Travelers Who Shaped the World
In a time before planes, credit cards, and the internet, travel was often as dangerous as it was exciting. However, for millennia, those with a taste for adventure have surrendered to the human impulse to explore the world, discover new cultures, and pave the way for others. The roll call of great historical travelers includes both the well-known and the should-be-better-known. Here are a select few, each of whom exemplifies the curiosity that propels us to explore today.
Zheng He and the “Treasure Voyages”
“Eventful” could easily characterize the lives of many well-known travelers, but it’s particularly fitting for Zheng He. Born a Muslim, he was captured, castrated, and converted by Chinese troops, subsequently rising through the ranks of the Ming army to become a trusted adviser to Emperor Yongle.
Made admiral in charge of the “treasure voyages” (seven sea trips designed to expand Chinese knowledge, trade, and influence in the early 15th century), he journeyed west to Southeast Asia, India, the Arabian Peninsula, and East Africa. He employed diplomacy where possible and force where necessary to impress local populations.
Marco Polo on the Silk Road (and Beyond)
When he left his home in Venice in 1271, Marco Polo, arguably the most famous traveler of all time, couldn’t have imagined being away for 24 years. Driven by both trade and the travel bug (coming from a family of merchants), he followed the Silk Road to China (then known as Cathay). There, he forged a friendship with the Mongol emperor Kublai Khan and embarked on numerous journeys as an emissary of the khan, which he later documented in the Book of the Marvels of the World, a bestseller in its time.
Gertrude Bell: Breaking and Creating Boundaries
Scholar, diplomat, empire-builder, mountaineer, and traveler – if you thought we were discussing a man, you’d be mistaken. These attributes and more belong to the Brit Gertrude Bell. She broke into previously male-dominated areas of society in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Having been stranded on a rope for 53 hours while climbing in the Alps, she circumnavigated the world twice and dedicated years to exploring the Middle East. Her knowledge in archeology enabled her to participate in drawing up the post-WW1 borders of Iraq.
Her less controversial legacy is the Iraq Museum, a repository of objects from the country’s remarkably lengthy history, which she helped establish shortly before her passing in 1926.
Ibn Battuta’s 30-Year Journey
Coming from Morocco, Ibn Battuta, like his contemporary Marco Polo, did not return home for many years once he embarked on his travels. In 1324, he left his family and friends in Tangier to go on pilgrimage to Mecca, following the North African coast with camel caravans for safety and completing his hajj in 1326.
Influenced by a holy man’s prophecy predicting he would journey the earth, he continued traveling east, south, north, and west, crossing Spain, India, Persia, China, Southeast Asia, and many other destinations on his extensive wishlist. While he was occasionally treated as an honored guest, other times he found himself as a hostage. He also managed to marry (and divorce) an astonishing ten times during his expedition, before finally returning home for good in 1354.
Percy Fawcett and the Lost City of Z
Once British soldier and explorer Percy Fawcett became fascinated with the idea of a mysterious civilization in the Brazilian Amazon, his obsession with “the lost city of Z” ultimately led to his death. As a respected cartographer, he was assigned to Brazil’s Mato Grosso region in 1906 to help determine the border with Bolivia.
During subsequent visits, he became captivated by rumors of a former civilization with grand architecture hidden in the vast jungles of the area. In April 1925, he set out with his son and his son’s best friend to find it. By the end of May, they vanished. Their fate remains unknown, but recent research suggests that a civilization resembling the one Fawcett sought did exist in the region, called Kuhikugu.
Leif Erikson Landed in North America
Centuries before Marco Polo and Zheng He undertook their expeditions, an intrepid Icelander named Leif Erikson decided to sail west from his home. It’s not surprising that travel was in Erikson’s blood; his father, Erik the Red, was exiled from Iceland to Greenland. However, he could not have anticipated that he would establish the first European settlement in North America around 1000 CE.
The exact location of his community, Vinland, is widely debated, although tradition places it at L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, Canada. History, along with a large, west-facing statue of him outside the Hallgrimskirkja church in Reykjavík, will always remember his groundbreaking journeys.
Mansa Musa’s Economic Impact
Few journeys can claim to have devastated local economies, but Malian ruler Mansa Musa’s pilgrimage to Mecca certainly falls into this category. Similar to Ibn Battuta a year or two earlier, Musa traveled across northern Africa on his hajj, but with a mind-boggling entourage: 60,000 people, including 12,000 slaves and heralds, alongside 100 elephants and 80 camels laden with thousands of pounds of gold generously distributed among people along the route. At that time, Mali was the world’s primary gold producer, making Musa possibly the richest person in history. His generosity, nevertheless, proved disastrous as an influx of gold flooded the market, leading to a significant drop in value and adversely affecting local economies for around a decade following his journey.
Nellie Bly Circumnavigated the World in 72 Days
“No one but a man can do this!” scoffed her editor when journalist Nellie Bly proposed a round-the-world trip in 80 days, inspired by the fictional Phileas Fogg. The year was 1889, and social conventions simply did not accept a solo female traveler undertaking such a venture. However, much like Gertrude Bell, “convention-defying” could indeed be considered Nellie Bly’s middle name (her real name was Elizabeth Jane Cochran).
Having already made her mark with an exposé on the dreadful treatment of women in New York’s mental asylums, she packed her bags (very lightly), hid her money in a small pouch under her clothes, and boarded the steamship Augusta Victoria. Bly traveled through Europe, South Asia, Japan, and the US, facing numerous adventures and close calls along the way. She triumphantly returned to a warm welcome on January 25, 1890 — only 72 days after setting off. Beat that, Phileas!
