Recorded discoveries



World Heritage Sites connected to 'Recorded discoveries':

  • Angkor Henry Mouhot (French) is credited with 'discovering' it in 1860 although many other Westerners had visited the site before him. He certainly popularised it in the West.
  • Bikini Atoll "The first Westerner to see the atoll, in mid-1820s, was the German navigator and explorer Otto von Kotzebue, who named the atoll Eschscholtz Atoll after the Russian scientist Johann Friedrich von Eschscholtz." (Wiki)
  • Borobudur H.C. Cornelius (Dutch) on a mission sponsored by Sir Thomas Raffles in 1814
  • Brazilian Atlantic Islands Fernando de Noronha - Probably discovered by Fern?o de Loronha in 1501/2 (though it may have been seen by others as early as 1500/01). First described by Amerigo Vespucci in 1503
  • Canaima National Park Angel Falls Jimmy Angel (American) - 1933 (by air - first visited 1937)
  • Chengjiang Fossil Site Chengjiang was first recognized for its exquisite states of preservation with the 1984 discovery of the naraoiid Misszhouia, a soft-bodied relative of trilobites
  • Decorated Grottoes of the Vézère Valley Lascaux - Marcel Ravidat ; September 12, 1940
  • Gough and Inaccessible Islands Goncalo Alvarez (Portuguese) 1505/6
  • Grand Canyon Garcia Lopez de Cardenas (Spanish) 1540
  • Hattusha 1834 Charles Texier; link
  • Henderson Island Pedro Fernandes de Queiros (Portuguese) 1606
  • Iguacu Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca (Spanish) 1541
  • Iguazu National Park Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca (Spanish) 1541
  • Kilimanjaro National Park 1848
  • Machu Picchu Hiram J Bingham (American) 1911
  • Macquarie Island F Hasselborough (Australian) 1810
  • Mammoth Cave "According to family records passed down through the Houchin's, and later Henderson families, John Houchin was bear hunting and the bear turned and began to chase him. He found the cave entrance when he ran into the cave for protection from the charging bear. The land containing this historic entrance was first surveyed and registered in 1798 under the name of Valentine Simons. Simons began exploiting Mammoth Cave for its saltpeter reserves." - wiki
  • Moenjodaro Rakhaldas Bandyopadhyay (Indian) 1922
  • Mount Kenya J Krapf (German) 1849 (First climbed 1899)
  • Nemrut Dag excavated in 1881 by Charles Sester, a German engineer assessing transport routes for the Ottomans (wiki); link
  • Neolithic Flint Mines at Spiennes 1842, by Albert Toillez; link
  • Papahanaumokuakea Midway - "July 5, 1859 by Captain N.C. Middlebrooks... of the sealing ship Gambia." Nihoa - March 21, 1788 by Captain James Colnett of the Prince of Wales. Mokumanamana 1786 by French explorer Jean-Fran?ois de La P?rouse. He named the island after Jacques Necker
  • Petra Johann Ludwig Burkhardt (Swiss) 1812
  • Phoenix Islands "McKean Island was the first of the Phoenix group to be reported and named. It was discovered May 28, 1794 by the British Capt. Henry Barber, of the ship Arthur". The other 7 were largely recorded during the 1820s. The name "Phoenix Islands" appears to have been first applied to the whole group (of which it is but one island) by "The United States Exploring Expedition (which)was an exploring and surveying expedition of the Pacific Ocean... conducted by the United States Navy from 1838?1842". They also discovered/named the final island "Hull" after a US admiral
  • Rapa Nui Jacob Roggeveen (Dutch) on Easter Sunday 1722
  • Redwood (Jedediah Smith Redwoods SP) "The park is named after the intrepid explorer, Jedediah Strong Smith who was the first white man to explore the interior of northern California. His journey through the coast redwood belt was part of a remarkable two-year trapping expedition which began in 1826." - www.parks.ca.gov
  • Shark Bay Within the inscribed area, Dirk Hartog island was the site of the first recorded European landing in Western Australia. It was named after Dutch explorer Captain Dirk Hartog who left an inscribed plate with his name at Cape Inscription after arriving there on the Eendracht in October 1616. The original plate is now in the Rijksmuseum ; link
  • Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona The peculiar features of this area were first recognized by Escher in 1807
  • Thracian tomb of Kazanlak 1944
  • Thracian tomb of Sveshtari 1982
  • Troy Charles Maclaren (Scottish) 1822 established the area, Frank Calvert (English) 1850's-60's did early excavations , Charles Schliemann 1870's provided "proof"
  • Tsodilo "The rock art was first sketched and brought to Western attention in 1907 by Siegfried Passarge, a German geologist." Nom file
  • Uluru In October 1872 the explorer Ernest Giles was the first non-indigenous person to sight Kata Tjuṯa.
  • Victoria Falls David Livingstone (Scottish) 1855
  • Wrangel Island 1st landing (US Ship) 1881
  • Yellowstone John Colter (American - Lewis + Clarke Expedition) 1807