If you have a passion for travel and history then you will love this book. Superlative adjectives jump to mind as soon as you see it, but fail to do it justice. Deliciously heavy, it is a sumptuous read and lavishly illustrated: this is Dorling Kindersley at its absolute best... With themes of migrations, exploration, scientific discovery and development of transport, this fabulous book follows how travel has changed over the years and celebrates humanity's endeavours. * Timeless Travels *

Simon Reeve is an adventurer and New York Times bestselling author who has travelled to more than 120 countries making award-winning documentaries for the BBC. They include Caribbean, Indian Ocean, Tropic of Cancer and Equator. Simon has received a One World Broadcasting Trust Award for "an outstanding contribution to greater world understanding", and the prestigious Ness Award from the Royal Geographical Society. His unique brand of documentaries, combining travel and adventure with environmental, political, and conservation issues, has taken him across jungles, deserts, mountains and oceans, through some of the most remote and beautiful regions of our planet.

1: The Ancient World1: Introduction2: Journeys from the cradle3: Minoan seafarers4: Travel in ancient Egypt5: The expedition to Punt6: Polynesian navigators7: Around Africa8: Persian couriers9: The Greek world10: The travels of Odysseus11: Alexander the Great12: The travels of Zhang Qian13: Across the Alps14: Strabo15: The Roman Empire16: The Tabula Peutingeriana17: The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea18: Ptolemy's Geographia2: Trade and Conquest1: Introduction2: Xuanzang's journey to India3: Journey to the West4: Kingdom of Heaven5: The spread of Islam6: Arab exploration7: The astrolabe8: Voyages of the Vikings9: The Crusades10: Prester John11: Medieval pilgrimages12: Medieval travel accounts13: The Silk Road14: The travels of Marco Polo15: On wheels16: Caravanserai17: Trans-Saharan salt caravans18: Ibn Battuta19: Medieval maps3: The Age of Discovery1: Introduction2: Zheng He3: Ships4: Around Africa to India5: A new world6: After Columbus7: First map of the New World8: Circumnavigating the globe9: Cortes and the conquest of the Aztecs10: Pizarro's conquest of Peru11: The discovery of the Amazon12: The Columbian Exchange13: New France14: Samuel de Champlain15: Early missionaries16: The Northwest Passage4: The Age of Empires1: Introduction2: The spice trade3: Wonder cabinets4: New Holland5: Settling America6: Evliya Celebi7: Coffee8: Slave ships in the Atlantic9: A life of piracy10: Travels in the Mughal Empire11: The stagecoach12: The frozen east13: The Great Northern Expedition14: Calculating longitude15: The voyages of Captain Cook16: The new naturalists17: Artist in the rainforest18: The Grand Tour19: First flight20: Bound for Botany Bay5: The Age of Steam1: Introduction2: Alexander von Humboldt3: Rediscovering Egypt4: Painting the East5: Charting the American West6: Go west, young man!7: Full steam ahead8: The Romantics9: The voyages of the Beagle10: Travellers' tales11: Shooting the world12: Into Africa13: The Railway Age14: Trains15: The Gold Rush16: Thomas Cook17: Spas18: Going by the book19: Souvenirs20: The works of all nations21: Across Australia22: Charting the Mekong23: Ocean to ocean24: The grand hotel25: Luggage labels26: Measuring India6: The Golden Age of Travel1: Introduction2: Central Asia3: On skis across4: Greenland5: The bicycle craze6: Zeppelin fever7: The airline of empire8: Travel posters9: The Long March10: Planes11: The roof of the world12: The open road13: Route 6614: No-frills flying15: Into the abyss16: Flight to the Moon17: The Hippie Trail18: Concorde19: New horizons20: Exploration today21: New frontiers8: Index9: Picture credits and acknowledgments