Twenty historical journeys, routes and adventures followed through the maps that made them.
Twenty historical journeys, routes and adventures followed through the maps that made them.
The twenty intriguing journeys and routes featured in this book range from distances of a few miles to great adventures across land, sea, air and space. Some describe the route that a traveller followed, some are the results of exploration and others were made to show future travellers the way to go, accompanied by useful and sometimes very beautiful maps.
Sea charts bring to life the sixteenth-century adventures of Richard Hawkins sailing to South America, the surveys carried out by Captain James Cook and the historic sailing route followed by Naomi James, pioneering solo yachtswoman of the 1970s. An early strip atlas illustrates the road journeys of Daniel Defoe and America's iconic Route 66 is shown in an incredibly detailed mid-twentieth century map. Also featured are the stories of the Arctic explorations needed to enable a Great Circle route by air over Greenland, the archaeological expeditions of David Hogarth along the Euphrates and Aurel Stein on the Silk Road, pilgrims making their way across Europe, Thomas Cook's first package tour, the first flight from London to Manchester, and the surveys of the Moon that ultimately facilitated the first landing.
These inspirational accounts are drawn from diaries, letters, memoirs and travelogues: all illustrated with fascinating maps.
Unsurprisingly in a book with maps at its centre, the adventurers who feature in the book use virtually all forms of travel – over open land, road, river, sea, canal, air and space. What makes Debbie Hall’s book so fascinating is the background she gives on the various ‘adventures’ she presents to us...[she] has balanced the well-known and the unfamiliar in a skilful way.
-- John Leighfield Book Reviews
Debbie Hall is a senior library assistant in the Map Room at the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford.
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