"History of Oceanography Da'Sha Shoaf 6thperiod

Portuguese

Jan 11, 1400

Early to mid 1400’s Prince Henry “The
Navigator” established a marine observatory to
improve the Portuguese sailing endeavors and
conquered one of the greatest trades
problems-getting around the tip of Africa
 The Cape of Good Hope was finally rounded by
Bartholomeu Diaz in 1486
 Explored canary isles, African coast (Columbus
1492)
 Vasco de Gama rounded Africa and continued
on to India in 1498
 This event was followed by Spain, England, &
other Europeans searching for new lands.
 The Pacif

Magellan (1480-1521 A.D.)

Jan 11, 1480

In 1513 the Spanish
captain, Ferdinand
Magellan, circumnavigated
the globe through a passage
way at 52° S latitude now
called the Straights of
Magellan.

Benjamin Frankline

Jan 7, 1777

Determined that it took mail
ships coming from Europe.
 Discovering Surface currents
and therefore in 1777 published
the first map of the Gulf
Stream.
 Suggested use of thermometers
to locate warm waters of G.S.
– Eastbound stay in G.S.
– Westbound avoid G.S

Voyage of “Beagle”

Dec 27, 1831

English Naturalist, Charles
Darwin, investigated the whole
of nature leading him to make
one of the most outstanding
contributions to biology while
on his voyage aboard the
H.M.S Beagle.
 December 27, 1831 – Under
Captain Robert Fitzroy a 5
year trip surveyed the coast
line resulted in
 Darwin Publishing several
papers the most famous ones
being his papers Natural
Selection and The Origin of
the Species.

Matthew Fontaine Maury

Jan 11, 1853

1806-1873 US Navy officer who compiled
Navel Charts and Instrumentations that when
used, logged, and compiled allowed sailors to
avoid catastrophic weather conditions,
currents, and tides.
 In 1853 established uniform methods of
making nautical and meteorological
observations at sea.
 This standardization greatly increased the
dependability of such data summarized in his
publication The Physical Geography of the
Sea.

Challenger Expedition

Jan 11, 1872

First large-scale voyage with the
purpose of increasing knowledge of the
distribution of life in the ocean and of
the chemical and physical properties of
the ocean.
 December 1872 to May 1876 – 4 year
trip
 Most ambitious ocean exploration
project at the time
 Traveled 109,000 km (68,000 miles)

Phoenicians

Jan 11, 2000

2000 BC – Traveled extensively throughout
Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, Indian Ocean.
They discovered the Canary Islands and
established trade with Eastern Asia.

Vikings – Eric the Red

Mar 2, 2022

During a period of Climatic warming - similar to
today’s “Global Warming” - the Vikings of Scandinavia
conquered Iceland
 982 A.D. Eric the Red sailed westward from
Greenland and discovered Baffin Island.
 995 A.D. Eric’s son, Leif Ericson, discovered what was
then called Vineland and spent the winter in an area
of North America we call Newfoundland.
 Beginning in the 13th century the climate again began
to cool and the North Atlantic began to clog with ice
throughout most of the year once ag