Happy Easter

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Happy Easter, to those who can see and to those who cannot.

You may have missed...


Travel:  The adventurers who set out to see the world and its peoples, one of Europe's enduring legacies.  You can see the tribes they encountered through their eyes, often reading their very words, for free on the internet in 2012.  Let yourself be swept away...

The Far East:
The Travels of Marco Polo, Volume 1 and Volume 2
Also:
The Journals of Jesuit Matteo Ricci, 1583-1610 (in Chapter V of Hukluytus Posthumus)

South America:
The letters of Amerigo Vespucci, from his voyages in 1499-1504.
Also:
A brief account of Sir Francis Drake's voyage around the world, launched in 1577.

North America:
The Voyages of Samuel Champlain in North America in the early 1600s.
Also:
The expedition of Lewis and Clark, 1804-06.

 The South Pacific:
A Voyage Toward the South Pole and Around the World, by Capt. James Cook, 1775.

Sub-Saharan Africa:
Mungo Park's excellent Travels in the Interior of Africa, 1798.
Also:
Sir Henry M. Stanley's How I Found Livingstone, 1871.

The whole world:
The Exploration of the World, 1882, Jules Verne.  A marvelous anthology of narratives from the world's greatest travelers, from Herodotus to Ibn Batuta to Columbus.  A real treasure trove, not to be missed.


Wishing everyone the simple pleasures of celebrating with family.  'The days are long, but the years are short...'  Happy Easter / Joyeuses Pâques to all.