Library Results | Royal Museums Greenwich

The year 1000 : when explorers connected the world-- and globalization began /Valerie Hansen. "When did globalization begin? Most observers have settled on 1492, the year Columbus discovered America. But as celebrated Yale professor Valerie Hansen shows, it was the year 1000, when for the first time new trade routes linked the entire globe, so an object could in theory circumnavigate the world. This was the 'big bang' of globalization, which ushered in a new era of exploration and trade, and which paved the way for Europeans to dominate after Columbus reached America. Drawing on a wide range of new historical sources and cutting-edge archaeology, Hansen shows, for example, that the Maya began to trade with the native peoples of modern New Mexico from traces of theobromine - the chemical signature of chocolate - and that frozen textiles found in Greenland contain hairs from animals that could only have come from North America. Moreover, Hansen turns accepted wisdom on its head, revealing not only that globalization began much earlier than previously thought, but also that the world's first anti-globalization riots did too, in cities such as Cairo, Constantinople, and Guangzhou. Introducing players from Europe, the Islamic world, Asia, the Indian Ocean maritime world, the Pacific and the Mayan world who were connecting the major landmasses for the first time, this compelling revisionist argument shows how these encounters set the stage for the globalization that would dominate the world for centuries to come."--Provided by the publisher. 2020. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 909.1

The globe : how the Earth became round /James Hannam "The Globe tells the story of humanity's quest to discover the shape of the world. Philosophers in ancient Greece deduced the true shape of the Earth in the fourth century BCE; the Romans passed the knowledge to India, and from there it spread to Baghdad and Central Asia. In early medieval Europe, Christians debated the matter but long before the time of Columbus, the Catholic Church had accepted that the Earth is round and not flat. However, it wasn't until the seventeenth century that Jesuit missionaries finally convinced the Chinese that their traditional square-earth cosmology was mistaken. An accessible challenge to long-established beliefs about the history of ideas, The Globe shows how the realization that our planet is a sphere deserves to be considered the first great scientific achievement."--Provided by the publisher. 2023. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 525.1

The big book of explorers / David Marshall This is a large-format children's book which covers explorers from the Stone Age to space exploration. There are colour illustrations and photographs on every page. The section on early travellers includes material on the Greeks, Romans, Vikings and Marco Polo. 'The Golden Age of Discovery' features Henry the Navigator and Christopher Columbus. Sir Francis Drake appears in the section 'Establishing the New World'. Captain James Cook and Mungo Park are included in 'To All Points on the Compass'. 'New Perspectives' includes material on the source of the Nile and Charles Darwin. The final section 'To the Limits and Beyond' deals with polar exploration, flight and space, and undersea explorers. 1992. • FOLIO • 1 copy available. 910.4(100)

Far-fetched facts : the literature of travel and the idea of the South Seas An in-depth history of travel literature, and particularly how the South Seas have been perceived by Western imaginations from classical times to the twentieth century. The book explores how the distinction between fact and fiction is blurred by comparing real and imaginary accounts of travel. Featuring prominently are the writings of Marco Polo, Mandeville, and Columbus; Cook and Bougainville; Montaigne and Bacon; Melville, Stevenson, Loti, Mead and Malinowski. Extensively indexed, including a bibliography as well as eight black and white plates. 1995 • BOOK • 1 copy available. 820-311.8

Empires of the Atlantic world : Britain and Spain in America, 1492-1830 /J.H. Elliott. Elliott, John Huxtable. 2006. • BOOK • 1 copy available.

