🔥 Featured Questions
🗂️ Categories:EntertainmentBooksBeauty & SkincareFood & DrinkTech & AIRelationshipsLifestyle & TrendsMoney & FinanceSports
Which explorer took the greatest leap into the unknown?
From Silk Road caravans to Antarctic dog sleds, these explorers pushed past the edge of the known world, some for glory, some for trade, some just to see what was out there. Which one's journey actually reshaped how humanity understood the planet?
🗳️ 10 votes so far
🏆 Leading: Ibn Battuta (1304–1369): A Moroccan scholar who set out at 21 for a pilgrimage to Mecca, Ibn Battuta kept traveling for nearly 30 years, eventually covering an estimated 75,000 miles, roughly three times the distance Marco Polo is credited with. His journeys took him across North and West Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, India, Southeast Asia, and China, often serving as a judge or diplomat along the way thanks to his religious education. He dictated his account, the "Rihla" (meaning "The Journey"), to a scholar named Ibn Juzayy at the order of the Sultan of Morocco, documenting societies, rulers, and customs across the medieval Islamic world and beyond in far greater geographic breadth than any other traveler of his era. Unlike many explorers who sought new trade routes or conquest, Ibn Battuta traveled largely out of curiosity and devotion, and his account remains one of the richest surviving windows into 14th-century global life. (30%)
🥈 Zheng He (1371–1433): A Chinese Muslim eunuch admiral, Zheng He commanded seven massive naval expeditions between 1405 and 1433 under the Ming dynasty, reaching as far as East Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and Southeast Asia decades before Europe's Age of Exploration began. His fleets were staggering in scale: some accounts describe treasure ships nearly 400 feet long, dwarfing anything Europe would build for another century, crewed by fleets of up to 300 vessels and 27,000 men. The voyages were intended to project Ming power, collect tribute, and establish trade and diplomatic relations rather than conquer territory, and Zheng He brought back exotic goods, foreign envoys, and even a giraffe presented to the Chinese court as a mythical qilin. After his death, China turned inward and dismantled its treasure fleet, leaving Zheng He's expeditions as a striking historical what-if: a naval power capable of global reach that chose to stop reaching. (30%)
🥉 James Cook (1728–1779): A British Royal Navy captain, Cook led three major voyages across the Pacific Ocean between 1768 and 1779, producing the most accurate maps of the Pacific yet made and forever changing Europe's understanding of the region. His first voyage charted the entire coastline of New Zealand and the eastern coast of Australia, leading to Britain's later colonization of the continent, while his crew included scientists who documented thousands of previously unrecorded plant and animal species. Cook was also a pioneer of shipboard health, using sauerkraut and citrus to prevent scurvy among his crew at a time when the disease killed more sailors than combat or shipwreck combined. His third voyage searched for the fabled Northwest Passage before turning back to Hawaii, where a dispute over a stolen boat escalated into a violent confrontation, and Cook was killed by Native Hawaiians on the beach at Kealakekua Bay in February 1779. (20%)⚖️ Split decision🌍 🇨🇳 China, 🇸🇬 Singapore
🏆 Leading: Ibn Battuta (1304–1369): A Moroccan scholar who set out at 21 for a pilgrimage to Mecca, Ibn Battuta kept traveling for nearly 30 years, eventually covering an estimated 75,000 miles, roughly three times the distance Marco Polo is credited with. His journeys took him across North and West Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, India, Southeast Asia, and China, often serving as a judge or diplomat along the way thanks to his religious education. He dictated his account, the "Rihla" (meaning "The Journey"), to a scholar named Ibn Juzayy at the order of the Sultan of Morocco, documenting societies, rulers, and customs across the medieval Islamic world and beyond in far greater geographic breadth than any other traveler of his era. Unlike many explorers who sought new trade routes or conquest, Ibn Battuta traveled largely out of curiosity and devotion, and his account remains one of the richest surviving windows into 14th-century global life. (30%)🥈 Zheng He (1371–1433): A Chinese Muslim eunuch admiral, Zheng He commanded seven massive naval expeditions between 1405 and 1433 under the Ming dynasty, reaching as far as East Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and Southeast Asia decades before Europe's Age of Exploration began. His fleets were staggering in scale: some accounts describe treasure ships nearly 400 feet long, dwarfing anything Europe would build for another century, crewed by fleets of up to 300 vessels and 27,000 men. The voyages were intended to project Ming power, collect tribute, and establish trade and diplomatic relations rather than conquer territory, and Zheng He brought back exotic goods, foreign envoys, and even a giraffe presented to the Chinese court as a mythical qilin. After his death, China turned inward and dismantled its treasure fleet, leaving Zheng He's expeditions as a striking historical what-if: a naval power capable of global reach that chose to stop reaching. (30%)🥉 James Cook (1728–1779): A British Royal Navy captain, Cook led three major voyages across the Pacific Ocean between 1768 and 1779, producing the most accurate maps of the Pacific yet made and forever changing Europe's understanding of the region. His first voyage charted the entire coastline of New Zealand and the eastern coast of Australia, leading to Britain's later colonization of the continent, while his crew included scientists who documented thousands of previously unrecorded plant and animal species. Cook was also a pioneer of shipboard health, using sauerkraut and citrus to prevent scurvy among his crew at a time when the disease killed more sailors than combat or shipwreck combined. His third voyage searched for the fabled Northwest Passage before turning back to Hawaii, where a dispute over a stolen boat escalated into a violent confrontation, and Cook was killed by Native Hawaiians on the beach at Kealakekua Bay in February 1779. (20%)⚖️ Split decision🌍 🇨🇳 China, 🇸🇬 SingaporePoll as Guest Infographics
From around the web
Similar to hewsay's "Which explorer took the greatest leap into the unknown?"
Quoted & linked with attribution — not a hewsay user post.
Who is the greatest explorer in history and why?
quora.com · Quora
View original Remember that a prime motivator for Columbus, a Genoese merchant, was to discover a route to the far east for spices. This was all taking place ...Read more
reddit.com · Reddit
View original Guy and gal says sorry
Difficult?
🗳️ 13 votes so far🏆 Leading: Guy says sorry all the time (38%)🥈 Why should gals say sorry when they are right all the time? (31%)🥉 Gals says sorry all the time (23%)🌍 🇨🇳 China, 🇭🇰 Hong Kong, 🇭🇹 Haiti
Poll as Guest Infographics
From around the web
Similar to hewsay's "Guy and gal says sorry"
Quoted & linked with attribution — not a hewsay user post.
What does it mean when a guy says "And I'm sorry if I lead you on. Did I? I don't know because I'm still figuring things out too."?
quora.com · Quora
View original We've been texting for quite a bit but she seems to say “sorry” a lot in her messages; like sorry for taking so long to text back, sorry for not ...Read more
reddit.com · Reddit
View original