The most famous travelers and their discoveries. The most famous travelers and their discoveries Famous Europeans

Travel has always attracted people, but before it was not only interesting, but also extremely difficult. The territories were unexplored, and when setting off, everyone became an explorer. Which travelers are the most famous and what exactly did each of them discover?

James Cook

The famous Englishman was one of the best cartographers of the eighteenth century. He was born in the north of England and by the age of thirteen began to work with his father. But the boy turned out to be incapable of trading, so he decided to take up sailing. In those days, all the famous travelers of the world went to distant lands by ship. James became interested in maritime affairs and rose through the ranks so quickly that he was offered to become a captain. He refused and went to the Royal Navy. Already in 1757, the talented Cook began to steer the ship himself. His first achievement was drawing up the river fairway. He discovered his talent as a navigator and cartographer. In the 1760s he explored Newfoundland, which attracted the attention of the Royal Society and the Admiralty. He was entrusted with a journey across the Pacific Ocean, where he reached the shores of New Zealand. In 1770, he accomplished something that other famous travelers had not achieved before - he discovered a new continent. Cook returned to England in 1771 as the famous pioneer of Australia. His last journey was an expedition in search of a passage connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Today, even schoolchildren know the sad fate of Cook, who was killed by cannibal natives.

Christopher Columbus

Famous travelers and their discoveries have always had a significant influence on the course of history, but few turned out to be as famous as this man. Columbus became a national hero of Spain, decisively expanding the map of the country. Christopher was born in 1451. The boy quickly achieved success because he was diligent and studied well. Already at the age of 14 he went to sea. In 1479, he met his love and began life in Portugal, but after the tragic death of his wife, he and his son went to Spain. Having received the support of the Spanish king, he set out on an expedition whose goal was to find a route to Asia. Three ships sailed from the coast of Spain to the west. In October 1492 they reached the Bahamas. This is how America was discovered. Christopher mistakenly decided to call the local residents Indians, believing that he had reached India. His report changed history: the two new continents and many islands discovered by Columbus became the main focus of colonial voyages over the next few centuries.

Vasco da Gama

The most famous traveler of Portugal was born in the city of Sines on September 29, 1460. From a young age he worked in the navy and became famous as a confident and fearless captain. In 1495, King Manuel came to power in Portugal, who dreamed of developing trade with India. For this, a sea route was needed, in search of which Vasco da Gama had to go. There were more famous sailors and travelers in the country, but for some reason the king chose him. In 1497, four ships sailed south, rounded and sailed to Mozambique. They had to stop there for a month - half the team by that time was suffering from scurvy. After the break, Vasco da Gama reached Calcutta. In India, he established trade relations for three months, and a year later returned to Portugal, where he became a national hero. The discovery of a sea route that made it possible to get to Calcutta along the east coast of Africa was his main achievement.

Nikolai Miklouho-Maclay

Famous Russian travelers also made many important discoveries. For example, the same Nikolai Mikhlukho-Maclay, born in 1864 in the Novgorod province. He was unable to graduate from St. Petersburg University, as he was expelled for participating in student demonstrations. To continue his education, Nikolai went to Germany, where he met Haeckel, a natural scientist who invited Miklouho-Maclay to his scientific expedition. This is how the world of wanderings opened up for him. His whole life was devoted to travel and scientific work. Nikolai lived in Sicily, Australia, studied New Guinea, implementing a project of the Russian Geographical Society, and visited Indonesia, the Philippines, the Malacca Peninsula and Oceania. In 1886, the natural scientist returned to Russia and proposed to the emperor to found a Russian colony overseas. But the project with New Guinea did not receive royal support, and Miklouho-Maclay became seriously ill and soon died without completing his work on the travel book.

Ferdinand Magellan

Many famous navigators and travelers lived during the era of the Great Magellan is no exception. In 1480 he was born in Portugal, in the city of Sabrosa. Having gone to serve at court (at that time he was only 12 years old), he learned about the confrontation between his native country and Spain, about travel to the East Indies and trade routes. This is how he first became interested in the sea. In 1505, Fernand got on a ship. For seven years after that, he roamed the seas and took part in expeditions to India and Africa. In 1513, Magellan traveled to Morocco, where he was wounded in battle. But this did not curb his thirst for travel - he planned an expedition for spices. The king rejected his request, and Magellan went to Spain, where he received all the necessary support. Thus began his journey around the world. Fernand thought that from the west the route to India might be shorter. He crossed the Atlantic Ocean, reached South America and opened a strait that would later be named after him. became the first European to see the Pacific Ocean. He used it to reach the Philippines and almost reached his goal - the Moluccas, but died in a battle with local tribes, wounded by a poisonous arrow. However, his journey revealed a new ocean to Europe and the understanding that the planet was much larger than scientists had previously thought.

Roald Amundsen

The Norwegian was born at the very end of an era in which many famous travelers became famous. Amundsen became the last of the explorers trying to find undiscovered lands. Since childhood, he was distinguished by perseverance and self-confidence, which allowed him to conquer the South Geographic Pole. The beginning of the journey is connected with 1893, when the boy dropped out of university and got a job as a sailor. In 1896 he became a navigator, and the following year he set off on his first expedition to Antarctica. The ship was lost in the ice, the crew suffered from scurvy, but Amundsen did not give up. He took command, cured the people, remembering his medical training, and led the ship back to Europe. Having become a captain, in 1903 he set out to search for the Northwest Passage off Canada. Famous travelers before him had never done anything like this - in two years the team covered the path from the east of the American continent to its west. Amundsen became famous throughout the world. The next expedition was a two-month trip to the Southern Plus, and the last enterprise was the search for Nobile, during which he went missing.

