Exploration: A Very Short Introduction

Very Short Introductions #412

by Stewart A Weaver

We live in an age of globalization on every conceivable level, but globalization has a deeper history than politicians and pundits often allow, and nothing is more significant to its history than exploration. Wherever trade or faith or empire followed, explorers usually led. Their motives were as many-sided and various as their actions; their legacies are contested and mixed. But none can doubt the significance of explorers to the making of the modern world.
For as long as human societies have existed, people have felt the urge to venture outside of them, either in search of other societies or in search of new land or adventure. Exploration: A Very Short Introduction surveys this quintessential human impulse, tracing it from pre-history to the present, from east to west around the globe, and from the depths of volcanoes to the expanses of space.
Focusing on the theme of exploration as encounter, Stewart Weaver discusses the Polynesians in the Pacific, the Norse in the Atlantic, and other early explorers. He reflects on the Columbian "discovery" of the Americas, James Cook and the place of exploration in the Enlightenment, and Alexander von Humboldt's epochal encounter with tropical South America. The book's final chapters relate exploration to imperial expansion in Africa and Central Asia, assess the meaning of the race to the North and South Poles, and consider the significance of today's efforts in space and deep sea exploration.
But what accounts for this urge? Through this brief study of the history of exploration, Weaver clearly shows how the impulse to explore is also the foundation of the globalized world we inhabit today. Exploration combines a narration of explorers' daring feats with a wide-lens examination of what it fundamentally means to explore.
ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Travel

152 pages, Paperback

First published October 17, 2014

Reviews

[Hank Hoeft · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most volumes in Oxford University Press' Very Short Introduction series are highly informative (although some are more concerned with pushing a political agenda than providing objective information), but not many of the volumes I've read so far would I describe as "thrilling" or "exciting." Exploration: A Very Short Introduction is one that I not only learned a lot from, but also simply enjoyed reading. The sense of adventure I got from it reminded me a little bit of the sense of wonder I got when reading Daniel Boorstin's The Discoverers. Since it's only A Very Short Introduction to the subject, a reader might find it less-than-satisfying because it cannot go into any great depth in any of the areas covered. But that's what the bibliography of suggested readings in the back of the book is for.

[AB Freeman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A compelling part of my upcoming year (2025) will be spent exploring places I’ve not yet visited. To formulate a positive psychological approach to these travels, I’ve begun the year by reading books related to travel; however, in coming across this slim volume I found myself drawn toward discovering what enlightenment might open in the contemplation of exploration.

I didn’t have to read far, especially as Weaver’s immediately differentiation between what discovery and exploration might mean proved incredibly informative. In his estimation, exploration and discovery are “not the same thing,” particularly as they “rest on opposite theoretical assumptions.” He labels discovery as an event, reserving greater complexity for the definition of exploration, ultimately defining it as “a contingent process, an open-ended activity that however planned or programmed ultimately unfolds spontaneously in active engagement with the unknown or familiar. The discoverer arrives, the explorer wanders. The discoverer finds, the explorer seeks.”

The remainder of the book takes this definition as its North Star, featuring descriptions delineating between the wanderers of humanity (i.e., the Polynesian diaspora, early Norse explorers) and those focussed solely on discovering, naming, plundering, and profiting from their ‘adventures’ (i.e., Christopher Columbus, H. M. Stanley, Ernest Shackleton). Yet, despite the motivations stirring those compelled to travel “for the sake of discovery and adventure,” Weaver ultimately concludes that exploration remains a human obsession, one that “will never rest at any frontier, whether terrestrial or extraterrestrial.” Interestingly, I’ve found this obsession manifest within my own life; thus, it’s no surprise that 2025 portends to be an incredible year of travel, exploration, and hopefully, self-discovery.

4 stars. A book like this should be considered, not only for the brevity with which it elucidates its topic, but also for how it finds a pathway toward the historical comportment of travel. Indeed, we must come to realise whether we are tourists, travellers, discoverers, or explorers; we must maintain self-awareness of how we fit in to all the manners of travel that exist. Doing so allows for a clearer expression of how we experience both ourselves and our moments spent on the open road. To that end, reflecting upon this book, it’s definitions, historical explanations, and projections surrounding the continued expansion of the sights of humankind, remains an engaging way to spend one’s time. The likelihood of walking away slightly more informed of that impulse toward human exploration may provide enough of an impetus to read and enjoy its suggestions; that’s certainly the case for this reader.

