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Title page of the first edition

A Voyage Round the World is Georg Forster's report on the second voyage of Captain James Cook. Georg's father, Johann Reinhold Forster, served as naturalist on the voyage, with his son as assistant. They sailed on HMS Resolution with Cook, circumnavigating the world, and discovering islands, cultures and species previously unknown to Europeans. On their return, there was disagreement about the publication rights. After plans for a joint work between Cook and Reinhold Forster failed, Georg began writing Voyage in July 1776. It was published on 17 March 1777, six weeks before Cook's own narrative. Forster wrote it as entertaining literature, focusing not on the nautical aspects of the voyage but on scientific observations and on the cultural encounters with the peoples of the South Pacific. Critics praised the writing, especially in contrast to Cook's book. Voyage is regarded as a seminal book in travel writing and has become a classic of travel literature. (Full article...)

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Franzisca Baruch

... that Franzisca Baruch (pictured) designed several Hebrew fonts, the cover of the first Israeli passport, the emblem of Jerusalem, and the logo of the Ha'aretz newspaper, all while barely knowing Hebrew?
... that the song "Come Back Home" by Seo Taiji and Boys made teenage runaways in South Korea return home?
... that Italian actress Linda Albertini used her abilities as a former circus acrobat in silent films?
... that Joice Island was the location of a "web of intrigue" in 1890, a failed asparagus farm in 1905, a wildlife refuge in 1950, a hunting preserve in 1965, and a pig hunt in 2017?
... that under college president Arthur Bronwell in 1959, Worcester Polytechnic Institute built one of the first nuclear research reactors at an American university?
... that a YouTuber predicted the crossover between My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic and Rick and Morty long before it aired?
... that baseball statistician Bob Ferguson claimed that he became the owner of the London Majors "by accident"?
... that Zzzzzz had the busiest residential telephone number in the United States in the 1970s?

In the news

Indian farmers protesting

The Indian agriculture acts are repealed after a year of protests by farmers (example pictured).
Xiomara Castro is elected as the first female President of Honduras.
Magdalena Andersson, who resigned a week earlier after less than one day as prime minister–designate, is re-elected as Prime Minister of Sweden.
Barbados becomes a republic, with Sandra Mason replacing Queen Elizabeth II as the head of state.

On this day

December 4: Navy Day in India

Ram Mohan Roy

1370 – Hundred Years' War: In two separate engagements in the Battle of Pontvallain, French forces wiped out an English army which had split up because of a dispute between the commanders.
1829 – Sati, the Hindu funeral custom of a widow's self-immolation on her husband's pyre, was prohibited in parts of British India after years of campaigning by Ram Mohan Roy (pictured).
1909 – The Montreal Canadiens, the oldest professional ice hockey club in the world, were founded as a charter member of the National Hockey Association.
1949 – Duncan Stewart, the British governor of Sarawak, was fatally stabbed in Sibu during his first visit to the colony.
1971 – The Troubles: The Ulster Volunteer Force, an Ulster-loyalist paramilitary group, detonated a bomb at a Catholic-owned pub in Belfast, Northern Ireland, killing 15 people.

John of Damascus (d. 749)
Gregor MacGregor (d. 1845)
Roberta Bondar (b. 1945)

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Today's featured picture

The Malagasy giant chameleon or Oustalet's chameleon is a large species of chameleon endemic to Madagascar. This male, photographed in the Anja Community Reserve, is catching a grasshopper by projecting its long tongue at tremendous speed to capture prey located some distance away.

Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp

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