Exploration

This clear, succinct, and elegant contribution to the Very Short Introduction series surveys the history of global exploration and assesses the motives, for good and ill, of those who undertook it. Stewart Weaver traces the history of exploration from the first explorers (including Polynesian and Micronesian peoples, the ancient Greeks, Marco Polo, and Ibn Battuta), to the European discover of America, the Enlightenment and exploration (focusing on James Cook),and the race to the north and south poles.