Born November 21, 1841, Voltri, Italy
Died September 2, 1901, Sassari, Sardinia, Italy

By the end of the nineteenth century most regions of the world had been explored—at least to some degree. One exception, however, was the vast tropical island of New Guinea, located in the western Pacific Ocean, north of Australia. Although the island’s coast had become familiar to Spanish and Portuguese explorers since their earliest days in the East Indies, New Guinea’s interior had remained a mystery. Dense tropical rainforests and hostile native tribes—some headhunters—had kept most adventurers away.

But as Europeans began to venture into even the most difficult locations, it was certain that New Guinea would not remain unexplored. The man who first traveled deep into its interior, Luigi Maria D’Albertis, was as dramatic as the wildly beautiful...