Wanderlust
- Posted by: GOOD , Graham Roberts
- on August 7, 2008 at 2:25 pm
When Spain commissioned Ferdinand Magellan to find a westward route to the Spice Islands in 1519, the explorer commanded five ships and 240 men. Six years later, nearly every member of the expedition, including its commander, was dead. When the American writer Jack Kerouac tried in 1951 to find the words to convey his wayward journey through the United States and Mexico, he commanded a typewriter and a massive stash of Benzedrine. After a few weeks, the first draft of On the Road was completed. These are just two of the journeys that have left indelible marks on our collective maps, and are endless sources of fascination. Here is compilation of some of the most famous jaunts of all time—both factual and fictional—that show us how far we’ve come, and where we might go next.
DISCUSSION: 16 Comments
You’re missing two important contemporary round-the-world journeys: those documented in the books Who Needs a Road? and
wrote Half-Safe: Across the Atlantic by Jeep. Both are fascinating reads.
Add Salomon August Andrée journey!
Salomon August Andrée on Wikipedia.org
trips within/around antarctica like the journey of the Endeavor or Scott/Amundsen’s competing trips; or what about the attempts to map the northwest passage or the north pole?
i also like isabella bird’s journeys: she made trips throughout the american west, plus hawaii, japan, elsewhere…
so, what about Bartolomeu Dias, the first man to make a expedition to cape good hope and to make his way to india, what about Gil Eanes, a portuguese mariner that make his way in cape bojador and was considered a major breakthrough for European explorers and traders en route to Africa and later to India? What about Vasco da Gama, Portuguese explorer, one of the most successful in the European Age of Discovery and the commander of the first ships to sail directly from Europe to India.
And Ferdinand Magellan aka Fernão de Magalhães ( his real mane ), that was a Portuguese maritime explorer who, while in the service of the Spanish Crown, tried to find a westward route to the Spice Islands of Indonesia. This was the first successful attempt to circumnavigate the Earth in history? be serious and give GOOD information. it`s a shame you don´t know the real history. grettings from PORTUGAL!!!
Great job. I enjoyed looking at all these historical journeys!Since several comments advocate missing trips, I’ll add mine: man’s greatest adventure, Apollo 11’s trip to the moon.
Che Guevara’s journey which he chronicled in las diarias de moto
what about Gulliver’s travels?
What about Willem Barentz, who stranded on Nova Zembla and survived the winter
No Darwin?
This helped me so much with my reaserch! I may need a little more info. about de Soto but I know otherwise you did a fantastic job making this program!
How about St. Paul the Apostle?
just wondering – why does the lewis and clark route begin in greenville, s.c.?thanks.
You must not have heard of Ibn Battuta? His journeys lasted for a period of nearly thirty years and covered almost the entirety of the known Islamic world and beyond, extending from North Africa, West Africa, Southern Europe and Eastern Europe in the West, to the Middle East, Indian subcontinent, Central Asia, Southeast Asia and China in the East, a distance readily surpassing that of his predecessors and his near-contemporary Marco Polo.
It’s such a brilliant way to see the world and use as a starting point when planning a trip. Love the idea of walking in great explorers’ footsteps and get a history lesson in the process. I just wrote a blog post about it on my blog about slow travel called ’slowmoves’, check it out:http://slowmovesblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/great-historic-journeys-across-world.html
Cabeza DeVaca, Spaniard, the first explorer to reach the Northamerican Pacific coast from the Atlantic (Florida), and absolutely, Ibn Battuta, one of the greatest explorers of all ages. Also, don’t forget the Chinese attempt to cincunnavigate Africa as well as the Vikings trips to the coast of Northamerica.
Any chance we could see an almost-annual update to the map with all the suggestions made by readers… and my own suggestion: Christopher McCandless of Into the Wild?Either way, I love the idea and will definitely have to put a link up to this at soelswhere.com (awesome travel blog).