Skip to Main Content Libraries

HIST 331: Asian Environmental History: Asian Exploration 17th - 19th Centuries

How to Use this Page:

Click on Images to Access Digital Versions of the Books

Alvaro Semedo (1655)

Semedo, Alvaro, e S. M. Faria, and Martino Martini.
The History of That Great and Renowned Monarchy of China. Wherein All the Particular Provinces Are Accurately Described: As Also the Dispositions, Manners, Learning, Lawes, Militia, Government, and Religion of the People. Together with the Traffick and Commodities of That Countrey.
London: Printed by E. Tyler for Iohn Crook, 1655.

[Image of "An Exact Mapp of China"]

Johannes Nieuhof (1669)

Nieuhof, Johannes, Pieter . Goyer, and Jacob . Keizer.
An Embassy from the East-India Company of the United Provinces, to the Grand Tartar Cham, Emperour of China: Delivered by Their Excellcies. Peter De Goyer and Jacob De Keyzer at His Imperial City of Peking ; Wherein the Towns, Villages, Ports, Rivers, &c. in Their Passages from Canton to Peking Are Ingeniously Described.
London: Printed by John Macock for the author, 1669.

[Image of an Elephant]

[Image of a Beached Whale]

Arnoldus Montanus (1670)

Montanus, Arnoldus, and John Ogilby.
Atlas Japannensis: Being Remarkable Addresses by Way of Embassy from the East-India Company of the United Provinces, to the Emperor of Japan : Containing a Description of their Several Territories, Cities, Temples, and Fortresses; Their Religions, Laws, and Customs; Their Prodigious Wealth, and Gorgeous Habits; the Nature of Their Soil, Plants, Beasts, Hills, Rivers, and Fountains : With the Character of the Ancient and Modern Japanners. Collected out of Their Several Writings and Journals. 
London: Printed by T. Johnson for the author. 1670.

[Image of Earthquake in Yedo (Tokyo)]

[Image of Volcanic Eruption]

Louis le Comte (1697)

Le Comte, Louis. Memoirs and Observations Topographical, Physical, Mathematical, Mechanical, Natural, Civil, and Ecclesiastical. Made in a Late Journey through the Empire of China, and Published in Several Letters. Particularly upon the Chinese Pottery and Varnishing; the Silk and Other Manufactures; the Pearl Fishing; the History of Plants and Animals. Description of Their Cities and Publick Works; Number of People, Their Language, Manners and Commerce; Their Habits, Oeconomy, and Government. The Philosophy of Confucius. The State of Christianity, with Many Other Curious and Useful Remarks. London: B. Tooke, 1697.

George Anson (1748)

Anson, George A, and Richard Walter.
A Voyage Round the World in the Years Mdccxl, I, Ii, Iii, Iv, by George Anson, Esq., Commander in Chief of a Squadron of His Majesty's Ships: Sent Upon an Expedition to the South-Seas, Comp. from Papers and Other Materials of the Right Honourable George, Lord Anson, and Published Under His Direction by Richard Walter.
London: Printed for the author, 1748. Print.

John Bell (1763)

Bell, John, Lange, Lorenz.  Travels from St. Petersburg, in Russia, to Diverse Parts of Asia ... Glasgow: Printed for the Author by R. and A. Foulis, 1763.

[Click here for image of map]

George Staunton (1797) [Macartney Mission]

Click here for Volume 2

Click here for Volume 3 (Folio Images and Maps)

Staunton, George L, George Macartney, Erasmus Gower, William Alexander, William Bulmer, and George Nicol.
An Authentic Account of an Embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China: : Including Cursory Observations Made, and Information Obtained, in Travelling Through That Ancient Empire, and a Small Part of Chinese Tartary ... ; in Two Volumes, with Engravings; Beside a Folio Volume of Plates.
London: Bulmer, 1797.

[Image of White Insects on a branch in Cochin-china]

John McLeod (1818)

McLeod, John.
Narrative of a Voyage in His Majesty's Late Ship "Alceste" to the Yellow Sea Along the Coast of Corea and Through Its Numerous Hitherto Undiscovered Islands to the Island of Lewchew, with an Account of Her Shipwreck Int the Straits of Gaspar.
London: J. Murray, 1818.

[Image of Corean Chief and Attendants]

John White (1823)

White, John. History of a Voyage to the China Sea. Boston: Wells and Lilly, 1823

[Subjects:  Southern Vietnam, Philippines, China Sea]

John Cochrane (1825)

Cochrane, John Dundas. Narrative of a Pedestrian Journey through Russia and Siberian Tartary : From the Frontiers of China to the Frozen Sea and Kamtchatka. 4th ed. London: Printed for C. Knight, 1825.

George Keppel (1827)

Albemarle, George T. Keppel, Earl of. Personal Narrative of a Journey from India to England, by Bussorah, Bagdad, the Ruins of Babylon, Curdistan, the Court of Persia, the Western Shore of the Caspian Sea, Astrakhan, Nishney Novogorod, Moscow, and St. Petersburgh, in the Year 1824. London: H. Colburn, 1827.

Alexander Burnes (1834)

Burnes, Alexander. Travels into Bokhara: Being the Account of a Journey from India to Cabool, Tartary, and Persia : Also, Narrative of a Voyage on the Indus, from the Sea to Lahore, with Presents from the King of Great Britain ; Performed Under the Orders of the Supreme Government of India, in the Years 1831, 1832, and 1833 ; in Three Volumes. London: Murray, 1834.

Matthew Perry (1856)

Click here for Volume 2

Click here for Volume 3

Perry, Matthew C, and Francis L. Hawks.
Narrative of the Expedition of an American Squadron to the China Seas and Japan: Performed in the Years 1852, 1853, and 1854, Under the Command of Commodore M.c. Perry, by Order of the Government of the United States.
Washington, D.C: A.O.P. Nicholson, 1856.

[Image of Map of Coal Mines of Formosa]

[Image of Bird collected in China]

[Image of three Japanese fishes]

[Image of Fishing at Hakodadi]

[Image of Japanese Print of "Crossing the Oho-e-ga-wa" River]

Laurence Oliphant [James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin] (1860)

Click here for Volume 2

Oliphant, Laurence.
Narrative of the Earl of Elgin's Mission to China and Japan in the Years 1857, '58, '59: With Illustrations from Original Drawings & Photographs. in 2 Volumes.
Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1860.

[Image of Sewe-kang-ha Waterfall]

[Image of "A View of Fusy-Yama" from a Japanese Drawing]

[Image of "A Winter Scene in Japan" from a Japanese Drawing]

Henry Yule [Marco Polo] (1874)

Click here for Volume 2

Polo, Marco, and Henry Yule.
The Book of Ser Marco Polo, the Venetian: Concerning the Kingdoms and Marvels of the East ; in Two Volumes.
London: Murray, 1874.

[image of "Wild Ass of Mongolia"]

[Image of "Road descending from the Table-Land of Yunnan]

[Image of "The Three Asiatic Rhinoceroses]

[Image of Map of Indochinese Regions]

William Gill (1883)

Gill, William John, Yule, Henry, and Baber, Edward Colborne. The River of Golden Sand: Being the Narrative of a Journey through China and Eastern Tibet to Burmah. J. Murray, 1883.

Willamette University

Willamette University Libraries

Mark O. Hatfield Library
900 State Street.
Salem Oregon 97301
Pacific Northwest College of Art Library
511 NW Broadway.
Portland Oregon 97209