The conquest of the ocean : the illustrated history of seafaring /Brian Lavery. This is a captivating read spanning 5,000 years of the oceans history tells the 5,000 year history of the remarkable individuals who sailed seas, for trade, to conquer new lands, to explore the unknown. From the early Polynesians to the first circumnavigations by the Portuguese and the British, these are awe-inspiring tales of epic sea voyages involving great feats of seamanship, navigation, endurance, and ingenuity. You can explore the lives and maritime adventures, many with first person narratives, of land seekers and globe charters such as Christopher Columbus, Captain James Cook and Vitus Bering. 2013. • BOOK • 2 copies available. 930.9(26)

The European opportunity / [edited by] Felipe Fernâandez Armesto. c1995. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 936"14"

Great passenger ships, 1920-1930 / William H. Miller "Celebrating the majestic passenger liners of the twenties, Great Passenger Ships 1920-1930 looks at well-loved ships, such as Majestic, Olympic, Berengaria, Viceroy of India and Rawalpindi, alongside lesser known but still fascinating vessels. This series follows ships serving all over the world rather than just famed Atlantic liners, with personal anecdotes of the ships and their voyages from passengers and crew alike. The 1920s have become a fabled era for ocean liners, a period of growth and opulence as companies began recovery after the First World War. As the decade went on plans were drawn for great superliners, until the Wall Street Crash changed the world. During the 1920s, the German Imperator became Berengaria for Cunard, Columbus became Homeric for White Star and Bismarck was renamed Majestic for White Star, becoming the line's most popular ship. Cunard, White Star and P&O had great success while the likes of Orient Line, Union Steamship Company, Union Castle and Furness- Bermuda Line all added their own ships to the mix during these golden days of ocean travel. Featuring unpublished photographs in a stunning colour section, Great Passenger Ships 1920-1930 showcases the zenith of ocean travel in the 1920s."--Provided by the publisher. 2014. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 629.123.3(100)"1920/1930"

The Atlantic in world history, 1490-1830. "The Atlantic in World History, 1490-1830 looks at the historical connections between four continents - Africa, Europe, North America and South America - through the lens of Atlantic history. It shows how the Atlantic has been more than just an ocean: it has been an important site of circulation and transmission, allowing exchanges and interchanges which have profoundly shaped the development of the world. Divided into four thematic sections, Trevor Burnard's sweeping yet concise narrative covers the period from the voyages of Columbus to the New World in the 1490s through to the end of the Age of Revolutions around 1830. It deals with key topics including the Columbian exchange, Atlantic slavery and abolition, war as a global phenomenon, the Age of Revolution, religious conversion, nation-building, trade and commerce and intellectual movements such as the Enlightenment. Rather than focusing on the 'rise of the West', Burnard stresses the interactive nature of encounters between various parts of the world, setting local case studies within his broader interconnected narrative. Written by a leading historian of Atlantic history, and including further reading lists, images and maps as well as a companion website featuring discussion questions, timelines and primary source extracts, this is an essential book for students of Atlantic and world history."--Provided by the publisher. 2019. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 930.9(261)

Beyond the blue horizon : how the earliest mariners unlocked the secrets of the oceans /Brian Fagan. We know the tales of Columbus and Captain Cook, yet much earlier mariners made equally bold and world-changing voyages. In Beyond the Blue Horizon, archaeologist and historian Brian Fagan tackles his richest topic yet: the enduring quest to master the oceans, the planet's most mysterious terrain. From the moment when ancient Polynesians first dared to sail beyond the horizon, Fagan vividly explains how our mastery of the oceans changed the course of human history. What drove humans to risk their lives on open water? How did early sailors unlock the secrets of winds, tides, and the stars they steered by? What were the earliest ocean crossings like? With compelling detail, Fagan reveals how seafaring evolved so that the forbidding realms of the sea gods were transformed from barriers into a nexus of commerce and cultural exchange. From bamboo rafts in the Java Sea to triremes in the Aegean, from Norse longboats in the North Atlantic to sealskin kayaks in Alaska, Fagan crafts a captivating narrative of humanity's urge to challenge the unknown and seek out distant shores. 2012. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 930.9(26)

