The Encyclopedia of Exploration, 2 Vol Set

Description:

The Encyclopedia of Exploration provides easy access to a wide range of important and interesting information. Cross-references across the two volumes help readers connect explorers with places and technologies. Containing more than 950 biographical entries, this first volume also includes a set preface; 144 black-and-white photographs and illustrations, indexes categorizing explorers by most relevant occupation, region of activity, sponsoring country of nationality/native land, and by birth year, and a general index to the volume.

The quest  for knowledge, resources and fame, as well as a sense of duty and adventure, has driven intrepid explorers into the unknown since the time of the first people. Human beings are naturally curious, and their ability to imagine what lies beyond the horizon has led them to populate the globe, driven their technological advancements, and motivated them to discover new ways of surviving in even the most inhospitable environments. The Encyclopedia of Exploration is a two-volume reference to the history of human exploration over land, across and under seas, and into space. The thematic organization of the volumes allows readers to access biographical profiles of important explorers in one volume, while referring to the second volume for entries on topics such as geography and cartography, navigation and exploration, shipbuilding and exploration, the slave trade, Viking exploration, women explorers, and the fur trade.


Volume I:

The Explorers focuses on the human drama, the achievements, and the challenges that those who go where few or none have gone before must face. Entries include:

• Vitus Jonassen Bering: Danish mariner in Siberia and Alaska
• Cheng Ho: Chinese admiral in the Indian Ocean and East Africa
• Jacques-Yves Cousteau: French oceanographer
• Sir John Franklin: British naval officer in the Canadian Arctic
• Sir Vivian Ernest Fuchs: British geologist and explorers in Greenland, Africa and the Antarctic
• John Herschell Glenn, Jr.: American astronaut, first American to orbit Earth, and a politician
• Sir Edmund Percival Hillary: New Zealander mountain climber on Mount Everest in the Himalayas and explorer in the Antarctic
• David Livingstone: Scottish missionary in Africa
• Vasco Núñez de Balboa: Spanish conquistador and colonizer in Panama
• Abraham Ortelius: Flemish cartographer and geographer
• Annie Smith Peck: American mountain climber in the Alps and Andes Mountains
• Pytheas: Greek scholar and mariner in the British Isles and the North Sea
• Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova: Soviet cosmonaut and first woman in space and many more

Contents: 

List of entries in Volume I • List of entries in Volume II • Preface • A to Z entries • Appendix A: Explorers by most relevant occupation • Appendix B: Explorers by region of activity •  Appendix C: Explorers by sponsoring country or by nationality/native land • Appendix D: Explorers in chronological order by birth date • Index for volume I

Volume II:

Places, Technologies, and Cultural Trends focuses on the  technical, social, cultural, and geographical elements of world exploration. This volume's detailed, A-to-Z entries emphasize the many elements that have often determined the success or failure of a given mission.  Some entries include:

• circumnavigation of the world, migration and exploration, mountain climbing, and shipbuilding and exploration
• El Dorado, fool's gold, legends and exploration and Vinland
• astrolabe, compass, dead reckoning and navigation and exploration
• Carthaginian exploration, Chinese exploration, Greek exploration, Phoenician exploration, and Viking exploration
• International Date Line, maps and charts, Northeast Passage, and South Pole
• American Geographical Society, Dutch East India Company, Muscovy Company, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration
• exploration of Africa, Asia, Europe, South America, the Antarctic, the Arctic , and North America drift ice, land bridge, ocean currents, and pack ice
• Cape of Good Hope, Colorado River, Empty Quarter, Mount Everest, Gobi desert, Himalayas, and Hudson Bay
• and many more

Contents:

List of entries in Volume I • List of entries in Volume II • Preface • Acknowledgements • A to Z entries • Appendix: Maps • Regional • Ancient routes: The Mediterranean region, Europe and Asia • New water routes around the world • Asia • The Americas • The Pacific Ocean and Australia • Africa • The Arctic • The Antarctic • Chronology of exploration •  Further reading for the set • Entries by subject • Contributors • Cumulative index for the set

Target Audience:

People interested in the history of human exploration.