Expedition History

Se cumplen cinco siglos de la Conquista de México, y a lo largo de este tiempo Hernán Cortés ha desempeñado un claro papel en el imaginario colectivo de la nación: el de villano. Sin embargo, para Christian Duverger esta apreciación no podría ser más injusta.

In Cities of Gold: Legendary Kingdoms, Quixotic Quests, and Fantastic New World Wealth, Bill Yenne takes the listener from the rainforests and mountains of Peru, Paraguay, Brazil, and Guiana to the deserts and peaks of Mexico and the United States to tell the extraordinary, and often brutal story of how the search for mysterious New World riches fueled the exploration of an unknown hemisphere for hundreds of years.

While Moby Dick remains a staple among students, Melville was actually inspired by a true story: the shipwreck of the whaleship Essex in 1820. While it was always dangerous to work on a whaleship, the Essex was the first known American ship to be badly damaged by a massive sperm whale's attack, and though whales would sink other ships in the ensuing decades, the entire ordeal encountered by the crew made headlines when the survivors were rescued.

In un’opera scritta da un frate milanese del Trecento, Galvano Fiamma, si nasconde una breve menzione di una terra chiamata Marckalada, situata a ovest della Groenlandia. I marinai che viaggiano per i mari del Nord ne parlano come di una terra ricca di alberi e animali, dove si trovano grandi edifici e vivono dei giganti. È una notizia sensazionale: la prima menzione del continente americano nell’area mediterranea, un secolo e mezzo prima del viaggio di Colombo. Ma chi è Galvano Fiamma e da dove ricava queste informazioni? Cosa si sapeva davvero in Italia delle regioni al di là dell’oceano?

В начале 80-х годов XIX века в верховьях Амура были обнаружены богатые золотые россыпи. Принятый в 1865 году закон, разрешавший частный золотой промысел, породил настоящую "золотую лихорадку" на Амуре - тысячи людей бросились на поиски благородного металла, мечтая разбогатеть. Это привело к созданию так называемых, старательских республик. Самой знаменитой из них стала Желтугинская республика или Амурская Калифорния. Раньше всех на берега Желтуги слетелись беглые каторжники, которые скрывались неподалеку. Затем в эти края прибыли китайцы, называвшие золотоносную реку Мохэ.

On the first of September 1785, with night coming on and the weather deteriorating, the crew of the ship Faithful Steward sailed toward Delaware's notorious False Cape. In the summer of 1785, a group of Irish migrants took to the Atlantic to escape the abuse and persecution of the ruling classes at home. They sought a new life in the United States, a place "where the banner of freedom waved proudly" and "every good was possessed."

Into the Frozen South, by Scout Marr, of the Quest. Originally published, September 1923, now in the public domain.

In We Could Perceive No Sign of Them: Failed Colonies in North America, 1526-1689, historians David MacDonald and Raine Waters tell the fascinating stories of the many attempts to establish a European foothold in the New World, from the first Spanish colony in 1526 on the coast of Georgia to the final disastrous French endeavors near the arctic.

In July 1776 a pair of Franciscan friars, Francisco Atanasio Dominguez and Silvestre Velez de Escalante, were charged by the governor of New Mexico with discovering a route across the unknown Southwest to the new Spanish colony in California. They had other goals as well, some of them secret: converting the indigenous natives along the way to the true faith, discovering a semi-mythical paradise known as Teguayo, hunting for sources of gold and silver, and paving the way for Spanish settlements from Santa Fe to Monterey. In strict terms, the expedition failed.

This narrative about the creation and early growth of the United Fruit Company comes across like an adventure novel. The author whisks the listener to Central America to experience the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of a group of visionaries who carved a commercial empire out of virtually uninhabited Central American tropical jungles. These American businessmen and the people who worked for them were the early pioneers. They overcame tropical disease, financial problems, weather, and other obstacles by innovation and sheer grit.

