Interesting facts about women travelers. Famous women travelers (photo) Russian women travelers with their husbands

Usually, when we imagine travelers, they are men with beards looking for new places and sensations. However, in the history of travel there are many female representatives who have crossed the globe far and wide.

Lady Hester Stanhope.
Lady Hester, daughter of the third Earl Stanhope, was born in the early days of the British Empire. Her wanderlust began to show at a young age, when she tried to pay her way to France in a tiny boat. However, soon after her marriage, she abandoned her plans. Only after the death of her husband, Lady Hester began her travels. Her first destination was Athens, then she went to Egypt. Their ship sank near the island of Rhodes and she had to continue the journey on foot. She was the first European to visit so many Arab cities. She spent the last years of her life walled up in a palace in the heart of Lebanon.

Annie Smith Peck.
Annie Smith Peck is one of the most famous American mountaineers. She first became interested in mountaineering when she saw with her own eyes the power and majesty of the Matterhorn. She began to train and eventually conquered the mountain. In 1908, Annie, who at that time was 58 years old, in the Andes climbed the peak of Mount Huascaran, whose height was 6656 meters, as a result of which she set the “all-American” record.

Gudridur.
Gudridur grew up in Iceland at the end of the 10th century and, as a young woman, sailed to America on a Viking ship as part of one of the first expeditions. She gave birth to the first European child in North America. She then returned to Iceland and made a pilgrimage to the Pope. Returning to her homeland, she lived to a ripe old age, becoming a respected mother to many whose descendants still live in Iceland.

Garrett Chalmers Adams.
Adams inherited her love of travel from her father, who used to take her on horseback rides in the mountains as a child. After marriage, Garrett, together with her husband, visited all the sights of Mexico - the ruins of the Aztecs and the Mayans, regardless of their degree of remoteness from the civilized world.

Freya Stark.
Freya Stark had fragile health and a weak heart, and anyone else in her position would have preferred to stay at home, but Freya Stark did the opposite. She decided that it was better to die than to accept the life of an invalid. After studying Arabic at the School of Oriental Studies in London, she chose the Middle East as her route of travel. For several years, Freya Stark traveled tirelessly through the mountains, exploring the remote regions of the East and plotting them on a map. During the Second World War, she was an employee of the British Ministry of Information and covered events in the Arab countries; traveled in China; regularly visited Turkey and traveled the path of Alexander the Great from Caria to Cilicia.

Nellie Bly.
New York journalist Nellie Bly became the only woman to set out to break the record of the hero of Jules Verne's novel Around the World in 80 Days. Nellie Bly exceeded it by circumnavigating the Earth in 72 days 6 hours 10 minutes 11 seconds, using the most common means of communication and modes of transport.

Louise Boyd.
Louise Boyd earned the nickname "Ice Woman" from her adventurous exploration of Greenland. Boyd not only studied fiords and glaciers, but also discovered an underwater mountain range in the Arctic Ocean. And in 1955, Louise became the first woman to fly over the North Pole.

Kira Salak.
Despite the fact that the golden age of travel seems to be over, journalist Kira Salak continues the tradition of famous women travelers. Kira has written many books based on her travels in countries such as Papua New Guinea, Peru, Iran, Bhutan, Mali, Libya, Burma. Perhaps one of her most daring journeys was in the Congo, following in the footsteps of mountain gorillas.

Mary Kingsley.
Mary Kingsley is an English writer and African explorer. During her travels, Mary Kingsley collected unknown samples of insects and fish, explored the equatorial region of the Ogooue River, penetrated the jungle, where she met with cannibal tribes, climbed Mount Cameroon. She was one of the first to study and describe the art, crafts and way of life of the African tribes she met.

Gertrude Bell.
Gertrude Bell had several nicknames: the Arabs called her "daughter of the desert", "uncrowned queen of Iraq." For the acquired knowledge, during the First World War, Bell was sent to serve in British intelligence. She made two trips around the world from 1897 to 1898. and from 1902 to 1903. Her ascent of the Alps earned her fame as an alpinist.

English women travelers of the second half of the 19th century

A.E. Afanasiev Nothing that W.G.Blaikie women dare to do in this day and age is no surprise. lady travelers. (1896).

The phenomenon of women travelers is one of the most interesting features of the Victorian period in the history of England. The Victorian period, as the years of Queen Victoria's long reign (1837 - 1901) are called, is known as a time of considerable subjugation of women, when harsh public morality strictly regulated their life, limiting it to the domestic sphere and reducing their activities to doing housework and caring for the family. . However, it was precisely during these years that women's travels, made in various parts of the world - from the Balkans to South America - became an increasingly noticeable phenomenon in the life of English society, and this fact is a striking contrast with the gloomy picture of women's lack of freedom in the Victorian era.

