Category Archives: The New World

America, The New World

Hiram Bingham III: Across South America

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Many people believe that the (re)discoverer of Machu Picchu, Hiram Bingham III was the real-world model for Indiana Jones – and whether or not that is true, well, who knows?

Actually, Bingham was not an archeologist by training. But he was a seasoned traveler and well acquainted with South America, when he by equal measure chance and stubbornness stumbled upon the ruins of the famous Inca city in 1911.

He had, in fact, traveled the continent of South America extensively in the years before. His travels resulted in this book “Across South America – An Account of a Journey From Buenos Aires to Lima By Way of Potosi.”

It’s a really great book, well written and illustrated with many of the photos taken during the journey.

Download it here for free (486 pages / 21 MB):

Across South America by Hiram Bingham III

America, The New World

The Journey of Alvar Nunez Cabeza De Vaca

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The Journey of Alvar Nunez Cabeza De Vaca. This expedition was a total disaster. The story has it all. Great expectations, five Spanish galleons and 600 men heading for the New World with guns, golden dreams and civilisation building ambitions. In April 1528 they landed near St. Petersburg. This was the first mistake. They believed they were in Mexico. Instead they were in the midst of severely hostile natives. A storm destroyed their fleet and the group began wandering north, still with no clue where the were. Next the reached the land of the Apalachee indians in the merciless swamps of Florida. Again many men lost their lives and commander Pánfilo de Narváez decided to get the hell out of there on improvised rafts. Then a hurricane hit the gang. Only 86 survived and they reached another bad decision: To walk to Mexico in search for Spanish settlements. It took them 8 years only 4 survived the hunger, enslavement by indian tribes and all the abominations you can possibly imagine. #shouldhavestayedhome

Download the free e-book about the expedition here (262 pages/9.2MB):

 The Journey of Alvar Nunez Cabeza De Vaca

 

 

Africa, America, Asia, Europe, Middle East, Oceans, Pacific, The New World

Nellie Bly: Around the World in 72 Days (1890)

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“I want to go around the world! I want to go around in eighty days or less. I think I can beat Phileas Fogg’s record. May I try it?”

When investigative reporter Nellie Bly approached her editor in 1889, he was not excited about the idea at all. But, in the end, she did travel around the world.

On her adventure, she met Jules Verne – whose story had inspired her – and many, many others. The result is this book.

The endeavor became an international story almost overnight, and Nellie, whose real name was Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman, became a celebrity herself.

Her travel around the world in a record-setting 72 days is the most remembered of her feats today, but she was a pioneer in several other fields, too. For instance, Bly practically invented investigative journalism, when she lived undercover in a mental institution and uncovered horrible conditions to the public.

Around the World in Seventy-Two Days is not only a testament to the will of an extraordinary person, who became a role model for girls around the world. It is also very well written and entertaining indeed.

Download Around the World in Seventy Two Days as PDF for free here:

Nellie-bly-Around-the-World-in-Seventy-Two-Days-pdf

 

Africa, America, Antarctic, Asia, Australia, Europe, Inuit, The New World

The Gift

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The Gift – Forms and Functions of Exchange in Archaic Societies is the anthropological classic on economy, society and sociology by the french sociologist Marcel Mauss. The book investigates the gift as predecessor for modern societies economies by comparing habits from a range of traditional societies all over the world. Marcel Mauss describes how the people of Polynesia used gifts as a donation of authority and circulation of wealth and tributes. He compares the habits between eskimo tribes from North-East Siberia and West Alaska shows how gifts are the foundation for everything from marriage, war and peace and even religion in the form of sacrifices to the Gods. Marcel Mauss  concludes: “In any society it is in the nature of the gift in the end to being its own reward.”

From the book:

“I have never found a man so generous and hospitable that he would not receive a present, nor one so liberal with his money that he would dislike a reward if he could get one. Friends should rejoice each others’ hearts with gifts of weapons and raiment, that is clear from one’s own experience. That friendship lasts longest—if there is a chance of its being a success—in which friends both give and receive gifts. A man ought to be a friend to his friend and repay gift with gift. People should meet smiles with smiles and lies with treachery.”

