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WANDERLUST

Writer's picture:  Caroline & Garry Caroline & Garry

Greg Rosenke Unsplash


Hello again

As we can’t travel at this time, I thought I might write a potted history on the origins of travel. Where we might get our wanderlust from. This need to explore and constantly keep discovering new things. I am particularly interested in women travellers and as you will see from my blog, its a while before I come across any of note. Perhaps I should rephrase that and say, women travellers and explorers who were acknowledged in a man's world and recorded for posterity, because I would like to believe women were up for a bit of adventure, just like the blokes but simply deemed unworthy of acknowledgement at the time.



My source of information is from a brilliant DK Book - Journey. An illustrated history of travel. I do love a good DK book and of course a limited search through Google and my own small library.



Creswell-crags.org.uk

So where does it all begin? If we think about it, thousands of years agothe Nomadic Tribes, the foragers and hunter gatherers we all descend from, travelled out from Africa into the unknown. It’s not that they could just pick up a good OS Map and plot a course. Just think of it, setting out, gathering food, finding shelter and walking into the unknown. I guess survival came into their reasoning mostly.


Apparently the first map of the known world was created in the 5th century (bce) by,you guessed it, the Greeks.


Herodotus, born approx 484 bce, was known as “The Father of History’, having penned the great tome known as ‘The Histories’. Written in 440 bce it recorded wars (of course there were a few), voyages and many geographical and cultural facts of the times.


Herodotus. the hundred books.com


‘These people began at once they say, to adventure on long journeys, freighting their vessels in the wares of Egypt and Assyria.’ he wrote.


Raw Silk

Indeed apart from a bit of warmongering in these early centuries, trade seemed to be high on the list of reasons to explore and travel to distant and far off lands.


In the 2nd Century bce, China sent Zhang Qian out to explore Europe, thus setting the seeds for the famous Silk Road which connected Europe to China, resulting in just a bit of very profitable trading.


DK Journey. Silk Road Trade Routes


Two thousand years ago Polynesian Navigators set out from Asia to cross the largely unchartered Pacific Ocean and colonised the now named Polynesian Islands. That must have included a few women otherwise they wouldn’t have survived long. If nothing else the men would have needed a good cook! Amongst other things.


Of course I mustn’t forget to mention the great Macedonian Warrior, Alexander the Great, who decided Macedonia wasn’t big enough for him and went on to create the greatest empire the world has ever seen, which stretched from Greece to India, via Egypt. I am sure he would approve of the multiple uses of the word great here! So he did a fair bit of travelling and conquering, naturally.


DK Journey. Alexander the Great's Journey


Then there was the Romans, enough said, because we all know what went on with them. Mind you they did set up the most fantastic road network all across their massive empire and of course women travelled to the far flung outposts of their lands too.


Norway's Viking Longship


We can’t forget the Vikings who were the most intrepid travellers and explorers. There must have been some women amongst that lot surely? As there is evidence of female warrior graves having been found.(More research required, I need to look into this). Although I am rather intrigued by the wonderful sounding ‘Saga of Erik the Red’.


Pilgrimages were popular during the 12th -14th C

So apart from blokes with ideas above their station and huge egos, trade and Religion were major reasons for travelling and exploring. You have the spread of Islam, The Crusades etc. Then later Missionaries of various creeds, spreading the word.


Another little something I discovered during my research which I thought was interesting:-


"Magna Carta highlighted the way in which women were sidelined in public life. Not one woman was named in the charter's 63 chapters."

Not surprisingly, at this point I am still looking for my first named female traveller/explorer. It's not until the 14th Century and a work of fiction that I come across the mention of anyone vaguely female, unless Eric was really Erica, wouldn’t that be great?


The Canterbury Tales, a simply wonderful glimpse at life described through a disparate group of people on a pilgrimage to Canterbury and written in the 1300’s by Geoffrey Chaucer. In it he describes the redoubtable Wife of Bath, with a gap between her front teeth, a huge broad hat the size of a shield and penchant for husbands. Rather larger than life, she wasn’t the only woman in the group, but she was the one who stood out and I pictured her instantly:-

A worthy woman all her life, what’s more

She’d had five husbands, all at the church door.

Apart from other company in youth;

No need just now to speak of that, forsooth,

And she had thrice been to Jerusalem,

The Canterbury Tales - G Chaucer. Translated Nevill Coghill



What a woman! She had also travelled to Rome, Boulogne, Compestella and Cologne and was skilled in wandering, by the way. Apparently she knew all the remedies for love’s mischances, an art in which she knew the oldest dances, but that’s another story.

As it is believed Chaucer took his characters from the people he met, we can legitimately take from this that women often travelled on long foreign Pilgrimages. No mean feat given the hardships of the 14th century, but enough of this fiction, enjoyable though it is.


Christine Roy Unsplash

Naturally it became a race to discover far flung lands and trade routes and the lure of bountiful monies to be had that made it worth all the risks. Rather than chart the obvious male orientated view on exploration and travel around the globe, from this point I am going to concentrate on finding some interesting women that particularly catch my eye and their claim to fame.


