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"Explorers Great Britain History."
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Captain Cook : master of the seas
In 'Captain Cook', McLynn recreates the voyages that took the famous navigator from his native England to the outer reaches of the Pacific Ocean.
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The Last Blank Spaces
The challenge of opening Africa and Australia to British imperial influence fell to a coterie of proto-professional explorers who sought knowledge, adventure, and fame but often experienced confusion, fear, and failure. The Last Blank Spaces follows the arc of these explorations, from idea to practice, intention to outcome, myth to reality.
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Matthew Flinders, maritime explorer of Australia
\"This book provides a thoroughly researched biography of the naval career of Matthew Flinders, with particular emphasis on his importance for the maritime discovery of Australia. Sailing in the wake of the 18th-century voyages of exploration by Captain Cook and others, Flinders was the first naval commander to circumnavigate Australia's coastline. He contributed more to the mapping and naming of places in Australia than virtually any other single person. His voyage to Australia on H.M.S. Investigator expanded the scope of imperial, geographical and scientific knowledge. This biography places Flinders's career within the context of Pacific exploration and the early white settlement of Australia. Flinders's connections with other explorers, his use of patronage, the dissemination of his findings, and his posthumous reputation are also discussed in what is an important new scholarly work in the field\"-- Provided by publisher.
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The ambitions of Jane Franklin
A genius at publicity before the term existed, Jane Franklin was a celebrity in the mid-19th century-her remarkable life included extensive travels, years as a governor's wife, and a public battle to save her husband from accusations of cannibalismIn a period when most ladies sat at home with their embroidery, Jane Franklin achieved fame throughout the western world, and was probably the best traveled woman of her day. This biography traces her life from her birth in late 18th-century London, to her marriage at the age of 36, to her many trips to far-flung locations, including Russia, the Holy Land, northern Africa, America, and Australia. Once Jane Franklin married Sir John Franklin, her original ambition to live life to the full was joined by an equally ardent desire to make her kind and mild husband a success. Arriving in Tasmania in 1837 when Sir John became governor, she swept like a whirlwind through the colony: attempting to rid the island of snakes; establishing a scientific society and the Hobart regatta; adopting an Aboriginal girl, and sending a kangaroo to Queen Victoria. She became the first white woman to travel overland from Melbourne to Sydney. When her husband disappeared in the Arctic on an expedition to discover the Northwest Passage, she badgered the Admiralty, the public, and even the President of the United States to fund trips to locate him, and then defended his reputation when remains of the expedition were located, and there were claims of cannibalism. Single-handedly she turned him from a failure into one of England's noblest heroes. She continued traveling well into her 70s and died at 84, refusing to take her medicine to the last.
eBook
Heroes of empire
During the decades of empire (1870–1914), legendary heroes and their astonishing deeds of conquest gave imperialism a recognizable human face. Henry Morton Stanley, Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, Charles Gordon, Jean-Baptiste Marchand, and Hubert Lyautey all braved almost unimaginable dangers among “savage” people for their nation’s greater good. This vastly readable book, the first comparative history of colonial heroes in Britain and France, shows via unforgettable portraits the shift from public veneration of the peaceful conqueror to unbridled passion for the vanquishing hero. Edward Berenson argues that these five men transformed the imperial steeplechase of those years into a powerful “heroic moment.” He breaks new ground by linking the era’s “new imperialism” to its “new journalism”—the penny press—which furnished the public with larger-than-life figures who then embodied each nation’s imperial hopes and anxieties.
eBook
Walter Ralegh : architect of empire
\"Sir Walter Ralegh was a favorite of Queen Elizabeth. She showered him with estates and political appointments. He envisioned her becoming empress of a universal empire. She gave him the opportunity to lead the way. In Walter Ralegh, Alan Gallay shows that, while Ralegh may be best known for founding the failed Roanoke colony, his historical importance vastly exceeds that enterprise. Inspired by the mystical religious philosophy of hermeticism, Ralegh led English attempts to colonize in North America, South America, and Ireland. He believed that the answer to English fears of national decline resided overseas -- and that colonialism could be achieved without conquest. Gallay reveals how Ralegh launched the English Empire and an era of colonization that shaped Western history for centuries after his death\"-- Provided by publisher.
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May We Be Spared to Meet on Earth
May We Be Spared to Meet on Earth is a privileged
glimpse into the private correspondence of the officers and sailors
who set out in May 1845 on the Erebus and Terror
for Sir John Franklin's fateful expedition to the Arctic. The
letters of the crew and their correspondents begin with the
journey's inception and early planning, going on to recount the
ships' departure from the river Thames, their progress up the
eastern coast of Great Britain to Stromness in Orkney, and the
crew's exploits as far as the Whalefish Islands off the western
coast of Greenland, from where the ships forever departed the
society that sent them forth. As the realization dawned that
something was amiss, heartfelt letters to the missing were sent
with search expeditions; those letters, returned unread, tell
poignant stories of hope. Assembled completely and conclusively
from extensive archival research, including in far-flung family and
private collections, the correspondence allows the reader to peer
over the shoulders of these men, to experience their excitement and
anticipation, their foolhardiness, and their fears. The Franklin
expedition continues to excite enthusiasts and scholars worldwide.
May We Be Spared to Meet on Earth provides new insights
into the personalities of those on board, the significance of the
voyage as they saw it, and the dawning awareness of the possibility
that they would never return to British shores or their
families.
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Explorers of the Nile
A \"highly enjoyable\" account of six men, and one woman, who journeyed into uncharted and treacherous African terrain to find the source of the White Nile ( The Washington Post).
Nothing obsessed explorers of the mid-nineteenth century more than the quest to discover the source of the White Nile. It was the planet's most elusive secret, the prize coveted above all others. Between 1856 and 1876, six larger-than-life men and one extraordinary woman accepted the challenge.
Showing extreme courage and resilience, Richard Burton, John Hanning Speke, James Augustus Grant, Samuel Baker, Florence von Sass, David Livingstone, and Henry Morton Stanley risked their lives and reputations in the fierce competition. National Book Critics Circle Award-winning author Tim Jeal deploys fascinating new research to provide a vivid tableau of the unmapped \"Dark Continent,\" its jungle deprivations, and the courage—as well as malicious tactics—of the explorers.
On multiple forays launched into east and central Africa, the travelers passed through almost impenetrable terrain and suffered the ravages of flesh-eating ulcers, paralysis, malaria, deep spear wounds, and even death. They discovered Lakes Tanganyika and Victoria and became the first white people to encounter the kingdoms of Buganda and Bunyoro. Jeal weaves the story with authentic new detail—and examines the tragic unintended legacy of the Nile search that still casts a long shadow over the people of Uganda and Sudan.
\"A fabulous story…old-fashioned epic adventure.\"— The Sunday Times
\"Superb narrative…a must-read for anyone hoping to understand the internal dynamics of modern state-building in central Africa.\"— Booklist
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