The activity of travelers testifies to the variety of options for the social activity of women of the Victorian period, including outside England. Her research in line with gender theory makes it possible, on the one hand, to identify strategies that allowed women to go beyond the range of activities prescribed for them, and on the other hand, to trace certain changes in the perception of gender roles that took place in the public consciousness at that time. In addition, consideration of the activities of travelers in the territories of British domination or influence contributes to understanding the role of women both in the process of imperial expansion and in the daily life of the empire. An analysis of the views of English travelers and the criteria with which they approached the assessment of other peoples and cultures contributes to a better understanding of the British ideas about the cultural and ethnic "other", as well as revealing the nature of cross-cultural ties in the imperial territories.

As we can see, the aspects of a possible analysis of the activities of English travelers are quite diverse. Within the framework of this article, I would like to focus on one of them, namely, on the consideration of the phenomenon of female travelers as a phenomenon in the social life of Great Britain, adding new touches to the portrait of English society in the Victorian period.

Despite the fact that travel in European culture has always been considered a male occupation, at all times there were also women among travelers. The first description of a journey made by a European woman dates back to the 4th century BC. and is written by the abbess of Aquitaine Egeria. Like other rare accounts of medieval and early modern female travelers, it tells of a pilgrimage to the Holy Land: for many years pilgrimage was the only legitimate way for women to travel.

In the XVIII century. there is a new, secular tradition of women's travel, which is believed to have begun with the publication of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu in 1763 of her "Letters written during travels in Europe, Asia and Africa." Since that time, the number of women traveling for completely secular reasons has steadily increased, and in the 19th century, especially in the second half of it (which accounts for most of the Victorian period), the number of Wonderful Adventures, Wanderings and " Travel notes" numbered in the hundreds. By the end of the century, special guides for travelers appeared, indicating the prevalence of the phenomenon, and a contemporary noted that “a woman traveler has ceased to be a rarity; now sophisticatedly educated women climb Mont Blanc, penetrate the forests of Norway, cross the Pacific Ocean, cross deserts and visit distant islands..."

The increase in the number of traveling women in the second half of the 19th century was part of a general trend characteristic of the upper and middle strata of English society in the Victorian period. The number of Britons traveling outside their country has increased every year. If in the 1830s About 50,000 passengers crossed the English Channel annually, by 1913 the corresponding figures were more than 660,000. Many were forced to travel because of professional necessity, which called them to various parts of the vast British Empire. However, more and more Victorians left England of their own accord. This circumstance is all the more important for us, since most of the traveling women belonged to their number.

Noting the large number of Britons abroad, the famous French writer and traveler Theophile Gauthier wrote: "The English are everywhere, with the exception of London, where only Italians and Poles are found." This ironic remark had a very real basis. The Victorians experienced a real tourist boom. It was at this time that organized tourism appeared, associated primarily with the name of Thomas Cook: the enterprising native of Leicester entered the history of British leisure as the first organizer of group excursions along tourist routes developed by him. The number of these groups could be very significant: describing one of them, Isabella Burton, the wife of a famous English traveler, reports 180 participants in a tour of Syria. For those who preferred to travel on their own, numerous guidebooks to the countries of Europe and the East were published, the most authoritative among which were Murray's publications.

The geography of travel was quite extensive: the British could be found in European countries - Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, France; Italy, with its "luxurious summer, abundance of flowers and fruits, unbearable heat and dazzling brightness," enjoyed great popularity among the British, tired of the fogs of their homeland. Many were interested in the New World: a trip to the United States or Canada was not just a vacation, but attracted primarily by the opportunity to observe a new type of society. The East had a special attraction: one of the most popular tourist routes of the Victorian period ran from Egypt through the Sinai Peninsula to the Middle East. A tour of biblical places, according to contemporary Frances Power Cobb, gave travelers an unprecedented "pleasure from the contemplation of those places with which the imagination has been fascinated since childhood" .

Motives for travel could be very diverse. So, describing Cairo in 1873, the English traveler Amelia Edwards noted: “Here are the sick in search of health, and athletes hunting for crocodiles, government officials on vacation, correspondents collecting rumors, collectors looking for papyri and mummies, scientists interested in only science, and an indispensable retinue of idlers who travel for the love of travel or to satisfy their idle curiosity. As you can see, the range of reasons that attracted the British abroad was quite wide.

Travel on such a significant scale became possible due to a number of favorable factors that had developed by the second half of the 19th century. These included, above all, successes in the development of transport. The active construction of railways - both in Europe and in Asia - the appearance of steamboats made it possible to move much faster and more comfortably than in previous years. The journey, which previously took four months under favorable conditions, now required no more than four weeks.

An important circumstance for English travelers was the power of Britain, its high prestige in the world, supported by economic prosperity and military power - all this provided them with a sense of security in their stay abroad. To the greatest extent, this applied to the regions of British influence - such as the Mediterranean - and the territories of the British Empire. The empire was

one of the most powerful incentives to travel: where else could one satisfy one's interest in exotic nature and peoples while advancing under the protection of the English flag? In addition to explorers, geographers, missionaries, colonial officials, for whom travel was an integral part of their professional activities, a whole stream of amateurs rushed to the territory of the empire who wanted to contribute to the study of imperial lands and peoples, or simply broaden their horizons.

