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Books > Earth & environment > Geography > Geographical discovery & exploration
'The Broadway Travellers contains few more exciting stories than
that of Staden.' Sunday Times
'The present translation of his adventures among the Brazilian
cannibals, with which the gruesome original woodcuts are included,
now make Staden's story available to a larger public...'New
Statesman
The first part of the book is a straightforward account of the
author's personal experiences. The second part is a detailed
treatise on the customs of the Tupinamba, their polity, trade,
religion, manufactures and warlike undertakings, and of the flora
and fauna of the country. In-depth information is given on rites
and ceremonies (those on cannibalism are not for the faint-hearted
reader), government and laws and religious observances.
Facsimiles of woodcuts.
This collection of essays assesses the interrelationship between
exploration, empire-building and science in the opening up of the
Pacific Ocean by Europeans between the early 16th and mid-19th
century. It explores both the role of various sciences in enabling
European imperial projects in the region, and how the exploration
of the Pacific in turn shaped emergent scientific disciplines and
their claims to authority within Europe. Drawing on a range of
disciplines (from the history of science to geography, imperial
history to literary criticism), this volume examines the place of
science in cross-cultural encounters, the history of cartography in
Oceania, shifting understandings of race and cultural difference in
the Pacific, and the place of ships, books and instruments in the
culture of science. It reveals the exchanges and networks that
connected British, French, Spanish and Russian scientific
traditions, even in the midst of imperial competition, and the ways
in which findings in diverse fields, from cartography to zoology,
botany to anthropology, were disseminated and crafted into an
increasingly coherent image of the Pacific, its resources, peoples,
and histories. This is a significant body of scholarship that
offers many important insights for anthropologists and geographers,
as well as for historians of science and European imperialism.
If Horatio Alger had imagined a female heroine in the same mold as
one of the young male heroes in his rags-to-riches stories, she
would have looked like Belinda Mulrooney. Smart, ambitious,
competitive, and courageous, Belinda Mulrooney was destined through
her legendary pioneering in the wilds of the Yukon basin to found
towns and many businesses. She built two fortunes, supported her
family, was an ally to other working women, and triumphed in what
was considered a man's world.
In "Staking Her Claim," Melanie Mayer and Robert N. DeArmond
provide a faithful and comprehensive portrait of this unique
character in North American frontier history. Their exhaustive
research has resulted in a sweeping saga of determination and will,
tempered by disaster and opportunity.
Like any good Horatio Alger hero, Belinda overcame the challenges
that confronted her, including poverty, prejudice, a lack of
schooling, and the early loss of parents. Her travels took her from
her native Ireland as a young girl to a coal town in Pennsylvania
to Chicago, San Francisco, and finally, in 1897, to the Yukon.
"Staking Her Claim" is a testament to the human spirit and to the
idea of the frontier. It is a biography of a woman who made her own
way in the world and in doing so left an indelible mark.
The journal of the Lander brothers provides a narrative of one of
the most important missions of exploration in the history of West
Africa. The editor's introduction contains much new material on the
Landers and their journey drawn from hitherto unpublished sources,
while an epilogue describes Richard Lander's last expedition to the
Niger in 1832-4 and his death at Fernando Po. Originally published
in 1965.
Richard Burton's life offers dazzling riches. He was one of the
greatest Victorian explorers, an innovative translator and
brilliant linguist, a prolific travel writer, a pioneer in the
fields of anthropology and sexual psychology, a mesmeric lover, a
spy and a publisher of erotica. Fawn Brodie has created a vivid
portrait of this remarkable man, who emerges from the richly
textured fabric of his time. His travels to Mecca and Medina
dressed as a Muslim pilgrim, his witnessing of the human sacrifices
at Dahomey and his unlikely but loving partnership with his pious
Catholic bride are all treated with warmth, scholarship and
understanding.
Series Information: Lancaster Pamphlets
The fascinating untold story of Finnish scientist and explorer Pehr
Kalm, who in 1750, became the first scientist to visit and study
Niagara Falls. Sent by the famous Swedish natural historian Carl
Linnaeus to research the New World, Kalm’s task was to collect
samples and write descriptions for Linnaeus. His exciting
expedition lasted three and a half years, and its impact on the
natural sciences was groundbreaking. Kalm described all that he
saw: the landscape and geography, colonists’ settlements and
customs, Indians and slaves, and of course, many plants and
animals. His scientific report on Niagara Falls was the first, and
it was published by Benjamin Franklin. Two states have named their
state flowers after him, and the Virginia creeper, which he brought
back from his travels, now grows all over Finland.The book’s
brilliant illustrations offer an accurate and engaging picture of
Kalm’s journey, and the text is enriched by passages from
Kalm’s own travel journal. From Finland to Niagara Falls is an
illustrated history book for the young and the curious of all ages.
This biographical dictionary provides sketches of seventy- seven
individuals--explorers, writers, and scholars--from Aristotle to
David W. Harvey, who made significant contributions to the
development of the discipline of geography. The work examines a
cross section of geographers from a variety of subfields within the
discipline, from ancient to modern.
Each entry examines the career and impact of the individual and
then provides selected bibliographies of works by and about the
person. The work contains internal cross-referencing, and the
entire volume concludes with appendices listing the individuals
chronologically as well as by country of birth. It has a general
subject index and essential reference material for the general
public and students looking for information on key figures and a
background to the discipline.
