How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
For ages, cartographers had no means of knowing what existed on most of the earth. And more often than not these gaps were filled in with fantastical kingdoms and beasts, as if the make-believe, no matter how terrifying, was less frightening than the unknown. (5.5)
Another reason exploration is so popular during Fawcett's time is a fear of the unknown. Well, in the case of the Amazon, what's actually there—bugs that eat your eyeballs, for example—is a lot scarier than anything an unimaginative cartographer might draw on a map.
Quote #5
Years later, another member [of the Royal Geographic Society] conceded, "Explorers are not, perhaps, the most promising people with whom to build a society. Indeed, some might say that explorers become explorers precisely because they have a streak of unsociability and a need to remove themselves at regular intervals as far as possible from their fellow men." (5.14)
We've shown explorers being romantic and bored, but this line shows us the answer to the formula: romantic + bored = x. In this case, x = crazy. These men don't fit into society for a variety of reasons, so for them, it's good they're able to get away from it.
Quote #6
Reeves would teach them what cartographers had not been able to do for most of history: fix their position anywhere. (6.8)
In an era when Google Maps is right on your phone, it's easy to forget that for the vast majority of human history, humans had no idea where they actually were. The invention of latitude and longitude, and the ability to measure it, greatly changed the mapping scene.