David Livingston

Many famous travelers are associated with sailing. He became a land explorer, namely the African continent. The famous Scot was born in March 1813. At age 20, he decided to become a missionary, met Robert Moffett and wanted to go to African villages. In 1841, he came to Kuruman, where he taught local residents how to farm, served as a doctor, and taught literacy. There he learned the Bechuana language, which helped him in his travels around Africa. Livingston studied in detail the life and customs of the local residents, wrote several books about them and went on an expedition in search of the sources of the Nile, in which he fell ill and died of a fever.

Amerigo Vespucci

The world's most famous travelers most often came from Spain or Portugal. Amerigo Vespucci was born in Italy and became one of the famous Florentines. He received a good education and trained as a financier. From 1490 he worked in Seville, in the Medici trade mission. His life was connected with sea travel, for example, he sponsored Columbus's second expedition. Christopher inspired him with the idea of ​​​​trying himself as a traveler, and already in 1499 Vespucci went to Suriname. The purpose of the voyage was to explore the coastline. There he opened a settlement called Venezuela - little Venice. In 1500 he returned home, bringing 200 slaves. In 1501 and 1503 Amerigo repeated his travels, acting not only as a navigator, but also as a cartographer. He discovered the bay of Rio de Janeiro, the name of which he gave himself. From 1505 he served the king of Castile and did not participate in campaigns, only equipped other people’s expeditions.

Francis Drake

Many famous travelers and their discoveries benefited humanity. But among them there are also those who left behind a bad memory, since their names were associated with rather cruel events. The English Protestant, who sailed on a ship from the age of twelve, was no exception. He captured locals in the Caribbean, sold them into slavery to the Spaniards, attacked ships and fought with Catholics. Perhaps no one could match Drake in the number of captured foreign ships. His campaigns were sponsored by the Queen of England. In 1577, he went to South America to defeat the Spanish settlements. During the journey, he found Tierra del Fuego and a strait, which was later named after him. Having sailed around Argentina, Drake plundered the port of Valparaiso and two Spanish ships. Having reached California, he met the natives who presented the British with gifts of tobacco and bird feathers. Drake crossed the Indian Ocean and returned to Plymouth, becoming the first British person to circumnavigate the world. He was admitted to the House of Commons and awarded the title of Sir. In 1595 he died on his last trip to the Caribbean.

Afanasy Nikitin

Few famous Russian travelers have achieved the same heights as this native of Tver. Afanasy Nikitin became the first European to visit India. He traveled to the Portuguese colonialists and wrote “Walking across the Three Seas” - a most valuable literary and historical monument. The success of the expedition was ensured by the career of a merchant: Afanasy knew several languages ​​and knew how to negotiate with people. On his journey, he visited Baku, lived in Persia for about two years and reached India by ship. After visiting several cities in an exotic country, he went to Parvat, where he stayed for a year and a half. After the province of Raichur, he headed to Russia, laying a route through the Arabian and Somali peninsulas. However, Afanasy Nikitin never made it home, because he fell ill and died near Smolensk, but his notes were preserved and provided the merchant with world fame.

“The World of Yesterday” is the last book by Stefan Zweig, the confessional testament of the famous Austrian writer, created in the midst of World War II in exile. In addition to a broad panorama of the social and cultural life of Europe in the first half of the twentieth century, the reader will find in it the author’s reflections on the causes and background of the enormous human catastrophe, as well as, in spite of everything, sincere hope and faith in the final victory of reason, goodness and humanism.

The World of Yesterday, called a great book by Thomas Mann, took many years to reach German readers. The path of this book to the Russian reader turned out to be much more difficult and took a total of five decades. In this publication, for the first time in Russian, the autobiography of the translator Gennady Efimovich Kagan “Yesterday's World Today” is published, a fascinating story about life, strangely echoing the book by Stefan Zweig, on the translation of which Gennady Efimovich worked for many years and even more time tried to publish it on the territory THE USSR.

Testament of Messer Marco (collection)

Valentin Pronin Sea adventures Historical adventures (Veche)

The new book by the famous writer and historian Valentin Pronin includes two historical and adventure stories about famous European travelers. The story “The Testament of Messer Marco” tells about the extraordinary adventures of the famous Venetian merchant, diplomat and writer Marco Polo (1254–1324), who made a many-year journey through the countries of Central and Central Asia to China and for more than fifteen years served in the service of Kublai Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan, conqueror and ruler of China, - as his official trade and diplomatic representative in India, Iran and Persia.

The story “The Commander's Long March” is dedicated to the famous Portuguese navigator, merchant and pirate Vasco da Gama, Count of Vidigueira (1469–1524), who, on four small caravels, in company with his brother Paulo, made the expedition in 1497–1498. an unprecedented voyage from Lisbon to Calicut, located on the Malabar coast of Hindustan, paving the sea route to the fabulous land of spices and gold.

The world is on the verge of war. Reflections of a European

Giulietto Chiesa Politics, political science War and Peace (Book World)

Giulietto Chiesa is one of the most famous politicians in Europe. Author of the documentary film “Zero,” which revealed the provocative nature of the destruction of the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York and accused the reactionary political circles of the United States of organizing this terrorist attack.

This book presents his works from different years, in which the author analyzes the situation in the world, discusses the modern role of Russia, evaluates certain events and predicts the development of the international situation. In particular, he warns about the likelihood of a Third World War, which the United States seeks to unleash.

What does Chiesa see as confirmation of his predictions? How can Russia become the last obstacle to a new big war? What will happen to the leading world powers in the near future? What awaits the world economy and world currencies? Where is our world heading? Forecast of the future from Giulietto Chiesa, the most famous anti-globalist in Europe.

Julietto Chiesa worked on the materials in this book together with Ekaterina Glushik. Glushik Ekaterina Fedorovna is a writer, publicist, literary critic, author of the Literary Newspaper and the newspaper Zavtra. Author of ten books. Winner of the “Eureka” and “Best Book of the Year” awards, winner of the award named after.

