Journeys of Famous Travelers

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We didn’t always have the access to Google and Google Maps to know about a foreign land. It took many courageous travelers to explorer uncharted places. They went against all odds to explore unknown places, cultures and customs. No one knew where Lewis and Clark were for two years until they came back from their expedition and Xuanzang traveled without a permission of his king. Read below the journey of few famous travelers from around the world.  

Ibn Battuta

The young Ibn Battuta set off on a travel to Hajj in 1325, and he went on traveling for next 29 years. On his way he faced pirates and robbers, fell sick twice (once he fell so sick that he was tied to his saddle to keep from falling off), got a lot of gifts from pious Muslims, and married a few women and fathered several children. The great Muslim explorer traveled from Morocco to Kilwa( Tanzania), China and Mali, as well as to India, Jerusalem, Granada, Sri Lanka, The Maldives and hundreds of other places. To concise it, Ibn Battuta travelled almost 75,000 miles, mostly overland. A detailed account of his astonishing traveling is chronicled in Rihla, which means “journey”.  

Christopher Columbus

Columbus first started sailing for several trading voyages in the Mediterranean and Aegean seas. In 1492, he was sailing across the Atlantic Ocean in search of Asia when he fell a bit short and discovered America. He could never reach Asia as he planned. However, the voyage was very courageous. He had the guts to sail wooden ships across then uncharted Atlantic Ocean.  The world still debates that if the Italian voyager was a great explorer. His enslaving humble natives of Hispaniola and mutilating them suggests otherwise.

Lewis and Clark

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark set out on an amazing voyage across the Louisiana Territory in 1804. They explored the western United States beginning in Missouri through the Mississippi to the Pacific coast. They faced harsh conditions and crossed unexplored places, and returned in 1806 with the help of the famous Sacagawea, a Lemhi Shoshone woman.  These two American Heroes very well deserve being considered as two of the world’s greatest explorers. 

Xuanzang

Xuanzang was a Chinese Buddhist Monk, refined scholar, courageous traveler and a translator who recorded the interactions between India and China in the early Tang Dynasty. He set out on a travel through China, The Indian subcontinent and Afghanistan when his emperor has prohibited foreign travel.  During his journey he was attacked by robbers, survived an avalanche, and coped up with hunger and thirst. He documented his journey in Great Tang Records on the Western Regions.