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1600 BCE
Ancient Pacific Islanders
Main Accomplishment: used navigation skills that allowed them to travel great distances between islands -
1500 BCE
Phoenicians
Main Accomplishment: first accomplished western navigators, established trade route regions -
350 BCE
Aristotle
Main Accomplishment: recognized that water evaporated from the earth and fell again as rain, classified and categorized many near shore organisms, recognized that gills are the breathing apparatus for fish -
325 BCE
Pytheas
Main Accomplishment: traveled from Greece north all the way to Iceland or Norway, recognized that the moon was the source of tides -
276 BCE
Eratosthenes of Cyrene
Main Accomplishment: calculated the earth's circumference, determined the longitude and latitude of the known earth, mapped the nile river and two tributaries and determined that its source was lakes -
1002
Leif Eriksson
Main Accomplishment: discovered North America -
1454
Amerigo Vespucci
Main Accomplishment: America was named after him -
1492
Christopher Columbus
Main Accomplishment: rediscovered the "new world" in 1492 -
1519
Ferdinand Magellan
Main Accomplishment: first expedition to sail around the world, first circumnavigation of globe -
1577
Sir Francis Drake
Main Accomplishment: chosen by Queen Elizabeth for something, discovered san francisco bay -
James Cook
Main Accomplishment: first to accurately map the world and prepare ocean charts including tides, winds, water, temperature -
Charles Darwin
Main Accomplishment: theory of evolution, explained the formation of Atolls, studied barnacles in great detail -
Charles Wilkes
Main Accomplishment: charted a portion of antarctica, the pacific northwest, 280 islands in the south pacific -
Edward Forbes
Main Accomplishment: discovered life varied by ocean depth -
George Nares
Main Accomplishment: contributed to the understanding of the vast oceans and their life forms