What is the setting of Journey to the Center of the Earth, and why is it important?

Large
portions of the setting for this story are fictional. At the time that Verne wrote this book,
geologists were not sure what the interior of Earth was like. In typical Verne fashion, the text
weaves known science with. After descending through a volcano into the Earth's interior, the
setting is fictional locations inside Earth. Regarding actual locations, the story begins in
Hamburg, Germany in the spring of 1863. The story begins with Axel explaining to readers that
Otto Lidenbrock had discovered a manuscript written by a 16th century Icelandic man. The
manuscript supposedly narrates a path to the center of Earth, and the path begins at Mount
Snaeffels in Iceland. The men then travel to Reykjavik, Iceland in order to gain access to the
starting location. The...