Early Encounters with Penguins

History Talk, the history podcast from Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective

Who doesn’t love penguins? Join Ellen Arnold to learn about the many different roles that penguins took on as Europeans first began to encounter them in the mid-1500s, from quirky oddity to salvation for the starving. Over the course of the following centuries, Europeans had many different interactions with penguins, and these shaped how they understood what the birds were. Sailors and scientists alike brought back accounts of the strange birds, which were only slowly understood to be unique to the South. Featuring Ellen Arnold, an environmental historian and Senior Lecturer in the Ohio State University Department of History. Moderated by Nicholas Breyfogle, Professor of History and Director of the Harvey Goldberg Center for Excellence in Teaching.