Expedition History

The original recounting of the events from Sir Francis Drake himself. Listen to Drake's piratical raid on the Spanish Main and the various battle and adventures therein.

In a male-driven world, Bell managed to become one of the greatest policymakers the world has ever known; without her, the Middle East might very well be a much different place, and her influence in the territory gave her the nickname "Queen of the Desert". This biography tells the extraordinary story of one of the most adventurous and fascinating women you will ever encounter.

Il viaggio di Darwin fu un'esperienza unica nella storia della scienza: una rivoluzione scientifica nata per mare, dopo che un giovane geologo e naturalista si era imbarcato quasi per caso nel 1831 su un brigantino di Sua Maestà diretto nei Mari del Sud. Cinque anni di mal di mare, di osservazioni meticolose, di strani esperimenti antropologici e di pensieri ancora embrionali. Nessuna illuminazione improvvisa incontrando iguana, fringuelli e testuggini. Solo molti dubbi, qualche buona domanda, tanta curiosità e la capacità di collegare fatti sparsi.

"Die griechische Mythologie ist ein Teil der antiken griechischen Religion. Aber es handelt sich bei der Mythologie nicht um die täglich praktizierte Verehrung der Gottheiten, sondern um Geschichten, die von den Handlungen der Götter und den Taten der griechischen Helden berichten. Trotzdem hatten die Erzählungen großen Einfluss auf das religiöse und gesellschaftliche Leben im antiken Griechenland. Viele menschliche Schicksale sind direkt oder indirekt in ihnen enthalten. Historiker forschen an der Frage, ob bzw. welchen Mythen geschichtliche Ereignisse zugrunde liegen...."

A fascinating tale from the 1800s of young boys who were unfortunately wrecked in the ship Charles Eaton, of London, and lived for several years with the natives of the South Sea Islands. The remainder of the passengers and crew of this ill-fated ship were most inhumanly murdered by the savages soon after they landed from the wreck.

These Chronicles could have been authored by Thomas Jefferson had he been so inclined to do so. He and Captain Meriwether Lewis spent long nights tracing its daily record of "Courses and Distances" onto brown paper on the floor of the East Wing of the White House. After Lewis's untimely death, Jefferson instead relegated the job to Captain William Clark. As a result, the narrative of the expedition has, until now, never been told as Captain Meriwether Lewis intended it to be.

In 1927, Today, millions of people fly, and everyone who does views the ground thousands of feet below. But in 1927, air traffic was a relatively new phenomenon, especially in the wilds of southern Peru, and when the first planes passed over the sprawling expanse of the Nazca Desert, passengers looking out their windows saw an incredible sight that they could hardly believe.

From the late eighth century to somewhere around the middle of the 11th century, the history of Europe was dominated by the people who have become known as the Vikings. The Vikings were among the first global explorers who established territory that stretched from North America in the west to Constantinople in the east, and from the frigid wastes of the Arctic in the north to the warm shores of the Mediterranean Sea in the south.

Many of us dream of finding instant wealth. Just imagine if you were able to go to a place where you could simply gather from the ground gold worth many thousands of dollars. Now imagine that at a time when the average wage for an unskilled worker was barely ten dollars per month.

On May 25, 1961, less than two months after a Soviet cosmonaut had made the very first space flight, President John F. Kennedy told Congress, “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.”

Discover the inspiring story of how a nurse became the first international medical expedition in history. In a world where science was very much practiced solely by men, Isabel Zendal's tale brings out her contribution toward a great philanthropic cause - one of many women who contributed to the advancement of medicine in the world. But it's not just her story: Through Isabel, you're about to discover the history of smallpox and how one expedition brought mercy to those who suffered from it.

In 1862, ambitious scientist James Glaisher set out to do the impossible: ascend higher into the skies than ever before to establish his groundbreaking research. Glaisher’s death-defying journey forms the story of the major motion picture The Aeronauts, starring Eddie Redmayne as Glaisher and Felicity Jones as his balloon companion, Amelia Wren. Written in his own words, The Aeronauts chronicles Glaisher’s incredible flights and discoveries first hand, as well as his observations on the pioneers who came before and inspired him.

The most seminal event of the last millennium might also be its most controversial. As schoolchildren have been taught for over 500 years, "In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue." Like Christopher Columbus before him, Hernán Cortés was lionized for his successes for centuries without questioning his tactics or motives, while indigenous views of the man have been overwhelmingly negative for the consequences his conquests had. Just about the only thing everyone agrees upon is that Cortés had a profound impact on the history of North America.

In the final days of World War II, with the ravenous Red Army marching across Czechoslovakia, a wily band of American soldiers did the unexpected: They teamed up with the Nazis and went behind enemy lines to save the world's rarest horses from imminent extinction at the hands of the Russians - including the exquisite white Lipizzaner, whose bloodlines date back to Genghis Khan.

Cabeza de Vaca's mode of transportation, afoot on portions of two continents in the early decades of the 16th century, fits one dictionary definition of the word "pedestrian". By no means, however, should the ancillary meanings of "commonplace" or "prosaic" be applied to the man or his remarkable adventures. Between 1528 and 1536, he trekked an estimated 2480 to 2640 miles of North American terrain from the Texas coast near Galveston Island to San Miguel de Culiacán near the Pacific Coast of Mexico.

The largest structure ever built was not made by humans, but by incredibly tiny organisms known as coral polyps. Over the course of tens of thousands of years, these small organisms have put together a collection of nearly 3,000 reefs, known as the Great Barrier Reef, which form a collective stretching across 130,000 square miles. Scientists have counted about 1,500 different fish species that use the reef, and it's estimated that 1.5 million birds use the site.

The people who have lived outside the boundaries of normal societies and refused to play by the rules have long fascinated the world, and nowhere is this more evident than the continuing interest in the pirates of centuries past. As the subjects of books, movies, and even theme park rides, people continue to let their imaginations go when it comes to pirates, with buried treasure, parrots, and walking the plank all ingrained in pop culture’s perception of them.

Situated about 25 miles off the Tanzanian coast, Zanzibar, with its sultans and spices, merchants and mosques, dhows and doorways of richly carved timber, has captured the imagination of travelers and writers for hundreds of years. It has long evoked a romantic mystique, calling up images of an island paradise in the warm waters of the Indian Ocean. Its gleaming Muslim Swahili town, built of white coralline limestone, can trace approximately 1,000 years of maritime trading.

Falling against the backdrop of Scandinavia's conversion to Christianity, book one of this triology begins on a farm in Viking-Age Norway. The tale is seen through the eyes of a young farm girl named Helga who is based on an original character in the antiquated Egil's Saga. Moving chapter by chapter the listener is propelled into the epic adventures of Helga's enchanting life as they experience with her relationships, love, loss, faith, religion, and politics. The saga continues in books two and three to a finale that no one - even Helga, could ever have imagined.

Marco Polo (1254-1324) is an instantly recognizable name, and he is known for his travels, but it's safe to say that his influence and importance has been greatly overlooked in the nearly 700 years since he died. Born in Venice, Marco Polo was in a fortuitous position to participate in trade. He followed in the footsteps of his own family, setting off for Asia with his well-traveled father and uncle. They would not return to Venice for 24 years. When they came back, they had allegedly traveled about 15,000 miles.