Other editions of book Pathfinders: A Global History of Exploration

"A brilliant and readable book...a rich study of humankind's restless spirit." ―Candice Millard, New York Times Book ReviewGreeted with coast-to-coast acclaim on publication, Fernández-Armesto's ambitious history of world exploration sets a new standard. Presenting the subject for the first time on a truly global scale, Fernández-Armesto tracks the pathfinders who, over the past five millennia, lay down the routes of contact that have drawn together the farthest reaches of the world.The Wall Street Journal calls it "impressive...a huge story [told] with gusto and panache." To the Washington Post, "Pathfinders is propelled by an Argonaut of an author, indefatigable and daring. It's a wild ride." And in a front-page review, the Seattle Times hails its "tart and elegant presentation...full of surprises. Fernández-Armesto's lively mind, pithy phrasing, and stunningly thorough and diverse knowledge are a constant pleasure."A plenitude of illustrations and maps in color and black and white augment this rich history. In Pathfinders we have a definitive treatment of a grand subject.

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.

"A brilliant and readable book...a rich study of humankind's restless spirit." —Candice Millard, New York Times Book ReviewGreeted with coast-to-coast acclaim on publication, Fernández-Armesto's ambitious history of world exploration sets a new standard. Presenting the subject for the first time on a truly global scale, Fernández-Armesto tracks the pathfinders who, over the past five millennia, lay down the routes of contact that have drawn together the farthest reaches of the world.The Wall Street Journal calls it "impressive...a huge story [told] with gusto and panache." To the Washington Post, "Pathfinders is propelled by an Argonaut of an author, indefatigable and daring. It's a wild ride." And in a front-page review, the Seattle Times hails its "tart and elegant presentation...full of surprises. Fernández-Armesto's lively mind, pithy phrasing, and stunningly thorough and diverse knowledge are a constant pleasure."A plenitude of illustrations and maps in color and black and white augment this rich history. In Pathfinders we have a definitive treatment of a grand subject.

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, laid the routes of contact that have drawn together the farthest reaches of the world. A stirring story of individual adventure and achievement, Pathfinders is also a multi-dimensioned history that presents exploration as rooted in particular societies and cultures at specific times. On the pivotal fifteenth century, for example, Fernández-Armesto gives us enthralling accounts of the massive seagoing expeditions led by China's eunuch admiral Zheng He and the pioneering Atlantic crossings led by a Genoese weaver's son, Christopher Columbus. But he enlarges the story to explore why Ming China, the country most capable of a vast maritime empire, decided to close down its oceanic explorations in 1433, and why later in the century a largely remote and poor region of Europe, the Iberian peninsula, launched a series of oceanic voyages that would remake world history and create for Spain the greatest empire of the pre-industrial world. Fernández-Armesto's grand history shows great range as well as depth. From the maritime expeditions of Queen Hatshepsut's Egypt four thousand years ago, through the caravans of merchants and missionaries along the ancient Silk Roads connecting China and the West, to the nineteenth-century explorations of the polar regions, interior Africa, North America, and the South Pacific, his account is comprehensive. He is fascinating on the intricacies of wind and current in the monsoonal Indian Ocean and the fixed-system Atlantic and Pacific. He pauses to give us wonderful small histories of navigational technology, cartography, and travel literature. There are brilliant portraits of Columbus, Cabot, and Da Gama, of Cook, Burton, Livingstone, and Stanley, of Shackleton, Peary, and Scott. And throughout there is the signature wit and verve of Fernández-Armesto. More than fifty illustrations and sixty-five maps in color and black and white augment this rich history. In Pathfinders we have a definitive treatment of a grand subject.

Explorers forged the infrastructure of global history, first by finding the routes of migration that sundered human cultures, then - after millennia of divergence - by finding the routes that linked them up again. Pathfinders tells the epic story of how the route-finders did it: who they were, where they came from, where they went, how they coped with the unknown, how they developed the techniques and technologies they needed, how they paid for it, how they suffered for it, and - perhaps most curious of all - why they bothered. From the earliest migratory wanderings that scattered human societies across the planet to the great voyages of discovery that started linking them up again, and finally to the conquering of the final geographical frontiers in the twentieth century, Fernandez-Armesto reveals the real flesh-and-blood, the vainglory and fantasy that motivated the pathfinders of the world.

Explorers forged the infrastructure of global history, first by finding the routes of migration that sundered human cultures, then - after millennia of divergence - by finding the routes that linked them up again.Pathfinders tells the epic story of how the route-finders did it: who they were, where they came from, where they went, how they coped with the unknown, how they developed the techniques and technologies they needed, how they paid for it, how they suffered for it, and - perhaps most curious of all- why they bothered.From the earliest migratory wanderings that scattered human societies across the planet to the great voyages of discovery that started linking them up again, and finally to the conquering of the final geographical frontiers in the twentieth century, Fernandez-Armesto reveals the realflesh-and-blood, the vainglory and fantasy that motivated the pathfinders of the world.