Trade & TransportA New Silk Road Journey, 2014
Follow the September 2014 Hamburg–Zhengzhou freight service, its industrial cargo, railway handovers and two changes of gauge. A sourced journey through a growing Europe–China network.
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History, one journey at a time
Explore remarkable lives, civilizations and journeys. Play a narrated adventure on the map, or settle into an illustrated story.
16 stories
Trade & Transport
Civilizations & EmpiresAmazonia · Nations Beneath the Forest
Follow the long history of Amazonian societies, from Upano and Aquiry to Casarabe and the Upper Xingu, and discover how archaeology connects their landscapes. Map labels show approximate cultural periods, not simultaneous populations or political borders.
Explorers & ExpeditionsAmerigo Vespucci · Voyages and the Naming of America
Follow Vespucci’s two better-documented Atlantic expeditions, examine the letters attributed to him and see how the 1507 world map gave America its name.
Explorers & ExpeditionsChristopher Columbus
Follow all four voyages, their encounters and their consequences.
Explorers & ExpeditionsDavid Livingstone · Journeys Across Africa
Follow David Livingstone’s southern and central African journeys, his partnerships, mistakes, opposition to slavery and the African companions who carried his work and remains to the coast.
Explorers & ExpeditionsIbn Battuta · A World of Journeys
Follow Ibn Battuta from Tangier to Mecca, East Africa, Delhi and the Indian Ocean, then home and across the Sahara to Mali, through a critically presented account of medieval travel.
Explorers & ExpeditionsJames Cook · Three Pacific Voyages
Follow Endeavour, Resolution and the surviving expedition through three Pacific voyages, from Tahiti and New Zealand to Antarctic ice, the Arctic and Hawaiʻi.
Explorers & ExpeditionsMarco Polo
Across Asia and home by sea: cities, long stays, the Mongol court and the observations that shaped Polo’s book.
Trade & TransportOrient Express · Paris to Constantinople
Travel the original Orient Express route with 14 narrated historical scenes, interesting city stops and the connections that made the journey possible.
Trade & TransportSilk Road · Caravans, Cities and Exchange
Follow a representative Silk Road relay from Chang’an to Baghdad, through desert oases, mountain passes and the trading cities of Central Asia.
Civilizations & EmpiresThe Aztecs · Lake City and Empire
Explore the rise of Tenochtitlan, the Triple Alliance, chinampa farming, Tlatelolco’s market, the conquest of 1521 and the continuing histories revealed through archaeology and living communities.
Civilizations & EmpiresThe Incas · Roads of the Andes
Explore the Inca world from Cusco and the Sacred Valley to Machu Picchu, Huánuco Pampa, Cajamarca and Vilcabamba, connecting imperial growth, farming, roads, conquest and living Andean traditions.
Civilizations & EmpiresThe Maya · Cities and Living Histories
Connect El Mirador, farming life at Joya de Cerén, Tikal and Calakmul, Quiriguá’s inscriptions, Chichén Itzá, Mayapán, Iximche and Nojpetén with the living histories of Maya communities.
Civilizations & EmpiresThe Mongol Empire
Follow the Mongol Empire from Chinggis Khan’s steppe confederation through Eurasian conquests, changing territories and the rise of successor khanates.
Civilizations & EmpiresThe Viking Expansion
Follow separate Viking-age expansions through towns, battles, assemblies and ocean settlements, from Hedeby to the eastern rivers and Newfoundland.
Explorers & ExpeditionsZheng He
Imperial diplomacy, trade, monsoons and force across the Indian Ocean.
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