Discovery and Travel
Discovery and Travel |
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The ever increasing availability of books had a tremendous impact on travel and discovery. As numerous intrepid explorers set out from Europe in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries to explore the globe and as many Europeans began to emigrate to the New World, there was a growing interest in publishing accounts of their experiences. This in turn inspired others to set out on their own voyages.
By the nineteenth century, travel literature was a well established and popular branch of literature. Due to the tremendous growth of a literate middle class with the wealth to travel and to the increasing ease of embarking on long journeys through improvements in transportation, there developed an especially strong interest in reading about the travel experience.
The cultural impact of travel literature was also widespread. Through vividly written accounts of exotic faraway lands, the reading public of Europe and America broadened its world view and deepened its knowledge of geography. Travel narratives also presented rich images of other cultures, inspiring a better understanding of the diverse variety of human experience. Finally, travel books often served as informal aids to Western readers interested in the growing world trade network and the expanding system of colonialism in place at that time.
Yet again, we may be living in a transitional period when the role of print in fostering travel and discovery may be superseded by other media. Increasingly, television cable programs and channels devoted to travel, as well as websites available through the Internet, are usurping the place once held by travel literature.
Images: Title page and frontispiece, a full color portrait of King Sahela Selassie of Ethiopia Image: Title page and frontispiece with color illustration of the monastery at Ladak
Images: Title page of Parry's Journal Click on thumbnails for full-page images.
The Highlands of Ethiopia by Major W. Conwallis Harris Published by J. Winchester New World Press New York 1844
Major Harris was trained as an engineer and served as a British Officer in India through most of his career. But in the 1830s Harris took an interest in Africa at a time when more and more Europeans were exploring the region. Books such as this one, and other print sources, played a major role in spreading information about this remote region. His travels in Africa produced two other books as well.
Page of text from The Highlands of Ethiopia with accompanying illustration
Diary of a Pedestrian in Cashmere and Thibet by Captain Knight Published by Richard Bentley London 1863
Many travel books were written by people stationed in distant regions of the globe. Knight was part of the large British force occupying India during the nineteenth century. This book was compiled from notes he took while on a six month leave from his military post.
Journal of a Second Voyage for the Discovery of a North-West Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific By Captain William Edward Parry Published by John Murray
1824
William Edward Parry, who lived from 1790 to 1855, was one of the earliest and greatest explorers of the Arctic. He commanded five expeditions to the Arctic between 1818 and 1827, and reached farther north than any other explorer to that time. In 1829 he was knighted for his efforts and in 1837 Parry was made controller of a department of the British Navy. This book records the events of his second voyage. Particularly clear and vivid are the numerous engraved plates. In the back of the book is a series of excellent and very detailed maps.
Illustration of Eskimo hunter waiting at a seal hole
Illustration of "Eskimaux" chart drawn by Iligliuk at Winter Island, 1822, included in Parry's book
