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 RESOURCES = POWER 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 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

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

PACIFIC EXPLORATION Britain’s James Cook ( )

KONDRATIEFF CYCLES SECOND CYCLE = 1820s to 1880s (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 = 1880s to 1945 Technology = Automobiles, airplanes, telephones, weaponry. The Age of the great European out-migrations….. (1830s to 1930s)

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

FRENCH INDO-CHINA FRENCH INDO-CHINA 1850s – 1950s

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

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

KONDRATIEFF CYCLES FIFTH CYCLE = early 1990s to 2050s ?? 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!