We often forget that travelers throughout most of human history often risked their lives and stories to take trips that usually spanned significant portions of their reduced life expectancies. Most of the travelers below are known to me and humanity because they’re written some sort of epic detailing their journeys. However, daily updates from these travelers whose voyages amaze me, nearly to the point of disbelief, would be fascinating to read today in modern media.
1. Evliya Γelebi (1611~1683)
Born in Istanbul, Turkey during the Ottoman years when the empire was at it’s largest, Celebi spent 40 years of his life exploring the territory it covered. Celebi’s 10-volume book, Seyahatname, covers his travels from places as disperse as present-day Azerbaijan, Austria, Sudan, and Saudi Arabia. Over the course of his life he also took part in several Ottoman battles; adding another fascinating element to one incredible travel blog had it existed.
2. Marco Polo (1254~1324)
Although The Travels Of Marco Polo are somewhat questionable in their entirety, some, like meeting Kublai Khan ruler of the Mongol Empire are tales almost too ridiculous to be fiction. Still, Polo’s story was passed down by hand, ear, and transcription, likely further weaving a wonderful tale. A series of travel blog posts recounting his imprisonment upon returning home to Venice (at war with Genoa) would be fascinating. Talk about culture shock.
3. The First West Coast Colonizers Of The Americas (~12,500 Years Before Present)
There is a great deal of debate about this among anthropologists, but it is thought that the Americas were colonized by humans in several waves – one of those possibly being from the Pacific islands. Fishermen who may have intentionally (or not) ended up far out to sea and riding the currents all the way to present-day California. They were truly going where no one had gone before – and perhaps in the most terrifying way possible.
4. Dave, John, And Pete Kunst (1970-1974)
Brothers Dave and John Kunst set out to walk around the world in 1970 from Waseca, Minnesota with some basic supplies carried by a mule. Two years into the journey, John was shot and killed during a robbery in Afghanistan. Dave was shot in the chest as well but survived. After his recovery, their brother Pete came to Afghanistan to help Dave finish the trip. It would be the first recorded walk around the world. I first learned about Dave’s book, The Man Who Walked Around The World, on the recommendation of Wandering Earl.
5. Theresa Wallach and Florence Blenkiron (1935)
This is list is quite lacking of women I’m ashamed to say, likely a combination of history’s general omission of them and my own ignorance. Theresa Wallach and Florence Blenkiron were the first two people to cross the Sahara Desert on motorcycle, which they did in 1935 on their drive from London to Cape Town. Their story is one of the best motorcycle books to ignite your wanderlust but I can only imagine a video series of their trip; especially the captured looks on people’s faces upon hearing their story en route.
6. Ibn Battuta (1304~1369)
A traveler I believe I had confused for Al-Masudi, until reader Mina mentioned him in a recent conversation on my Facebook page. Battuta, a Berber from Morocco, is believed to be one of the most widely traveled human beings ever – prior to the technology of the Industrial Revolution. Verifying anyone’s life is difficult after a 700 year paper trail, but if Battuta’s writings are accurate, he visited the modern equivalent of more than 40 countries, including India.
7. Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521)
There is something I find moderately terrifying about the ocean in its raw form. Thankfully we’re living in an age where, for the most part, staying in contact with humanity is relatively easy. (In the cases your boat sinks or is captained by this guy.) So when I think of Magellan, who nearly circumnavigated the globe by ship without the benefit of GPS, radar, or someone to save him and his crew should the boats spring a leak, I am in awe. Blog posts from the middle of the Pacific, after weeks at sea and what that does to the crew, would be fascinating.
8. Erik The Red (950~1003)
Any man who is the creates a settlement on an island of snow and names it Greenland so more people will settle there is my kind of explorer with a bad attitude. Erik The Red’s twisting of the truth somewhat worked, except everyone who settled in Greenland kept dying and bringing diseases, which likely killed the Norse traveler himself. I can only imagine his top 10 reasons to visit Greenland now: 1. It’s Green! 2. Less Ice Than Iceland! 3. It’s Green! (Except When There’s Snow On The Ground)…
Whose Blog Would You Like To Have Read?
There are, of course, countless travelers that history never recorded whose stories are lost forever and several other good suggestions, likeΒ Nicolae Milescu (thanks Cezar) I’ve yet to read up on. Though it makes you wonder, with our collective Internet addictions, how would blogging, Facebook, and the technology we live with today change those ancient travels? I’m curious which travelers you would have liked to see a digital glimpse of if you could and what you think they’d be saying.
