Overview

In his two voyages up New Guinea's Fly River, Luigi Maria D'Albertis (1841-1901) became one of the first Europeans to explore the interior of the world's second-largest island. D'Albertis returned with a great number of scientific specimens, relatively accurate maps of the areas he visited, and scarcely credible stories of adventure. He also returned to accusations of disreputable collecting practices (particularly with respect to ethnographic specimens), poor leadership qualities, and needless conflict with the island's natives.

Background

Now that modern scientists have mapped virtually all of the planets and major moons in our solar system, it is difficult to imagine a time in which large portions of our planet remained unmapped, unexplored, and unknown except to the local inhabitants. This was, however, the case through...