An increasing proportion of the Victorian travel population was made up of women; at the same time, they made trips not only to the relatively safe and familiar Europe, but also ventured to travel through the little-explored territories of Africa and the Middle East. The difference between the experiences of each of them was significant, but it is quite possible to make some generalizations.

First of all, most of the English traveling women of the Victorian period belonged to the middle class. The trend to travel was created by women from the families of the untitled nobility, the clergy, doctors, businessmen and middle-class industrialists. The English middle class grew richer and larger; in this environment, travel gradually became a necessary part of education - not only for men, but also for women.

Contrary to the common stereotype of the Victorian traveler as an eccentric old maid (which is still often seen in publications dedicated to them), the majority of them were married women. Often they found themselves in lands remote from England due to the professional career of their husbands (sometimes brothers) - military men, officials, missionaries, researchers in the service of the British Empire. The stereotype of "old maids" was formed by a few middle-aged unmarried travelers, whose work was most widely known - Isabella Bird, Ann Taylor, Marianne North, Mary Kingsley, etc., but these women by no means represented the majority.

An important feature that united almost all female travelers was the desire to describe and publish their impressions of the trip. England in the second half of the 19th century. the genre of "travel descriptions" was one of the most demanded by the readership. Along with the natural human interest in all sorts of unusual stories, a significant role was played here by the surge of British interest in non-European cultures, due to the further expansion of the empire. Travel books, in the words of B. Melman, have become "one of the strongholds of the Victorian publishing industry"; often they occupied the top lines in the lists of best-selling publications, crowding out religious and recommendatory literature. Most of them at that time belonged to the pen of male travelers, however (compared to the previous period) in the second half of the 19th century. there was a real breakthrough of women writers in this hitherto almost exclusively male field of literature. Publications brought in considerable income, and this largely explained the desire of travelers to make stories about their adventures available to the public. To emphasize the originality of the experienced, women resorted to the usual tricks for travelers: the titles of their books focused on the exotic place of travel (“Ten Days on the Butter River”, “Egyptian Tombs and Syrian Shrines”) or the length of the route (“A Thousand Miles Up the Nile” , "From the Hebrides to the Himalayas"). But besides this, they had at their disposal a much more effective way to draw attention to the book: to emphasize the very belonging of the author to the weaker sex. Headlines such as "A Lady's Journey in a French Man-of-war" or "A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains" captured the unusual presence of women in such an atypical setting, lending an air of eccentricity to the narrative.

Responding to the expectations of readers, the texts of the books abounded with descriptions of adventures, amazing cases and curious episodes, images of native peoples and the beauties of tropical nature. However, not all travelers collected various information.

about the country they visited only for the pleasure of readers. For a number of them, the collection of information was an attempt to make a feasible contribution to scientific knowledge: the second half of the 19th century was the time of the emergence of ethnography and anthropology, the intensive development of biology, geography and other natural sciences; the progress of these disciplines required the accumulation of facts. The work of a female researcher was, as a rule, informal: their initiatives were rarely supported at the official level. Until the 20th century women were excluded from most specialist communities. Thus, the Royal Geographical Society of London, the largest and most authoritative patron of geographical research in the Victorian period, for a long time resisted the admission of women into its ranks. Women researchers were only allowed to read reports on their work, but not to vote or hold office in the Society. In this regard, some travelers preferred membership in other, less conservative (but also less authoritative) organizations, such as the Royal Asiatic Society, the Scottish Royal Geographical Society, etc. Only in 1913, after a twenty-year campaign that was very emotional and in the London Geographical Society itself, and in the British press, the Society made a final decision allowing women to join its ranks. The relations of female travelers developed similarly with other official scientific organizations. Until the end of the 19th century, their work was considered amateur and therefore not always worthy of the attention of professionals.

The neglect of women's work by specialists was not the only problem women travelers had to face. After all, not all of them were so ambitious. Something else was much more difficult: in the era of the dominance of the ideology of divided spheres, women who went on a long trip to the so-called "non-European territories" had to overcome the wary, if not negative, attitude of society towards such initiatives. The very decision to travel was, to a certain extent, a challenge to the accepted norms of female behavior, it came into conflict with the ideal of female passivity cultivated in the Victorian period.

The attitude of society towards female travelers was ambiguous and largely depended on the presence or absence of male companions in their trips. Women who went to distant lands with their husbands were under their guard and protection, while at the same time acting as an assistant to their husband amidst the dangers of the journey. As a result, they invariably received the praise and approval of society, which extolled their courage and devotion to their spouse.

