Weaver includes famous explorations, from the Lewis and Clark expedition to the first moon landing. According to Weaver, these individuals embody “what exploration is often fundamentally about: mediation, intercession, cultural negotiation and sometimes, even, symbiosis.” Native peoples, who often served as unsung guides, are essential to success. “A true explorer,” writes the professor of history at the University of Rochester, “is a traveler who seeks a discovery.” Through brief accounts and assessments of their missions, Weaver captures the adventure, the wonder, and the legacy of these feats.Įxploration typically grows out of the cultural exchange of goods and ideas when two populations meet, explains Weaver. Along the way, Weaver identifies what defines exploration during each era and places these historic achievements in the largest possible global context: that of the natural history of the earth itself.Īn avid hiker and coauthor with Maurice Isserman of Fallen Giants, an award-winning history of Himalayan mountaineering, Weaver gives as much credit to those who climb mountains and don scuba gear as to the first people to set out across the open ocean. In 140 succinct pages, Exploration: A Very Short Introduction chronicles journeys of discovery from the pre-historic trek of humans across the land bridge over the Bering Strait some 12,000 years ago to the mid-20th century deep sea voyages of Jacques-Yves Cousteau. Weaver’s survey of the history of exploration, published by Oxford University Press, offers a compelling set of answers. Stewart Weaver Surveys Exploration of the Unknown Through the Ages What is exploration? What distinguishes exploration from travel, discovery, or adventure?Įxploration is often fundamentally about: mediation, intercession, cultural negotiation and sometimes, even, symbiosis according to Stewart Weaver.
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