A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 02

A sweeping survey of humanity’s restless urge to explore, this volume gathers the earliest recorded sea‑ and land‑journeys into a single, well‑illustrated narrative. With detailed maps and charts, it traces the evolution of navigation, trade and curiosity from the ninth‑century reign of Alfred the Great through the dawning of the fifteenth‑century Portuguese ventures, offering listeners a clear sense of how each expedition built on the last.

The first section brings the medieval pilgrim’s road to the Holy Land to life, recounting the ill‑fated trek of the English lady Gutuere in 1097 and the daring escape of Edgar Aethling in 1102, set against the backdrop of crusader armies and hostile terrain. It then turns to the bold Portuguese forays that uncovered Madeira, the Canary Islands, and the western coast of Africa, documenting the daring voyages of explorers such as Cada Mosto and Pedro de Cintra as they pushed farther into unknown waters.