Explorers: great tales of adventure and endurance

360 Pages·2012·52.12 MB·english

by  Parker

S M I T H S O N I A N
f or e w or d by sir r a n u l p h f ie nne s
E XPL R ERS
great tales of adventure and endurance

EXPLORERS

E XPLOR ER S
great tales of adventure and endurance
r oya l g e o g r a phic a l s o c ie t y
CONTENTS
LONDON, NEW YORK, MUNICH,
MELBOURNE, AND DELHI
Project Editor Bob Bridle
Senior Art Editor Michael Duffy
Jacket Designer Duncan Turner
US Editor Margaret Parrish FOREWORD 6 TRADE AND
Production Editor Ben Marcus INTRODUCTION 8 DISCOVERY 48
Production Controller Sophie Argyris
THE EARLY INTRODUCTION 50
Managing Editor Stephanie Farrow
EXPLORERS 10
Managing Art Editor Lee Griffiths TALES OF ASIA 52
INTRODUCTION 12 william of rubruck 
Produced for DK by marco polo 
TALL TREE LTD. EXPANDING THE zheng he 
ANCIENT WORLD 14
Managing Editor David John
harkhuf  EXPLORING THE
Senior Editor Rob Colson
hanno the navigator  MUSLIM WORLD 66
Editors Richard Gilbert, Deirdre Headon
pytheas  ibn battuta 
Designers Ben Ruocco, Peter Laws,
alexander the great 
Jonathan Vipond A ROUTE AROUND AFRICA 74
experiencing life in the
Picture Researcher Louise Thomas desert regions  bartolomeu dias 
diogo cão 
TRADE AND DIPLOMACY 28 vasco da gama 
Written by Alasdair Macleod
zhang qian  charting the development of
Additional writing Philip Parker, Eugene Rae ibn fadlan  expedition navigation 

