The desire for knowledge, resources, and fame as well as a sense of duty and adventurousness have driven intrepid explorers away from their homes and into the unknown since the time of the first people. Human beings are naturally curious and their ability to imagine what lies just beyond the horizon has helped them populate the globe, driven their technological advancements, and allowed them to discover new ways of surviving in even the most inhospitable of environments. Encyclopedia of Exploration is a two-volume reference to the history of human exploration over land, across and under seas, and into space. This must-have set-a fascinating, comprehensive reference covering core topics in the school curriculum for world history and geography-details various aspects of exploration, many great expeditions, and numerous explorers. Bridging the curiosity of today's students and general readers with the experiences of explorers of the past, the encyclopedia provides easy access to a wide range of important and interesting information. Volume I: The Explorers is a "who was who" of world explorers, while Volume II: Places, Technologies, and Cultural Trends covers other significant aspects of the history of exploration. The thematic organization of the volumes allows readers to access biographical profiles of important explorers in one volume, while referring to the second volume for entries on topics such as cartography, circumnavigation, navigation, shipbuilding, missionaries, the slave trade, the Vikings, women explorers, and the fur trade. This definitive reference to explorers and exploration features thorough coverage and a wide scope, making it an informative, fascinating resourcesuitable for students, researchers, and general readers. Photographs accompany many entries. Volume I: The Explorers is a revised, updated, and expanded version of Who Was Who in World Exploration, published by Facts On File in 1992. Focusing on the explorers, this volume gives readers a sense of the human drama, the achievements and challenges, that those who go where few or no others have gone before must face. New entries include Jacques-Ives Cousteau; Sir Vivian Fuchs; John Glenn, Jr.; Aleksei Leonov; Annie Peck; Valentina Tereshkova; and many more. Volume II: Places, Technologies, and Cultural Trends is a new work covering the technical, social, cultural, and geographical elements of world exploration. This volume's detailed, A-to-Z entries emphasize the many elements that have often determined the success or failure of a given mission. Entries include Bering Strait, circumnavigation of the world, Dutch East India Company, exploration of the Arctic, equator, fur trade, Himalayas, keelboat, legends and exploration, Mississippi River, Nile River, Northwest Passage, Royal Geographic Society, slave trade, Vikings, and many more. Cross-references across the two volumes help readers connect explorers with places and technologies. The set includes valuable reference material including a chronology of exploration; a further reading list; a subject index categorizing topic entries in the second volume; subject indexes of explorers by sponsoring countries, native lands, or nationality, by year of birth, and by most relevant occupation; and a general index.
