Books > Biography > Science, technology & engineering
|
Buy Now
Exploring the World - Two centuries of remarkable adventurers and their journeys (Paperback)
Loot Price: R423
Discovery Miles 4 230
You Save: R93
(18%)
|
|
Exploring the World - Two centuries of remarkable adventurers and their journeys (Paperback)
(sign in to rate)
List price R516
Loot Price R423
Discovery Miles 4 230
You Save R93 (18%)
Expected to ship within 9 - 15 working days
|
Donate to Against Period Poverty
Total price: R443
Discovery Miles: 4 430
|
For nearly two hundred years the Society has been awarding gold
medals to those individuals who have contributed most to our
geographical knowledge. Winners of the Founder's and Patron's
medals now number around three hundred individuals, and the
roll-call of names is a veritable Who's Who of exploration. Telling
their stories, of the many and varied ways in which they have
helped 'fill in the maps', is nothing less than a history of
exploration itself. The book begins with the Quest for the Niger,
and the surprising fact that when Burton began his journey the maps
he used 'had scarcely advanced beyond those drawn by Ptolemy, Pliny
and Herodotus'. The quest to discover and map Africa has several
sections. This first is profiles of the early African explorers.
Among them is Heinrich Barth, who survived a crossing of the Sahara
(his companions did not), and is thought to be the greatest of the
African explorers. Other sections are The Lake Regions and the
Source of the Nile; Travel and Adventure in East and South-East
Africa; and Desert and Forest. Each section describes 19th- and
20th-century expeditions. In Part Two we meet the tough and
resolute Fathers of Australian Exploration: Edward John Eyre, and
Charles Sturt. In Part Three, titled North America and the Arctic,
Maitland turns to the enduring quest to find the North-West Passage
and to find the explorers who became lost, shipwrecked and marooned
in the course of their expeditions. Part Four is devoted to the
exploration of South America., and it gives tribute to the work of
the geographer, explorer and naturalist Alexander von Humboldt and
his friend Bonpland, who mapped Central and South America in the
early 19th century. Part Five describes the exploration of the
enormous area of Asia, Arabia and the Middle East that since the
1830s has produced more RGS medallists than any other, except the
Arctic and Antarctic. Part Six is devoted to Europe; Seven to
Antarctica; and VIII to the Oceans. This section contains the
stories of Captain Cook and the early navigators; the voyage of
Thor Heyerdahl and the balsa-wood Kon-tiki from Peru to Raroia in
French Polynesia; the underwater exploration of Jacques Cousteau,
and the ocean adventurers who have made long journeys across and
through the seas, on the clipper routes and around the shores of
the islands off the coast of Chile. It concludes with an
appreciation of the work of the chief scientist of the US National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Sylvia Alice Earle.
Discovering the World marvels at the indomitable courage,
determination and perceptive insights of an exceptional group of
men and women; and aims to investigate and re-tell - or, in some
instances, tell for the first time - their extraordinary stories.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
|
You might also like..
|
Email address subscribed successfully.
A activation email has been sent to you.
Please click the link in that email to activate your subscription.