Neglected Exploration Actors: Amundsen’s Sledge Dogs, Francis Drake’s Pilot Nuna Da Silva, Jesuits in Louisiana, and South Asians in North America

Abstract

We are pleased to present three articles, a review essay, and a robust section of reviews. While the articles and review essay are on different topics and time periods, there is one commonality that unites them: they examine underexamined but significant actors in exploration, thereby augmenting exploration history scholarship. Some expand our understanding by adding new perspectives to well-known events, and others by covering episodes and actors that are generally overlooked. We hope our readers will find this issue of TI stimulating and informative. Nicholas Miller’s fresh and innovative review essay, entitled “Animal Studies and Exploration History: Amundsen’s Sledge Dogs Who Helped Discover the South Pole,” highlights the role of an underexamined actor in exploration: nonhuman animals. 1 Indeed, a recent book chapter on the subject by Elizabeth Leane under-scores the paucity of studies. 2 Leane surveys transdisciplinary literature on animal studies and travel writing, noting that notwithstanding the fact that close scrutiny reveals that animals can be found in most travel narratives, there is very limited scholarship on animals and travel literature, which contrasts with some other fields, such as literary studies, a specialization more engaged with animal studies. Leane provides a useful typology to analyze animals in travel writing: ( 1 ) “animal as a quest-object”: “The first category refers to any journey in which an animal encounter, violent or peaceful, is framed in the narrative as the primary motivation for travel.” ( 2 ) “animal as instrument of travel”: “The second category covers narratives in which animals are included in a journey and its narrative(s) in