Historical Atlas of the Arctic
|Rating||:||4.49 (920 Votes)|
|Number of Pages||:||224 Pages|
. Derek Hayes , author of the award-winning Historical Atlas of the Pacific Northwest, trained as a geographer at the University of Hull in England and the University of British Columbia
But long before that men sailed the seas searching for an easier and shorter path to the riches of the orient, and the mapmakers of the day translated sparse information, turning it into often stunningly beautiful maps. The vast empty spaces of the Poles were the last frontier to be assailed by explorers intent on achieving a geographical goal--the North Pole was finally reached in 1909. Readable yet scholarly text informs the maps, as each double-page spread tells a story in itself.. In so doing, maps were made showing the routes men thought they could take, and the routes they actually took, which were usually vastly different.Almost 200 historical maps, many never before reproduced, from collections around the world, illustrate all the significant Arctic explorations from the sixteenth century until well into the twentieth. The fact that most of the information required to make such a map was missing or erroneous mattered little; the maps live on as testimony to hopes and dreams.The idea that the Arctic Ocean was an open sea, unable to freeze due to movement and size, drove early mariners to attempt to sail across the top of the world to reach the spices of the east
An Arctic vision The historical maps are fantastic. I appreciated Hayes' non-Eurocentric attempt to paint the history of the Arctic. I hope to take part in an Arctic adventure() during the Summer of 2010 which will attempt to tie together beer, history, and motorcycles. The beer that was commissioned by Queen Victoria in 1852 and was on-board the John Franklin Expedition. Allsopp's Arctic Ale, will be recreated in Canada using historic methods (over a wood fire).This book has helped us in the planning and research s. Lots of useful information on arctic history. John Westfall Although this was intended as a gift, I couldn't avoid giving into the temptation to leaf through it first before sending it off.
It is also politic to gratify one's sponsors, so names of European royals, a U.S. president, and a distiller also dot the vast north. Four hundred years of finding and naming, from Frobisher Bay to Laptev Sea to Prince Charles Island, are literally displayed in this work. Compiler Hayes provides summary narratives of major ventures, such as Russia's Great Northern Expedition of the 1730s, but the heart of the work beats with the visual elegance and accuracy of the 300 maps included. REVWRCopyright © American Library Association. From Booklist Naming places after oneself is one of the perks of being an explorer, as the geogra