1. aardvarchaeology
  2. Early Voyages of Discovery

Early Voyages of Discovery

By aardvarchaeology on May 9, 2007.

Here's something pretty cool recommended by my amateur archaeologist and fellow honorary Chinese buddy Jerry Helliker: The Hakluyt Society.

"The Hakluyt Society seeks to advance knowledge and education by the publication of scholarly editions of primary records of voyages, travels and other geographical material.

Membership of the Society is strongly recommended to anybody interested in the history of exploration and travel, exploratory voyages, geographical discovery and worldwide cultural encounter."

The Society's latest publication is The Guiana Travels of Robert Schomburgk 1835-1844, which appeared in February.

I've done a bit of transcription work in this field, putting the first Swedish account of travels in Asia and Africa on-line in 2005: Nils Mattson Kiöping's from the mid-17th century. Prior to that, the book hadn't been re-issued in full since 1743. The book is a gem, well worth getting used to 17th-century Swedish spelling (or the lack of it). I wish the Hakluyt Society would commission me to translate it into English.

[More blog entries about , , ; , , .]

Tags
History

More like this

Afro-Chinese History Manipulation
China's interest in the natural resources of Africa has ballooned lately and received much media coverage. Apparently, the last time somebody was that interested in metal ores and scrap, they were Germany in the late 1930s. This political force field across Africa is now, of course, being dressed…
Recent Archaeomags
Archaeology Magazine's May/June issue (63:3) has a good long feature by Jarrett A. Lobell & Samir S. Patel on North European bog bodies including some new finds: Lower Saxony in 2000, the Hebrides in 2001 (you may have heard about the weird re-interred bog bodies found under a Bronze Age house…
Continued Afro-Chinese History Manipulation
In the early 15th century, Imperial Chinese mariners under the eunuch admiral Zheng He made great voyages of discovery in enormous ships. Then the Hongxi Emperor decided that what they had found on far shores was underwhelming, the whole fleet was scuppered and the Chinese paid no further attention…
The Copper Mine of Falun
The 1640 coin I found the other day came to light at an opportune moment. For some time, my wife and I had planned a trip to Falun for the weekend just passed, and that's where the coin is from. The great copper mine of Falun was an important part of Sweden's economic backbone during the country's…

Did you cover this one already?

Stone Age site found in Sweden

GOTHENBURG, Sweden, April 27 (UPI) -- Residents in a new development in the Swedish port of Gothenburg will be living on top of one of the earliest archaeological sites in the country.
.
The area in the Kalleback neighborhood is about 3 miles from the coast, The Local reported. But 10,000 years ago, it was a peninsula where ancient hunters took advantage of the available resources.
...

By Mustafa Mond, FCD (not verified) on 10 May 2007 #permalink

I recently finished a marvelous biography of Olaf Rudbeck and am a little suprised he hasn't come up.

Thanks Mustafa!

Charles, are you waiting to read about Rudbeck on archaeology in general or on voyages of discovery? I'm not aware that the man ever left Europe.

He, he, amateur archaeologist? I actually graduated from university (in archaeology) and I had two jobs (one for a municipality and one for the deparment of forests) in the archaeological field.

Regarding Voyages of Discovery: a nice book with excellent pictures from the time of the East India Company is the diary of Carl Johan Gethe who travelled with the ship Götha Leijon 1746-49. This book is not printed yet but some of Gethes drawings you can see in the book "Ostindiska kompaniet" by Tore Frängsmyr (1976).