The Seventy Great Journeys in History

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.