#WednesdayWomen Many of us love exploring new places, but in the modern 21st Century world, there isn’t much left unexplored. Just imagine being the first white explorer to see Victoria Falls or the first explore to land on Antarctica. Even more, imagine being the first woman to do this. There are some inspirational female explorers that I’d like to introduce you to today.
Jeanne Baret is recognised as the first woman to circumnavigate the globe. But she had to do it disguised as a man on the world expedition led by Louis-Antoine de Bougainville from 1766 to 1769. Around the same time, Lady Hester Stanhope explored the Middle East, crowning herself the queen of the desert. She was the first European woman to cross the Syrian Desert and the first to conduct modern archaeology research in the Holy Land.
Nellie Bly was an American journalist who saw Phileas Fogg’s journey as a challenge! In fact, she took just 72 days to race round the world – by herself and with one small bag. She did this in 1890, but also was a pioneer of investigative journalism. Read more here https://amzn.to/3dUNWNR She is certainly someone I’ll be adding to my reading list!
The women of Iceland are known for being strong and equal members of society. So it is no surprise that the Viking wife and mother Gudrid Thorbjanarnadottir was the most travelled women of the Middle Ages. She criss-crossed the North Atlantic several times between Greenland and Iceland. She also sailed to North America 5 centuries before Christopher Columbus and visited Rome on a pilgrimage.
Isabella Bird was the first female member of the Royal Geographic Society. Travelling to North America on her first visit in 1854, she then went on to travel widely in the USA and Asia.
Martha Gellhorn was a journalist who covered the Spanish Civil War and was also on the D-Day beaches. She then lived in Cuba as the third wife of Ernest Hemingway, also an inveterate traveller.
This is just a small selection of women who found the boundaries of home too restrictive and loved adventure. Who inspires you to travel?
Read more online https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2016/mar/08/top-10-inspiring-female-travel-adventurers and https://www.nationalgeographic.com/amp-stories/travel/visionary-female-adventurers-through-history/