1: Marco Polo, born on September 15, 1254, on Kor?ula Island, Croatia, was a Venetian traveler and businessman, and the author of the famous "Marco Polo's Travels" 》.
Story: Both Chinese and foreign historical records record that glasses originated in China and are a heritage of ancient Chinese culture, medical treatment, and skills.
At that time, there was an Italian named Marco Polo. He had lived in China for seventeen years, working for the Yuan Dynasty court and traveling all over China. At that time, he saw someone wearing a He was very interested in glasses, and he spread them to the West when he returned to China. Therefore, the first place to manufacture glasses in the West was Venice, the hometown of Marco Polo.
2: David Livingstone (1813-1873) was a Scottish doctor and missionary.
He dedicated his life to exploring Central Africa.
In 1840, he made his first expedition to Africa, including crossing the Kalahari Desert in 1849.
Story: Livingstone returned to the African continent in 1864. When he went to the interior of Africa, he heard no news from the explorer.
For six years, Livingstone lost contact with the outside world.
Various rumors were circulating at the time.
The boss of the American "New York Herald" gave his reporter Henry.
Stanley assigned an almost impossible task to lead an expedition to the African continent to find Livingstone.
After nearly eight months of travel, Stanley's expedition approached Ujiji, a small village on the shore of Lake Tanganyika, on November 10, 1871.
There they found Livingstone.
The famous "You are Dr. Livingstone, if I am not mistaken?" greeting when they met.
This famous quote is recorded in the Encyclopedia Britannica and the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
This sentence is only so famous because of its tongue-in-cheek humor: Dr. Livingstone is the only white person seen within hundreds of miles.
Stanley also stated in his book that he said this in the first sentence because the scene was a bit embarrassing. He finally found the person he was looking for and wanted to go up and hug him, but he did not dare to do so because of his pride. .
3: Ferdinand Magellan (Spring 1480 - April 27, 1521), explorer, navigator, colonist, Portuguese, explored for the Spanish Army.
Story: After more than 100 days of sailing, Magellan never encountered strong winds or waves. Magellan had never felt so relaxed, as if God had helped him a lot.
He gave the "South China Sea" an auspicious name, "Pacific Ocean".
In this vast Pacific Ocean, with no land or island in sight, food became the most critical problem. For more than 100 days and nights, they had no fresh food and only rusks to satisfy their hunger. Eventually they even ran out of rusk, and could only eat crumbs of worm-infested rusk, which stank like rat urine.
The fresh water in the cabin became shallower and shallower, and in the end we could only drink turbid yellow water with a foul smell.
In order to survive, even the cowhide covering the ship's girder was used as food. The cowhide was as hard as a stone and had to be soaked in seawater for four or five days and then roasted on a charcoal fire for a long time before it could be eaten. .
4: Vitus Bering (August 25, 1681-December 19, 1741) was born in Horsens, Denmark, Russian naval vice admiral and explorer.
The Bering Strait, Bering Sea, Bering Island and Bering Isthmus are all named after him.
Story: In 1728, Bering commanded the expedition ship St. Gabriel (St. Gabriel) designed and built by the expedition team to leave the port and advance north along the coast of Kamchatka Peninsula.
One day in August, the ship Saint-Gabriel passed through wind, rain and thick fog and arrived at the sea near the easternmost tip of the Asian continent.
Looking eastward from here, he saw only the vast sea of ??smoke and vast ocean, which convinced Bering that North America and Asia were indeed separated by water.
Due to the heavy fog that day, Bering did not see North America on the other side; therefore, he did not know that the expedition was in a narrow strait.
The narrowest point of this strait is only 35 kilometers. If the weather is clear, the two sides of the strait can see each other from a distance.
As a result, the nearby American continent was not discovered.
5: Roald Amundsen (July 16, 1872 - June 18, 1928), Norwegian polar explorer, the first person to reach the South Pole.
On August 9, 1910, Amundsen set sail from Norway on the expedition ship "Felam".
On the way, he learned that the British Antarctic Expedition was also targeting the South Pole, and Amundsen was determined to win the title of the first to reach the South Pole.
After more than four months of difficult navigation, the "Ferram" passed through the Antarctic Circle and entered the floating ice area. On January 4, 1911, it arrived at the starting base for climbing the South Pole - Walvis Bay. .
Amundsen led five expedition members from the base and began the arduous expedition to the South Pole.
As a result, it took less than two months to successfully reach the South Pole on December 15, 1911.
Amundsen’s excitement was beyond words.
They cheered and hugged each other, celebrated their victory, and planted a Norwegian flag on the South Pole.
They set up a camp called "Pole House" at the South Pole, conducted 24 hours of continuous solar observation, and calculated the precise location of the South Pole. He left separate notes in the tent. Two letters to Scott and King Haakon of Norway.
Amundsen’s purpose in doing this was that in case he encountered misfortune on his way back, Scott could report the good news to the King of Norway that they had successfully reached the South Pole.
Amundsen stayed at the South Pole for 3 days.
On December 18, 1911, they embarked on a journey back to the Walvis Bay base with two sleds and 18 dogs.
Amundsen's great trip to the South Pole shocked the whole world, and people cheered for his achievements.