The Seventy Great Journeys in History - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0500251290 ISBN 13: 9780500251294

Publisher: Thames & Hudson, 2006

Synopsis

The adventurous stories of the greatest explorers in history, illustrated with hundreds of evocative portraits, photographs, paintings, and maps.

Marco Polo, Ferdinand Magellan, David Livingstone, Amelia Earhart, Neil Armstrong: these are some of the greatest travelers of all time. This book chronicles their stories and many more, describing epic voyages of discovery and exploration, from the extraordinary migrations out of Africa by our earliest ancestors to the latest voyages into space.

In antiquity, we follow Alexander the Great to the Indus and Hannibal across the Alps; in medieval times we trek beside Genghis Khan and Ibn Battuta. The Renaissance brought Columbus to the Americas and the circumnavigation of the world. The following centuries saw gaps in the global maps filled by Tasman, Bering, and Cook, and journeys made for scientific purposes, most famously by von Humboldt and Darwin. In modern times, the last inhospitable ends of the earth were reached—including both poles and the world's highest mountain—and new elements were conquered.

Here are human stories of great triumph and success, but also of terrible hardships, tragedy, and astonishing courage in adversity. An incredible team of contributors—from distinguished historians and writers to travelers and explorers—bring firsthand experience to the journeys and places they describe.

The contributors include Robert Ballard, Barry Cunliffe, Ranulph Fiennes, Pen Hadow, John Hemming, Robin Knox-Johnston, Christopher Ondaatje, and Simon Winchester. 398 illustrations, 320 in color.

About this title

About the Author:

Robin Hanbury-Tenison is a well-known explorer, author, and conservationist. He made the first land crossing of South America at its widest point, and the first river crossing of South America from north to south from the Orinoco to Buenos Aires.

From Publishers Weekly:

Proceeding chronologically from ancient Africa to space age pioneering, this illustrated volume contains tales of exploration selected by author and conservationist Hanbury-Tenison (The Oxford Book of Exploration) for their "epic quality" and "impact through the ages." In entries no more than five pages long, readers travel along such well-known routes as St. Paul's trek from Jerusalem to Rome, Marco Polo's 5,600 mile journey across Asia, the voyages of Columbus, Magellan's ill-fated global circumnavigation, Lewis and Clark's exploration of the American West, Charles Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic and the first manned mission to the moon. Along the way, there's a tale of 52-year-old scientist Maria Sibylla Merian facing the considerable dangers of Surinam; the meeting of Stanley and Livingstone in the heart of Africa; and the undersea exploration of improbably life-sustaining lava seams. Included among the triumphs are tragic journeys such as the 1838 Trail of Tears, and the legions of sea captains who fought unsuccessfully to find the Northwest Passage. Each overview is accompanied by plenty of full-color photos, illustrations and maps, and occasionally bolstered by telling quotes, including this from balloonist Bertrand Piccard in 1999: "The way the public sees it is this. If we ... don't succeed in our mission we are incompetent. But if we do succeed it's because anyone could have done it." This well-packaged drama will provide students and armchair historians ample opportunity to correct those assumptions. 420 illustrations, 331 in color.
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About this edition

• Publisher: Thames & Hudson
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0500251290
• ISBN 13: 9780500251294
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 304
• Editor: Hanbury-Tenison Robin