Who were the first explorers?

Some of the earliest ocean voyages were made by the Polynesian peoples of New Guinea. As long as 3,500 years ago, they began leaving their homeland to explore the vast Pacific Ocean in nothing bigger than canoes.

[Over the centuries, different groups of Polynesians settled on thousands of Pacific islands.]

[About 2,300 years ago, the Greek explorer Pytheas sailed north past Spain, France and Britain. He may have even reached Norway.]