Pathfinders - A Global History of Exploration (2006)

**High adventure and grand history from a master of the craft in a beautifully illustrated volume.**With characteristic flair, Felipe Fernández-Armesto gives us an entertaining and insightful history of world exploration. Presenting the subject for the first time on a truly global scale, Fernández-Armesto tracks the pathfinders who, over the last five millennia, lay down the routes of contact that have drawn together the farthest reaches of the world. From the maritime expeditions connecting Queen Hatshepsut's Egypt to the exotic land of Punt in the second millennium BCE, through the merchants and missionaries of the ancient Silk Roads and the great Iberian explorers of the fifteenth century, to the nineteenth-century explorations of the polar regions, interior Africa, North America, and the South Pacific, Fernández-Armesto spins a grand narrative full of character and story. Deftly embedding these explorations in the cultures, politics, and technologies of their times, he creates a history with unusual depth and breadth. Here is an intellectual adventure as rewarding as it is thrilling. 16 pages of color; 48 maps; 44 illustrations. High adventure and grand history from a master of the craft in a beautifully illustrated volume. With characteristic flair, Felipe Fernández-Armesto gives us an entertaining and insightful history of world exploration. Presenting the subject for the first time on a truly global scale, Fernández-Armesto tracks the pathfinders who, over the last five millennia, lay down the routes of contact that have drawn together the farthest reaches of the world. From the maritime expeditions connecting Queen Hatshepsut's Egypt to the exotic land of Punt in the second millennium BCE, through the merchants and missionaries of the ancient Silk Roads and the great Iberian explorers of the fifteenth century, to the nineteenth-century explorations of the polar regions, interior Africa, North America, and the South Pacific, Fernández-Armesto spins a grand narrative full of character and story. Deftly embedding these explorations in the cultures, politics, and technologies of their times, he creates a history with unusual depth and breadth. Here is an intellectual adventure as rewarding as it is thrilling. 16 pages of color; 48 maps; 44 illustrations. Presenting the subject on a truly global scale, historian FernGandez-Armesto tracks the pathfinders who, over the last five millennia, laid down the routes of contact that have drawn together the farthest reaches of the world. From the maritime expeditions connecting Queen Hatshepsut's Egypt to the exotic land of Punt in the second millennium BCE, through the merchants and missionaries of the ancient Silk Roads and the great Iberian explorers of the fifteenth century, to the nineteenth-century explorations of the polar regions, interior Africa, North America, and the South Pacific, FernGandez-Armesto spins a narrative full of character and story. Embedding these explorations in the cultures, politics, and technologies of their times, he creates a historywith depth and breadth.--From publisher description.Traces the history of exploration from a global perspective, following explorers and their expeditions over the course of five millennia, from ancient Egypt to the discovery of the New World and the nineteenth-century expeditions to Africa and the Arctic. Presenting the subject on a truly global scale, historian Fernández-Armesto tracks the pathfinders who, over the last five millennia, laid down the routes of contact that have drawn together the farthest reaches of the world. From the maritime expeditions connecting Queen Hatshepsut's Egypt to the exotic land of Punt in the second millennium BCE, through the merchants and missionaries of the ancient Silk Roads and the great Iberian explorers of the fifteenth century, to the nineteenth-century explorations of the polar regions, interior Africa, North America, and the South Pacific, Fernández-Armesto spins a narrative full of character and story. Embedding these explorations in the cultures, politics, and technologies of their times, he creates a history with depth and breadth.--From publisher description Beginning with Homo erectus's migrations from East Africa to the rest of the continent and to Eurasia a million and a half years ago, the book examines how and why cultures spread throughout the world. Each section of the globe is examined, from the Tigris and Euphrates to the Pacific Islands, the Middle East and Africa. Along the way, technological and scientific leaps, such as sails, cartography and the cure for scurvy are explained. Fernández-Armesto also looks at the important role economics and politics have played in world exploration. Felipe Fernández-armesto. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [401]-417) And Index.