Searching for the finmen : an unplanned journey in homage to the kayak /Norman Rogers. "In the early 1700s an Inuk paddling a traditional Greenland kayak landed, alone and exhausted, on a beach near Aberdeen and died three days later. His kayak and hunting gear can still be seen today in the local Anthropological Museum. The idea that a man could have made the journey from Greenland to the north-east coast of Scotland with a tiny boat made from skin, bone and driftwood is difficult to comprehend, but it did happen. Norman Rogers spent most of his spare time in the practical art of kayaking. However, when his passion for paddling small boats was interrupted by an unexplained illness, he set out to investigate the Aberdeen mystery and, as is often the case, one mystery led to another - he discovered that around the same time as the Inuk landed in Aberdeen, individuals in kayaks, described locally as "Finmen", were seen around the coasts of the Orkney Islands. Searching for the Finmen describes Norman's researches into the history and culture of the Inuit, with particular reference to their mastery of the sea by means of the kayak, and his attempts to understand and resolve his medical condition and to resume kayaking. It also describes other outside influences which were key factors in explaining how a group of Inuit hunters from what was effectively a stone-age culture crossed the North Atlantic only two centuries after Columbus."--Back cover. 2012. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 629.121

Invading America : the English Assault on the New World 1497-1630 /David Childs. "Within a generation of Columbus s first landfall in the Caribbean, Spain ruled an empire in central and south America many times the size of the home country. In stark contrast, after a century of struggle, and numerous disasters, English colonising efforts further north had succeeded in settling the banks of one waterway and the littoral of several bays. How and why progress was so slow and laborious is the central theme of this thought-provoking new book. It argues that this is best understood if the development of the English colonies is seen as a protracted amphibious operation, governed by all the factors that traditionally make for success or failure in such endeavours aspects such as proper reconnaissance, establishing a secure bridgehead and timely reinforcement. Invading America examines the vessels and the voyages, the unrealistic ambitions of their promoters, the nature of the conflict with the native Indians, and the lack of leadership and cooperation that was so essential for success. Using documentary evidence and vivid first-hand accounts, it describes from a new perspective the often tragic, sometimes heroic, attempts to settle on the American coast and suggests why these so often ended in failure. As this book shows, the emergence of a powerful United States was neither inevitable nor easily achieved."--Back cover. 2012. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 910.4(42:7)"14/16"

Conquerors : how Portugal seized the Indian Ocean and forged the first global empire /Roger Crowley. "As remarkable as Columbus and the conquistador expeditions, the history of Portuguese exploration is now almost forgotten. But Portugal's navigators cracked the code of the Atlantic winds, launched the expedition of Vasco da Gama to India and beat the Spanish to the spice kingdoms of the East - then set about creating the first long-range maritime empire. In an astonishing blitz of thirty years, a handful of visionary and utterly ruthless empire builders, with few resources but breathtaking ambition, attempted to seize the Indian Ocean, destroy Islam and take control of world trade. Told with Roger Crowley's customary skill and verve, this is narrative history at its most vivid - an epic tale of navigation, trade and technology, money and religious zealotry, political diplomacy and espionage, sea battles and shipwrecks, endurance, courage and terrifying brutality. Drawing on extensive first-hand accounts, it brings to life the exploits of an extraordinary band of conquerors - men such as Afonso de Albuquerque, the first European since Alexander the Great to found an Asian empire - who set in motion five hundred years of European colonisation and unleashed the forces of globalisation."--Provided by the publisher. 2015. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 325.46(469)

Andrea doria and other recent liner disasters. / William H. Miller "Disaster at sea has been a part of maritime life for as long as man has sailed the seas. Whether it be the tragic real-life tale of the Titanic or the fictional wreck of the Hesperus, we have long been captivated and enthralled by the mysteries and perils of the ocean. In this fascinating book, William H. Miller looks at some of the more recent disasters to have befallen the ocean liners of the world. Particular attention is paid to the Andrea Doria, which ignited fierce debate and gained international infamy as it sunk in 1956 at a cost of more than fifty lives - still, today, the worst maritime disaster in American waters for over a century. Others featured include the Normandie, said to be the most magnificent Atlantic liner of all time, former Blue Riband-holder SS Rex and many others. Utilising an extensive collection of rare images, Miller sheds light not only on the disasters themselves, but also years of faithful service prior to disaster. Captured both in their pomp and in the aftermath of their darkest hour, this beautiful collection of rare images is essential to anyone with an interest in ocean-liner history or maritime disasters."--Provided by the publisher. 2016. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 656.61.085.3