A. N. Tolstoy, winner of the competition of journalistic works “Belarus - Russia. Step into the Future".

SS Tibet Expedition. The truth about the secret German project

Andrey Vasilchenko Documental literature Journey behind the mystery

Tibet, like a magnet, attracted the leaders of the Third Reich. It was the most inaccessible, most mysterious and at the same time the most alien country in Asia for Europeans. Following the greatest philosopher I. Kant, the Nazis believed that Tibet would become “a shelter for the human race for a time and after the final greatest revolution on our Earth.”

In 1938–1939 The famous expedition of Ernst Schäfer was sent to Tibet under the patronage of the Reichsführer SS. For many decades, all information about this expedition was classified as “Top Secret”. And, indeed, there was something to hide... In the book by A.

V. Vasilchenko for the first time publishes in Russian the full report of E. Schaefer “The Secrets of Tibet” and clarifies many of the blind spots in the “occult” history of the Third Reich.

Sailing across three seas

Afanasy Nikitin Biographies and Memoirs Great Journeys No data

For centuries, people have strived to discover new lands. The Vikings reached North America, the Jesuits penetrated China and Japan, which were closed to foreigners, sea pirates were carried away by storms and currents, sometimes irrevocably, to uncharted areas of the Pacific Ocean... But there was one wonderful country where every enterprising European was irresistibly drawn.

Its carpets and silks, saffron and pepper, emeralds, pearls, diamonds, gold, elephants and tigers, inaccessible mountains and forest thickets, milk rivers and jelly banks have equally deprived both romantic and selfish hearts of peace for many centuries. This country is India.

They searched for it, dreamed about it, the best of the navigators paved the way to it. Columbus discovered his “India” (which turned out to be America) in 1492, Vasco da Gama reached real India in 1498. But he was a little late - a quarter of a century -: India was already “discovered”.

And the impetus for this was a combination of initially unhappy personal circumstances of the not very rich, but energetic and inquisitive Russian merchant Afanasy Nikitin. In 1466, he collected (on credit!) goods and set off from Moscow to the Caucasus. But when he went down the Volga to Astrakhan, one of his ships was captured by robbers, and the other was wrecked by a storm off the Caspian coast.

Nikitin continued his journey. He did not dare to return home: for the loss of goods he was threatened with a debt trap. He reached Derbent by land, moved to Persia and entered India by sea. Afanasy stayed there for three years and returned to Russia through Africa (Somalia), Turkish lands (Trebizond) and the Black Sea, but died before reaching Smolensk.

His notes (“notebooks”) were delivered by merchants to Moscow and included in the chronicle. This is how the famous “Walking across Three Seas” was born - a monument not only literary, historical and geographical, but a monument to human courage, curiosity, enterprise and perseverance.

More than 500 years have passed, but even today this manuscript opens the doors to unknown worlds for us - ancient exotic India and the mysterious Russian soul. The Appendices to the book contain interesting stories about travels made in different years (before and after Nikitin) to the same regions of India and neighboring countries: “Journey to the Eastern Countries of Guillaume de Rubruk”, “Walking of the merchant Fedot Kotov to Persia”, “Travel to Tana” by Josaphat Barbaro and “Journey to Persia” by Ambrogio Contarini.

Thanks to this composition, this volume of the “Great Travels” series, beloved by domestic readers, is distinguished by its amazing factual richness and abundance of material. The electronic publication includes all the texts of the paper book and the main illustrative material.

But for true connoisseurs of exclusive publications, we offer a gift classic book. Numerous ancient images of the described places give a clear idea of ​​how our travelers saw them. The richly illustrated publication is intended for everyone who is interested in the history of geographical discoveries and loves authentic stories about real adventures.

Discovery of Antarctica

Thaddeus Faddeevich Bellingshausen Biographies and Memoirs Great Journeys No data

The history of mankind is a history of wars and geographical discoveries. There were a great many of both. But only two wars are called world wars, and only three geographical discoveries have a similar status. This is the discovery of three new continents - America, Australia and Antarctica (Europeans have always known about Asia and Africa).

And therefore, among the names of great navigators, three deserve to be named first: Christopher Columbus, James Cook and Thaddeus Faddeevich Bellingshausen (1778-1852). Peter I wrote the first lines in the history of the Russian fleet. And starting from the 18th century, Russian navigators made an outstanding contribution both to the science of winning and to the chronicle of geographical discoveries.

From adventure-filled trips around the world, they returned with new knowledge not only about our planet, but also about the power of the human spirit. Kruzenshtern, Lisyansky, Golovnin inspired, taught and educated Bellingshausen, Kotzebue, Lazarev and Wrangel, and Lazarev brought Nakhimov and Kornilov to the sea... In the very first Russian circumnavigation under the leadership of I.

F. Kruzenshtern, while still a very young officer, the future famous admiral F. F. Bellingshausen took part. He became famous later when, in 1819-1821, he led an expedition that discovered Antarctica - a continent at that time no less legendary than Atlantis, a mystery continent whose very existence many doubted.

Here is a detailed travel diary that Bellingshausen kept during his famous circumnavigation. The book by F. F. Bellingshausen even today, almost 200 years after it was written, captivates the reader not only with an abundance of vivid, memorable details, but also with the very personality of the author.

Bellingshausen not only records events - he vividly responds to everything that happened in foreign ports and on the open sea, expressively characterizes the expedition members, and writes with particular warmth about his faithful assistant - the commander of the ship "Mirny" M.

P. Lazarev. This is a fascinating account by a glorious Russian sailor of the last of mankind's greatest geographical exploits. On the sloops “Vostok” and “Mirny”, Bellingshausen and Lazarev circumnavigated Antarctica, crossed the Antarctic Circle six times, discovered many islands, and most importantly, proved that this continent was not a myth, and were able to survive and return home.

