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The papers in this book chronicle Henri Poincare's journey in algebraic topology between 1892 and 1904, from his discovery of the fundamental group to his formulation of the Poincare conjecture. For the first time in English translation, one can follow every step (and occasional stumble) along the way, with the help of translator John Stillwell's introduction and editorial comments. Now that the Poincare conjecture has finally been proved, by Grigory Perelman, it seems timely to collect the papers that form the background to this famous conjecture. Poincare's papers are in fact the first draft of algebraic topology, introducing its main subject matter (manifolds) and basic concepts (homotopy and homology). All mathematicians interested in topology and its history will enjoy this book.