available that attempts to survey these areas became successful. However, the chronicle of the Arctic and Antarctic expeditions consists not only of heroic, but also of tragic pages. The triumphant achievement of the South Pole by Roald Amundsen and the terrible death in the ice of Robert Scott; the unsuccessful flight of Umberto Nobile on the airship Italia to the North Pole and the death of Amundsen, who hurried to his aid, are just a few lines from this chronicle. These included, first of all, the vast unexplored regions of the Arctic and Antarctic. These remote spaces with a harsh, sometimes fatal climate for humans, were inaccessible for a long time. It was not until more advanced technology became available that attempts to survey these areas became successful. However, the chronicle of the Arctic and Antarctic expeditions consists not only of heroic, but also of tragic pages. The triumphant achievement of the South Pole by Roald Amundsen and the terrible death in the ice of Robert Scott; the unsuccessful flight of Umberto Nobile on the airship Italia to the North Pole and the death of Amundsen, who hurried to his aid, are just a few lines from this chronicle. In the 20th century, the highest mountain peaks and the deepest oceanic depressions were also conquered. In the 20th century, the highest mountain peaks and the deepest oceanic depressions were also conquered. But despite the fact that almost the entire Earth has long been known and described, geographers still go on expeditions every spring, since you can know the world around us only by seeing it with your own eyes. "White spots"

Polar night Hero who never reached the North Pole Fridtjof Nansen, Norwegian polar explorer () This scientist and traveler was nicknamed the Viking of the twentieth century. He began his acquaintance with the North from Greenland, when in 40 days he crossed this giant island from east to west on skis and on foot. After 5 years, he embarked on an even more grandiose and daring project, which was based on the hypothesis formulated by him as follows: If we pay attention to the forces inherent in nature itself and try to work with them, and not against them, we will find the surest and easiest way to reach the Pole. Fridtjof Nansen

F. Nansen believed that there was a current in the Arctic Ocean, with the help of which, on a ship frozen in drifting ice, he could cross the Central Arctic Basin and reach the North Pole. And in August 1893, on the steamer Fram Nansen, specially built for ice navigation, entered the Kara Sea and headed for Cape Chelyuskin. On September 21, Fram was frozen into ice at 78 N. and 133 east and started drifting. At the end of 1894 Fram reached only 83 N. latitude. Nansen realized that the drift to the pole had stopped. Leaving Fram, Nansen made an attempt to reach the Pole on the sled, but, having not reached it 419 km, he was forced to return. Fram in the ice. Through hummocks. Travels of Nansen

Dream of the NORTH POLE??? Robert Edwin Pirie, American polar explorer () Frederick Albert Cook, American polar explorer, doctor () On April 6, 1909, R. Pirie wrote in his diary: The goal of my life has been achieved. I have devoted more than 20 years to its achievement. Having made careful measurements, I found the pole point ... However, 5 days before his message, a telegram signed by F. Cook arrived in Europe, stating that on April 21, 1908 (that is, a year earlier than Piri) he reached the North Pole . Since neither Cook nor Peary could provide exhaustive evidence of reaching the pole, the question was Who was the first to reach the SP? remains open.

Georgy Yakovlevich Sedov Russian polar explorer () The dispute between Piri and Cook had not only international resonance, but also played a fatal role in the fate of the Russian polar explorer G.Ya. Sedov. Georgy Yakovlevich, being a military hydrographer and commander of a destroyer during the Russo-Japanese War, conceived his own expedition to the North Pole - the First Russian National Expedition. The scandal that broke out in the United States only strengthened Senior Lieutenant Sedov in his idea: the North Pole was not conquered, which means that the Russian flag must be hoisted there, because his country has long deserved such an honor! He was a courageous man, faithful to his officer's word and duty, which he proved by his own heroic death. Promising himself and Russia to reach the Pole, Sedov set out in the spring of 1914 on a campaign across the ice. During 2 winters, almost all members of the expedition suffered scurvy and became very weak. Nevertheless,6 Sedov left the ship frozen in ice off the coast of Franz Josef Land and, accompanied by 2 sailors, also seriously ill, set off. March 5, 1914, having traveled a little over 100 km along the 1000 km route to the Pole, Sedov died near Rudolf Island, the northernmost in the archipelago. G.Ya. Sedov

