标题: History of Circumnavigation [打印本页] 作者: choi 时间: 12-15-2012 15:59 标题: History of Circumnavigation A Roger Ekirch, Planes, Trains and Orbital Spacecraft. Wall Street Journal, Dec 15, 2012 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB ... 15301254779288.html
(book review on Joyce E Chaplin, Round About the Earth; Circumnavigation from Magellan to orbit. Simon & Schuster, 2012)
My comment:
(a) The English and French surname Chaplin is from Middle English, Old French chapelain (which is now written in English as chaplain).
(b) Ferdinand Magellan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Magellan
(c 1480-1521; Portugese; served King Charles I of Spain in search of a westward route to the "Spice Islands" (modern Maluku Islands in Indonesia))
Quote: "Magellan's expedition of 1519–1522 became the first expedition to sail from the Atlantic Ocean into the Pacific Ocean (then named 'peaceful sea' by Magellan; the passage being made via the Strait of Magellan[in present-day Chile]), and the first to cross the Pacific.
(c) The review states, "Not for three years, after traveling east to west for more than 14,000 leagues, did the bedraggled survivors limp home in a lone carrack, the Victoria."
(i) league (unit) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_(unit)
(obsolete; originally referred to the distance a person or a horse could walk in an hour; Since the Middle Ages, many values have been specified in several countries)
(ii) carrack http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrack
(d) The review says, "Only after reaching the Molucca Sea, near modern-day Indonesia, was a decision made to circle the globe as the quicker path to Europe.
(i) Molucca Sea http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molucca_Sea
(Indonesian: Laut Maluku)
, whose east and south are bound by
(ii) Maluku Islands http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maluku_Islands
(e) Laika http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laika
(Russian meaning "barker;" c 1954-1957; was a Soviet space dog that became the first animal to orbit the Earth – as well as the first animal to die in orbit; a stray dog; occupant of the Soviet spacecraft Sputnik 2)
(f) The review observes "the short shelf life of fruit high in vitamin C meant that scurvy took a heavy toll."
"This became a significant issue in Europe from the beginning of the modern era in the Age of Discovery in the 15th century, continuing to play a significant role through World War I in the 20th century.
"until the isolation of vitamin C [by Hungarian Albert Szent-Györgyiat Mayo Clinic, who alone received Nobel prize in medicine in 1937] and its direct link to scurvy in 1932, numerous theories and treatments were proposed, often on little or no experimental data.
(g) The review indicates, "By the 1840s, major shipping lines opened their gangways to paying passengers."
You can find photos of gangway in images.google.com.
(h) In 1873, when Jules Verne's whimsical novel "Around the World in 80 Days" appeared, traversing land and sea in three months—rather than three years—had, in fact, become possible by means of the Suez Canal.
* Jules Verne http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Verne
(1828-1905; French)
* Suez Canal (Construction Began 1859; Date completed 1869; by French)
* History of Egypt http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Egypt
(Ottoman Egypt: 1517 to 1805; Egypt under the Muhammad Ali dynasty: 1805 to 1882)