The role of the sailor through history should never be underestimated. Over centuries battles were won and new lands discovered and settled by their skills and nerve. Rob Mundle is back on the ocean to tell one of the great stories of an expedition under sail: the extraordinary eight-month, 17-000-nautical mile voyage of the First Fleet. With customary sweep and swell, Mundle puts you alongside 48-year-old Captain Arthur Phillip on the quarterdeck of the Royal Navy escort, HMS Sirius, as he commands his small armada of 11 ships, carrying over 1420 men, women and children, to the other side of the world.

In November 1943, Marine 1st Lt. Alexander Bonnyman Jr. was mortally wounded while leading a successful assault on critical Japanese fortifications on the Pacific atoll of Tarawa. But it was not until August 2015 that he was finally laid to rest. Bonnyman Jr. was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor and Purple Heart for his heroic actions during the bloody battle, which would ultimately claim the lives of almost 2,000 Marines and 5,000 Japanese soldiers. But the lieutenant, along with hundreds of other Marines, was buried in an unmarked grave.

Celebrated historian Diana Preston presents betrayals, escapes, and survival at sea in her account of the mutiny of the Bounty and the flight of convicts from the Australian penal colony. The story of the mutiny of the Bounty and William Bligh and his men's survival on the open ocean for 48 days and 3,618 miles has become the stuff of legend. But few realize that Bligh's escape across the seas was not the only open-boat journey in that era of British exploration and colonization.

On June 3, 1769, the planet Venus briefly passed across the face of the sun in a cosmic alignment that occurs twice per century. Anticipation of the rare celestial event sparked a worldwide competition among aspiring global superpowers, each sending their own scientific expeditions to far-flung destinations to time the planet’s trek.

In 1957 the Soviet Union sent Sputnik, the first man-made satellite, into space. America took up the challenge to explore the next frontier. A dozen years, and 25 billion dollars later, the mission of Apollo 11 would yield man's finest hour. For that was the first time man's foot left prints on another heavenly body. And that was only the beginning. Apollo 11 is the incredible story of how a nation forged the technology during the turbulent 1960s to slip humanity from the bonds of its native planet. This inside look remembers those who made the great enterprise succeed.

El Diario de navegación es el primer documento en español escrito en América y en él se usan por primera vez varios americanismos que luego formaron parte del vocabulario usual de este idioma. Esta versión cuenta con una introducción histórica del Mgtr. Javier Martínez, licenciado en letras con posgrado en lingüística, así como antropólogo con maestría en comunicación para el desarrollo. La intervención del Mgtr. Martínez facilita la comprensión del lector y expone el contexto socio-histórico del Diario de navegación.

What do you do when someone tells you, “It can’t be done”? Here is the extraordinary story of three people - an explorer, an engineer, and a statesman - who repeatedly proved critics and naysayers wrong. Roald Amundsen - the Norwegian explorer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel - the greatest engineer the world has ever seen, and Teddy Roosevelt - the cowboy turned statesman. Audacious Goals, Remarkable Results reveals the outsized risks and setbacks each faced in their quest to change the world.

Este libro narra la historia de los viajes que Carlos Tello Díaz emprendió por la Selva Lacandona en busca de las ruinas de Tzendales, la ciudad de los mayas descubierta -y luego misteriosamente perdida- en los albores del siglo XX. Evoca también su vida con los lacandones de Lacanhá, los xateros de Indio Pedro y los guerrilleros de EZLN.

Aníbal, uno de los personajes más fascinantes de todos los tiempos, alabado por unos y tratado de sanguinarios por otros, pertenece a esa saga de personajes históricos que, después de más de dos mil años, siguen ejerciendo sobre sus estudiosos una mágica seducción. Sobre un fondo rigurosamente histórico, esta novela sobre Aníbal en la antigua Qart-Hadast, nunca antes tratada por escritores, constituye una documentada exposición y una recreación exhaustiva de modos y costumbres de aquella época decisiva.

In California, in a mill race on an undistinguished stream, an astonishing discovery was made. It was gold. Gold said to be so plentiful that it just lay there waiting to be picked up. Nuggets of gold that you could just bend down and put in your pocket. Big nuggets, some weighing six ounces or more. A six ounce nugget was worth $120 in 1849. Today? $3,000 in today’s dollars!