The Fifty Years' Work of the Royal Geographical Society

In 1881, the Royal Geographical Society published a brief history of its formation and work to mark its fiftieth anniversary.

Clements R. Markham (Author)

9781108004602, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 24 September 2009

268 pages
21.6 x 14 x 1.5 cm, 0.35 kg

In 1880, the Royal Geographical Society commissioned Sir Clements R. Markham, a noted British geographer and the Society's secretary, to write a history of its formation, and of the many expeditions it had supported since 1830, to celebrate its fiftieth anniversary. Published in 1881, The Fifty Years' Work of the Royal Geographical Society consists of twelve chapters. The first five are a condensed history of the original group of geographers who called themselves the Raleigh Club, and the events leading up to the Society's official formation. Chapters 6 and 7 recount the activities of past presidents, secretaries and leading members of the Society, with the rest of the book detailing the fascinating scientific expeditions the Society sponsored financially from the Arctic to Antarctica, the explorers who took part in them, and the various publications the Society published to advance natural science and exploration.

1. The fathers of English geography
2. The royal society
3. The African Association
4. The Raleigh Club
5. Foundation of the Royal Geographical Society
5. Presidents and secretaries of the Royal Geographical Society, 1830–1850
7. Presidents and secretaries of the Royal Geographical Society, 1851–1881
8. Expeditions promoted by the Royal Geographical Society, and grants of the Royal Awards, 1830–1855
9. Expeditions promoted by the Royal Geographical Society and grants of the Royal Awards, 1855–1880
10. Publications of the Society–library and map room–educational measures
11. Progress of the Society
12. Comparative view of geographical knowledge in 1830 and 1880, with a notice of the work that still remains to be done
Appendix.

Subject Areas: General & world history [HBG]