To the Ends of the Earth: The History of Polar Exploration - Softcover

Sale, Richard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0007142242 ISBN 13: 9780007142248

Publisher: William Collins, 2002

Synopsis

To the Ends of the Earth provides an insight into the early history of the Polar regions, and tells the stories of Man's first exploration of the Arctic and Antarctic, and subsequent expeditions.

The history of individual Polar expeditions has been told many times, but usually only as personal accounts of individual adventures. This misses the overall context of polar exploration – why the British depended on ponies – plant-eating animals – on the only continent where plants don’t grow, why Franklin’s men perished when the local Eskimos were eking out an existence around them (and finally reporting Franklin’s demise), and why the Scandinavians were always better than anybody else.

The first map of Antarctica was produced in 1556 – the Vikings visited the Arctic 1,000 years before. In 2001, the US Base at the South Pole is manned 365 days a year. To the Ends of the Earth tells the whole story of how the two last wildernesses, at either end of the world, were discovered, conquered and tamed.

Introduction
1. Before the Heroes Came
2. Passages to Cathay
3. Explorers in the North
4. Whalers in the South
5. Striving for the Poles
6. After the Poles
7. The Poles Today

About this title

From the Publisher:

To the ends of the Earth tells the whole story of these two inhospitable wildernesses, at either end of the world, and what we have learned from the people who bought them to our reach.

From the Back Cover:

The history of individual Polar expeditions has been told many times, but usually only as personal accounts of individual adventures. This misses the overall context of polar exploration – why the British depended on ponies – plant-eating animals – on the only continent where plants don’t grow, why Franklin’s men perished when the local Eskimos were eking out an existence around them (and finally reporting Franklin’s demise), and why the Scandinavians were always better than anybody else.

The first map of Antarctica was produced in 1556 – the Vikings visited the Arctic 1,000 years before. In 2001, the US Base at the South Pole is manned 365 days a year. To the Ends of the Earth tells the whole story of how the two last wildernesses, at either end of the world, were discovered, conquered and tamed.

About this edition

• Publisher: William Collins
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0007142242
• ISBN 13: 9780007142248
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224