It is difficult to judge what was more in this enterprise - exploits or adventures - but the memory of it has remained for centuries, like the glorious names of two Russian sailors on the map of the Earth, which has not yet been fully explored even today. The electronic publication includes all the texts of F.'s paper book.

F. Bellingshausen and basic illustrative material. But for true connoisseurs of exclusive publications, we offer a gift classic book. “Discovery of Antarctica” is an exemplary illustrated publication, approaching the level of an album. Beautiful offset paper, dozens of color and more than 300 old black and white paintings and drawings not only decorate the book - they allow the reader to literally look into the past, to see the expedition through the eyes of its participants.

This edition, like all books in the Great Journeys series, is printed on beautiful offset paper and elegantly designed. Editions of the series will adorn any, even the most sophisticated library, and will be a wonderful gift for both young readers and discerning bibliophiles.

Expeditions to Equatorial Africa. 1875–1882. Documents and materials

Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza Story Absent 1887, 1888

The book, prepared by Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor of the National Research University Higher School of Economics I. V. Krivushin and Candidate of Philological Sciences E. S. Krivushina, is the first domestic scientific publication of documents and materials related to the first two expeditions to the African continent (1875–1878 and 1879–1882 gg.

) by the famous French traveler and explorer Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza (1852–1905), which led to the discovery of vast lands between the Ogouvé, Congo and Atlantic coasts and which became the starting point for the creation of the French colonial empire in Central Africa.

The memoirs of Pierre de Brazza, his reports to the French Geographical Society and his letters published in the book contain unique information both about the expeditions themselves and about the geography and ethnography of Equatorial Africa. The publication, equipped with extensive scientific commentary, is preceded by an introduction that examines the colonial policy of the Third Republic and the life path of Pierre de Brazza, and ends with an appendix - three scientific articles devoted to the pre-colonial history of the peoples of Gabon, the history of the penetration of Europeans into Gabon and the early attempts of the French to gain a foothold in this region.

For a wide range of readers, primarily historians, ethnologists, cultural experts, geographers, and journalists.

Napoleon. Father of the European Union

Absent Story Nikolay Starikov recommends reading

Napoleon. He was the most successful “European integrator”. He was the first to create a “united Europe”. Burning Moscow. Horrors of the Berezina. Sun of Austerlitz. Battle of the Nations near Leipzig. Emperor Paul I, killed with British money only because he decided to become an ally of Bonaparte.

Napoleon fought England and went to India to take Britain by the throat. But he found himself in the vastness of Russia, and 130 years later his disastrous path was exactly repeated by the creator of the Third Reich. Following the “European integrator” Bonaparte, the “European integrator” Adolf Hitler came to us.

Threats from Europe have not changed for Russia over the centuries. To the accompaniment of words about the “Russian danger,” Europeans attack us over and over again and try to destroy the original Russian civilization. But their power over and over again found its end in the fields near Moscow and Poltava... The book offered to readers was written by the French, the famous historians Ernest Lavisse and Alfred Rambaud, but it was published both under the Tsar and under Stalin.

Why? Because it broadens one's horizons and gives a complete picture of the complex situation of that time, providing the reader with a lot of new and little-known facts. Russia sent all “European integrators” into political oblivion – the fate of the current ones will not be an exception.

But to understand this we must know the previous ones well.

Seven Pillars of Wisdom

Thomas Lawrence of Arabia Biographies and Memoirs Absent

Thomas Edward Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of Arabia, is a famous English intelligence officer, partisan, politician, writer, and translator. His bright and unusual autobiographical novel “Seven Pillars of Wisdom” is still one of the most published and read books in the world.

(Based on it, the legendary film “Lawrence of Arabia” was shot, which is one of the masterpieces of world cinema.) This book bizarrely combines the medieval, exotic world of the Arabs, who revered Lawrence almost as the Messiah, and the realities of the Western world, which unceremoniously invaded at the beginning last century to the Middle East.

But the most important thing in “Seven Pillars of Wisdom” is the soul of Arabia, which Lawrence felt and described in a way that no European could do. This edition presents a complete translation of this wonderful book.

Penal battalion mission Impossible

Anton Pavlovich Krotkov Action: Other Victory Library

The famous ace of the Great Patriotic War, the commander of the only special penal air group of its kind, Boris Nefedov - the famous Anarchist - finds himself in the epicenter of a brutal civil war burning in the very heart of the Dark Continent. By coincidence, Nefedov is forced to enlist as a pilot in the mercenary Aviation Legion.

Very quickly the main character realizes that he is in a real African penal battalion. For many pilots who ended up here by chance, this place became a living hell, from which it is almost impossible to escape. Nefedov will have to serve in a dark place that inspires horror in most Europeans, where witchcraft, cannibalism and ritual murder are still practiced in the primeval jungle.

This is the wildest and darkest Africa. And only enormous combat experience and a special character allow the Anarchist to find a way out of seemingly dead-end situations...

Journey to the Maclay Coast

Nikolai Nikolaevich Miklouho-Maclay Biographies and Memoirs Great Journeys No data

The famous Russian traveler and ethnographer Nikolai Nikolaevich Miklouho-Maclay (1846-1888) revealed to the civilized world the unique nature of New Guinea and the exotic culture of the aborigines who inhabited it. In his diaries, he spoke about life and adventures among the wild tribes of the Maclay Coast, so named during the explorer’s lifetime.

Now planes of tourist airlines fly to those places, but the first to descend the ramp to the shore of the mysterious “Papuasia” was a Russian explorer and naturalist. In the year of the 150th anniversary of his birth, Miklouho-Maclay was named UNESCO Citizen of the World. The Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences bears his name.

Miklouho-Maclay's birthday is a professional holiday for ethnographers. Miklouho-Maclay set off on his journey to the times when enlightened Europeans made stuffed animals of the natives (“wild”) for ethnographic purposes. It’s hard to believe, but just over a century ago it was not at all obvious to most members of the white race that Hottentots, Indians, and Papuans were people.

