Tag Archives: India

The Travels of Marco Polo the Venetian

Marco Polo is probably one of the best-known explorers of all time. He was born in the year 1254 in Venice and joined his father’s trade business. In the company with his father Niccolò and uncle, Maffeo, Marco initiated a great journey along the Silk Road in 1271.

Finally, the delegation reached their destination and met the great Kublai Khan himself. The journey was never meant to last more than a few years, but extended into a 25-year long adventure, where Marco became a trusted advisor and servant to the Khan.

Marco Polo was the first Westerner to visit the far East. He described in detail the intricate workings of mighty China and traveled far and wide as a trusted envoy of the Khan. Amongst many other places, he visited and described Burma, India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.

The Travels of Marco Polo the Venetian tells the complete story of Marco Polos life, his meeting with the eastern cultures – and how he succeeded in returning home at last.

Download the free e-book here in full length (477 pages/31MB) :

The Travels of Marco Polo

Winston Churchill: My Early Life

SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL was a resolute Prime Minister of Great Britain during the Second World War. Furthermore, he inspired millions of Europeans to “keep buggering on” when all seemed lost in the epic struggle with Nazi-Germany.

He was also an adventurer by heart, who spent his youth participating in conflicts in India, Sudan, Afghanistan and South Africa. He escaped captivity from a Boer prison camp – and accounted for his many adventures in numerous articles.

Based on the wartime experiences of his youth, Churchill even suggested that it would be a pretty great idea if he could watch the first waves of the amphibious assault of D-Day from the warship HMS Belfast. The generals and admirals declined the PMs request – politely but with no room for misunderstanding what so ever..

Being a storyteller by heart, Sir Winston was also a prolific writer. He was even awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953 “for his mastery of historical and biographical description as well as for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values.”

Churchill authored a great many books. He genuinely enjoyed the process of writing (most of the time, at least). More importantly, however, the generous fees helped finance a lifestyle which, even at the worst of times, could never be considered anything less than stately.

Many of his books are strictly speaking quite a bit longer and more detailed than necessary. Not so with “My Early Life,” which you can read by clicking on the link below. It is relatively short and tells the story of Churchill’s childhood and youth. It also collects a lot of his most memorable experiences from The Second Boer War, Sudan and India.

My Early Life is generally considered one of Churchill’s best books – and it is undoubtedly one of his most amusing and entertaining works!

Download the free PDF e-book here:

 My Early Life – A Roving Commission

Van Wert’s Travels in Asia and Africa

Van Wert’s Travels in Asia and Africa was first published in 1884 and is the dramatized travel logs from his year longs expeditions Northern Africa, the Middle East, and India. The book among his other works, such as Van Wert’s Travels in Foreign Lands, was very popular among younger readers eager to know more about the world. His books were for this reason also used in public schools in the USA.

The book is richly illustrated and full of anecdotes. Download Van Wert’s Travels in Asia and Africa here as a free PDF e-book (314 pages/44MB):

Van Werts Travels in Asia and Africa