Robert Edwin Peary (1856–1920) was an American explorer who claimed to have reached the geographic North Pole with his expedition on April 6, 1909. Peary's claim was widely credited for most of the 20th century, rather than the competing claim by Frederick Cook, who said he got there a year earlier. Both claims were widely debated in newspapers until 1913.Probably few outsiders realize the well-nigh incredible toil and hardship entailed in such an achievement as Peary's; and fewer ...

The stories of the first explorers of the Arctic and the North Pole have always been somewhat overshadowed by the famous and tragic race for the South Pole a decade later. In truth the story is no less riveting to the reader, in terms of bravery, resilience and determination.What is more, in an extra dimension to the story there is the enduring controversy over who was in fact the first to make it to the North Pole. Was it Dr Frederick Cook in 1908, or Captain Peary in 1909? Histor...

“The Northwest Passage Exploration Anthology”, features the first-hand personal accounts of explorers: Roald Amundsen, Robert McClure, John Rae, John Franklin, Thomas Simpson, Peter Warren Dease, William Edward Parry and Richard Hakluyt. This book charts the full history of the exploration of the legendary “Northwest Passage” – the sea-lane around the frozen Northern shore of the North American Continent.   Discovering this passage became an obsession for generations of explor...

The frozen continent of Antarctica has always captured the imagination of explorers and adventurers from around the World, most especially in the first few decades of the 20th Century, when the race was on to be the very first person to reach the South Pole.In this carefully selected Anthology we present the personal accounts of the greatest early explorers of Antarctica: Captain Robert Falcon Scott, Sir Ernest Shackleton, Roald Amundsen, Apsley Cherry-Garrard and Sir Douglas Mawson...

In the latter half of the 19th Century a group of particularly intrepid explorers navigated their way into the interior of Africa, documenting what they saw, mapping the territory they crossed, and competing with one another to be the first to discover the fabled 'source of the Nile'.The dangers they faced in order to achieve their aims required incredible courage and endurance - from deadly wildlife such as lions, crocodiles and hippos, to the even deadlier unseen threats of Malar...

“The Canada Exploration Anthology”, features texts from Henry Hudson, Samuel de Champlain, Rene-Robert Chevalier de la Salle, Samuel Hearne, Alexander MacKenzie, David Thompson, John Rae. It also contains a wealth of pictures, photographs maps and diagrams pertaining to each of the 7 books included in this huge volume.The Anthology tells the tale of the discovery and exploration of Canada by European explorers and settlers, and by the early pioneers of the age. The texts have been ...

"The Worst Journey in the World" by Apsley Cherry-Garrard is the epic tale of the disastrous "Winter expedition" of the Author and his two companions- Henry Bowers and Dr Edward Wilson - all members of Scott's ill-fated Antarctic expedition to the South Pole, who attempted a scientific expedition in the midst of the Antarctic Winter - in the coldest temperatures found on Planet Earth.At the behest of the scientific establishment they went in search of some samples of fertilised but...

With prospectors, trappers, and whalers pouring into northwestern Canada, the North West Mounted Police were dispatched to the newest frontier to maintain patrols, protect indigenous peoples, and enforce laws in the North. In carrying out their duties, these intrepid men endured rigorous and dangerous conditions.On December 21, 1910, a four-man patrol left Fort McPherson, Northwest Territories, heading for Dawson City, Yukon, a distance of 670 kilometres. They never arrived. The ha...

This true story began in August 1929. A group of eight prospectors, led by C.D.H. MacAlpine of the Dominion Explorers, flew into the Arctic in search of mineral wealth. Grossly underequipped, the expedition ran out of fuel and was stranded above the Arctic Circle. Within days, Western Canada Airways sent a rescue team headed by Captain Andy Cruickshank, in what was to become the most extensive aviation search in Canadian history.The searchers encountered trouble: turbulent weather,...

In 1914, as the shadow of war falls across Europe, a party led by veteran explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton sets out to become the first to traverse the Antarctic continent. Their initial optimism is short-lived, however, as the ice field slowly thickens, encasing the ship Endurance in a death-grip, crushing their craft, and marooning 28 men on a polar ice floe.

When the members of Canada’s First Arctic Expedition set out from Victoria aboard HMCS Karluk in the summer of 1913, it was a moment of great optimism. The three-year mission would chart unexplored landmasses of the Western Arctic and secure Canada’s place in the international geographic community. Little did the team of distinguished scholars and scientists realize, however, how their hopes would soon be brought to ruin. Just a few months into the journey, the vessel became lodge...

The early history of the Hudson's Bay Company comes alive in these true tales of fur-trade wars, incredible wilderness journeys, hardships and danger. Founded by the extraordinary adventurers and renegades Radisson and des Groseilliers, the HBC attracted many memorable characters. Explorer Henry Kelsey was the first European to see the buffalo herds. James Knight met a mysterious fate on a frozen northern island. Brave Isabel Gunn worked in the fur trade disguised as a man. Anyone who enjo...