The Explorers Podcast

The first episode in the Burke and Wills Expedition series provides background to the endeavor - which was an expedition to cross Australia in 1860-61. We are introduced to the organizers of the expedition - Royal Society of Victoria - and its eventual leader, Robert Burke.Key people and places Robert Burke - Irish police superintendent from Castlemaine. Will be named leader of the expedition. Royal Society of Victoria - aka The Society. Scientific society based in Melbourne. They will organize the expedition. Exploration Committee - The committee of the Society which oversaw the Burke and Wills Expedition. Victoria Exploring Expedition (VEE) - The official name of the expedition led by Robert Burke to cross the Australian continent. Sir William Stawell - Key member of the Exploration Committee, and Chief Justice of Victoria. John Macadam - Secretary of the Exploration Committee. John Bruce - Wealthy Australian businessman who supported Robert Burke's bid to lead the expedition. Peter Edgerton Warburton - aka Major Warburton - Police Commissioner of South Australia and candidate to lead the VEE. Gustov von Tempsky - Prussian adventurer and candidate to lead the VEE. George Landells - Horse trader who would bring 25 camels to Australia to be part of the upcoming expedition. Would later be named second-in-command of the VEE. Charles Sturt - British soldier who would explore Australia - discovering Cooper's Creek in 1844.  John McDouall Stuart - Scottish explorer who would be the chief competitor with the VEE to blaze a route across Australia.  Augustus Gregory - Explorer who had gone from Brisbane to Adelaide in 1858. He turned down the opportunity to lead the VEE, but recommended any expedition go to Cooper's Creek and set up a depot - and use it as a base for striking out to the north.  Cooper's Creek - River in central Australia. It is about halfway across the continent if someone is traveling between Melbourne and Gulf of Carpentaria in the north.  William Wills - British surveyor and astronomer who will eventually become the second-in-command of the VEE.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Between 400-600 BCE, Hanno the Navigator of Carthage, conducted an epic voyage down the west coast of Africa - sailing more than 4,000 miles - reaching all the way to modern-day Gabon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Cossack Vladimir Atlasov explores the Kamchatka Peninsula in the late 1690s - claiming it for the Russian Empire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Series wrap up. We look at the aftermath of the siege of Tenochtitlan. We also cover the rest of Cortés' life, and the lives of some of the key players in our series. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In part 7 of our series on Hernán Cortés and the Conquest of Mexico, the Spanish and their allies converge on the Valley of Mexico and begin the siege of Tenochtitlan - which will signal the end of the Aztec Empire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the wake of his defeat at Tenochtitlan, Cortés must fend off the Aztecs at the Battle of Otumba. He must then consolidate his forces, and plot his return to the Valley of Mexico - even while small pox ravages the empire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Part 5 in our series on Hernán Cortés and the Conquest of Mexico, Cortés must deal with threats from the recently arrived Panfilo de Narvaez, and an uprising in Tenochtitlan. Things will end with the La Noche Triste - the Night of Sorrows (hint: that's won't end well for the Spanish).  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In part 4 of our series on Hernán Cortés, the Spanish march into Tenochtitlan - the Aztec capital. In doing so, he will come face-to-face with the legendary Montezuma. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In part three of our series on Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés, the Spanish march west, encountering resistance from the independent Tlaxcalan people, as well as confronting possible treachery in the city of Cholula. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hernán Cortés forges an alliance with a discontented people, and establishes the first European settlement in New Spain - Vera Cruz. Also, he encounters the first emissaries of the Aztec Empire, who offer the Spanish a large bribe to leave their lands. Instead, Cortés becomes determined to travel to the heart of the Aztec Empire - Tenochtitlan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices