ABSTRACT
Ludvig Holberg's utopia recounts the adventures of Niels Klim after his fall through the Earth's crust into the center of the Earth where a solitary planet moves about a subterranean sun. After several years as a messenger, he is commissioned to make a tour of the entire planet of Nazar and to report back to the king. His adventures on the Earth's inner crust begin in the kingdom of Martinia, a country of intelligent apes who, because of their preoccupation with fashion and their changeableness, may be seen as a caricature of the French. As a galley slave, Klim is taken on a trading voyage to the Mezandorian islands, which lie across a vast sea. Both Nazar and the Firmament are complex worlds. Klim visits 27 of the countries on Nazar, which contain a "great variety of inhabitants"—all different species of intelligent trees speaking a common language, but with many different customs and societies.