The first Drifting The famous polar explorer Rudolf Samoylovich in his short book Path to the Pole wrote about the history of man's eternal attraction to this magnet point: Soviet polar explorers do not seek to set any records ... We must, we can, thanks to the high level of modern technology, work without casualties . There must be no more graves on the way to the Pole! And he explained: It would be extremely important to remain at the Pole for many months in order to carry out various scientific research works. This is exactly how the activity of the first drifting station NORTH POLE was conceived. The expedition was equipped by the whole vast country.

Ivan Dmitrievich Papanin Otto Yulievich Schmidt The group of future winterers was headed by Ivan Dmitrievich Papanin (). Hydrobiologist and oceanographer Pyotr Shirshov, geophysicist and meteorologist Yevgeny Konstantinovich Fedorov, radio operator Ernst Krenkel underwent comprehensive training on the mainland. In March 1937, a grand air expedition for those times, consisting of more than 40 people on 4 airplanes (plus light reconnaissance aircraft) headed north. The expedition was led by Academician Otto Yulievich Schmidt ().

On May 21, 1937, an aircraft that had 4 members of the expedition on board: station chief Ivan Dmitrievich Papanin, station chief Ivan Dmitrievich Papanin, experienced polar explorer - radio operator Ernst Teodorovich Krenkel, experienced polar explorer - radio operator Ernst Teodorovich Krenkel, hydrobiologist and oceanologist Pyotr Petrovich Shirshov, hydrobiologist and oceanologist Pyotr Petrovich Shirshov, astronomer and magnetologist Yevgeny Konstantinovich Fedorov, astronomer and magnetologist Yevgeny Konstantinovich Fedorov, safely landed on the ice field. On the same day, the world's first station at the North Pole began scientific work. It soon became clear that the ice fields were drifting towards the Greenland Sea. The North Pole Station (SP) turned into a drifting polar station, which in 274 days traveled more than 2500 km from the pole to the coast of Greenland, and the huge ice field turned into a small ice floe with an area of ​​\u200b\u200bless than 500 square meters (). On February 19, 1938, the winterers were removed along with the instruments by the icebreaking ships Taimyr and Murman. During this unprecedented drift, the station staff collected extremely valuable, completely new materials about the nature of the Central Arctic. The expedition established: that there are no lands along the way of the station drift; that there are no lands along the drift path of the station; the bottom relief was studied throughout the drift; the bottom relief was studied throughout the drift; it has been established that warm Atlantic waters penetrate from the Greenland Sea to the very pole in a deep current; it has been established that warm Atlantic waters penetrate from the Greenland Sea to the very pole in a deep current; assumptions about the almost complete lifelessness of the polar region were refuted; assumptions about the almost complete lifelessness of the polar region were refuted; the movement of the upper layers of water under the influence of wind has been studied; the movement of the upper layers of water under the influence of wind has been studied; the nature of the ice and the regularities of their drift have been established……. the nature of the ice and the regularities of their drift have been established……. "North Pole"

Ice of the Antarctic Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundsen decided to repeat the drift in the Arctic Ocean on Fram Nansen. However, on the eve of sailing, having received news that Peary had discovered the North Pole, he changed his plan and headed not to the NORTH, but to the SOUTH to try to open the South Pole. Roald Amundsen

Roald Amundsen Norwegian polar traveler () Having reached the coast of Antarctica, the expedition of R. Amundsen, after a successful wintering, headed on October 20, 1911 to the SOUTH POLE. His plan was successful. On December 15, 1911, Roald Amundsen was the first to reach the SOUTH POLE of the EARTH.

