
In Northern Mists
Arctic Exploration in Early Times
Fridtjof Nansen(Author)
Cambridge University Press
Published on 17. April 2014
Book
Paperback/Softback
400 pages
978-1-108-07168-0 (ISBN)
Description
Accounts of the earliest exploration of the Arctic are scattered through many literatures. In writing this work, reissued here in the two-volume English translation of 1911, the celebrated Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen (1861-1930) returned to many of the original sources. Calling on others to help him interpret texts in several languages, Nansen begins his account with the first mentions of the Arctic in Greek literature and ends with voyages of the sixteenth century. He notably questions some of the traditional history based on Norse sagas. Each volume contains lengthy quotations from little-known documents, making much valuable information accessible to non-specialists. Volume 1 begins in antiquity and, after presenting maps and legends of the Middle Ages, turns to the voyages of the Norsemen to Iceland and Greenland. The final part deals with the possible discovery of North America or Vinland.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
1 Plates, color; 87 Line drawings, unspecified
Dimensions
Height: 244 mm
Width: 170 mm
Thickness: 21 mm
Weight
688 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-108-07168-0 (9781108071680)
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Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Fridtjof Nansen was a Norwegian polymath and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. He gained prominence at various points in his life as an explorer, scientist, diplomat and humanitarian. He led the team that made the first crossing of the Greenland interior in 1888, traversing the island on cross-country skis.
Content
Preface; Introduction; 1. Antiquity, before Pytheas; 2. Pytheas of Massalia: the voyage to Thule; 3. Antiquity, after Pytheas; 4. The early middle ages; 5. The awakening of medieval knowledge of the north; 6. Finns, Skridfinns, and the first settlement of Scandinavia; 7. The voyages of the Norsemen: discovery of Iceland and Greenland; 8. Voyages to the uninhabited parts of Greenland in the middle ages; 9. Wineland the Good, the Fortunate Isles, and the discovery of America.