The great explorers were the celebrities of their day - the romance and danger of their daring expeditions captured the public imagination and the world's headl

First Crossing of America - Alexander Mackenzie "Endowed by nature with an acquisitive mind and an enterprising spirit", Mackenzie, a Scot engaged in the Canadi

Eating Dirt in Venezuela - Alexander von Humboldt Geographer, geologist, naturalist, anthropologist, physician and philosopher, Baron von Humboldt brought to ex

Stranded on Bering Island - Georg Wilhelm Steller As physician and scientific know-all on Vitus Bering's 1741 voyage, Steller shared its triumphs, including lan

Escape from Riyadh - William Gifford Palgrave A scholar and a solider, a Jesuit and a Jew, a French spy and a British ambassador- Palgrave was a man of contradi