Stories of 9 Famous Travelers Who Charted the New World

Xuanzang became a Buddhist monk at the age of 13 after he studied religious texts while he lived in the mountains of Sichuan, China with his brother. They had been sent to a monastery as refuge from a civil war. Xuanzang decided he wanted to travel to India to learn more and proposed a visit. However, the emperor forbade him from going.

That did not stop Xuanzang. He secretly set out on a journey that took him 17 years – heading through the Gobi Desert and eventually reaching India. During his time there, he studied with famous Buddhist masters and acquired many Buddhist texts. Eventually he returned to China.

Xuanzang’s translations and general knowledge acquired during the journey were a major influence on Chinese Buddhism. Likewise, he wrote a travel log that gave detailed accounts of countries in Central and South Asia. The wealth of information helped China’s emperor overlook the forbidden journey and welcome Xuanzang home with open arms.

Long before famous explorers like Christopher Columbus and Ferdinand Magellan set sail, European explorer Marco Polo embarked on a journey to explore Asia.

The famous Venetian explorer followed in the footsteps of his father and uncle, who traveled to Asia for business. He traveled along the Silk Road and became one of the first European explorers to visit China, where he stayed for 17 years and immersed himself in the culture.

Battuta is considered perhaps the greatest medieval Muslim traveler and is also the author of the book Riḥlah (Travels). He covered about 75,000 miles during his journey through nearly all of North Africa, the Middle East, East Africa, Central Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, China, the Iberian Peninsula, and West Africa. In comparison, Marco Polo traveled “only” about 15,000 miles.

Battuta was part of the Amazigh ethnic group in Tangier, Morocco. He began his travels with his religious pilgrimage to Mecca in the Middle East and then developed a passion for travel. During his journey through many nations, he met at least 60 rulers and numerous other dignitaries. Though he did not make any major discoveries, Battuta’s documentation of his travels had notable historical and geographical significance.

Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese explorer, was the first European to sail the Pacific Ocean and around South America. Renowned for leading the first Spanish expedition and Spanish crew to circumnavigate the globe, Magellan set sail under the Spanish flag in 1519. His five ships sailed through the Atlantic Ocean, around the southern tip of South America, and across the Pacific. He discovered the strait that now bears his name, the Strait of Magellan.

Magellan’s expedition faced numerous challenges, from treacherous waters and mutiny on his ships, to encounters with indigenous peoples. Despite the dangers, Magellan’s fleet became the first European explorers to sail across the vast Pacific Ocean, opening new routes for trade and exploration. Although Magellan did not survive the entire voyage, being killed in the Philippines, his expedition proved that the world could be circumnavigated, thereby setting a world record.

Historians debate a number of facts about this famous Native American woman, including her name and year of death. What is known is that as a teenager and new mother she assisted Capt. Meriwether Lewis and Lt. William Clark on their famous Lewis and Clark Expedition to explore the Louisiana Purchase and the Pacific Northwest. She is thought to be the first woman to travel the entire length of the Missouri River.

Sacagawea was a Shosone Indian who was enslaved by the Hidatsa Indians when she was 12 years old. French Canadian fur trader Toussaint Charbonneau bought her from the Hidatsa to become one of his wives. Later, Charbonneau was hired by Lewis and Clark as an interpreter, and Sacagawea was tasked with coming along to help communicate with the Shosone Indians.

Journalist Elizabeth Cochran Seaman aka Nellie Bly is well-known for staying ten days in a mental institution in New York and exposing the cruelties there. However, she also traveled around the world in 72 days using trains, ships, and horses for transportation. Her inspiration was Jules Verne’s book Around the World in 80 Days, and her goal was to beat the fictional character and complete the trip in less time.

Unbeknownst to Bly, she had competition from another real person. Cosmopolitan writer Elizabeth Bisland set off in the opposite direction to race Bly, but in the end rough seas ruined her chances.

The fact that two women made it around the world undoubtedly surprised Bly’s editor who told her the trip would be impossible for a female. As the Smithsonian magazine reported, Bly’s reply was:

“Very well,” she said, “Start the man, and I’ll start the same day for some other newspaper and beat him.”

It took some time for African-American explorer Matthew Henson to get his deserved recognition. He is the first person to reach the North Pole, but his travel partner Robert Peary originally got the credit. Later it was realized that Henson was in the lead sled and was the one to plant the American flag.

In his youth, Henson’s parents were regularly targeted by the Ku Klux Klan. Henson found inspiration from Frederick Douglass in his efforts to overcome oppression. When his parents died, Henson got a job on a ship where he learned seafaring skills.

Jacques Cousteau is perhaps the world’s most famous ocean explorer. In 1936 he went swimming underwater with goggles and realized how wondrous the world was beneath the water. He developed with engineer Emile Gagnan the Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus or SCUBA in 1943.