The attitude towards women traveling unaccompanied by men was different. Regardless of their physical ability, ability to protect themselves in dangerous situations, and the number of companions, they were classified as "unprotected", which implied a certain eccentricity. An important way to convince society of their loyalty to the prescribed norms of behavior was the desire of travelers to follow all the other establishments of Victorian morality - from demeanor and observance of English traditions to the mandatory wearing of exclusively women's clothing. The last feature, perhaps, most clearly testifies to the inconsistency and ambiguity of the status of a woman traveler, both in the eyes of society and in her own. Women's clothing of the Victorian period was one of the most uncomfortable travel costumes: stiff corsets, long heavy skirts with numerous pleats, high collars rising to the throat. Men's clothing would have been much more appropriate in the harsh conditions in which they had to move. Nevertheless, even when the struggle for the reform of women's clothing was being waged in England, travelers stubbornly continued to wear corsets and hats and carefully took care to maintain the proper appearance of a woman, no matter how difficult it was. Moreover, according to them, only this clothing was the only suitable and appropriate for a woman in unusual conditions. So, Mary Kingsley emphasized the benefits of a "good thick skirt" during her wanderings in the African swamps. Another well-known traveler, Isabella Byrd, having read in The Times that she rode horseback in

Rocky Mountains in a "man's dress", considered it her duty to ask one of her friends to stand up for her honor and whip the newspaper correspondent who insulted her. According to the English researcher Katherine Stevenson, "wearing trousers, even in the African jungles or the mountains of Tibet, was tantamount to a recognition of support for women's emancipation" . To abandon familiar clothes in favor of more comfortable ones meant to join the so-called "new women", whose free way of thinking and behavior shocked and annoyed society. By choosing the appearance familiar to society, the travelers thereby, as it were, convinced him of their normality and harmlessness. The same applied to the mode of transportation they chose: they preferred to ride exclusively in a side saddle, finding the male method of riding unacceptably "inelegant" for a woman. Describing their actions on the way, travelers invariably presented their own behavior as impeccably feminine, emphasizing their "truly feminine curiosity", rejection of cruelty and violence, attention to detail, emotionality. All this gave grounds to the assurances of William Blakey in 1896 that, for all their wanderlust, English women "have never shown qualities inconsistent with modesty, grace, gentleness, which should always be recognized as the proper adornment of this sex" .

The activity of women travelers was, of course, emancipatory in nature: while traveling, they asserted their ability to be independent, the ability to do things far from the domestic sphere, and increasingly gained recognition and authority in the field of scientific research. Society, in the words of B. M. Ingemanson, began to get used to "small doses of women's mobility." At the same time, the stereotypes of women's behavior that existed in the public mind left a special imprint on their words, deeds, and even appearance. Travelers' attention to clothing, behavior, as well as special storytelling techniques, was determined by their desire to reconcile their activities with the ideology of the Victorian era. The experience of English travelers once again demonstrates the importance of gender stereotypes and norms of behavior in the life of society.

Bibliography Blaikie, W.G. lady travelers. //Blackwood's Magazine.Vol.160 (July, 1896). P.49. Adams, William H.D. Celebrated Women Travelers of the Nineteenth Century. L., 1883.

P.383. Cit. Quoted from Frawley, Maria H. A Wider Range: Travel Writing by Women in Victorian England. Rutherford, 1994. P.110.

Pemble, J. The Mediterranean Passion:Victorians and Edwardians in the South. Oxford, 1987. P.1.

Ibid. Burton, Isabel. The Inner Life of Syria, Palestine and the Holy Land from my Private Journal.

L., 1875. / Unsuitable for ladies: an anthology of women travelers - selected by J. Robinson. - Oxford, 1994. P.133.

Edwards, Amelia. Untrodden Peaks and Unfrequented Valleys: A Midsummer Ramble in the Dolomites. 1873. Reprint. Boston, 1987. P.1. Cit. Quoted from: Frawley, Maria H. Op.cit., p.21.

Cit. Quoted from: Frawley, Maria H. Op.cit., p.20. Ibid., p.21. Mitsi, E. Roving Englishwomen in Greece: Gendering Travel Writing. http://www.women.-it/

quarta/workshops/writing1/efterpimitsi.htm

Melman, B. Women's Orients: English Women and the Middle East, 1718-1918: Sexuality, Religion and Work. Basingstoke, 1992. P.34.

Middleton, D. Victorian Lady Travelers. L., 1965. P.14. See, for example, on Florence Baker: Blaikie, W.G. Op.cit., p.56-58; editor's preface

to the "African Journal" Katherine Pitrick: Mrs. Petherick "s African Journal. // Blackwood" s Magazine. Vol. 91 (June, 1862). P.673.

Kingsley, Mary. Travels in West Africa. Congo Francais, Corisco and Cameroon. 1897. /Un-suitable for ladies, p.214.

