Exploring the Pacific, Revised Edition

Each ship that ventured into the Pacific around the Cape of Good Hope, through the Strait of Magellan, or around Cape Horn carried the hope and ambitions of its sponsoring nation. The Pacific, perhaps even more so than the Americas or Africa, became the playing field for the global game of imperial chess. By the twentieth century, only the most remote and inhospitable islands were free from American, European, or South American colonial administration. Exploring the Pacific, Revised Edition explains how explorers of the Pacific region expanded geographical knowledge and contributed to human understanding by generating maps, charts, paintings, and reports. The book covers such explorers as Bartolomeu Dias, Vasco Núñez de Balboa, Ferdinand Magellan, Álvaro de Mendaña, and James Cook.

From the expeditions of the ancient world to the future of space exploration in the twenty-first century. Discovery & Exploration conveys the wonders, dangers, and excitement of exploring the unknown. From the earliest explorations to today, first-hand accounts of incidents, climate, and civilizations set the stage for a gripping narrative about key events in world history.