Exploration of the World Ocean The beginning of the study of the World Ocean was laid by the English expedition on board the Challenger. research vessel research vessel CHALLENGER - a research vessel on which the FIRST INTEGRATED EXPEDITION TO STUDY THE WORLD OCEAN was carried out. scientific - research vessel Having traveled more than a kilometer across the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans, the expedition collected more information about the World Ocean, than all previous studies. Challenger specially equipped deck

Exploration of the World Ocean For additional reading For additional reading Research ship VITYAZ A Soviet research ship famous for its exploration of the Pacific Ocean, during which the Mariana Trench was discovered. Mariana Islands

The Himalayas CLIMBING EVEREST From the middle of the 19th century, Indo-British intelligence officers began to intensively study the Himalayas and the Karakorum, since behind them lay Central Asia - the object of desire of the British imperialists. From the middle of the 19th century, Indo-British intelligence officers began to intensively study the Himalayas and the Karakoram, since behind them lay Central Asia - the object of desire of the British imperialists. In the second half of the 19th century, about 20 expeditions were carried out in the Himalayas with the aim of exploring the greatest massifs and climbing to their peaks. In the second half of the 19th century, about 20 expeditions were carried out in the Himalayas with the aim of exploring the greatest massifs and climbing to their peaks. In the first half of the 20th century, there were already about 80 expeditions, mostly British, on assignments from military intelligence. In the first half of the 20th century, there were already about 80 expeditions, mostly British, on assignments from military intelligence. Himalayas

INTERNATIONAL GEOPHYSICAL YEAR The International Geophysical Year is a period (not necessarily a year) of simultaneous geophysical observations by means and scientific forces of different countries according to an agreed program and a single methodology. For the geophysical year, the period was set from July 1, 1957 to December 31, 1958. Observations were made in all zones of the Earth on land, at sea and in the atmosphere. Particular attention was paid to poorly studied areas of the Earth, including the least explored Antarctica. In 1955, a number of countries began organizing research bases in Antarctica. One of the most important works was measuring the thickness of the ice sheet: the thickness of the ice dome is more than a meter. Azrophotography, made by pilots of several countries, and coastal work greatly improved the image of the contours of the continent. International Geophysical Year

Our contemporaries The famous Russian traveler Fyodor Konyukhov: a legendary man The first, and according to 2005 data, the only person in the world who reached the 5 poles of our planet: Geographic North (3 times) Geographic South Pole of relative inaccessibility in the Arctic Ocean Everest (pole of heights) Cape Horn (pole of yachtsmen). Fedor Konyukhov made three round-the-world voyages, 15 times crossed the Atlantic.

Our contemporaries As part of the Seven Summits of the World program, Fedor Konyukhov climbed: 1992 (February) - Elbrus (Europe) 1992 (May) - Everest (Asia) 1996 (January) - Vinson Massif (Antarctica) 1996 (March) - Aconcagua (South America) 1997 (February) - Kilimanjaro (Africa) 1997 (April) - Kosciuszko Peak (Australia) 1997 (May) - McKinley Peak (Northern America) Fyodor Konyukhov's official page: For more information, visit the Fyodor Konyukhov's official page: For additional reading

Our contemporaries The leader of the first ever skiing expedition from the earth to the North Pole (1979). In 1988, a Soviet-Canadian expedition led by Dmitry Shparo crossed the Arctic Ocean on skis along the route: USSR - North Pole - Canada. Polar expedition of Dmitry Shparo Dmitry Shparo In 1989 Dmitry Shparo organized the ADVENTURE Club, which is engaged in sports rehabilitation of the disabled: unique marathons in wheelchairs, ascents to the peaks of Kazbek and Kilimanjaro were organized and held. Additional material

Conclusion The materials collected during the expeditions allowed scientists to put forward hypotheses (assumptions) about the nature of a particular phenomenon, as well as to make scientific discoveries based on the achievements of other sciences (physics, mathematics, biology). Scientists have created the theoretical foundations of geographical science, identified cause-and-effect relationships, dependencies between the components of nature, and established patterns inherent in the development of the nature of the entire Earth. Geographers revealed the regularities in the distribution of large landforms, discovered the circulation of the atmosphere, and created the doctrine of soils as a special component of nature. The main thing in geography was the doctrine of natural complexes and the largest complex - the geographical shell of the Earth in which a person lives and works. Thus, geography gradually turned from a reference and descriptive science into a science that explains the peculiarities of the nature of the Earth. Humanity will never run out of great interest in its own home, our blue planet.

