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Arctic Routes to Fabled Lands: Olivier Brunel and the Passage to China and Cathay in the Sixteenth Century by Marijke Spies (Paperback, 1997)

Four hundred years ago on 18th May 1596, Willem Barentsz set sail with two ships for the north via the Pole. Apart from Barentsz's expedition, numerous other attempts were made by Dutch and Flemish mariners to find a northern trade route to wealthy China and mysterious Cathay. It was common knowledge that it was cold up there. North of Iceland, it was said, hung a thick fog in which people slowly choked. Even further north, was the Swallowing Sea. Ships which got caught in it were rapidly drawn into the depths of the earth, or remained suspended by the magnetic mountain, a shining black stone with a circumference of 33 miles. There was every reason to believe that this was the devil's domain: the witchcraft of the Lapps, the groaning of souls in purgatory and the horrible people inhabiting Northern Russia. To some, however, it was also an earthly paradise. In Arctic Routes to Fabled Lands Marijke Spies relates the story of Olivier Brunel, the Dutch explorer, who in the 16th century, even before Barentsz and Heemskerk, sought a northern trade route. The numerous maps and illustrations in the book show the geographic knowledge that was available to Olivier Brunel when in 1584 he set course from the port of Enkhuizen for the mouth of the Ob in the north of Russia.

Author
Marijke Spies
Publication Name
Arctic Routes to Fabled Lands: Olivier Brunel and the Passage to China and Cathay in the Sixteenth Century
Format
Paperback
Language
English
Subject
Geography & Geosciences, History
Publication Year
1997
Type
Textbook
Number of Pages
168 Pages

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