商品簡介
This is a major biography of Dumont d'Urville, an explorer born in 1790 who has been called the Captain Cook of France. The author has uncovered overlooked sources that document his early life and fill previous gaps. d'Urville was personally involved in a huge variety of enterprises, from the bringing of the Venus di Milo for the Louvre, to the taking of French King Charles X into exile, to expeditions to Australia, New Zealand, and the Antarctic. As a scientific surveyer, he coined the terms Melanesia and Micronesia, and made extensive collections which helped French biologists build a reputation that kept French-language guides to botany and zoology authoritative until the 20th century. He was also one of the best-known travel writers in Europe. The book is notable for the author's discovery that d'Urville traveled to Australia under secret orders to find a site for a French penal colony. His explorations caused British colonialists to start settlements in several areas of the continent in order to preempt French colonialism. Though d'Urville showed a mix of individual respect and blatant racism toward the native peoples he met, the author gives full attention to all the players in d'Urville's story, regardless of their ethnicity. The book is long, but straightforward; he was involved in so many episodes, and his personal life so marked by major events, that though he and his remaining family died young in the worst railway accident in Europe, the full story takes some time to tell. Annotation c2015 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)
