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Headshot of author Lorraine Boissoneault

Lorraine Boissoneault

Lorraine Boissoneault is a writer in Chicago who covers history, science and the environment for publications like Smithsonian Magazine, The Atlantic, OnEarth, Hakai Magazine, Playboy and others. She’s also the author of The Last Voyageurs (Pegasus/2016), a narrative nonfiction history and outdoor adventure story. You can find her on Twitter @boissolm or at www.lboissoneault.com 

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Illustration of Ferdinand Magellan
Politics & History

The Pirate-y Life of Ferdinand Magellan

Magellan’s voyage in search of the “Spice Islands” was marked by storms, sharks, and scurvy—plus multiple attempts at mutiny.
wo Sami people near their “lavvu”, a temporary dwelling similar to a Native American tipi.
Education & Society

318 Words for Snow: How to Preserve the Indigenous Languages of the Arctic

How scientists, linguists, and activists are working together to preserve indigenous languages in the Arctic—as well as the region's biodiversity.
Travel
Uncharted

The End of the Tour: Why Do We Travel?

Travel is commodity, a privilege, and a state of mind; a comfort to some and a trial to others. 
temple of apollo
Uncharted

The Temple of Apollo on the Ocean Floor

In 1993, divers discovered a shipwreck from the Hellenistic period off the coast of Turkey. It held marble columns from the Temple of Apollo.
Eddie Aikau
Uncharted

Eddie Aikau: The Rad Life of a Hawaiian Surfing Legend

Eddie Aikau was a surfing legend during a time when Hawaiian legends were being resurrected. As a lifeguard, he attempted more than 500 daring rescues.
Minaret of Jam
Uncharted

Afghanistan’s Ancient and Beautiful Minaret of Jam

The Minaret of Jam, located in Afghanistan's Ghur province, provided a vantage point for the call to prayer. It remained hidden and forgotten until 1886.
A ship stuck in a storm.
Uncharted

3 Explorers Who Vanished Without a Trace

These 3 explorers dedicated their lives to illuminating some dark corner of the Earth. Although they died in pursuit of knowledge, their legacies live on.
Stone spheres in National Museum of Costa Rica. This pre-columbian artefacts from Diquis's Valley are symbols of national identity for Costa Rican people.
Uncharted

Objects of Wonder: Costa Rica’s Stone Spheres

The people who chiseled Costa Rica's stone spheres out of granite belonged to a distinct Latin American culture called the Chibchan.
Marianne North, Katherine Routledge and Delia Akeley
Uncharted

3 Women Explorers You Should Know

Their names may not be widely recognized, but these three intrepid women explorers deserved broader acclaim for their accomplishments.
Saint Malo's walled city as viewed from Dinard from the south-west.
Uncharted

The Codfish Pirates of Saint Malo

Saint Malo has sheltered scoundrels and villains for much of its history, including pirates, cod smugglers, and even Nazis.
Lion hieroglyphs
Uncharted

Leopards, Hippos, and Cats, Oh My! The World’s First Zoo

Hierakonpolis, the capital of Upper Egypt during the Predynastic period, is the site of the world’s first zoo.
Star Snow Festival
Uncharted

Let’s Take a Pilgrimage to the Snow Star of Peru

Every year, tens of thousands of pilgrims gather to celebrate the Christ of the Snow Star.
Steam Locomotive
Uncharted

Mourning the Death of the American Railway

Just as the Titanic had redefined passenger liners, so too would the Zephyr transform the American railway.
Runner participating in Antarctic Ice Maraton
Uncharted

Conquering Antarctica’s Ice Marathon

The Antarctic Ice Marathon is a 26.2-mile run across the coldest, windiest, driest continent on Earth.
"Baal shamin temple02(js)" by Jerzy Strzelecki - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Baal_shamin_temple02(js).jpg#/media/File:Baal_shamin_temple02(js).jpg" target="_blank">Commons</a>
Uncharted

ISIS’s Destruction of the Ruins of Palmyra

ISIS militants destroyed two of Palmyra' most important structures, the Temple of Baalshamin and the Temple of Bel, both of which had stood for 2,000 years.
Museum of Broken Relationships exhibit
Uncharted

The Museum of Broken Relationships

Located in the historic Upper Town district of Zagreb, Croatia, the Museum of Broken Relationships began as an experiment.
Salt flat Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia at sunrise
Uncharted

Bolivia Plans to Mine the Salar de Uyuni for Lithium

The Salar de Uyuni, which belongs to the Altiplano of the high Andes, is a unique and important ecosystem. It’s also an enormous lithium reserve.
Lake Mungo
Uncharted

The Bones of Australia’s Lake Mungo

For 40,000 years, human remnants remained buried in the sand at Lake Mungo, hidden by the changed landscape.
Viking ships at sail
Uncharted

L’Anse aux Meadows and the Viking Discovery of North America

Vikings traveled to the New World centuries before Columbus, setting up the establishment that is L'Anse aux Meadows.
Plain of Jars
Uncharted

Laos’ Perplexing Plain of Jars

Scattered across 15,000 square km of rolling hills, rice paddies, and forests of Xieng Khouang Province in Laos is a mysterious plain of jars.
Riders and camels at rest in Timbuktu, Mali, West Africa
Uncharted

The Golden Age of Timbuktu

Even now, in the age of Google Maps, its name is synonymous with the unknown edges of the world: welcome to Timbuktu.

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