IN SEARCH OF NEW LAND 34 A NEW WORLD TO SOME 84
leif eriksson  christopher columbus 
viking longship  the santa maria 
sebastian cabot 
EXPLORING THE amerigo vespucci 
Smithsonian Project Coordinator BUDDHIST WORLD 42 pedro álvares cabral 
Ellen Nanney fa xian the monk  charting the development of
Smithsonian Consultant David Buisseret, xuanzang  expedition mapping 
Scholar-in-residence, Newberry Library, Chicago
First American Edition, 2010
This edition published in 2012
Published in the United States by
DK Publishing
375 Hudson Street
New York, New York 10014
12 13 14 15 16 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
RD174—April 2012
Copyright © 2010, 2012 Dorling Kindersley Limited
Text copyright © 2010, 2012 Royal Geographical Society,
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CONQUEST AND FILLING IN UNDERSTANDING OTHERS 226
COLONIZATION 100 THE GAPS 164 sven hedin 
marc aurel stein 
INTRODUCTION 102 INTRODUCTION 166
harry st. john philby 
THE CONQUISTADORS 104 MAPPING THE LAND 168 johann ludwig burckhardt 
hernán cortés  vitus bering  charting the development of
expedition clothing 
francisco pizarro 
experiencing life in the
charles montagu doughty 
ponce de león  steppe and tundra 
bertram thomas 
hernando de soto  lewis and clark 
vasco núñez de balboa  wilfred thesiger 
in their own words:
charting the development of lewis and clark  gertrude bell 
exploration and medicine  freya stark 
john frémont 
ferdinand von richthofen 
NORTHERN ALLIANCES 124 wagon train 
samuel de champlain  john mcdouall stuart 
jacques cartier  edward eyre  REACHING FOR
marquette and jolliet  burke and wills 
EXTREMES 260
rené-robert de la salle 
INTO AFRICA 192
SAILING AROUND INTRODUCTION 262
mungo park 
THE WORLD 136 experiencing life in the EXPLORING FOR SCIENCE 264
ferdinand magellan  rainforest and jungle 
alexander von humboldt 
experiencing life richard lander 
carsten niebuhr 
on board ship  heinrich barth 
alfred russel wallace 
francis drake 
burton and speke  charles darwin 
william dampier 
thomas baines  hiram bingham 
george anson 
mary kingsley  thor heyerdahl 
louis antoine de bougainville 
henry morton stanley 
charting the development of TO THE ENDS
expedition communication  OF THE EARTH 284
SPREADING THE FAITH 216
INTO THE PACIFIC 154 francis xavier  henry hudson 
james cook  david livingstone  willem barentsz 
adolf erik nordenskiöld 
abel tasman  in his own words:
john franklin 
la pérouse  david livingstone 
experiencing life in the
polar regions 
fridtjof nansen 
in his own words:
fridtjof nansen 
roald amundsen 
charles hall 
robert e. peary 
matthew henson 
robert scott 
scott’s hut 
ernest shackleton 
the endurance 
hillary and tenzing 
experiencing life at
high altitude 
EXPLORING THE DEEP 326
william beebe 
jacques cousteau 
experiencing life
under the water 
INTO THE SOLAR SYSTEM 336
yuri gagarin 
neil armstrong 
command module 
post-apollo exploration 
future science exploration 
INDEX 350
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 358
FOREWORD
O
ver thousands of years and Drawn for the most part from the rich
throughout the world, journeys historical collections of the Royal
into the unknown have been Geographical Society (with IBG), their stories
undertaken by explorers, scholars, travelers, are illustrated here through maps, journals,
merchants, diplomats, and others. Many have archive material, and other records covering
returned from their travels to document and a span of some 500 years—confirming the
record their experiences, from the personal passion, skills, and spirit required to achieve
diary of an explorer focused on the individual goals. The sharp realities of each
practicalities of survival and progress, to the journey and the punishing physical extremes
scientific documentation of the sample record, experienced by men and women in often
chart position, or satellite data reading. alien environments are so often shown to
Whatever the motivation behind each journey be exceeded by an explorer’s courage and
of exploration, these accounts reflect the ingenuity. The desire of these diverse figures
personal feats of human skill and endurance to describe, understand, and extend
that made them possible and the extraordinary geographical knowledge is common to all.
changes that have taken place, as a result, in From the starkness of conditions faced by
our understanding of the planet. such heroic figures as Scott and Shackleton
in Antarctica, to the skills of adaptation and America to the role of early Arabists such as
cultural immersion displayed by the likes Bertram Thomas, whose empathy for local
of Richard Francis Burton traveling in indigenous life and culture would do much to
19th-century Africa and Arabia, personal and improve European understanding of Bedouin
public stories are told here, accompanied by a life. The contribution of the many indigenous
wealth of visual material including unique porters, translators, guides, and diplomats
early photography by some of the earliest to the process of exploration is also of
practitioners of this art: Frank Hurley and key importance, for without their local
Herbert Ponting. geographical knowledge, often invested over
thousands of years, little could be achieved.
In addition to those names that are familiar to Exploration continues to evolve as the scientific
all, this book also provides an ideal opportunity skills that first enabled us to understand new
to understand the interconnection between landscapes and people are now employed in the
figures involved with exploration across investigation of the cause and process that bring
centuries and cultures, from Alexander von about changes in the environment: passion and
Humboldt’s key role in inspiring later determination will remain at the heart of
generations of scientific exploration in South future exploratory endeavor.
SIR RANULPH FIENNES
May 2010
INTRODUCTION
I
n my lifetime, the world seems to have breed of men and women to do the hard
become smaller. Distant lands have been made traveling for them. We called them explorers,
accessible. Thanks to modern transportation, and I wanted to be one.
satellite, and computer, the mysterious has become
the mainstream and the exotic has become the As an island nation, exploration is very much
everyday. Not that I’m complaining. I’ve done part of British history and tradition. From the
my fair share of bringing the world closer to late 15th century onward, the British, along
home, and as President of the Royal Geographical with the Dutch and the Portuguese, were one
Society (with IBG), I’m delighted that more of the more restless nations, always looking to
people than ever are interested in discovering extend their knowledge of the world and the
for themselves the remarkable beauty and diversity potential of new routes and new markets.
of our planet. Later, in the 18th and 19th centuries, science
and religion became an added motive for
What we should not forget is how quickly people to set aside the comforts of home for
this new technology has changed things, the trials and tribulations of difficult and often
and how recently these new opportunities dangerous lands.
have become available. In my childhood,
traveling outside Britain was the privilege Though it might seem hard to comprehend in
of a very few and someone as fascinated by our safety-conscious times, death, disease, and
the world as I was had to rely on a certain constant hardship did nothing to dampen the