Heroic travellers throughout history
Like Nikolay Przhevalsky, there were many other voyagers and explorers who spent months and years in exploring the world, either for religion or simply for adventure. Below is a list of some of the travellers who are known for their passion and courage.
Isabella Lucy Bird (1831–1904)
Isabella Lucy Bird was a 19th-century English traveller. Books on detailed account of her journeys include "The Englishwoman in America" (1856), "A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains" (1879), "Unbeaten Tracks in Japan" (1880), and "Korea and Her Neighbours" (1898). In 1882, Bird was inducted as the first woman fellow of the Royal Geographic Society. She began travelling from a young age and visited multiple countries including Iran, Turkey, Vietnam and Morocco.
Xuanzang (602-664)
Xuanzang was a Chinese monk who travelled to India with a large backpack for carrying scrolls. He left the Tang capital in 629 to embark on a 16-year journey to India to study Buddhism. He was not deterred by the long, hectic journey and travelled across the Silk Road to Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. He was a writer and kept written records of his journey through Central and South Asia. His pilgrimage to India was one of a kind and he returned to China with many Buddhist texts and scriptures.
Jeanne Baret (1740-1807)
French voyager Jeanne Baret is the first woman to circumnavigate the globe. She was a botanist who disguised herself as a man because the French Navy did not allow women to board their ships. She enlisted as a valet to a naturalist named Philibert Commerson on the ship of Captain Louis-Antoine de Bougainville. Not a lot was known about this courageous sailor until her first English biography by John Dunmore was published in 2002.
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Charles Darwin (1809-1882)
Not only did Charles Darwin develop the theory of evolution, he was also a naturalist on the ship HMS Beagle. He had ample time to leave the ship and explore things by himself. A young Darwin travelled around the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean to explore countries like New Zealand and Australia and other coastlines. His account of this voyage is recorded in his book "Journal and Remarks", which later became known as "The Voyage of the Beagle".
