Download Round About the Earth: Circumnavigation from Magellan to Orbit AudioBook Free
For nearly 500 years, human beings have been finding ways to group the planet earth - by sail, vapor, or liquid fuel; by cycling, driving a car, flying, entering orbit, even by utilizing their own bodily vitality. The story begins with the first generations of circumnavigation, when few survived the try out: In 1519, Ferdinand Magellan still left Spain with five boats and 270 men, but only one ship and 35 men went back, not including Magellan, who perished in the Philippines. Starting with these dangerous voyages, Joyce Chaplin takes us on a journey of our own even as we travel with Francis Drake, William Dampier, Louis-Antoine de Bougainville, and James Cook. Eventually sea travel grew much safer and passengers came on board. The most well-known was Charles Darwin, however, many intrepid women became circumnavigators too - a female Brassey, for example. Circumnavigation became a fad, as captured in Jules Verne's traditional novel, Around the planet in Eighty Days. Once continental railroads were built, circumnavigators could traverse sea and land. Magazines sponsored racing contests, and people sought ways to distinguish themselves - by bicycling surrounding the world, for illustration, or by cruising solo. Steamships flipped round-the-world travel into a lavish experience, as with the trips of Thomas Cook & Child. Famous authors had written up their escapades, including Make Twain and Jack London and Elizabeth Jane Cochrane (better known as Nellie Bly). Finally humans needed to the skies to group the world in airplanes. Not much later, Sputnik, Gagarin, and Glenn pioneered a new kind of circumnavigation - in orbit. Through everything, the desire to defend myself against the planet has examined the courage and capacity of the vibrant women and men who took up the task. Their exploits show us why we think of the planet earth as home. Round About the Globe is itself a thrilling adventure.