Download The Gift here (136 pages/6MB):

 The Gift

America, Arctic, Europe, Inuit, Oceans, The New World, Thule

The Voyages of the Norsemen to America

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THE VOYAGES OF THE NORSEMEN TO AMERICA is an impressive historical presentation of the travels by the Vikings to America. The book was written by the dane William Hovgaard and published in English in 1914. His aim was to collect all the historical facts and evidences from various sources, and up to today Voyages of Norsemen is the authoritative compilation of historical descriptions of the travels of the Vikings to Iceland, Greenland and Vinland. The book is richly illustrated with maps and photos from expeditions to places where the Norsemen according to the sagas have been. William Hovgaard has many interesting points and for instance he draws similarities between popular folk games played by Norsemen in Iceland and Inuit games, and thereby supports written sources about Viking travels to remote parts of Greenland and Canada. The book goes into details of the following Viking voyages to America:

List of Viking voyages to America:

  • Bjarni’s Voyage (985 or 986)
  • Leif’s Return Voyage from Norway (1000)
  • Leif’s Voyage of Exploration to Vinland (1001)
  • Thorvald’s Voyage
  • Thorstein’s Voyage
  • Karlsefni’ s Expedition

Download the free PDF e-book here (408 pages/28MB):

 Voyages of Norsemen

America, Oceans, The New World

Christopher Columbus

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Christopher Columbus – And how he received and imparted the spirit of discovery by Justin Windsor (1831-1897) was published in 1891. The book is nearly 700 pages long and because of the many images and photos of letters, maps, and images of people I could not compress it to less than 90 MB. So please be patient while downloading.

The book aims at being the exhaustive biography of Cristopher Columbus and his travels. And it does well. All his known letters and all existing writings about him have been analyzed and put in contexts. Anecdotes from other sources are discussed and we get a vivid picture of a complex man and time. For sailors, the book will be interesting for its detailed descriptions and historical discussions about navigation and mapping of the Atlantic shores and Islands. From the book:

They that go down to the sea in ships,
that do business in great waters, these
see the works of the Lord and his wonders
in the deep. -Psalms, cvii. 23, 24

Download the huge work here (700 pages/91 MB):

 Christopher Columbus

The handwriting of Christopher Columbus
Navigation at the time of Columbus
Europe, Oceans, The New World, Uncategorized

Treasure Island

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Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson is – even though fictional – perhaps the most famous story about high adventure, pirates, betrayal, and gold. Lots, lots & lots of gold!

Countless kids and adults have dreamt themselves away to the epic story where young Jim Hawkins joins a grand expedition to discover the untold riches buried by the late Captain Flint. But all is not exactly as it seems – and the one-legged cook, Long John Silver, has other plans than to make sure the crew is well fed…

Download Read Treasure Island for free at Greatest Adventurers as PDF or MOBI-format for Kindle by clicking below.

Yo-ho-ho – and a bottle of rum!

Treasure Island PDF

Treasure Island mobi

 

TO THE HESITATING PURCHASER
If sailor tales to sailor tunes,
Storm and adventure, heat and cold,
If schooners, islands, and maroons,
And buccaneers, and buried gold,
And all the old romance, retold
Exactly in the ancient way,
Can please, as me they pleased of old,
The wiser youngsters of today:
—So be it, and fall on! If not,
If studious youth no longer crave,
His ancient appetites forgot,
Kingston, or Ballantyne the brave,
Or Cooper of the wood and wave:
So be it, also! And may I
And all my pirates share the grave
Where these and their creations lie!

America, Oceans, Pacific, The New World

Life and Adventure in the South Pacific

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Life and Adventure in the South Pacific is the first hand account of five years of hard work on the whaling ship Emily Morgan of New Bedford in Massachusetts. The book draws on two young mens logbooks and recollections from the often dramatic and dangerous expeditions and it goes into details about whaling tools, strategies for hunting whales and the organisation and daily life aboard a whaling vessel. Also the art of butchering and preserving the whales after the hunt is described.

How to butcher af whale

Emily Morgan visited a number of remote harbors in the Pacific, for instance Guam, the Hawaiian Islands,Tonga, Juan Fernandez, and Formosa.

The morning of the twenty-second commences with light breezes from the northeast; pleasant weather. Suddenly, about 9 A.M., the monotony is broken by
the welcome cry from masthead:
” T-h-e-r-e she b-l-o-w-s ! T-h-e-r-e she b-l-o-w-s !”
“Where away ?”
“Four points off the lee bow, sir.”
“How far off?”
“About two miles, sir.”
“What does it look like ?”
“Sperm whales, sir.”
Av, ay ; sing out every time you holler.”

Life and Adventure in the South Pacific was written under the pseudonym “A Roving Printer” and published by Harper & Brothers in 1861. The book is in the Public Domain and you can download the entire work here, for free (373 pages/16MB) :

Life and Adventure in the South Pacific

 

 

Oceans, The New World

Journal of the first Voyage of Columbus

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Journal of the first Voyage of Columbus is the English translation of the logs and journals from the discovery of America – or “Indies” as Christopher Columbus called it. The book describes in details the life on board the ships, the fear of the sailors, the arrival in the shore of the Island of Guanahani, Cuba. Furthermore, we get interviews with the native people of the islands and the expeditions considerations about possible business ventures, the possibilities of finding gold and there is a chapter about Columbus outlining a colonial policy. This is indeed a historical document. Download it here in full length for free (177 pages/15MB):

Journal of the first Voyage of Columbus