Explorers of the Amazon

Anthony Smith
 9780226763378
0-226-76337-4

Explorers of the Amazon vividly describes how European explorers such as Pedro Cabral, Francisco De Orellana, Lope de Aguirre, and Madame Godin encountered the vast wilderness of the Amazon basin; how they searched, exploited, and fought over its riches; and what they learned and failed to learn through four centuries of adventure. Anthony Smith not only enriches this history with fascinating geographical, political, and scientific details but also gives a strong warning to those who continue to exploit this great river's resources. The history of Amazonian exploration, wonderfully told by Anthony Smith, is awash with madness--an extravagant mixture of the malevolent and the miraculous.--Stephen Mills, Times Literary Supplement