Atlas: Expeditions Through Time

Place

Cape Town

A major port at the Cape of Good Hope visited by several global scientific voyages.

Coordinates-33.90, 18.40

Related expeditions

21 December 1872–May 1876

HMS Challenger Expedition

A converted naval vessel crossed the world’s oceans with laboratories, scientists, and new instruments for sounding, sampling, and observing the deep sea.

27 December 1831–2 October 1836

Voyage of HMS Beagle

HMS Beagle sailed on a five-year Royal Navy surveying voyage under Robert FitzRoy. Charles Darwin travelled as a self-funded naturalist, spending long periods ashore collecting specimens and recording the geology, plants, animals, and societies he encountered.

26 August 1768–12 July 1771

James Cook’s First Voyage

Lieutenant James Cook commanded HMS Endeavour on a joint Royal Navy and Royal Society voyage to observe the 1769 transit of Venus at Tahiti. Under further Admiralty orders, the expedition then circumnavigated and charted New Zealand, followed the eastern coast of Australia, and returned to England through Batavia and the Cape of Good Hope.

Sources and further reading

  1. The HMS Challenger: The Expedition that Discovered the Ocean, Smithsonian Ocean. Voyage scope, scientific objectives, route, and legacy.
  2. Darwin’s Itinerary on the Voyage of the Beagle, The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online. Day-by-day chronology, historical place names, coordinates, ports, shore excursions, and Beagle positions.
  3. Journals of Captain James Cook: Endeavour, 1768–1771, National Library of Australia and Australian Joint Copying Project. Digitized manuscript journals and logs supporting the first voyage’s chronology, coastal survey, Botany Bay, Endeavour River, Torres Strait, and return route.
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