Leo Tolstoy, having become acquainted with the works of Maclay, wrote to him: “You were the first to undoubtedly prove by experience that man is always a man, that is, a kind, sociable being, with whom one can and should enter into communication only with goodness and truth, and not with guns.” and vodka.

<…>all your collections and all scientific observations are nothing in comparison with the observation about the properties of man that you made by settling among the wild and entering into communication with them<…>state with the greatest detail and with the strict truthfulness characteristic of you all your human-human relationships that you entered into with people there.

I don’t know what contribution your collections and discoveries will make to the science that you serve, but your experience of communicating with the wild will constitute an era in the science that I serve - in the science of how people can live with each other. Write this story and you will have done a great and good service to humanity.

If I were you, I would describe in detail all my adventures, setting aside everything except relationships with people.” Miklouho-Maclay lived only 42 years, but during this time he traveled half the globe, spent several years in the malarial jungles of “Papuasia,” wrote hundreds of scientific articles and a thousand pages of diaries, made hundreds of sketches of the daily life of the aborigines, collected wonderful ethnographic collections and even stopped several bloody wars between cannibals.

They wanted to eat it, but, fortunately, they decided to first take a closer look at the exotic “tamo rus”. And when they got to know him better, they called him “a man of one word” - because he could be trusted like no one else on Earth.

His diaries are almost a century and a half old. Take a look at them and you will understand what real exoticism is. Some say: man is a wolf to man. Others are friend, comrade and brother. Maclay knew: man is a guest to man. The electronic publication of the book by N. N. Miklouho-Maclay includes the full text of the paper book and part of the illustrative material.

But for true connoisseurs of exclusive publications, we offer a gift classic book with exceptional richness of illustrations, most of which were made by the author himself. The book is equipped with extensive comments and explanations of exotic geographical realities; It has beautiful printing and white offset paper.

This edition, like all the books in the “Great Travels” series, will adorn any, even the most sophisticated library, and will be a wonderful gift for both young readers and discerning bibliophiles.

About tyranny. 20 lessons from the 20th century

Timothy Snyder Foreign journalism Corpus

Is there anything in common between Germany in 1933 and America, which elected Donald Trump as president? In Timothy Snyder's book On Tyranny, such a comparison does not seem a stretch. The author calls for listening to the lessons of the past century and using them to prevent a slide into dictatorship in the current one.

“We are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy give way to fascism, Nazism and communism in the 20th century,” Snyder writes. “Our only advantage is that we can learn from their experience.” And now is the time for this.” Timothy Snyder is one of America's leading historians, widely known in Europe, where most of his works are written.

John hopes to find peace, consolation on American soil and build a new home where he could bring his son and daughter. He is full of enthusiasm, unaware of what difficult trials and amazing encounters fate has in store for him on this wild and beautiful continent.

The ideas of an enlightened European about America turned out to be very far from the cruel reality... “Land of Hope” is the second book in a dilogy dedicated to the Tradescant family.

The black and white world of engravings is captivating and impossible to tear yourself away... A collection of engravings collected by the American biographer and publisher Evert Augustus Duyckinck (1816 - 1878). Contemporaries considered this man a hermit, he was so captivated by books and biographies of great people and was not interested in anything else in life. One of his most famous books is “Portrait gallery of eminent men and women of Europe and America. With biographies (1872)”, where the prints below are engravings.

Charlotte Brontë (Charlotte Bronte 1816 - 1855) - English poet and novelist, author of the novel "Jane Eyre"

Daikinck's heroes are presidents and emperors, kings and rebels, writers and poets, actors and inventors, heroes and criminals. These are mainly people who lived at the end of the 18th - end of the mid-19th century. Each engraved portrait is accompanied by a short biography, so that readers of the past had a kind of mini-encyclopedia in their library...

Title page of the publication

Title page of a book with portraits

Rulers (emperors, presidents, kings and aristocrats)

Emperor of Russia Alexander II Romanov (1818 - 1881)

Marie Antoinette (Marie Antoinette Josèphe Jeanne de Habsbourg-Lorraine 1755 - 1793) - Queen of France, youngest daughter of Emperor Francis I and Maria Theresa. Wife of King Louis XVI of France

Napoleon Bonaparte (Napoleone Buonaparte 1769 - 1821) - Emperor of France in 1804 -1815, French commander

Napoleon III (Napoleon III Bonaparte 1808 - 1873) - President of the French Republic from December 20, 1848 to December 1, 1852, Emperor of the French from December 1, 1852 to September 4, 1870

Empress Eugenie (Eugenie de Montijo 1826 - 1920) - Empress of France, wife of Napoleon III

Otto von Bismarck (Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck-Schönhausen 1815 - 1898) - prince, politician, statesman, first Chancellor of the German Empire (Second Reich), nicknamed the "Iron Chancellor"

Alexandrina Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria 1819 - 1901) - Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from June 20, 1837, Empress of India from May 1, 1876

Prince Albert, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (Albert Franz August Karl Emmanuel Herzog von Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha 1819 - 1861) - Duke of Saxony, husband of Queen Victoria of Great Britain

George Washington (George Washington 1732 - 1799) - American statesman, first President of the United States

Thomas Jefferson (Thomas Jefferson 1743 - 1826) - a prominent figure in the American Revolutionary War, author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), 3rd President of the United States in 1801 -1809

Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790) - politician, diplomat, scientist, inventor. One of the leaders of the American War of Independence. The first American to become a foreign member of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Martha Washington (Martha Custis Washington 1731 - 1802) - first First Lady of the United States, wife of the first US President George Washington

Victor Emanuele I (Vittorio Emanuele I di Savoia 1759 - 1824) - king of the Kingdom of Sardinia and Duke of Savoy in 1802 -1821

Wilhelm I (Wilhelm I. Friedrich Ludwig March 22, 1797 - 1888) - German Emperor (Kaiser) from January 18, 1871