Voyaging in strange seas : the great revolution in science /David Knight. "In 1492 Columbus set out across the Atlantic; in 1776 American colonists declared their independence. Between these two events old authorities collapsed - Luther's Reformation divided churches, and various discoveries revealed the ignorance of the ancient Greeks and Romans. A new, empirical worldview had arrived, focusing now on observation, experiment, and mathematical reasoning. This engaging book takes us along on the great voyage of discovery that ushered in the modern age. David Knight, a distinguished historian of science, locates the Scientific Revolution in the great era of global oceanic voyages, which became both a spur to and a metaphor for scientific discovery. He introduces the well-known heroes of the story (Galileo, Newton, Linnaeus) as well as lesser-recognized officers of scientific societies, printers and booksellers who turned scientific discovery into public knowledge, and editors who invented the scientific journal. Knight looks at a striking array of topics, from better maps to more accurate clocks, from a boom in printing to medical advancements. He portrays science and religion as engaged with each other rather than in constant conflict; in fact, science was often perceived as a way to uncover and celebrate God's mysteries and laws. Populated with interesting characters, enriched with fascinating anecdotes, and built upon an acute understanding of the era, this book tells a story as thrilling as any in human history."--Provided by the publisher. 2014. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 910.4:5

Off the Deep End : A History of Madness at Sea /Nic Compton "Confined in a small space for months on end, subject to ship's discipline and living on limited food supplies, many sailors of old lost their minds - and no wonder. Many still do. The result in some instances was bloodthirsty mutinies, such as the whaleboat Sharon whose captain was butchered and fed to the ship's pigs in a crazed attack in the Pacific. Or mob violence, such as the 147 survivors on the raft of the Medusa, who slaughtered each other in a two-week orgy of violence. So serious was the problem that the Royal Navy's own physician claimed sailors were seven times more likely to go mad than the rest of the population. Historic figures such as Christopher Columbus, George Vancouver, Fletcher Christian (leader of the munity of the Bounty) and Robert FitzRoy (founder of the Met Office) have all had their sanity questioned. More recently, sailors in today's round-the-world races often experience disturbing hallucinations, including seeing elephants floating in the sea and strangers taking the helm, or suffer complete psychological breakdown, like Donald Crowhurst. Others become hypnotised by the sea and jump to their deaths. Off the Deep End looks at the sea's physical character, how it confuses our senses and makes rational thought difficult. It explores the long history of madness at sea and how that is echoed in many of today's yacht races. It looks at the often-marginal behaviour of sailors living both figuratively and literally outside society's usual rules. And it also looks at the sea's power to heal, as well as cause, madness."--Provided by the publisher. 2017 • BOOK • 1 copy available. 613.86(26)

The last journey of the San Bao Eunuch, Admiral Zheng He / Sheng-Wei Wang. "From 1405, in order to maintain and expand the Ming Dynasty's tributary system, Yongle Emperor Zhu Di (reigning 1402-1424) and Xuande Emperor Zhu Zhanji (reigning 1425-1435) ordered eunuch Zheng He to lead giant fleets across the seas. But soon after Zheng He's seventh and last voyage in the 1430s, the Ming emperors put an end to this activity and ordered all records of previous voyages to be destroyed. Chinese writer Luo Maodeng, knowing the history of some of these voyages, wished to preserve a record of them, but, conscious of the possible penalty, decided to record the facts "under a veil", in his 1597 novel, An Account of the Western World Voyage of the San Bao Eunuch. This is what Dr. Sheng-Wei Wang has concluded after reading and analysing Luo's novel. Her book, The last journey of the San Bao Eunuch, Admiral Zheng He, shows the methodology and evidential arguments by which she has sought to lift the veil and the conclusions she suggests, including the derivation of the complete trans-Atlantic navigational routes and timelines of that last journey and the idea that Zheng He's last expedition plausibly reached the ancient American Indian city, Cahokia, in the U.S. central Mississippi Valley in late autumn, 1433, long before Christopher Columbus set foot for the first time in the Americas. She supports the hotly debated view that Ming Chinese sailors and ships reached farther than previously accepted in modern times and calls for further research. She hopes this book will become an important step in bridging the gap in our understanding of ancient China-America history in the era before the Age of Discovery. An interesting contribution to an ongoing debate."--Provided by the publisher. 2019. • BOOK • 1 copy available.

