The Mahavamsa (English translation: "Great Chronicle") is a historical book written in the Pali language about the Kings of Sri Lanka. The first version of it covered the period from the coming of King Vijaya of the Rarh region of ancient Bengal in 543 BCE to the reign of King Mahasena (334-361 AD). It covers the early history of religion in Sri Lanka, beginning with the time of Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism. It also briefly recounts the history of Buddhism in India, from the date of the Buddha's death to the various Buddhist councils where the Dharma was reviewed. Every chapter...

From the Earth to the Moon is an 1865 novel by Jules Verne. It tells the story of the Baltimore Gun Club, a post-American Civil War society of gun aficionados, and their attempts to build an enormous sky-facing Columbiad space gun and launch three people - the Gun Club's president, his Philadelphian armor-making rival, and a French poet - in a projectile with the goal of a moon landing. Jules Gabriel Verne (February 8, 1828 - March 24, 1905) was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870), Journey to the...

Around the Moon (1870), Jules Verne's sequel to From the Earth to the Moon, is a science fiction novel continuing the trip to the moon which left the reader in suspense after the previous novel. Jules Gabriel Verne (February 8, 1828 - March 24, 1905) was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870), Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), and Around the World in Eighty Days (1873). Verne wrote about space, air, and underwater travels before air travel and practical submarines were invented, and before...

Sir William Henry Sleeman (8 August 1788 ? 10 February 1856) was a British soldier and administrator in British India.A great admirer of India's rich natural beauty, he was born in Stratton, Cornwall, the son of Philip Sleeman, a yeoman and supervisor of excise of St Tudy. In 1809 William joined the Bengal Army, served in the Nepal War (1814?1816), and in 1820 became assistant to the Governor-General's agent in the Saugor and Nerbudda territories. He is best known for his suppression of the Thuggee secret society. He had captured "Feringhea" (also called Syeed Amir Ali, on whom the novel...

Almayer's Folly, published in 1895, is Joseph Conrad's first novel. Set in the late 19th century, it centers on the life of the Dutch trader Kaspar Almayer who is living in the Borneo jungle and his relationship to his mixed-heritage daughter Nina. Joseph Conrad (3 December 1857 - 3 August 1924) was a Polish novelist who wrote in English, after settling in England. Conrad is regarded as one of the great novelists in English, though he did not speak the language fluently until he was in his twenties . He wrote stories and novels, often with a nautical setting, that depict trials of the human...

The Age of Innocence is Edith Wharton's 12th novel, initially serialized in four parts in the Pictorial Review magazine in 1920, and later released by D. Appleton and Company as a book in New York and in London. It won the 1921 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, making it the first novel written by a woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and thus Wharton the first woman to win the prize. The story is set in upper-class New York City in the 1870s. The novel centers on an upper-class couple's impending marriage, and the introduction of a woman plagued by scandal whose presence threatens their...

Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton KCMG FRGS (19 March 1821 - 20 October 1890) was a British geographer, explorer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, cartographer, ethnologist, spy, linguist, poet, fencer and diplomat. He was known for his travels and explorations within Asia, Africa and the Americas, as well as his extraordinary knowledge of languages and cultures. According to one count, he spoke 29 European, Asian and African languages. Burton was a captain in the army of the East India Company, serving in India (and later, briefly, in the Crimean War). Following this, he was...

Omoo: Adventures in the South Seas (1847) is the second book by American writer Herman Melville, and a sequel to Typee. Both books are based on Melville's own experiences. After leaving Nuku Hiva, the main character ships aboard a whaling vessel which makes its way to Tahiti, after which there is a mutiny and the majority of the crew are imprisoned on Tahiti. Herman Melville (August 1, 1819 - September 28, 1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. He is best known for his novel Moby-Dick. His first three books gained much contemporary attention (the first, Typee,...

John Lawson (1674 - 1711) was a British explorer, naturalist and writer. He played an important role in the history of colonial North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, publicizing his expeditions in a book, and founding two settlements in North Carolina. Beginning December 28, 1700 Lawson led a small expedition out of Charleston and up the Santee River by canoe and then on foot to explore the Carolina backcountry. Along the way he took careful note of the vegetation, wildlife and, in particular, the many Indian tribes he encountered. He traveled nearly 600 miles through the wilderness,...