Jonathan Carver's travels through America, 1766-1768
Subtitle: an eighteenth-century explorer's account of uncharted America
By: edited and with an introduction by Norman Gelb.
Contributors: Gelb, Norman.
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 1993
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 245
Subjects: Carver, Jonathan, 1710-1780 -- Diaries; Indians of North America -- Northwestern States -- History -- 18th century; Indians of North America -- Mississippi River Valley -- History -- 18th century; Indians of North America -- History -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775; Northwestern States -- Description and travel; Mississippi River Valley -- Description and travel; North America -- Discovery and exploration -- English
Description: On September 3, 1766, Jonathan Carver, a fifty-six year old captain the Massachusetts Colonial Militia and a veteran of the French and Indian Wars, set off from Fort Michilimackinac (now Mackinac, Michigan) to explore the uncharted American wilderness. Working under orders from Major Robert Rogers, his mission was to "explore the interior and unknown Tracts of the Continent of America ... and make Observations, Surveys and Draughts thereof." During the three years that followed, Carver journeyed through more than five thousand miles of previously unexplored territory along the Great Lakes and across the Mississippi River, scrupulously recording all that he saw of the Native American cultures he encountered as well as the flora, fauna, climate and geography. First published in England in 1778, Jonathan Carver's account of his explorations, Travels Through the Interior Parts of North America, was to become an international bestseller.

It would go through several editions in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries and be translated into French, German, Dutch, and Greek. Out of print for more than a hundred years, this influential work is once again available due to the efforts of historian Norman Gelb. Written in a charmingly unpretentious style, and illustrated with reproduction of the original map and copper plates appearing in the original 1778 edition, Carver's book offers a unique firsthand account of an American continent untouched by European influence. But above all, Carver's depictions of the Naudowessies, with whom he spent an entire winter and among whom he was to become an honorary chief, provides one of the first in-depth accounts of day-to-day life in a Native American culture.

For his era, Carver was an extraordinarily unbiased and compassionate observer, and his observations of Native American society, beliefs, customs, and character (in comparison to which he found European civilization sorely wanting at times) did much to change the prevailing notion of Native Americans as "uncouthe savages." Jonathan Carver's Travels Through America, 1766-1768 is based on the original 1778 edition published in England, and features an extensive biographical introduction on the life and times of Jonathan Carver by Norman Gelb. This new edition of Carver's seminal work will be a treasured addition to the libraries of historians and general readers alike.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 229-230) and index.