Why exploration flourished, how maps were made up and all the wonderful tastes, sights and smells that went global thanks to explorers. Plus, how lemons really could save your life.

Our rich maritime tradition has had a dramatic impact on our lives today. This series charts the wide-ranging impact of five astonishing voyages. Explorer and engineer Paul Rose recreates legendary seafaring adventures to investigate how their discoveries have directly influenced all aspects of our modern world - from commerce and manufacturing to medicine, from biology to geology and astronomy.

Having fulfilled his Admiralty brief Captain James Cook opted to tale the long way back to Britain so he could chart the East Coast of Australia and explore the mysterious land. The Aboriginal people showed more caution than their Polynesian counterparts upon the Endeavour's arrival seemingly indifferent to the strangers and wishing them gone. This understandable reticence was misinterpreted and later led to the myth of Terra Nullius Sam travels from Botany Bay up the east coast to Cooktown, learning about a country that far from being nobodies' land was comprehensively inhabited by a well-established culture.

In 1405, the Ming dynasty Emperor Zhu Di had a gigantic fleet of ships built and sent them out under the command of Admiral Zheng He into the unknown world beyond the China Sea. What was the goal of these journeys? What were the sailors duties? How big were the ships and how did they steer these massive juggernauts? Ultimately, what was the Armada's objective?

The very British Tim Mackintosh-Smith, an Oxford University classicist who has called the Middle East his home for 25 years, takes us on a unique 75,000 mile journey through 40 countries in the 700-year-old footsteps of medieval explorer Ibn Battutah. This is the story of one of the greatest journeys of all time. In 1325, shortly after the end of the Crusades, a young Moroccan Muslim called Ibn Battutah set out on a pilgrimage to Mecca. It was to become an odyssey from one end of the known world to the other. In all, he travelled 75,000 miles - more than three times the distance Marco Polo covered.