New Bonus Podcast Out Now!

The moment Hernán Cortés and his men emerged from the jungle and saw Tenochtitlan—the Aztec capital rising from a lake in the middle of a mountain valley—is the kind of discovery that defines the imagination of the explorers on this podcast. That image, conjured by Forrest Galante in response to a listener question about which historical expedition he would want to join, sets the tone for a freewheeling conversation that roams across lost cities, animal encounters, and the ethics of exploration.

The Allure of the Great Discoveries

The core of the episode is a series of "Brosner Qs"—questions submitted by Patreon supporters—that ask the hosts which historical moments they would most want to witness. Galante picks Cortez's arrival in Mexico in 1519, not for the conquest but for the sheer spectacle of discovery: "Imagine coming through the fucking jungle in the mountains, and then all of a sudden boom, there's Tenochtitlan." He frames himself as a journalist documenting the encounter, acknowledging Cortez's brutality while still being drawn to the scale of the revelation.