THE GEOGRAPHY OF EXPLORATION AND DISCOVERY EXPLORATION AND

THE GEOGRAPHY OF EXPLORATION AND DISCOVERY

EXPLORATION AND DISCOVERY �Critical part of the human condition

CONNECTIONS �How are people and places connected? �Why these connections? �When did they develop? �What trade networks, or accessibility links, are there between places?

� Expansion from core area (Out of Africa)

• Rise of cultural hearths (sedentary settlements) - Nile, Fertile Crescent, Americas, Indus Valley, Ganges, etc.

MOTIVATIONS FOR EXPLORATION AND DISCOVERY • HUMAN DESIRE TO SEE “WHAT’S OVER THE HILL” • NEED FOR MORE RESOURCES • TRIBAL / IMPERIALISTIC / EMPIRE AMBITIONS (TERRITORY)

Political geography of territory and resources TERRITORY = RESOURCES = POWER = MORE TERRITORY

Venetian and Genoan Trade Networks

GOING GLOBAL …… • GREAT CHINESE FLEETS early 15 TH CENT. (Indian and Pacific Ocean voyages)

GOING GLOBAL …… • EUROPEAN VOYAGES 1450 s onwards (Caravelle, astrolabe, gunpowder, etc. ) • GREAT CHINESE FLEETS 15 TH CENTURY (Indian and Pacific Ocean voyages)

EUROPEAN EXPLORATION 15 TH – 18 TH centuries Sub-Saharan Africa/Asia Slowly incorporated into the Atlantic trade system

AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT �Belief in power of science to help humans understand their place in the world �The Age of Reason ● Scientific expeditions across the planet

EXPLORATION-DISCOVERY AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT KONDRATIEFF CYCLES �FIRST CYCLE = 1760 s to 1820 s �Technology = Steam, Mining, Factories The Industrial Revolution Cycle is a +/- 30 -year rise on innovation and a +/- 30 -year decline until next innovation

PACIFIC EXPLORATION �Britain’s James Cook (1728 -1779)

KONDRATIEFF CYCLES �SECOND CYCLE = 1820 s to 1880 s (Empire Building) �Technology = Railroad, Steamships, Telegraph

PLANNED RAILROAD ROUTES FRENCH WEST AFRICA

AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY EXPLORATIONS �Founded in 1851 in New York �The AGS mission – exploration and discovery �Research focus – Arctic and Antarctic �Notables – Grinnell, Muir, Pres. Wilson, Isaiah Bowman, FDR ……. .

KONDRATIEFF CYCLES �THIRD CYCLE = 1880 s to 1945 �Technology = Automobiles, airplanes, telephones, weaponry. The Age of the great European out-migrations…. . (1830 s to 1930 s)

AGE OF EMPIRES � 1886 CONFERENCE OF BERLIN � Opening up Africa – scramble for resources and territory

FRENCH INDO-CHINA 1850 s – 1950 s

KONDRATIEFF CYCLES �FOURTH CYCLE = 1945 to early 1990 s �Technology = Space, communications, the quantitative revolution The Atomic Age……. The Cold War …….

KONDRATIEFF CYCLES �FIFTH CYCLE = early 1990 s to 2050 s ? ? �Technology = digital, biotech, nanotechnology, GPS/GIS (spatial mapping), massive infrastructure (renewal? )

KONDRATIEFF CYCLES �FIFTH CYCLE = early 1990 s to 2050 s ? ? �The Age of Globalization The Age of Cultural Conflicts ? ? The Age of Climate Change !!!!! (Human Impacts)

21 st CENTURY EXPLORATION �What are the new exploration and discovery challenges for the 21 st century?

21 st CENTURY EXPLORATION �Oceans ? �Space ? �The Human Genome project ? �Human – Environment Relationships ?

THANK YOU!