White Gold: How Salt Made and Unmade the Turks and Caicos Islands
Turks and Caicos had one of the world's first, and largest, salt industries—which led, indirectly, to their becoming the only tropical jurisdiction to have a pair of igloos on their flag.
December 14, 2012 |
By Mike Dash
Geronimo’s Appeal to Theodore Roosevelt
Held captive far longer than his surrender agreement called for, the Apache warrior made his case directly to the president
November 09, 2012 |
By Gilbert King
The Unsolved Mystery of the Tunnels at Baiae
Did ancient priests fool visitors to a sulfurous subterranean stream that they had crossed the River Styx and entered Hades?
October 01, 2012 |
By Mike Dash
The Neverending Hunt for Utopia
Through centuries of human suffering, one vision has sustained: a belief in a terrestrial arcadia that offered justice and plenty to any explorer capable of finding it
August 28, 2012 |
By Mike Dash
The Woman Who Took on the Tycoon
John D. Rockefeller Sr. epitomized Gilded Age capitalism. Ida Tarbell was one of the few willing to hold him accountable.
July 05, 2012 |
By Gilbert King
The Loneliest Shop in the World
The Mulka Store served only a handful of customers a week. Yet its remarkable owners ensured it remained fully stocked, with everything from medieval armor to dueling pistols
June 25, 2012 |
By Mike Dash
Sacrifice Amid the Ice: Facing Facts on the Scott Expedition
Captain Lawrence Oates wrote that if Robert Scott's team didn't win the race to the South Pole, "we shall come home with our tails between our legs." Actually, worse was in store
May 16, 2012 |
By Gilbert King
The Most Terrible Polar Exploration Ever: Douglas Mawson’s Antarctic Journey
A century ago, Douglas Mawson saw his two companions die and found himself stranded in the midst of Antarctic blizzards.
January 27, 2012 |
By Mike Dash
The Doomed South Pole Voyage's Remaining Photographs
A 1912 photograph proves explorer Captain Robert Scott reached the South Pole—but wasn't the first
January 2012 |
By Victoria Olsen
Henry Morton Stanley's Unbreakable Will
The explorer of Dr. Livingstone-fame provides a classic character study of how willpower works
December 2011 |
By Roy F. Baumeister and John Tierney
Naval Gazing: The Enigma of Étienne Bottineau
In 1782, an unknown French engineer offered an invention better than radar: the ability to detect ships hundreds of miles away
October 13, 2011 |
By Mike Dash
Alfred W. Crosby on the Columbian Exchange
The historian discusses the ecological impact of Columbus’ landing in 1492 on both the Old World and the New World
October 05, 2011 |
By Megan Gambino
What Became of the Taíno?
The Indians who greeted Columbus were long believed to have died out. But a journalist's search for their descendants turned up surprising results
October 2011 |
By Robert M. Poole
The Waldseemüller Map: Charting the New World
Two obscure 16th-century German scholars named the American continent and changed the way people thought about the world
December 2009 |
By Toby Lester
Meriwether Lewis' Mysterious Death
Two hundred years later, debate continues over whether the famous explorer committed suicide or was murdered
October 09, 2009 |
By Abigail Tucker
Columbus' Confusion About the New World
The European discovery of America opened possibilities for those with eyes to see. But Columbus was not one of them
October 2009 |
By Edmund S. Morgan
Q and A: Astronaut Buzz Aldrin on the Moon
Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon, reflects on the Apollo 11 mission
August 2009 |
By Joseph Caputo
Finding Feisty Fungi in Antarctica
In a place where no one believed they existed–-treeless Antartica–wood fungi are feasting on polar exploration relics
May 2009 |
By Emily Stone
Who Discovered the North Pole?
A century ago, explorer Robert Peary earned fame for discovering the North Pole, but did Frederick Cook get there first?
April 2009 |
By Bruce Henderson
Who Discovered Machu Picchu?
Controversy swirls as to whether an archaeologist's claim to fame as the discoverer of Machu Picchu has any merit
March 2009 |
By Peter Eisner