In 1906, from the ice fields northwest of Greenland, Commander
Robert E. Peary spotted an unknown land in the distance. He called
it "Crocker Land". Scientists and explorers agreed that Peary had
found a new continent. Several years later, two of his disciples,
George Borup and Donald MacMillan-with the sponsorship of the
American Museum of Natural History-assembled a team to investigate.
They pitched their two-year mission as a scientific tour de force
to fill in the last blank space on the globe. But the Crocker Land
Expedition became a five-year ordeal that endured a fatal boating
accident, a drunken captain, a shipwreck, marooned rescue parties,
disease, dissension and a crewman-turned-murderer. Based on a trove
of unpublished letters, diaries and field notes, A Wretched and
Precarious Situation is a harrowing adventure.
The definitive history of the Vikings -- from arts and culture to
politics and cosmology -- by a distinguished archaeologist with
decades of expertise The Viking Age -- from 750 to 1050 -- saw an
unprecedented expansion of the Scandinavian peoples into the wider
world. As traders and raiders, explorers and colonists, they ranged
from eastern North America to the Asian steppe. But for centuries,
the Vikings have been seen through the eyes of others, distorted to
suit the tastes of medieval clerics and Elizabethan playwrights,
Victorian imperialists, Nazis, and more. None of these
appropriations capture the real Vikings, or the richness and
sophistication of their culture. Based on the latest archaeological
and textual evidence, Children of Ash and Elm tells the story of
the Vikings on their own terms: their politics, their cosmology and
religion, their material world. Known today for a stereotype of
maritime violence, the Vikings exported new ideas, technologies,
beliefs, and practices to the lands they discovered and the peoples
they encountered, and in the process were themselves changed. From
Eirik Bloodaxe, who fought his way to a kingdom, to Gudrid
Thorbjarnardottir, the most traveled woman in the world, Children
of Ash and Elm is the definitive history of the Vikings and their
time.
Series Information: The History of Civilization
Rural settlements underlie today's cities and still hold over half
the world's population. This text excavates the changing forms and
functions of these settlements, exploring their origins,
development and their future. Settlement is the physical reflection
of the social organization of space. Starting with the human
dwelling, settlement aggregates into farmsteads, hamlets, villages,
towns and cities. Patterns of development can be traced, contours
by which a history of a land and its people can be
read.;Illustrated with photographs, maps and figures, the book
firstly presents detailed case studies of specific sites in both
the developed and developing worlds in order to distill the
underlying processes behind rural settlement systems, and then
builds on this to analyze settlement patterns on the continental
and global scales.
Today's cities grew from the rural settlements still home to over
half of the world's population. Excavating the changing forms and
functions of these settlements, "Landscapes of Settlement" explores
their origins, their social and economic development, and their
prospects for the future.
Settlement is the physical reflection of the social organization of
space. Starting with the human dwelling, settlements aggregate into
farmsteads, hamlets, villages, towns, and cities. Emphasizing their
impact on present day society, "Landscapes of" "Settlement" traces
the course of rural development, deciphering from these contours
the history of the land and its people. Out of detailed case
studies in both the developed and developing worlds this book
distills the underlying processes behind rural settlement systems,
and then builds upon this to analyze settlement patterns on the
continental and global scales.
Having always been fascinated by these singular landscapes, Sergio
Rossi reconstructs some of the episodes that have marked the
exploration of these territories, such as the dramatic race between
Amundsen and Scott to conquer the South Pole, and Captain
Shackleton's odyssey to save his crew from certain death. But also
modern trips including his own to these remote areas, explaining
many aspects of the current science and political competition that
is underway. The book leads us on an entertaining overview of all
the problems and opportunities that the planet's most forgotten
continent offers to humans. A remote mass of ice upon which our
future as a species depends and which we cannot continue to ignore
any longer.
The Space Shuttle tells the story of NASA's amazing Space Shuttle
program and its 140 space flights (135 missions, plus five Approach
and Landing Tests) in a uniquely designed and covetable way. The
Space Shuttle program's first free flight test was taken on August
12, 1977. Its first official mission was launched on April 12,
1981. Its final mission and flight was taken on July 8, 2011. The
program's six orbiter vehicles are Enterprise, Columbia,
Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour. Each mission has
its own fascinating story, and The Space Shuttle retells these
stories, in chronological order, through incredible photos taken by
NASA photojournalists, fine art photographers, and the astronauts
themselves. Each image is accompanied by a short text that includes
quick facts such as crew members, launch date, and landing date, as
well as a short overview of highlights and purpose. For example,
STS-78's mission was to study circadian rhythms in space; STS-41G's
mission was to take photographs in-flight, seen in the IMAX movie
The Dream Is Alive; and famously, the first untethered space walk,
taken by astronaut Bruce McCandless on STS-41B using a
self-propelled backpack unit (called a Man Maneuvering Unit [MMU]),
allowed astronauts to capture satellites for retrieval and repair
and for the planned construction of what became the International
Space Station (ISS). Prior to this mission, astronauts were
attached to the shuttle with safety lines. The photo of McCandless
floating above Earth's surface is one of the most celebrated and
famous space photographs ever. These are just a few of the 140
stories Miller tells in this beautiful volume.
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