William Dampier Mixed Piracy Science

English explorer, pirate, and naturalist William Dampier studied plants, animals, winds, and ocean currents while sailing through the Pacific and beyond. He became the first person known to circumnavigate the world three times, and he reached parts of Australia long before Captain James Cook’s later voyages. His observations influenced later science and exploration, including Charles Darwin’s thinking, while his writings also made him one of the first Europeans to record smoking marijuana.

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