Exploration

Exploration, discovery and surveying of unknown parts of the world and the universe. Among the purposes of exploration are settlement, commerce, conquest, and increase of scientific knowledge. The earliest records of exploration in the Western world go back to about 3000 B.C. Many early explorations were undertaken in search of trade routes, as in the case of the Phoenician and Greek seamen who explored the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, and even ventured into the Atlantic.