Early Man marine life was some of the main food for cultures living near the shore. The remains of many of the marine organisms that were eaten are found in their kitchen middens (trash) show us not only what they ate give us an idea of the species and their abundance during that particular period of time.

Native American kitchen midden (Morro Bay, California) showing shells of seafood consumed by early cultures.

-The Phoenecians and Greeks 2, B.C., first explorers to leave their local communities bordering the Mediterranean Sea. - They went outside the Mediterranean to the Atlantic Ocean with their knowledge of tides, currents and seasonal changes.

The Polynesians, A.D., used natural phenomena (winds patterns, currents, tides, stars, native animals …)to migrate around the South Pacific in boats. colonized islands west of Samoa, New Zealand, Easter Island, and Hawaii

The Vikings, in A.D., developed distinctive open boats and explored the North Atlantic from their Scandinavian homelands. reached Iceland in about 700 A.D., Greenland in about 995 A.D. and North America around 1,000 A.D. had to develop detailed knowledge of currents, winds, tides and ocean phenomena - thus they can be considered "marine scientists."

Viking Ship Circa 700 AD

The 'Age of Discovery' Between the mid 1400s and early 1900s was the time when humans explored Earth creating maps and charts and bringing back specimens a time of development of ocean-going ships and better navigation equipment. Most of this exploration came out of Spain, Portugal, France, Scandinavia, Italy, & Germany.

Christopher Columbus is credited with the discovery of North America in 1492 (the Vikings had already been there but this knowledge had not been passed on to other Europeans) Ferdinand Magellan was the first person in charge of an expedition to go completely around Earth

Captain James Cook - the first ocean scientist. He was an excellent navigator and explorer. three voyages between produced maps, charts, and scientific samples. charted Australia and New Zealand, circumnavigated Antarctica and explored Hawaii. His voyages were the first to include a full-time naturalist.

Charles Darwin was a naturalist on the Beagle ( ). His theories on evolution forever changed the way scientists view living organisms. He also published a theory on the formation of coral reefs and did studies of barnacles