Exploration

Exploration is a type of outdoor activity to discover and research new territories, paths, information, resources and so on. The name comes from the words “explore” and "motion".

Geographically, exploration usually refers to the Age of Exploration or the Age of Discovery — the discovery of new lands by Europeans from the 15th to the 17th centuries, when new trade routes to Asia; the Americas, and Australia were discovered. There were also travels to the North and South Poles, and ascents to the highest peaks on all six continents, including Everest, and the study of the ocean, including the Mariana Trench, its deepest place. But since man discovered almost everything on earth, the term has come to mean discovering new information and gaining new life experiences for scientific and personal purposes. Exploration is closely related to and often overlaps with such terms as discovery, expedition, adventure, surviving in the wilderness, and hunting for different meteorological phenomena such as tornadoes, or treasure hunting.

The only true new place for exploration in outer space, which is explored by satellites and telescopes. You, too, can do this with amateur instruments. Sometimes they help make important discoveries.

Exploration can be done all year round, depending on the type of activity. For example, if (most likely) you have not been to Everest yet, but are going there, you know that the best time for climbing this mountain is the window between May 1 and May 10. The reason of this is a good weather. This is why there are long lines of people who want to climb Everest.

The main pleasure of exloration today is a discovery of something in an era when everything seems to be explored and studied. In any case, you always have the opportunity to make a personal discovery, even if others have done it. Nevertheless, exploration is a complex activity that usually requires a great deal of knowledge, training, and experience and is fraught with dangers. It is not advisable to engage in this kind of activity alone. For example, expeditions are usually undertaken in teams. Although many events have been accomplished by solo explorers and athletes.

Text: Ivan Kuznetov

Cover photo: Henk Jan Geel / Unsplash