Middleton, D. Op.cit., p.8. Stevenson, Catherine B. Victorian Women Travel Writers in Africa. Boston, 1982. P.3. Cit.

by: Ingemanson, B.M. Under Cover: The Paradox of Victorian Women's Travel Costume. /Women and http://www.yspu.yar.ru/vestnik/novye_Issledovaniy/14_4/ - h1#h1

the Journey: the Female Travel Experience. - ed. by B. Frederick and S. McLeod. Pullman, 1993. P.7.

Edwards, Amelia. Untrodden Peaks...p.XXXII. Cit. by: Ingemanson, B.M. Op.cit., p.8. Petherick, Mrs. Mrs. Petherick's African Journal. // Blackwood's Magazine. Vol. 91 (June,

1862). P.674. See also: Duff-Gordon, Lucy Lady. Letters from Egypt. 1863-1865. NY., 1972. P.18,19; Colvile, Zelie. Ten Days on an Oil River. // Blackwood's Magazine. Vol. 153 (March 1893). P. 378, 380-382.

Blaikie, W.G. Op.cit., p.66. Ingemanson, B.M. Op.cit., p.5.

For the preparation of this work, materials from the site http:// www.yspu.yar.ru

Speaking of famous women, it is easiest to imagine them in the form of an eccentric court courtesan, an insidious seducer or poisoner, famous singers, actresses, poetesses. Well, even the rulers! But certainly not travelers, because it is men who are usually drawn to hell - to conquer, discover, explore. Although maybe they are out there in the middle of nowhere, just trying to hide from their ladies?
And therefore we will slightly open this facet of the female character, we will tell a few interesting facts about women with a completely unexpected craving for wandering.

1. Gudridur

Gudridur lived in the 10th century in Iceland. In her youth, she, along with the Vikings, sailed on their ship to America. It is to her that the honor of the birth of the first European child on the continent belongs. later the woman returned to her homeland, but for a long time she stayed on the spot and went to Rome on a pilgrimage to the pope. Only after that, Gudridur settled in Iceland, gave birth to many children, and for many years was a respected mother of the family. And now her descendants live in Iceland.

2. Lady Hester Stanhope

Lady Hester was the daughter of the third Earl Stanhope. She lived during the formation and development of the British Empire and was completely imbued with this spirit. As a child, she tried to make a trip to France in a tiny boat, fortunately, she was stopped in time. With marriage, the craving for travel subsided somewhat, until the death of her husband. And here already Lady Hester fulfilled all her dreams - first she went to Athens. Then the sea moved to Egypt.
But because of the storm, the ship sank near the island of Rhodes, and then she traveled on foot. She was the first European who managed to visit so many Arab cities, but Lady Hester spent the last years of her life in one of the palaces in the center of Lebanon.

3. Garret Chalmers Adams

Together with her father, Garret often went on horseback rides in the mountains. Her passion for travel was supported by her husband, with whom they visited all the interesting places in Mexico - the ancient ruins of the Maya and the Aztecs. Moreover, the spouses were not at all afraid of the remoteness of the sights from modern civilization.

4. Annie Smith Peck (1850 - 1935)

Annie Smith Peck is not just a famous climber. She had a master's degree from the University of Michigan, studied in Greece and Germany, then taught herself at Purdue University. She was once struck by a mountain in the Alps - the Matterhorn. Annie prepared for a long time and finally climbed this mountain. After that, she conquered various peaks in Europe, North and South America.
At 58, she climbed Mount Huascaran (6,656 m) in the Andes, which became an all-American record, at 61, she climbed Koropuna (6,377 m), and Annie made her last ascent at 81!

5. Freya Stark (1893-1993)

Freya spent most of her childhood with her grandmother in Italy. From the age of 9, when she was presented with a book of fairy tales "1000 and 1 night", Stark "fell ill" with the East. In her youth, due to health problems, the girl spent most of her time at home with books. She read a lot, studied languages. At 13, Freya had an accident at a factory and spent a long time recovering from skin grafts, but her face was not perfect. Then the girl devoted herself completely to her passion - she studied Persian and Arabic and went to the Middle East. Over the years of wandering, she climbed and mapped the most distant and inaccessible corners. During World War II, she was invited to work in the British Ministry of Information, where she prepared propaganda materials for the Arab countries in support of the allies.
After the war, Freya visited China, followed the Macedonian route from Cilicia to Caria, visited Turkey regularly, and published several books about her travels.

6. Nellie Bly(Elizabeth Jane Cochran) (1864-1922)

After the publication of the novel Around the World in 80 Days, many tried to repeat this journey. The only woman who was equally enthusiastic about this idea was Nellie Bly, a journalist from New York. She, using conventional modes of transport and means of communication, managed to circumnavigate the globe in 72 days 6 hours 10 minutes 11 seconds.

7. Mary Kingsley (1862-1900)

Mary was the daughter of the famous writer and traveler George Kingsley. As a child, she read a lot, and mostly non-fiction and travel notes. And after the death of her parents, Mary went to Africa. She wanted to study the life of the tribes in order to finish her father's book. Mary Kingsley visited Sierra Leone, Luanda, Angola. The locals taught her how to survive in the jungle and the woman visited the most remote places, described many new species of fish and insects, and conducted a study of native customs and beliefs.