[Rex Libris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Weaver begins this great summary on exploration with an interesting discourse of what discovery and exploration actually are. For Weaver, simply finding something is not enough, it also involves returning with the information, and thus changing the course of history. So, while Erickson may have stumbled across the new world, it did little to change the history of the West in the way that Columbus' discovery did.

Nevertheless, Weaver does give a nod to the Norse and the Polynesians for their work and navigational skills. After that he discusses Columbus and the English, Spanish, and Portuguese explorers, and those who followed in their footsteps. He also covers explorations of South America and Africa. He finishes up with the races to the various poles, the scaling of Everest, and the undersea work of Cousteau.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Historian Stewart A. Weaver wrote Exploration: A Very Short Introduction. Weaver defines exploration as ““to search into or examine a place by going through it” (Weaver 1). Exploration can also mean “to go into or range over for discovery” (Weaver 1). The book has illustrations. The book has a section of references. The book has an index. The book has a section entitled “further reading” (Weaver 123-126). The first chapter examines the definition of the concept of exploration. After the first chapter, each chapter examines a different phase of human exploration. The second chapter explores the “peopling of the earth” (Weaver 12-28) by Homo sapiens (Weaver 13). Chapter two includes the Polynesians and the Norse people. The third chapter looks at Ancient and Medieval travelers or explorers, including Marco Polo, Abu Abdallah Ibn Battuta (Weaver 37), and Zheng He, among others. The fourth chapter discusses “the age of exploration” (Weaver 40-61). This chapter includes Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama, Infante Dom Henrique, “familiar to us as “Henry the Navigator” (Weaver 43), Henry Hudson, and Ferdinand Magellan, among others. The fifth chapter is on “Exploration and the Enlightenment” (Weaver 62-82). This chapter includes Captain James Cook, Alexander von Humboldt, and Charles-Marie de La Condamine, among others. The sixth chapter discusses the connection between “empire and exploration” (Weaver 83-99). This relationship can be modeled by the Meriwether Lewis & William Clark’s expedition. President Thomas Jefferson, who sponsored the expedition in part Weaver, writes, “a small military mission to mark a putative border between the United States and British Canada” (Weaver 84-85). Other explorers from Europe, the United States, and Russia followed this pattern in the 19th Century. Chapter 7 is on the Arctic expedition, Antarctic expedition, and other expeditions of the late 19th Century and early 20th Century that tried to map the remaining blank areas of the map of the Earth. The chapter ends with the exploration of Wilfred Thesiger, who, with the help of Rashid Bedouin, made the first sustained journeys through the Rub’ al Khali, the “Empty Quarter, those 250,000 miles of parched desert in southeastern Arabia” (Weaver 113). The last chapter examines the exploration of the deep ocean, outer space, and parts of the Amazon Rainforest. Weaver shows how “almost every Western explorer, at one time or another, was a native guide, interpreter, or intercessor” (Weaver 10). I read the book on my Kindle. Weaver’s book is a very readable introduction to the concept of exploration.

[Alicias Picias · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great overview of some of the most important exploration enterprises in the history of humanity. Weaver not only picks up a well-thought and varied selection of adventures for the sake of exploration and discovery, but also tries to explain to us how exploration has affected the human nature. The explorer is the eternal wanderer. He does not want to find, but to seek. And as if they were suffering from a fever of the soul, many explorers along the ages have died becoming "martyrs to pointless courage".

[Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

2015

[emily :) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Epic

[Dan Gorman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weaver is an economic and elegant writer, but this book just made me hungrier for stories of exploration and cultural contact. 118 pages is not enough! But I guess that means the "Very Short Introduction" succeeded in its mission.

[Stevie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I came across this book for some research I was doing for a project and found the insights of the introduction and conclusion to speak to exactly what I was looking for so I was excited about that. I also was drawn to the idea of having a quick read that still covers a lot of history.