Clements R. Markham (1830–1916) began his career in the Royal Navy, sailing to South America, learning Spanish, and participating in the Arctic search for Sir John Franklin. In 1852, determined to succeed as an explorer and geographer, he travelled to Peru and visited the site of the ancient city of Cuzco, previously little known in Europe. Published in 1856, this is Markham's lively account of his travels. In his description of arriving in Panama we see a picture of the mid-nineteenth-century eagerness to explore (or exploit) Latin America. Markham's stay in Cuzco allowed him ample time to study the ruins and research the lost Inca civilisation, and also gave him his introduction to the properties of the cinchona plant, a source of quinine, which he later returned to collect and introduce to India, as described in his 1862 Travels in Peru and India (also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection).
- ISBN13 9781139962650
- Publish Date 5 June 2015 (first published 13 November 2014)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Cambridge University Press
- Imprint Cambridge University Press (Virtual Publishing)
- Format eBook
- Language English