Tx for mentioning me π I was actually looking in some bookstores in Bucharest for a book about Milescu, I could not find even in Romanian π
To your list, I would add Zhang He http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zheng_He as a would-be blogger worth following π
Thank you for the suggestion π As for Zhang, he almost made this list actually but is one I need to read up more on. Now even more excuse to do so π
Unique Post!
Marco Polo, Ibn Battuta, and Ferdinand Magellan especially! It’s fascinating how the Spanish language and Catholic religion spread like fire as he circumnavigated the globe!
You can almost follow his path by the languages and religions in present-day countries. I wonder how now, hundreds of years later, they would view their own travels.
I would love to read what the world’s oldest backpacker (Keith Wright from Australia) has to say. 95 years old and still going – the man’s an inspiration.
Fascinating and thanks for letting me know about him. This quick read instantly drew me in:
http://www.news.com.au/travel/news/meet-95-year-old-keith-wright-australias-oldest-backpacker/story-e6frfq80-1226352116524
Erik the Red would definitely be awesome. As would the Vikings who settled the east coast of Canada long before the other Europeans arrived around 1500.
Your comment makes me wonder how many other travelers in the Americans prior to European settlement whose stories we don’t know about. Lack of written language or anyone to carry the tales and motivations… or what the first “American” to see a Viking would have thought?
I would love to read the thoughts of adventurers from oral cultures, and get a glimpse inside their worldview.
I should really read ahead in the comments before I respond to a thread! Yes, exactly!
Thanks Anil, some good tips for reading there π
I am currently reading a biography about Gertrude Bell, what an amazing woman! Amongst her many achievements including record breaking mountaineering, speaking fluent Arabic, translation of Sufi poetry she travelled the Middle East and Turkey extensively recording and photographing archeological sites and was behind the creation of modern day Iraq. A personal friend of T.E. Lawrence, she set off on expeditions alone with just her hired help, remarkable when you think that this was in the 19th century before the first world war. She wrote extensive notes, letters and journals and would have been the ultimate travel blogger had she had the technology we have now.
I just did a quick Google search on her and think even a 10th of her travels would make an incredible travel blog. I’m curious to read more about her, especially considering recent history along her path.
Great post. Let’s add Alfred Russel Wallace to the list. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Russel_Wallace
Good selection!
I would still love to find and read the book of Ibn Battuta “Rihla” (The journey)
Sometimes I really wish I was born earlier in this century, I would have definitely been one of those hippies traveling around the world. Specially that it was much easier for Egyptians back at that time! π Better currency, better passport! Damn I would have used this! It is a shame there are no known Egyptian travelers from that era!
I think I’d also read the book The man who walked around the world…sounds interesting!
I wonder if there’s not a copy somehow in the Alexandria Library? Must be there!
What an original post! I love it.
Herodotus traveled as extensively as Ibn Battuta, only in Ancient Greek times. His work definitely reads a little like a blog too.
Cheers!
In both cases it would be fun to see how close fantasy and fact were π
Don’t forget Gudridr Thorbjarndottir–she out-traveled Eric the Red, going from Norway to Greenland to Iceland to N. America (when it was still Vinland) and Europe. She bore two children and survived three husbands while traveling under the most difficult conditions.
Wow, quite a string of traveler degrees of separation among the Norse!
I like your idea very much! This gives me another idea: perhaps it would be worth writing the imaginary Magellan blog π
Now that would be challenging writing!
I love this post! I like to play this game too. I would love to have sailed with Captain James Cook (almost felt as if I had after reading Tony Horwitz’s “Blue Latitudes” – one of the few books which kept me up all night reading), and I would also give anything to have been a fly on the wall of Mark Twain’s journeys.
Wow, simply looking at this (Cook’s route) makes me want to read that blog:
…and Twain’s Twitter to go with the travel blog, a great combination.
In “Blue Latitudes” Tony Horwitz follows his route, and his research is impeccable so you get two journeys for the price of one! Cook’s and Horwitz’s. Apologies for sounding like an ad for the book, but it honestly is one of my favorites of all time!
No need to apologize at all, I love hearing good book recommendations! It’s perfect and I’ll add it to my long list of books to read now π
Great idea for a blog post π Very unique! Hmmm, I wish they had blogs too. Hopefully one day you’ll be regarded as legendary as these guys and someone will have a blog post commending you in such high esteem too.
haha, though I do wonder in 100 years if this blog will be around in some form or another… interesting thought!