Premodern travel in world history Book

This book is made up of a series of shorter sections, each detailing the life and exploits of a different explorer. They are arranged according to the time period in which the explorer lived, starting with the Renaissance and moving forward to modern times. All of the major explorers (Christopher Columbus, Lewis and Clark, etc) are there, but there are also sections devoted to some of the lesser-known trailblazers. The book is written in an engaging narrative style, and the author really makes their stories come alive with tales of the triumphs, hardships and dangers each one faced in their efforts to fill in just a little bit more of the map.

If you're interested in the explorers and that sort of thing, you will probably really enjoy this book. Since it covers so many different people, the author doesn't go into exhaustive detail about each one, but it's a good overall look at the subject. It's interesting to compare the stories and see how new technology changed the playing field and the objectives of the explorers. The book also contains a pretty good bibliography, so if any particular account strikes your interest, it's easy to find more information on the subject. I found this to be a very interesting read, and it certainly piqued my interest on the subject.