Poets and writers

Charles Dickens (Charles John Huffam Dickens 1812 - 1870) - English writer

Eliza Cook (1818 - 1860(?)) - English poetess

Felicia Dorothea Hemans (1793 - 1835) - English poetess

Alfred Tennyson (Alfred Tennyson 1809 - 1892) - English poet, had the honorary title of Poet Laureate

Walter Scott (1771 - 1832) - world famous British writer, poet, historian

Jane Austen (Jane Austen 1775 - 1817) - English writer, author of the famous novel "Pride and Prejudice"

Johann Wolfgang Goethe (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1749 - 1832) - German poet and statesman

Catherine Maria Sedgwick (1789 - 1867) - American writer

William Thackeray (William Makepeace Thackeray 1811 - 1863) - English prose writer

Letitia Elizabeth London (London Letitla Elizabeth 1802 - 1838) - English writer

Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron 1788 - 1824) - English romantic poet

Madame de Stael (1766 - 1817) - famous French writer

Maria Edgeworth (1767 - 1849) - English (Irish) writer

Robert Burns (1759 - 1796) - Scottish poet and folklorist

Lady Sydney Morgan (1859 - 1859) - Irish writer

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 - 1882) - American poet

Richard Cobden (Richard Cobden 1804 - 1865) - English politician, leader of the free traders

William Wilberforce (1759 - 1833) - British politician and philanthropist

Gilbert Lafayette (Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, marquis de La Fayette 1757 - 1834) - French politician

Scientists, inventors and humanists

Samuel Morse (Samuel Finley Breese Morse 1791 - 1872) - American inventor and artist. Author of the famous Morse code

Michael Faraday (Michael Faraday 1791 - 1867) - English physicist, chemist and physical chemist, founder of the doctrine of the electromagnetic field

Alexander von Humboldt (Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander Freiherr von Humboldt 1769 - 1859) - German encyclopedist, physicist, botanist, zoologist

Robert Fulton (1765 - 1815) - American engineer and inventor, creator of one of the first steamships and the design of one of the first submarines

Florence Nightingale (1820 - 1910) - sister of mercy, one of the founders of the International Red Cross

Actors and actresses

Sarah Siddons (1755 - 1831) - British actress

John Philip Kemble (1757 - 1823) - English actor, brother of Sarah Siddons

Fatal figures (criminals and heroes)

Charlotte Corday (Marie-Anne-Charlotte de Corday d’Armont 1768 - 1793) - French noblewoman, murderer of Jean Paul Marat

Horatio Nelson (Horatio Nelson 1758 - 1805) - English naval commander, vice admiral

Abraham Lincoln (Abraham Lincoln 1809 - 1865) - American statesman, 16th President of the United States (1861 -1865), liberator of American slaves, national hero of the American people

Giuseppe Garibaldi (Giuseppe Garibaldi 1807 - 1882) - folk hero of Italy

Incredible facts

Europe is a charming part of the world, which in a relatively small area united a variety of cultures and nationalities. It is not surprising that this territory, rich in history and great events, is associated with many interesting facts that you may not have even heard of.

General facts about Europe

In Europe they live about 700 million people, however, the birth rate here is incredibly low. The fertility rate of European countries is one of the lowest on the planet. However, due to immigration from Asian and African countries, the situation is significantly leveling out.

The modern borders of Europe appeared thanks to First and Second World Wars. The First World War completely changed and dissolved empires such as the German, Ottoman, Russian and Austro-Hungarian. World War II claimed lives 2.5 percent of the world's people.

The Bosphorus Strait is a natural border between Europe and Asia

It is believed that Europe got its name thanks to the heroine of ancient Greek myths Phoenician princess of Europe, who was kidnapped by Zeus and taken to Crete. According to one version, the name Europe is translated from ancient Greek as "wide-eyed".

The Kidnapping of Europa

The smallest state in Europe is Vatican, a city in the city of Rome that gained independence from Italy in 1929. The total area of ​​the Vatican is 0.44 square kilometers, population in 2012 – 836 people. The largest country in Europe is considered Russia, although physically only 22-23 percent of its territory is in Europe. The Vatican is the smallest country not only in Europe, but also in the world, and Russia is the largest.

View of the Vatican (foreground) and part of Rome

In Europe there is 43 UN recognized states, as well as 2 states with partial recognition or unrecognized ( Republic of Kosovo and Transnistria).

The capital of the semi-recognized Republic of Kosovo, the city of Pristina

Once upon a time 80 to 90 percent Europe was covered with forest. Today, forests occupy only 3 percent of Europe.

On the border Spain and France There is a strange island, which is owned alternately by the French and the Spaniards. Pheasant Island on the Bidasoa River is uninhabited, tourists never come here, but it is valuable for both states, since in the 17th century a peace treaty was signed here after many years of war between France and Spain.

Active volcanoes in Europe

The largest volcano in Europe is considered volcano etna on the island of Sicily, Italy. This huge volcano is also one of the most active volcanoes in the world. The most ancient sources wrote about the eruptions of Etna, for example, mention of this began to appear even 3500 years ago.

Eruption of Mount Etna

Another terrible volcano is Vesuvius, located in Italy, which destroyed Pompeii and other cities of Ancient Rome at the beginning of our era, is currently active. Vesuvius last erupted in 1944.

Vesuvius is silent for now, but could wake up at any moment

Not long ago, scientists learned that the Mediterranean Sea, which separates Europe from Africa often dried up in the distant past. This geological event is known as Messina salinity peak. Interestingly, the sea slowly dried up over several thousand years and was filled again within a couple of months.

The satellite image shows how different the nature of Europe and northern Africa is

The era of the great migration of peoples

One of the very mysterious facts associated with Europe is Great Migration, when various tribes moved throughout Europe. The first wave of migration began around 500 AD, when the Germanic tribes began to move and establish their own kingdoms.