Fallen idols : history is not erased when statues are pulled down : it is made /Alex von Tunzelmann. "In the past few years, there has been a rush to topple statues. Across the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Belgium and elsewhere, Black Lives Matter protesters defaced and in some cases hauled down statues of slaveholders, Confederate icons, and imperialists. In Bristol, Edward Colston was knocked off his plinth and hurled into the harbour. Robert E. Lee was covered in graffiti in Richmond, Virginia. Christopher Columbus was toppled in Minnesota, burned and thrown into a lake in Virginia, and beheaded in Massachusetts. King Leopold II of the Belgians was set on fire in Antwerp and doused in red paint in Ghent. Winston Churchill was daubed with the word 'racist' in London. The backlash from conservatives has been fast and intense. Statues are one of the most visible forms of historical storytelling, maybe the most visible. The stories we tell are vital to how we as societies understand our past and make our future. The ultimate question is: 'who controls history?' FALLEN IDOLS tells the story of twelve toppled statues around the world. It will look at why they were put up in the first place; the stories they were intended to tell; the symbolism they came to embody; and the manner and consequences of their removal. History is not erased when statues are pulled down. If anything, it is made."--Provided by the publisher. 2022. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 306.47

On savage shores : how indigenous Americans discovered Europe /Caroline Dodds Pennock. "We have long been taught to presume that modern global history began when the Old World encountered the New, when Christopher Columbus 'discovered' America in 1492. But, as Caroline Dodds Pennock conclusively shows in this groundbreaking book, for tens of thousands of Aztecs, Maya, Totonacs, Inuit and others - enslaved people, diplomats, explorers, servants, traders - the reverse was true: they discovered Europe. For them, Europe comprised savage shores, a land of riches and marvels, yet perplexing for its brutal disparities of wealth and quality of life, and its baffling beliefs. The story of these indigenous Americans abroad is a story of abduction, loss, cultural appropriation, and, as they saw it, of apocalypse - a story that has largely been absent from our collective imagination of the times. From the Brazilian king who met Henry VIII to the Aztecs who mocked up human sacrifice at the court of Charles V; from the Inuk baby who was put on show in a London pub to the mestizo children of Spaniards who returned 'home' with their fathers; from the Inuit who harpooned ducks on the Avon river to the many servants employed by Europeans of every rank: here are a people who were rendered exotic, demeaned, and marginalised, but whose world views and cultures had a profound impact on European civilisation. Drawing on their surviving literature and poetry and subtly layering European eyewitness accounts against the grain, Pennock gives us a sweeping account of the indigenous American presence in, and impact on, early modern Europe."--Provided by the publisher. 2022. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 940.048997

The Routledge companion to marine and maritime worlds, 1400-1800 / edited by Claire Jowitt, Craig Lambert, and Steve Mentz. "The Routledge Companion to Marine and Maritime Worlds, 1400-1800 explores early modern maritime history, culture, and the current state of the research and approaches taken by experts in the field. Ranging from cartography to poetry and decorative design to naval warfare, the book shows how once-traditional and often Euro-chauvinistic depictions of oceanic 'mastery' during the early modern period have been replaced by newer global ideas. This comprehensive volume challenges underlying assumptions by balancing its assessment of the consequences and accomplishments of European navigators in the era of Columbus, da Gama, and Magellan, with an awareness of the sophistication and maritime expertise in Asia, the Arab world, and the Americas. By imparting riveting new stories and global perceptions of maritime history and culture, the contributors provide readers with fresh insights concerning early modern entanglements between humans and the vast, unpredictable ocean. With maritime studies growing and the ocean's health in decline, this volume is essential reading for academics and students interested in the historicization of the ocean and the ways early modern cultures both conceptualised and utilised seas"--Provided by the publisher. 2020. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 910.4

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