Did you know that Sir Francis Drake was the first Englishman to see the Pacific Ocean?
Did you know that Sir Francis Drake was the first Englishman to see the Pacific Ocean?
In 1573, during an expedition in present-day Panama, Drake climbed a huge tree in the mountains of the Isthmus of Panama and from the top he caught sight of the Pacific Ocean, thus becoming the first known Englishman in history to see the Pacific Ocean. As he looked out he “besought Almighty God of His goodness to give him life and leave to sail once in an English ship in that sea.”
Seven years later he completed a circumnavigation of the globe, the first Englishman to achieve this, and he did it in a single expedition. Drake's the first known person in history to complete a circumnavigation of the planet as captain throughout the entire journey—a marvellous achievement.
Pacific Ocean Facts
The largest and deepest body of water on Earth, the Pacific Ocean completes the list of the world’s waters. Along with the four other oceans and seven seas, it covers up to 71% of the Earth’s surface. Despite its name, the big blue ocean is full of harsh conditions. It often overflows with activity, such as birthing hurricanes, and cools our planet to habitable temperatures.
Indeed, this vast ocean basin is essential to the ecosystem of our planet. It serves as an important foundation for both marine life and land-dwellers, as well as economic pathways for governments. The Pacific Ocean borders 55 countries from different continents ranging from China, the United States, Australia, Japan, Philippines, Mexico and the Oceania region. Now, let’s dive into the vast pool of Pacific Ocean facts and learn more about our planet’s largest oceanic division.
01The Pacific Ocean was formed about 190 million years ago.
02The second-largest island, New Guinea, is found in the Pacific Ocean.
03It is also home to Easter Island, named by a Dutch explorer who discovered the island on Easter Sunday.
04Beneath the surface of the Pacific lies the Earth’s longest mountain range, the Mid-Oceanic Ridge, which stretches almost 40,000 miles.
05There are large pockets of petroleum and natural gas found beneath the continental shelves of New Zealand and Australia’s coasts.
Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese explorer, named the Pacific Ocean in 1521.
During his circumnavigation of the world under the flag of Spain, Magellan sailed into a calm patch of water with favorable wind conditions and named it “Mar Pacifico,” which translates to “peaceful sea” in both Spanish and Portuguese.
The Pacific Ocean spans from the Western Coast of the United States to the coast of China.
The largest ocean basin on Earth covers an area of about 60 million sq. mi with an average depth of 13,000 ft. This amounts to 30% of our planet’s surface and holds almost twice the amount of water as the Atlantic Ocean. It borders a number of countries such as China, Russia, down to Australia, and the East Coast of the Americas.
The Pacific Ocean is home to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the largest collection of floating debris found on the eastern and western regions of the Pacific Ocean. One of the largest is the patch found between the coasts of Hawaii and California.
The Pacific Ocean is larger than the Earth's landmasses put together.
The largest water basin on Earth is almost 10% larger than all of the continents combined. Our planet’s land mass only equates to a total of about 58 million sq. mi.
Earth’s tallest mountain is actually located in the Pacific.
Mauna Kea is an inactive volcano in the Hawaiian region. Although the widely popular Mount Everest, which clocks in at 29,029 ft. from its base to its peak, is commonly referred to as the world’s highest landmark, it’s actually dwarfed in comparison to the Earth’s actual tallest mountain.
People think toilets flush in opposite directions in different hemispheres.
A common misconception of this phenomenon is that toilets in the Northern Hemisphere will flush in a clockwise motion, while it’s counter-clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere. Although the surface currents in the Pacific Ocean have a circular pattern, this is mostly cause by the winds deflected by the Coriolis effect. Water inside the toilet is too little to be affected by the such phenomenon, thus its location on the globe has nothing to do with how the water flushes, rather it depends on how the bowl is designed.
Humans only explored about 20 percent of the planet’s oceans.
Humans managed to explore only about 20 percent of the world’s oceans, with the Pacific holding the majority of its mystery. More than 80 percent of the vast bodies of water are still unexplored, unmapped, and unobserved. This is largely due to its size, plus the journey down is quite expensive and treacherous for most cases. The extreme condition in the depths greatly inhibits underwater explorations. We’ll have to wait and see how the advancement in technology would overcome this hurdle.
The world’s deepest trench, the Mariana Trench, is located in the Pacific Ocean.
The Mariana Trench is located 124 mi east of the Mariana Islands in the western region of the Pacific Ocean. Its maximum known depth measures roughly 36,000 ft., also known as the Challenger Deep. Along with the intense water pressure, pitch-black darkness and below 0°C temperature, life is nearly impossible to thrive down there.
The Challenger Deep, Earth's deepest point, got its name from the ship that first studied the region.
The deepest point known to man, the Challenger Deep, is located in the Western Pacific Ocean and named after the the British Royal Navy ship, HMS Challenger. It was among the first to study and record the depth of the depression during its 1872-1876 expedition.
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📷Sir Francis Drake getting his first sight of the Pacific Ocean, Panama, 1573 (litho) by English School, (20th century); Private Collection; (add.info.: Sir Francis Drake climbing a tree to get his first sight of the Pacific Ocean, Panama, 1573. Illustration from Little Treasure Island - Her Story and Her Glory, by Arthur Mee (Hodder & Stoughton Limited, London, c1920).); © Look and Learn/Bridgeman Images
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