This was followed by a wave of migration of Slavic peoples. Migrations were accompanied conflicts and warriors for territories. Scientists believe one of the reasons for the resettlement climate change, during these years there was a sharp cooling.

Some European peoples have nevertheless adapted to living in conditions of eternal winter.

Culture and society

Euro– official currency 17 EU countries, although its members are 27 countries. Euro cash came into use from January 1, 2002, replacing national currencies. In addition to the main methods, the authenticity of the euro can be checked using adding up the serial number on each bill.

To do this, you need to add up all the digits of the serial number, and also add to this number the serial number of the first letter, which is also in the serial number of the bill. You need to add all the numbers until there is one number left at the end, and this number should be 8. For example, the number on your banknote is S13076479789. S is the 19th digit of the Latin alphabet, which means you need to add 19 to the other numbers: 19+1+3+0+7+6+4+7+9+7+8+9 = 80 = 8+0 = 8.

Name of the currency of Ukraine "hryvnia" comes from the name gold or silver jewelry, which was worn on the “scruff” or neck.

German baths

In Austria and Germany "naked baths"- a quite common phenomenon, but it is unusual in that men and women steam in them at the same time without the slightest embarrassment. In other European countries, such baths and saunas can be found very rarely. However, if you live somewhere in Amsterdam, you can meet naked people right on the streets, and in large numbers.

Artist Spencer Tunick takes photographs of a large group of naked people right in the center of the Dutch capital

In continental Europe, cars drive on the right, but in Paris there is one street with left-hand traffic. This street is only 350 meters. To relieve traffic jams on the streets, there are streets with partial left-hand traffic in Odessa.

In France it is possible to get married for... the dead man. If, for example, you are pregnant and your fiancé suddenly dies, you can become his official wife, and the child will become his official child. However, in order to obtain permission for such a marriage, Presidential signature required!

World famous European companies Adidas And Puma formed thanks to... quarrel between two brothers. The first company was founded in 1924 Adolf and Rudolf Dassler in Germany, and after the war they quarreled and divided the company. The city where both companies are based is divided into two parts, and the residents of both parts don't really get along with each other.

Adi Dassler with his products

In European cities there are areas where It is prohibited to drive cars. For example, in a German city Freiburg There is one prestigious residential area, whose residents leave their cars in special garages outside the area. Properties in this area have great value due to clean air.

The quality of German goods is highly respected on the market today, but this was not always the case. For example, at the end of the 19th century The British introduced mandatory labeling on product packaging - "Made in Germany" so that the consumer is aware of what it is not the best things. However, after a couple of decades, German goods significantly improved the quality, which is still valued today.

Merry Cemetery in Romania

In the north of Romania there is the village of Sepinta with an unusual cemetery where graves and tombstones decorated in all sorts of colors which looks very colorful. Wooden crosses and monuments are hand-painted and contain brief gravestone inscriptions describing the life and circumstances of death of the deceased.

The first who began to decorate crosses and monuments in the cemetery was a Romanian artisan Ion Stan Patrash who came up with the idea of ​​using his talent in such an unusual way in 1935. Ancient ancestors of Romanians - Duckies– they considered death as liberation from suffering, and the soul of the dead was considered immortal. The Sepynets cemetery represents a positive attitude towards death.

There are 12 in Europe monarchical states, most of which are ruled by a monarch who has limited rights. However, there are states where the monarch decides everything: Monaco, Liechtenstein and Vatican City. In Great Britain there are parties that advocate the abolition of the position of the queen, but the majority of Englishmen still want to preserve the tradition.

After Queen Elizabeth II, her son, Prince Charles of Wales, will take the throne of England.

Animals in Europe

In Germany on a reservoir Aase lives strange female black swan Petra who fell in love in a swan catamaran, riding children around the lake. She constantly swam near the giant and even showed aggression if someone wanted to approach the ship. After 2 years, she finally switched her attention to a representative of her species, but the love did not last long: boyfriend turned out to be a traitor. After this, Petra began to accompany the catamaran again.

Black swan Petra walking on a lake in the city of Münster, western Germany

In Germany, for the first time, a camera device appeared that was designed to mount on the body of a pigeon and aerial photography. This happened again in 1908, however, photographers began to use full-fledged pigeons in the years Second World War.

Photographer pigeons were used during the war not only by the Germans, but also by the French and Americans.

It turns out that kangaroos are found in the wild not only in Australia, but also in Europe. In particular, small colonies of kangaroos can be found in Scotland and England. There is also a small group found near Paris. These kangaroo colonies appeared in such unusual places due to the fact that some individuals escaped from zoos and reproduced.

Kangaroos in a snowy forest, although their immediate ancestors did not see snow.

In England several centuries ago it was used in the kitchen dog labor. The animals had to run in a wheel that turned a spit, and the meat was fried on the spit. Not all dogs were suitable for this job: those who did it best were long-bodied and short-legged breeds, like dachshunds. In the same England 18th century The first greyhound racing appeared. But today such entertainment is popular all over the world.

Greyhound racing

The dog moves to the finish line after the bait. The one that goes the distance the fastest wins.

Europeans often have exotic Pets, for example, they are not averse to having a pig instead of a dog. Pigs are regularly taken on leashes for walks.

A domestic pig for a walk in one of the cities of Portugal.

Some animals don't mind help the owner earn money. Street musician James Bowen I met a cat in 2007, whom I named Bean. Since then, the couple have been inseparable and give very successful street concerts on the streets of London. James even published a book about himself and his pet.

After the appearance of a partner, James began to earn 3 times more at concerts

In Moscow there is a law prohibiting dog barking from 11 pm to 7 am. However, the law applies only to those dogs that have owners, since they will be obliged in case of violation pay a fine. In the Ukrainian city of Kherson, city authorities also banned barking dogs, as well as meowing cats, mooing cows, bleating sheep and the sounds of other domestic animals from 10 pm to 6 am.