The great geographical discoveries are the most important period in the history of mankind from the end of the 15th to the middle of the 16th centuries. The brave pioneers of Spain and Portugal opened up new lands to the Western world, thereby laying the foundation for the development of new trade routes and connections between continents.

The beginning of the period of great geographical discoveries

Throughout the existence of the human race, many important discoveries were made, but only those that took place in the 16th and 17th centuries entered history under the name "great". The fact is that neither before this period of time, nor after it, none of the travelers and explorers could repeat the success of the medieval discoverers.

Geographical discovery is understood as the discovery of new, previously unexplored geographical objects or patterns. It can be a part of the earth or a whole continent, a water basin or a strait, the existence of which on Earth was not suspected by civilized mankind.

Rice. 1. Middle Ages.

But why did the Great geographical discoveries become possible precisely between the 15th and 17th centuries?

• active development of various crafts and trade;
• the growth of European cities;
• the need for precious metals - gold and silver;
• development of technical sciences and knowledge;
• serious discoveries in navigation, the appearance of the most important navigational instruments - the astrolabe and the compass;
• development of cartography.

The catalyst for the Great Geographical Discoveries was the unfortunate fact that Constantinople in the Middle Ages was under the rule of the Ottoman Turks, who prevented the direct trade of European powers with India and China.

Great travelers and their geographical discoveries

If we consider the periodization of the Great geographical discoveries, then the first who gave the Western world new routes and unlimited opportunities were the Portuguese navigators. The British, Spaniards and Russians did not lag behind them, who also saw great prospects in the conquest of new lands. Their names are forever included in the history of navigation.

• Bartolomeu Dias - Portuguese navigator, who in 1488, in search of a convenient direction to India, circled Africa, discovered the Cape of Good Hope and became the first European to find himself in the waters of the Indian Ocean.
• - it is with his name that they associate the discovery in 1492 of the whole continent - America.

Rice. 2. Christopher Columbus.

• Vasco da Gama - Commander of the Portuguese expedition, who in 1498 managed to pave a direct trade route from Europe to Asia.

For several years, from 1498 to 1502, Christopher Columbus, Alonso Ojeda, Amerigo Vespucci and many other navigators from Spain and Portugal carefully explored the northern coast of South America. However, acquaintance with the Western conquerors did not bring anything good to the locals - in pursuit of easy money, they showed themselves extremely aggressively and cruelly.

• Vasca Nuñens Balboa - In 1513, the brave Spaniard was the first to cross the Isthmus of Panama and discover the Pacific Ocean.
• Ferdinand Magellan - the first person in history who in 1519-1522 made a trip around the world, thereby proving that the Earth has the shape of a ball.
• Abel Tasman - opened Australia and New Zealand to the Western world in 1642-1643.
• Semyon Dezhnev - Russian traveler and explorer who was able to find the strait connecting Asia with North America.

Results of the Great geographical discoveries

The great geographical discoveries significantly accelerated the transition from the Middle Ages to the New Age, with its most important achievements and the flourishing of most European states.

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Mankind took a different look at the world around us, new horizons opened up before scientists. This contributed to the development of the natural sciences, which could not but affect the general standard of living.

The conquest of new lands by Europeans led to the formation and strengthening of colonial empires, which became a powerful raw material base of the Old World. Between civilizations there was a cultural exchange in various areas, there was a movement of animals, plants, diseases and even entire peoples.

Rice. 3. Colonies of the New World.

Geographical discoveries were continued after the 17th century, which made it possible to create a complete map of the world.

What have we learned?

When studying the topic “Great geographical discoveries” in the 6th grade geography program, we learned briefly about the great geographical discoveries, their significance in world history. We also made a brief overview of the greatest personalities who managed to make important discoveries in the geography of the Earth.

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