The Age of Exploration
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The Age of Exploration
@ageofexploration.bsky.social
Fantastical tales of woe, brutality, and courage
Pringle Stokes, the first captain of Darwin's famous ship the Beagle, was both a hero and a tragic figure.

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Pringle Stokes: Suicide at the edge of the world - The Age of Exploration
Captaining a sailing ship during the Age of Sail was surely one of the most demanding and challenging jobs on the planet. Often hundreds or thousands of nautical miles away from whichever whimsical mo...
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December 18, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Reposted by The Age of Exploration
A useful view of the Pavel Pavel method for “walking” a moai. There are 2 ropes pulling at an angle on the base. The moai swivels from side to side, grinding on its base. Movement was slow as the pullers had to overcome friction to do this. This moai has eyes: an ahu moai carved to stand upright.
December 17, 2025 at 11:10 AM
Did you know that as a young sailor, Christopher Columbus got caught in a naval battle just off Portugal between a Genoese trading mission and French pirates? Columbus grabbed a piece of wood and started swimming to the nearby coast.
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When Columbus nearly drowned off the coast of Portugal - The Age of Exploration
Whatever you think of him, Christopher Columbus is surely one of the most consequential figures in all history. When his flagship, the Santa Maria, landed on the island of San Salvador in 1492, it set...
theageofexploration.com
December 17, 2025 at 11:11 AM
Dugout canoes in Great Lakes reveal signs of ancient bioengineering

Analysis suggests the indigenous people that built these canoes may have deliberately 'wounded' trees in order to induce tyloses, balloon-like structures that block the movement of water and make the wood waterproof.
December 10, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Definitely worth a visit to Greenwich.

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London National Maritime Museum: Explore a thousand years of history – The Age of Exploration
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December 9, 2025 at 1:22 PM
Could this be the finest Age of Exploration film ever made?

#Magellan #LavDiaz #GaelGarciaBernal

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Magellan the movie: new Lav Diáz film promises to be epic – The Age of Exploration
theageofexploration.com
December 5, 2025 at 10:22 AM
Reposted by The Age of Exploration
Monument from the mountain Cerro Patlachique, south of Teotihuacan. It likely depicts a fire priest #FolkloreThursday
Fire priests were religious and political authorities, indicating the sacred mountain was controlled by the Mesoamerican city-state.

🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...

🏺 #Archaeology
December 4, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Captain Flinders and Ann Chappelle: The man who named Australia built a secret cabin for his wife but then left her alone in England for nine years. She waited it out and they eventually had a baby daughter together.
December 4, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Why is the East India Company a bit like Google with an army? Giles Milton has the answer.

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In search of adventure: An interview with Giles Milton – The Age of Exploration
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December 3, 2025 at 11:07 AM
Before the Spanish came to the Americas, there was Pachacuti, the greatest Inca leader of all time.

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Pachacuti: The mythical life of a great Inca leader – The Age of Exploration
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December 1, 2025 at 2:10 PM
What do you do when you get your ship stuck on the Great Barrier Reef?

A good bit of fothering, obviously.

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Shipwrecked? When Captain Cook smashed into the Great Barrier Reef – The Age of Exploration
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November 28, 2025 at 1:24 PM
One of the most momentous days in global exploration. Bet it was a bit cold though.
Ferdinand Magellan's expedition to circumnavigate the globe first passed through the Strait of Magellan #OnThisDay in AD 1520.
The southernmost archaeological site in the world (an Indigenous hunting camp) is nearby, on the island of Isla Hornos.

🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...

🏺 #Archaeology
November 28, 2025 at 1:21 PM
This painting by George Stubbs is based on a kangaroo shot by the crew on Captain Cook's first voyage to Australia.

It was the first time Europeans had ever seen this strange leaping animal.

The name is actually the Aboriginal word for a specific type of black kangaroo.
November 27, 2025 at 9:53 AM
25 years ago, there was not a single piano on Rapa Nui (Easter Island).

To change this, the pianist Mahani Teamai and a group of friends set up a music school. Today, hundreds of local children learn a variety of musical instruments at the school, including the piano, the violin and the ukulele.
November 27, 2025 at 9:30 AM
Why did Francis Drake hate the Spanish so much, exactly? Here is his origin story, featuring slavery, treachery and the Battle of San Juan de Ulúa.
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Francis Drake: How a pirate’s grudge swayed the course of history – The Age of Exploration
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November 26, 2025 at 10:41 AM
Ever wondered how the Rapa Nui people moved the moai statues? Archeologist Carl Lipo explains all in this exclusive interview.
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November 25, 2025 at 1:53 PM