Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is an adventure novel by the French writer Jules Verne, which began appearing in serial form in 1869 and was published as a book in 1870. It is narrated by Professor Pierre Aronnax, a French marine biologist who, together with his servant Conseil and the harpooner Ned Land, is taken aboard the submarine Nautilus by its mysterious captain, Nemo. They travel across the world's oceans, seeing underwater forests, shipwrecks and the lost city of Atlantis, and fight a giant squid. Verne combined scientific detail with adventure and the character of Nemo, a brilliant man with a hatred of imperial oppression. The novel is one of the best-known works of science fiction and influenced the design and imagination of submarines.
Before and after
- 14 February 1869Birth of Charles Thomson Rees Wilson
- 6 March 1869Periodic table
- 8 March 1869Death of Hector Berlioz
- 18 March 1869Birth of Neville Chamberlain
- 20 March 1869Publication of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
- 6 April 1869Founding of American Museum of Natural History
- 10 May 1869The first US transcontinental railroad is completed
- 25 May 1869Construction of Vienna State Opera house
- 27 June 1869Birth of Emma Goldman
More in Art, literature & culture
The era
This moment belongs to the Industrial era (1760 CE to 1914 CE), steam, factories and revolutions. You can also browse everything in the 19th century.