8. Louise Boyd (1887-1972)

She was called the "Ice Woman" for her explorations of Greenland. She owns not only the study of fiords and glaciers, but also the discovery of an underwater mountain range in the Arctic Ocean, her travels were full of surprises and the most exciting adventures. Louise also became the first woman to fly over the North Pole in 1955.

9. Kira Salak(b. 1971)

Kira Salak is a famous writer, traveler and journalist. She owns several scientific and fantasy books based on the results of her travels to Papua New Guinea, Mali, Peru, Bhutan, Libya, Iran, Burma. The most exciting was the trip to the Congo, where she studied mountain gorillas.

10. Gertrude Bell (1868-1926)

Gertrude was born into the family of a wealthy industrialist, received an excellent education, traveled to the East several times. Later she left for Iran, where she took up archeology and history, founded the Baghdad Museum with many unique rarities. She took an active part in the political and cultural life of the East, since 1920 she was the eastern secretary of the Higher British Commission in Mesopotamia. In 1921 she took part (the only woman!) in a conference in Cairo. Later she collaborated with British intelligence, was an associate of Lawrence of Arabia.

So women can be great in so many different areas. This is clearly shown by the post -

The first woman is a member of the Russian Geographical Society

At the beginning of the 19th century, in the patriarchal Russian society, a woman could be an active traveler only in the company of her husband. But this does not mean that she herself remained only a wife.

As a young girl, Olga Armfeld (born in the Nizhny Novgorod province) was most interested in botany and zoology, began working at the Zoological Museum, where she met her future husband Alexei.

Travel began immediately after the wedding. However, it was business as usual. The route was also quite innocent - Scandinavia. But unlike other newlyweds, these measured and sketched Finnish and Swedish skulls in museums.

The largest expedition for the spouses was the then little-studied Turkestan, Olga was the official botanist of the group. The research took four years and took place in difficult conditions: the locals were rather unfriendly towards Russian scientists, the expedition even had personal guards from the Cossacks with artillery. It is clear that the girl also had to overcome the skepticism of “her own”: the local Russians did not understand what the woman had forgotten in these parts, and were able to reconcile with her to some extent as an assistant to the researcher Fedchenko - after plentiful treats.

Nevertheless, in Turkestan, Olga first described several plant species, collected a huge herbarium, an extensive collection of insects, made sketches of the area, which were later used by the artist A.K. Savrasov.

The expedition brought her real fame. In addition, after the death of her husband on Mont Blanc, she, with her infant son in her arms, did not leave work and published materials on the Turkmen expedition.

Olga Fedchenko received the Big Gold Medal of the Society of Natural Science Lovers, became the first female botanist who was accepted as a corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, the first woman member of the Russian Geographical Society, and also an honorary member of the Paris Geographical Society, the Boston Academy of Sciences. Well, as a "cherry on the cake" Alexander II noted her merits by sending an expensive bracelet with rubies and diamonds.

On her last expedition, already together with her son Boris, also a botanist, she went when she was 70 years old.

Anna Shchetinina (1908–1999)

First female sea captain

Shchetinina Anna Ivanovna Photo: Moscow State University. adm. G.I. Nevelskoy

She became famous immediately, in the most ordinary flight, simply because of her new status. Anna began life as a captain in Hamburg, from where she led the cargo ship Chinook through Odessa and Singapore to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. The campaign was "boring", that is, without incident, but the newspapermen followed it closely, making the young captain even more famous.

Three years later, she became the first head of the fishing port in Vladivostok. But the work in the chair was not to her liking, so she moved to the other end of the country: to Leningrad, where she entered the Leningrad Institute of Water Transport.

During the Great Patriotic War, Anna Shchetinina on the Baltic Sea was engaged in the transportation of important strategic cargo and helped the residents of Tallinn to evacuate. She stayed in the Baltic: she was a ship captain, then went to teach at the Leningrad Higher Marine Engineering School, where she gradually became a dean. She was also the chairman of the Primorsky branch of the Geographical Society of the USSR, wrote the book "On the Seas and Beyond the Seas ...", and circumnavigated the world on the Okhotsk. A cape on the coast of the Amur Bay in the Sea of ​​Japan is named after her.

Alexandra Tolstaya (b. 1973)

Aristocrat riding the Great Silk Road

A distant relative of the great Russian writer, in fact, is British and did not know the Russian language until her university days. But we included her in the list for her glorious roots, for the fact that the Russian nevertheless submitted to her and for her eccentricity in choosing a trip.

Alexandra Tolstaya. Photo: seva.ru

She decided to go through the Great Silk Road - as they say, the first in modern history. To do this, together with her friend Sophie, Alexandra applied for a grant to the Royal Geographical Society - and won it. Two more girlfriends were added to them, and a purely female company set off on horseback through Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan to China.

