GEOG mystery #2

Joy Prior
January 10, 2011
Lauren Erickson
Geog 120 H
Section 001
Mystery #2

Before this mystery I had no idea that there is such a plethora of islands. Each one with it’s own climate, culture, and in essence geography. The year long voyages of the European explores were just as unique as the islands that they discovered, using the word discovered in the most lucrative from, because most of the islands were already inhabited. In this response I will mention six different islands and the islands first European explorers.
Jacob Roggeveen was the first European to discover The Easter Islands in 1722. At the age of sixty-two He began his voyage to explore the pacific islands. He and his crew landed on the Easter Island coast on Easter Sunday. Within a few days of exploring the island the company suffered fatalities and contention and quickly continued their voyage.
The Bora Bora island was also discovered along Jacob Roggeveen’s 1722 voyage. When the ships did arrive Batavia the Dutch East India Company arrested Roggeveen and his men, and over a year later they were allowed to return to Netherlands.
Santa Cruz islands were discovered by Joao Alvares Fagundes around the 1520s. He was a Portuguese explorer. His explorations took him through the northern parts of Canada and through Nova Scotia area.
A French explorer named Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier discovered Bouvet Island in 1739. The Island was named after him. He explored the artic region but despite several attempts his ship was unable to anchored on Bouvet Island because of the intense fog. On his return he felt as if the mission was a failure.
Bering Island was also named after man who discovered it. Vitus Jonassen Bering was born in Denmark, but sailed towards America from Russia. He died of disease on Bering Island in 1741.
In 1568, the Spanish explorer Alvaro de Mendana de Neira discovered the Tuvalu Islands in an attempt to discover the legendary city of gold. Despite his efforts none of the settlements he attempted to establish flourished in any of the islands he explored while sailing through the Pacific Islands.