Who doesn’t love to travel? Only those who have excuses not to. For someone, it can be a reason to relax from everyday busy life. While for others it is amusing to witness how other people live and their cultures, their lifestyle. There’s nothing like travelling, visiting places for the first time or even going back to the same destination again is always comforting.
Andre Gide once said, “Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.” Whatever he said totally makes sense because nothing is discovered by sitting in the house. Similarly, our history is also filled with amazing adventures who flagged the way for coming explorers and inspired generations of wanderlust.
Therefore, we at faltu saala will tell about the greatest ancient travellers of their time who set an example for us that there is no person who can stop you from travelling unless you have thought for doing so yourself.
– MARCO POLO
This legendary Venetian merchant traveller whose travels are recorded ‘The Travels of Marco Polo’ set out with his father and uncle to explore Asia at the age of 17. They came back 24 years later after travelling over 15,000 miles, Marco was imprisoned and dictated his stories to a cellmate. Providing a fascinating insight into Kublai Khan’s empire, the Far East, the silk road, and China with tales, he inspired generations of travellers.
– CHRISTOPHER COLOMBUS
Famous for being the discoverer of America, Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer, navigator and colonizer citizen of Genoa. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, this man completed four long and difficult voyages across the world. Columbus showed Europeans there was a new world out there and ushered in a new age of European exploration. In his last voyage on the seas, he strayed away and landed in what is present-day America and in a bid to discover Japanese and India he enslaved a population and also brought a host of terrible diseases to an entire region.
– IBN BATTUTA
Muhammad Ibn Battuta was a Medieval Moroccan Muslim traveller and scholar, considered to be the greatest travellers of all times who is famous for his travel account called ‘Rihala’. Ibn visited most of the known Islamic world as well as many non-Muslim lands, along with forays to China, India, Southeast Asia and East Africa. Battuta travelled more than 120,000 kilometres visiting the equivalent of 44 modern countries through regions — from Italy to Indonesia, Timbuktu to Shanghai.
– XUANZANG (HSUAN TSANG)
Xuanzang was a Chinese Buddhist monk, scholar, traveller, and translator who brought the great Indian and Chinese cultures in contact with each other in the early Tang dynasty. He became famous for his 17-year overland journey to India, which is supposedly the inspiration behind the novel “Journeys to the West”, written by Wu Chengen. He tracked the northern route of the Silk Road, documenting regions that are now Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan which made him one of the most famous travellers of history.
– VASCO DE GAMA
Vasco da Gama was a Portuguese traveller and explorer and the first European to reach Indian shores, linking the Indian subcontinent with Europe by the sea route leaving Portugal in the summer of 1497. Gama opened up the ‘Spice Route’ when he landed in Calicut and established the first contact with the golden Indian shorelands. Da Gama led two of the Portuguese armadas destination for India, the first and the fourth.
– CAPTAIN JAMES COOK
Captain James Cook was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the Royal Navy. His voyages led to the discovery of the East coast of Australia and Hawaii. As a mariner who saw action in the seven years’ war, Cook cruised a great many miles over a generally unknown region of the globe and drafted islands from New Zealand to Hawaii. Cook was assaulted and executed in an encounter with Hawaiians between his third exploratory voyage in the Pacific in 1779.
– HERODOTUS
Herodotus was an ancient Greek historian popularly known as the ‘Father of History’. He was one of the most travelled people of his age. Herodotus is famous for his written book The Histories, a detailed record of his “inquiry” on the origins of the Greco-Persian Wars. He was the first historian to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent, and arrange them in a well-constructed and vivid narrative.
– JACQUES CARTIER
Jacques was a mariner who began the first European voyage to the far undiscovered land, what we currently know as Canada. France’s King Francis I authorized the navigator Jacques Cartier with the end goal to look for gold and different wealth, and in addition another course to Asia. He was the first European to map the Canadian landmass while also brought along the French language.
– AMERIGO VESPUCCI
Amerigo Vespucci was born in the United States of America and his parents named him after the wonderful country in which he was born. Unfortunately, they were unable to pronounce “America” correctly, so he became known as Amerigo. Vespucci made four voyages during this time he discovered South America and decided to name it after himself. He also discovered many new rivers, including the Nile, the Yangtze, and the Susquehanna.