However, they were not completely alone. Alexandra mentions that they had escort vehicles, and as a result, the journey of 9000 km was widely covered in the British media. Alexandra took notes for a future book, The Last Secrets of the Silk Road.

A man also appeared in the girls' group: guide Shamil Galimzyanov from Uzbekistan, a member of the show jumping team. He went through a couple of countries with his girlfriends, and a few years later Countess Alexandra married him.

By that time, the couple had already been on new trips several times. In 2002, they rode horses from Lake Baikal to Mongolia. After the wedding, they performed on Akhal-Teke horses from Ashgabat to Moscow: also a decent distance, 4000 km, but they could only reach Orenburg. They were not allowed into Russia: they say, an epidemic of foot-and-mouth disease. The campaign was completed only after a couple of years.

In the future, the couple organized horseback tours for tourists in Central Asia and Siberia, which were popular.

Now Alexandra no longer travels, but lives in London with three children from a new marriage - with banker Sergei Pugachev.

Elena Solovieva

The first woman in the world to circumnavigate the North Pole on a sailing yacht

Conquest of the North Pole is always a separate dream of travelers. They get there by boats, skis and dogs, and it seems that a lot has already been explored, but the wild north still does not let go.

Elena Solovieva. Photo: Natalia Sudets / website

There are gaps in the conquest of the "sea route". In 2010, the Russian crew of the sailing yacht "Peter I" managed to sail about 10,000 nautical miles around the North Pole in one season, or, as they say, "in one navigation." This round-the-world trip around the Arctic is the shortest in the world, but also the most dangerous. The main "highlight" of the expedition is that the team managed without an icebreaker, only with the help of maps, forecasts and headquarters on the shore. Elena Solovieva, who had been engaged in yachting for 7 years, was the senior mate on this 109-day expedition. Then she was only 25 years old, and the other six members were no older.

With their journey and the record set, the crew drew attention to the problem of climate change: until recently, it was impossible to go along this path without an icebreaker, and now a sailing yacht can sail there.

However, "swim" is too easy a concept. Several times the crew nearly died trapped in the ice.

Returning in triumph, Elena organized an international regatta from St. Petersburg to Franz Josef Land, in which 18 yachts from various countries took part: Estonia, Finland, Poland, Germany.

Now Elena Solovieva organizes events for the St. Petersburg Yacht Club.

Lyubov Sluchevskaya

Traveled alone on foot five African countries with an exhibition of children's drawings

This traveler has a very beautiful goal of the project - to show the world through the eyes of children. During her African travels, her backpack contained not only personal items, but also drawings by Moscow children, from which she organized exhibitions in many cities.

Lyubov Sluchevskaya. Photo: evafrika.livejournal.com

So it would be more correct to call such a trip an expedition: Lyubov had a very busy schedule, because there were agreements in schools to hold exhibitions. The whole project was called "Africa, a friendly world."

Initially, the idea was to show African children drawings about the life of Russian children, made by themselves. In order to select the best works, a local competition was held among elementary school students. Lyubov chose 80 works with which she went.

Her expedition started from Hurghada and lasted 2 months through Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya to the island of Zanzibar in Tanzania. Sluchevskaya moved only on foot and by public transport - no rides or hitchhiking.

She was all alone. It was not some kind of marketing ploy, the traveler herself simply explains that it was more convenient for her: “I take everything that happens during the expedition so seriously that to another person who is less immersed in my idea, I will inevitably seem boring, cruel and fanatical , she wrote on her blog. “(…) I am not very interested in exotics, sights, local crafts, history along the route.”

But already during the campaign, the idea of ​​demonstrating children's drawings developed into the idea of ​​international exchange. In each place where the exhibition was held, Lyubov arranged a competition for local children and took the drawings of the winners with her. Upon her return to Moscow, she arranged exhibitions of works by African children.

The expedition was overshadowed only at the end: in Tanzania, Lyubov Sluchevskaya was robbed on the street by three bandits, stealing a bag in which there was a passport. It had to be restored.

The following year, the traveler set off on her second African trip with the same goal, walking a couple of thousand kilometers across the Sahara and showing children's work in Mali, Mauritania, and Morocco.

She earns for her travels herself - in the winter in Moscow she gives private lessons in the Russian language. She does not need a lot of money for the expedition: living conditions are quite difficult. By the way, according to Sluchevskaya herself, she did not have a single vaccination.

“I am interested in the correspondence of the world, for example Africa, to the idea that the world is friendly when you are friendly. This is exactly what I am looking for, ”writes Lyubov Sluchevskaya.

When we talk about brave adventurers, fearless travelers and conquerors of new lands, we usually mean men, bearded and stern, who go on a journey, driven by ambition or thirst for thrills. However, stories are known of women who broke the centuries-old tradition, left the hearth and set off on adventures. Traveling women traveled the world and led a hectic life full of adventures, because they wanted to expand their horizons, follow loved ones, or simply because they could not sit at home.

