In 1832, William MacGillivray published this abridged version of the explorer and naturalist Alexander von Humboldt's Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent During the Years 1799-1804, which had appeared in a seven-volume English translation between 1814 and 1829. MacGillivray's edition, intended for the general public, also includes Humboldt's accounts of his explorations of the Ural Mountains and Caspian Sea. Humboldt became a major figure in physical geography as a result of his arduous five-year trip to explore Central and South America. This book offers a brief biographical sketch of the scientist and covers his exciting journeys from the Island of Tenerife across the Atlantic Ocean to Caracas, and up the Orinoco River by canoe. Humboldt fights mosquitoes in dense rain forests and climbs Andean peaks in Peru without mountain gear, taking detailed notes at every stage.
