Table of Contents
Introduction 8
Ancient World 13
Out of Africa 16
Into a New World 20
Early Pacific Voyagers 24
Egyptian Explorers 28
Herodotus 33
Xenophon 37
Alexander the Great 41
Pytheas the Greek 47
Hannibal 50
St Paul 55
The Emperor Hadrian 59
Medieval World 63
Early Chinese Travellers on the Silk Road 65
Early Voyagers to America 68
Christian Pilgrimages 71
Muslim Pilgrimages 76
Genghis Khan 80
Marco Polo 85
Ibn Battuta 89
Zheng He, the Grand Eunuch 93
The Renaissance 97
Christopher Columbus 100
Vasco da Gama 105
Ludovico di Varthema 110
Ferdinand Magellan 114
Hernán Cortés 120
Francisco Pizarro 125
Francisco de Orehana 130
Early Explorers of North America 135
Francis Drake 140
Samuel de Champlain 145
Early Searchers for the Northwest Passage 149
17th & 18th Centuries 154
Abel Tasman 156
Maria Sibylla Merian 160
Ippolito Desideri 163
Vitus Bering 166
James Bruce 169
James Cook 173
Jean-François de Lapérouse 179
Alexander Mackenzie 185
Mungo Park 188
19th Century 192
Alexander von Humboldt 195
Lewis and Clark 201
Jean Louis Burckhardt 206
Charles Darwin and the Beagle 211
The Trail of Tears 216
Journeys into the Mexican Jungle 220
Later Searchers for the Northwest Passage 225
Heinrich Barth and the Central African Mission 230
Search for the Source of the Nile 236
Crossing Australia 241
Into the Heart of Africa 247
The Mekong River Expedition 253
Travels in Arabia Deserta 257
The Northeast Passage 261
The Pundits Explore Tibet 266
Exploring Central and East Asia 271
Modern Times 277
Journeys Across Asia 280
To the North Pole 285
Race to the South Pole 291
Shackleton and the Endurance 297
Women Travellers in Asia 303
First to Fly the Atlantic Solo 309
Women Pioneers of Flight 314
The Long March 319
Thor Heyerdahl and the Kon-Tiki 322
Scaling Everest 326
Single-Handed Around the World 332
To the Moon and Back 336
Voyages to the Bottom of the Ocean 341
Round the World by Balloon 346
Mars, Jupiter and Beyond 349
Contributors 354
Further Reading 362
Sources of Illustrations 374
Index 375
