Latitude Zero - Tales of the Equator
by Guadalupi, Gianni -and- Shuggar, Anthony
pub by Carroll and Graf, NY, 2001 -     - - isbn 0-7867-0901-4 -   - 258 p. total   -   - Contents   v. -   Introduction p. vii-xiii   -   A note on the sources p. 249-251     - index p. 252-258
This book is constructed of short non-fiction stories divided into areas which are on or very near the Earths Equator. The areas are - Antiquity (for background) - South America - Africa - Asia / Oceania.
At first reading the Antiquity part I found it a light-weight read and almost tossed it aside. Then I got into the South America part and found the stories good thumbnail sketches of what was being presented.
In the South America stories 3 major Spanish expeditions on the Amazon were described.
Orellana the first to go the length of the Amazon from Peru to the Atlantic Ocean 1540-1545
Aguierre 1559-1561 which transferred from Amazon to down the Orinoco River and came to a very bad end.
Quesada - again the Amazon 1569-1572
Berrio 1580-1590
Sir Walter Raleigh 1595-1634 mostly in the Orinoco which came to a bad end
Bernard OBrien 1620-1634 perhaps the most interesting of the lot, almost made a success
Measuring the Earth 1735-1744 French expedition to Spanish South America
The Penelope of RioBama 1745-1770 a love story which grew out of the Measuring expecition
Elisa von Wagner 1932-1934 Stange story on the Galapagos Islands

Africa
Kongo 1483-1707 early Christianity and variants Portugese and local
Search for Lakes - Richard Burton, Speke and Grant 1848-1858
The Nile Unveiled - Richard Burton, Speke and Grant 1860-1864
Baker in Africa - 1864-1865
Man Eaters - Carlo Piaggia 1863 - Georg Schweinfurth 1868
Henry Morton Stanley - Dr. David Livingstone 1866-1877
Conqust of Equatoria - 1869-1873 after an anti slavery incursion failed equatoria was established
Calamities of Equatoria Baker 1873 - Lord Gordon 1880-1885 - Stanley and Emin Bey 1887-1893
Heart of Darkness - Belgium takes the Congo - terrible things 1878-1905

Asia - Oceania
a little on Magellan and Spice Islands 1519-1521
The Whie Raja Sir James Brooke 1839-1868 a white man (English) rules part of a island
Around the world in 35 hours - Krakatoa explodes 1883
Tusitala in Equator Town _ Robert Louis Stevenson to the Gilbert Islands for his health 1889-1894

After some misgivings reading the first few pages, this became a delightful and informative read.
~ 2018-08-17 ~

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