Archaeology is one of my interests....

It's been a little while since I last contributed to my blog, mostly because I have been doing some fascinating reading on different European explorers from 1480-1820. I have long been fascinated with politics and history, but this period of human exploration and advancement interests me most. The Age of Exploration contains so many fascinating and detailed accounts, but even more interestingly are the mysteries left behind.

In the last few days I have read short essays on the life of Ferdinand Magellan, the first European to circumnavigate the globe, Henry Hudson, the ill-fated explorer of the Canadian north, James Cook, the famous Englishman to discover Hawaii, Francis Drake, the wily privateer for the English Queen, and others.

What is most interesting about these men is that while they had the common drive and curiousity to explore the vast unknown, they couldn't have been more different in personality, fortune, or fate. Both Cook and Magellan were killed by natives, Hudson left adrift by mutinous crew, and Drake retirng as a wealthy man.

I love to read about these men and their exploration. Not only are the stories fascinating, but it gives me a better understanding of the history of little known places in the world.

Someday I hope to write a fiction novel that answers some of the mysteries of history. One interesting possibility would be to write about the fate of Henry Hudson, whom, along with his son and several loyal crew members was set adrift in a longboat in the frigid Hudson Bay by his mutinous crew. While there is much speculation about what happened to Hudson, no conclusive evidence has ever been found. I think this would make fabulous background for a novel. What happened to Henry Hudson? What happened to his son John? Imagine the possibilities of writing about 8 Europeans lost in the Canadian north in 1611.

Here is a picture of Henry Hudson



Here is a picture of his ship, the "Half Moon"

Half Moon

I will include pictures of the other explorers and their ships in future blogs.

-->Rascilon<--