Unusual buildings and transport in Europe

Magdeburg Bridge in Germany it is intended for crossing water transport along a canal crossing a river. This unusual bridge is also the longest aqueduct. Its length is 918 meters. Construction of the bridge began in 1997 and took 6 years.

The tallest Ferris wheel in Europe is located in London. This wheel was named "Millennium Wheel", but was later renamed to "London Eye".

The Olympic flame on one of the booths of the London Eye before the opening of the London Olympics in 2012

Famous all over the world heathrow airport in London it resembles a huge metropolis with a large number of parking lots, passages and roads. To move around a vast territory, the British came up with the idea of ​​using unmanned taxi.

Self-driving taxis can accommodate up to 6 people and move at an average speed of 40 kilometers per hour.

Berlin TV Tower

Berlin TV Tower– the tallest building in Germany that was built in 1969. When the sun hits the tower, a reflection resembling a cross appears on it. That is why the witty Germans nicknamed the tower "Daddy's Revenge", hinting that in eastern Germany at that time preached atheism.

In Berlin, after the construction of the tower, there were rumors that the architects of the tower deliberately created a similar effect

Some European cities have become so incredibly popular that in Asia, particularly in China, some neighborhoods are simply copied from European city blocks. There are miniature copies of Venice, Barcelona, ​​Paris and other cities. The cunning Chinese in this way probably want to attract more local tourists who cannot afford to visit Europe.

Almost Paris: Chinese city of Tianducheng with a replica of the Eiffel Tower

Famous all over the world Eiffel Tower, the pride of Paris, without which the capital of France cannot be imagined today, was to be demolished 20 years after construction (that is, in 1909) as unnecessary. However, they decided to leave it, since by that time the development of radio had begun in Europe, and the tower was ideal for placing antennas.

Eiffel Tower, top view

Famous New York The Statue of Liberty born in Europe. It was invented by a sculptor Frederic Bartholdi. The sculpture was collected in France and presented to the United States as a friendly gift. Steel structure for the statue created by Alexander Gustav Eiffel, the same one who is the author of the Eiffel Tower. The height of the statue is 93 meters. Replicas of the Statue of Liberty can be found all over the world, but the most famous is in France.

Statue of Liberty in Paris

The famous Gothic buildings of the Middle Ages that survived in Europe look today gray and dull, however, not all of them were the same immediately after their construction. For example, Amiens Cathedral in the city of Amiens, France, was once painted in bright colors. Today the colors are restored by night illumination.

The largest number of bridges in the world is in the German city of Hamburg - about 2300 pieces. St. Petersburg, Venice and Amsterdam combined have fewer bridges than Hamburg.

European cuisine and food

One of the most favorite dishes in the world - pizza- appeared back in the days of Ancient Rome, but it was not quite the pizza we are used to, since at that time there were no tomatoes in Europe. Once tomatoes were introduced to Europe in 1522 Naples became the first city where they began to prepare our usual dish. Pizza came to America only at the end of the 19th century in Chicago, and in Russia pizza became very popular in the 1990s.

Monk Pierre Dom Perignon, as you know, invented champagne, but this is not entirely true. The monk's merits are that he developed various drink production techniques, however, he considered the bubbles to be a defect. The British bought wine in the French province Champagne, and then transported him to England. At home, they bottled the wine and used balsa wood stoppers to seal it. The wine continued to "play" in the bottles, so when it was opened, it foamed and bubbled.

Traditional salad "Olivie" was invented in Moscow by a chef from France by Lucien Olivier, in honor of which it received its name, but initially this salad had nothing in common with the modern one.

An old recipe for Olivier salad

In the original dish, the ingredients included hazel grouse, caviar, crayfish, soy, capers and veal tongue. In Soviet times, the salad was significantly simplified and products that were more accessible to the common people were used.

In France and England at the beginning of the 19th century oysters were not a delicacy. There were sufficient supplies of this product and it was much cheaper than meat, so poor people mainly ate oysters. However, later the world's oyster stocks declined greatly and in the second half of the 19th century have become rare, so their prices have risen greatly. To this day, oysters are considered the food of the rich!

European beer is famous all over the world, especially German, Czech, Scottish, Irish. In Germany, beer is an everyday drink; almost everyone, young and old, drinks it, and in the 17th century, German monks were allowed to drink beer even during fasting.

The Pope, of course, would not have given permission to drink alcohol during a strict fast, but when they brought him a keg of beer and asked whether monks could drink it, he tried it and said that Is it okay to drink this kind of crap during Lent?. Dad didn’t know that by the time the barrel reached its destination, the beer in it had spoiled.

Drink "Fanta"

Famous all over the world drink "Coca-Cola" was invented in America, but no less popular here "Fanta"– in Germany, at the beginning Second World War, although its inventor Max Keith was not a Nazi at all. At the beginning of the war, the Cola-Cola factory lost its supply of raw materials, so an enterprising German invented a drink from waste: apple pulp and whey.

The era of great geographical discoveries began thanks to spices that Europeans really needed. This product was obtained in India and the East, and due to the fact that only the Turks traded spices, they set incredibly high prices. It was decided to find a way to India on our own and from a completely different direction. That's how they were made discovering new parts of the world.

Spanish island of Lanzarote(one of the Canary Islands) is famous for its original restaurant "Devil", in which food is cooked over a volcano.

There are many food and drink monuments in Europe, e.g. pickled cucumbers, processed cheese, vodka. Some of them are in Russia:

Monument to the cucumber

Monument to a cucumber in the city of Lukhovitsy, Moscow region. Below is the inscription: “To the cucumber-breadwinner from grateful Lukhovichi residents.”

Monument to dumplings in Yeisk, Russia

The monument to sprats was erected in the city of Mamonovo (Russia) in 2008