Joey Csunuo Unsplash

Of course I must spare a thought for all the faceless women who boarded ships with their husbands to settle in new unknown and dangerous lands, from the Pacific Islands to America and the women who travelled on the great Oregon Trail and the hardships they must've encountered. I have just thought of all the women transported to Australia usually for some very minor misdemeanours and how many of them died due to the dreadful harsh conditions. They must have been made of sterner stuff to survive.


However, I have to skip 300 years to find my first female Explorer of some note.


Maria Sibiila Merian. New Scientist

Maria Sibilla Merian. - 1647


Born in Germany, to a Swiss father, she was passionate about insects and painting. She married at 18 had two daughters and continued as an artist and teacher until she left her husband to join a commune. It was later in life she decided she wanted to see the plants and animals she was painting in their natural habitat. Her travels in South America left her with malaria and possibly yellow fever and forced her to return home. In fact on her trip to Surinam she was quoted as saying "The heat in this country is overwhelming. It nearly cost me my life. Everyone is amazed I survived at all.”

She published the results of her life’s travels in 1705 and called it ‘The Metamorphosis of the Insects of Surinam.” Her life-size paintings in this book are apparently amazingly beautiful.


Moving forward nearly a century to:-



Jeanne Baret - Mariners Museum.Org


Jeanne Baret. - 1740


Jeanne was the daughter of poor Huguenots and possibly a herbalist, a common attribute amongst women of that time. It would appear she came into contact with a gentleman known as Philibert Commerson, a well known botanist. At 26 Jeanne and her then partner Philibert, decided they wanted to be part of the French Naval Royal Ordinance exploration ship circumnavigating the globe, so they could explore and discover new species of plants. However there was one problem at that time, women were not allowed to travel on board French ships. So in order to accompany her partner and both assist him and continue with her own study of botany, she disguised herself as a man. For two years she maintained her disguise as she travelled on board the Etoile after it set sail from Nantes in 1766.

In Tahiti her true identity was discovered not by the sailors on board but by the Tahitians. Once the crew realised she was female she was repeatedly attacked and her life became unbearable. She still continued in her search of new flora and fauna and she collected over 6000 plants and specimens including the then newly discovered Bourganvillia. As the attacks on her became more ferocious she was restricted to her cabin for her safety,although she continued to explore whenever they reached any land. When the ship finally landed in Mauritius, Jeanne and Philibert decided to remain on the island. They continued exploring and recording, until his death in 1774 .Then she returned to France a year later, having married a French sailor.

Although she did not set out to achieve this Jeanne became the first woman to circumnavigate the globe. The fact that she continued with her work whilst under such duress is acknowledged by both Commerson and the captain of the Etoile in their writings and this does to some extent recognise her strength of character and the importance of her discoveries on this trip.


Women and Piracy.


DK Journey - An illustrated History of Travel

Pirates were notorious during the early 18th century as there were rich pickings amongst the ships carrying trade in the open seas. I think it's worth noting the history of women on the pirate ships during this era. Because believe it or not some women did want to become pirates.


Again women were not allowed on pirate ships, what a surprise. Irish Anne Bonnie was so determined to join a ship that she disguised herself as a man and became First Mate to Captain Calico Jack, a notorious pirate captain at the time. At about the same time an English woman called Mary Reid joined the British military, also disguised as a man, calling herself Mark Reid. It was while she was sailing in the military in the West Indies that Mary’s ship was attacked by pirates and she decided to join them. She eventually ended up on the Revenge with non other than Ann Bonney, under the captainship of you guessed it, Calico Jack. In 1720 they were captured by pirate hunter Captain Jonathon Barnett and apparently Bonnie's last words to Jack on the scaffold were allegedly:-

‘Sorry to see you there but if you’d have fought like a man you would not have been hanged like a dog.’

I can’t help wandering what these women were really like and why they wanted to become pirates, was it to see the world or were they simply murderous villains? And what they would have made of Jeanne Baret if they had come across her?



Lady Hester Stanhope - NPG.org


Lady Hester Stanhope - 1776 Aristocrat, Antiquarian and Adventurer ( What an epithet)

Coming from a wealthy aristocratic family, Hester was independent and opinionated from early childhood and her character did not change. She became a famous traveller even during her lifetime, when women were not encouraged to be independent, let alone travel. She explored Turkey, Greece, Egypt and the Middle East and adopted the dress of Turkish Men, what scandal!

She was notoriously outspoken and broke no resistance to her decisions. Together with Charles Meryon they commenced an archaeological dig north of Gaza, that set the accepted standard for all future digs. Hester ended her days in what is now Lebanon, having enjoyed a very interesting and sometimes dangerous life. (Its well worth a read.) It is believed she probably suffered with depression later in life and may have become prematurely senile. Towards the end of her life she still shaved her head and wore a turban, becoming more reclusive as she aged. She died in her sleep in 1839.


As my research takes me into the 19th century there are so many women with remarkable tales to tell that I will need more time to read and more space to write, so another blog will be required, I think. Some of their stories are simply unbelievable. I can’t quite decide if these early women pioneers were tremendously brave or ridiculously foolhardy, perhaps they required a certain amount of both characteristics. They certainly needed a steely determination. But I know one thing I really do admire them and I will reflect on their lives more often as I sit in our cosy campervan tootling along the highways and byways on one of our adventures in Hygge.





Bye for now


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