History's Greatest Voyages of Exploration

By: Vejas Gabriel Liulevicius, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Vejas Gabriel Liulevicius

Mutiny. Disease. Starvation. Cannibals. From the ancient wayfarers to modern astronauts, world explorers have blazed trails fraught with danger. Yet, as History's Greatest Voyages of Exploration vividly demonstrates, exploration continues to be one of humanity's deepest impulses.

Across 24 lectures that unveil the process by which we came to know the far reaches of our planet, you'll witness the awe-inspiring and surprisingly interconnected tale of global exploration. An award-winning history professor from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, revolutionizes how you view the world as he introduces you to some of the greatest and most influential explorers ever known-successful as well as unsuccessful, admirable as well as flawed. You'll be spellbound as you learn of the treacherous, at times fatal, expeditions into the unknown these adventurers embarked upon, whether to the frozen Poles, Asia, Europe, the Americas, Africa, the ocean's depths, or the final frontier of space.

Through it all, you consider what drove these intrepid individuals, from proselytizing and pilgrimage to the lure of wealth, conquest, fame, and new lands, as evidenced by the Vikings' arrival in North America; Marco Polo's journey along the Silk Road to China; Christopher Columbus' "Enterprise of the Indies"; the conquistadors' ravages in Latin America; and the tiny kingdom of Portugal's triumphant circumnavigation of Africa to seize control of trade in the Indian Ocean.

In every lesson, you'll follow these fascinating figures - including several remarkable women - as they venture into uncharted territory and put themselves, and often their crews, in dire peril. With Professor Liulevicius' uniquely global approach, you also get a meaningful portrait of the travels of non-Westerners, as well as the perspectives of discovered people.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2015 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2015 The Great Courses

So much fun!

The author achieves a great story arc even though each lectures tackles a different explorer, a different time. I learned about well known travelers and obscure trail blazers. Easy to listen to. Clear sentence structure, almost conversational.

Great review

Any additional comments?

Excellent review of important voyages of exploration from antiquity to modern times. My only (minor) complaint is the professor's determination to pronounce every name in the language of that person rather than English. At times sounds forced and is annoying.

Worth Exploring

I was not sure exactly what to expect with this course, but I previously listened to the same professor's course on World War I and decided to give this a shot. In full disclosure, I'm a huge history buff, so I generally like anything related to history. This course did not disappoint. The professor covered an extraordinarily wide range of stories from very early, barely historic voyages of exploration through modern space exploration. Every lesson contained some aspect of history that I did not know before. Each lesson was interesting and kept my attention as the professor told of great voyages of exploration, some incredibly famous and others obscure. The professor did a good job organizing and condensing the materials. The professor also did a good job explaining why some of the famous voyages of exploration are still relevant today.

Around the World in Twenty-four Lectures

Useful and engaging. Of course, as with the format for so many Great Courses (which I love, so this is not a slam), limited time means limited information. But what was there was fascinating and Prof. Liulevicius, whose World War I lectures I have heard, is a capable and erudite teacher!

fantastic read!

this is a fantastic course; I'll be listening to it again and again! and gifting it!

hmmm... grain of salt(!)

that seems to be the necessity of books like these, as they appear to include 'mythology' as well as "real tales," lol

again, tho, w/ chapters on Space Exploration, it's immediately evident that either the author is lying blatantly or completely missing the more pressing issue of, erm, astronaut hoaxes & our beloved flat Earth

i appreciated tidbits of insight throughout, although it's hard to believe tales like deep-sea dives w/ leaking [& magically stopping] windows & explosions w/ only chocolate bars to eat

tales of polar exploration are notoriously questionable, ESPECIALLY when being claimed as South Pole [anything other than a ring of ice i'm more or less calling BS]

guess i enjoyed it, hehe

A tear in the space/time continuium

If you could sum up History's Greatest Voyages of Exploration in three words, what would they be?

Passion, Adventure and Discovery

Who was your favorite character and why?

St. Brendon. This Irish Monk's tale of adventure is fascinating in the extreme. I need to learn much more about his travels and what really happened in Newfoundland.

Have you listened to any of Professor Vejas Gabriel Liulevicius’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

This is a masterpiece, I am still reading his "World War I: The Great War"

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Step through a tear in the Space-Time Continuium to a new universe of Passion, Adventure and Exploration

Any additional comments?

I feel I have found a tear in the fabric of the space-time continuum, stepped through, and found a new universe unbelievably rich with passion, excitement, adventure and discoveries. My brain is on fire! This feeling comes from having completed The Great Courses “History’s Greatest Voyages of Exploration – an audible book of 24 lectures supported with a 159 page guidebook.
Although I was somewhat familiar with several of the “voyages” described in this course even the lectures on those had a lot of new insights and exciting information to capture my attention. However, the gold was in those lectures that introduced me to explorers that I knew nothing, or next to nothing, about. These were totally transfixing; they kept me engrossed to the exclusion of nearly everything else – transporting me completely to another world.
For example, I had not been aware of the a Phoenician fleet, contracted by an Egyptian pharaoh in the 7th century BC, that had sailed around the southern tip of Africa; nor did I have any knowledge of the journeys of Pytheas The Greek who, around 340-325 BC, ventured from the Mediterranean to Northern Europe to seek the edge of the world, doing such things as walking the circumference of Britain and then sailing north to perhaps what is now known as Iceland. I particularly want to learn more about St. Brendan (480-575 BC), an Irish Monk, who traveled in a leather boat to perhaps discover Newfoundland and other fascinating areas of the frozen north. I was intrigued to read that when the Vikings reached Newfoundland the Native Americans told them that white men in white robes had already been there and had left (monks apparently were not good at procreation and colony establishment).
Additional new revelations included:
• Buddhist monk Xuanzang’s journey to the West in the 600s – his unapproved departure from China on a quest for holy writings. This journey, decades long, resulted in his returning to China with a caravan loaded down with hundreds of boxes of scrolls and religious artifacts. He became a Buddhist saint across several Asian cultures.
• Ibn Battuta’s epic journey to explore the world and never take the same route next. He left Morocco in 1325; not see his hometown or family again for 24 years. Travelling through the Middle East, India, Asia, eastern Africa and Spain, staying the entire time within the network of Muslim civilization, he illustrates how the traveler binds together the world
These and much, much more made this course a magnificent portal to new great reads.
Lastly, the Bibliography of the guidebook is a rich resource for future reading. There is enough there to keep me going for the next 100 years and perhaps beyond – great stuff!

Could not put it down. Was sad it had to end.

This was an excellent course all around. I will be looking for more courses by this lecturer for my next credits.

Cascading connections

What did you love best about History's Greatest Voyages of Exploration?

I'm a sucker for a story, I suppose, but each one of these explorations seemed to be the lynchpin of human history-- until the next episode was given! It just kept getting better. Professor Liulevicius' delivery is impeccable.

What was one of the most memorable moments of History's Greatest Voyages of Exploration?

I had not realized how determined "The West" had been to avoid Mediterranean pirates-- find the Northwest Passage. It seems to have been one motivator in quite a few explorations.

Which character – as performed by Professor Vejas Gabriel Liulevicius – was your favorite?

Unbelievably perfect.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Sacajawea's 'point-man' position during L&C expedition.

Any additional comments?

Get it. You won't be disappointed.

The best! Highly Recommended!

I listened to all 24 lectures completely spellbound and awed at the intense yearnings of the human spirit to be out there, to see, to conquer, to go farther... Professor Liulevicius has crafted a gem of a course, and I am very grateful I had the opportunity to listen to it. Highly recommended!