Lady Hester Stanhope (1776-1839)

Lady Hester Stanhope

Lady Hester Stanhope was born to Charles Stanhope, 3rd Earl Stanhope in 1776. Lady Hester's passion for travel was evident at an early age, when she attempted to take a boat to France, but was quickly intercepted by adults and returned home. An active, independent and intelligent girl, Esther in 1803 became the hostess, and then the secretary, in the house of the future Prime Minister of Great Britain, William Pitt Jr. After his death, Esther was given a pension for her efforts. It was this income that gave her freedom of movement.

For some time, Lady Esther lived in London, then moved to Wales, and then permanently and went to Athens. According to rumors, when Esther Stanhope arrived in the Greek capital, Lord Byron threw himself into the sea to greet her. She was supposedly supposed to become a secret agent and spy on Napoleon. But British diplomats put an end to these plans, and Lady Esther and her little family were forced to go to Egypt. On the way to Cairo near Rhodes, the ship fell into a severe storm, Lady Esther and her companions escaped, but all their belongings were lost. Lady Stanhope was forced to wear men's clothes, which she continued to do for the rest of her life. She visited Gibraltar, Malta, the Ionian Islands, the Peloponnese, Palestine, Syria and Lebanon in two years. Lady Hester was the first European to visit some of the Eastern cities, where she met with a very warm welcome.

The emir received her cordially, and from then on she called herself "Queen Esther", and nothing could shake her convictions.

Lady Esther Stanhope spent the last years of her life in a secluded mansion in the mountains near the Lebanese city of Sayda on the Mediterranean coast.

Annie Smith Peck (1850-1935)

Annie Smith Peck

Annie Peck has been interested in science since childhood, and before the age of thirty she received a master's degree in philology. Knowledge of the classical languages ​​- Latin and Greek - enabled her to become the first woman to study archeology at the American School of Classical Studies in Greece. For the first time, Peck woke up with an interest in mountaineering only at the age of 44, when she saw with her own eyes the power and grandeur of the Matterhorn. She began to train hard and soon conquered the mountain.

Returning to America, Annie Smith Peck devoted all her time to mountaineering, conquering the peaks of South America and trying to find the highest mountain in the New World. In 1904, she climbed Mount Sorata in Bolivia, and in 1908 she became the first person to climb Mount Nevado Huascaran (6768 m) in Peru (Peru), the northern peak of which was subsequently renamed in her honor. Annie Smith wrote several books about her ascents, lectured about her adventures and continued to climb into old age.

The climber made the loudest ascent in 1909: 61-year-old Peck conquered the top of Koropun in Peru, hoisting a flag on it with the slogan "The right to vote for women!". Annie Smith Peck made her last ascent at the age of 82.

Gudridur

Gudridur

Gudridur was born in Iceland around 980 AD. The story of her life was brought to us by the great Icelandic sagas. Gudridur was destined to travel a much greater distance than most of her contemporaries. The father took Gudridur to the colony in Greenland, founded by Eric the Red, and married Thorstein, the son of Eric. Together with her husband and other Viking settlers, she traveled west from Greenland. The path of this expedition lay in Vinland - as the Vikings called North America. Unfortunately, this expedition was not successful, and Thorstein died on the way back.

Returning to Greenland, Gudridur remarried. Together with her new husband, Thorfinnr, she made another attempt to get to Vinland and establish a settlement there. The Saga of Greenland describes the two years that this Icelandic colony existed in the New World. Gudridur gave birth to the first European child in the land of the New World - the son of Snorri. The Greenland Saga is about a strange people, the natives, whom the colonists call "skrelings". At first, the Scandinavians traded with the Skrelings, but then enmity began between them, the victory in which remained with the Scandinavians. However, fearing more serious attacks and war, the Scandinavians returned to Greenland. Together with her fellow tribesmen, Gudridur converted to Christianity. When her husband Thorfinnr died, Gudridur decided to make a pilgrimage to Rome, where she met the Pope and told him of her adventures. Returning to Greenland, she became a nun and spent the rest of her long and interesting life in seclusion.

Harriet Chalmers Adams (1875-1937)

Harriet Chalmers Adams

Love for travel and nature Adams inherited from her father, who, having no sons, often took Harriet with him on horseback rides in the mountains. At the age of fourteen, she accompanied her father on a year-long expedition on horseback through Mexican territories. Shortly after Harriet married engineer Frank Adams, he was invited to work in Mexico. For lovers, this time turned into a long honeymoon. Chalmers visited all the ruins of the Aztec and Mayan settlements, many of which were discovered shortly before. Harriet was fascinated by Latin America, and at her request, Frank accepted a position with a mining corporation that allowed them to travel freely in South America.

Wanting to document her travels, Harriet learned to take photographs. It was the magnificent photographs and the ability to captivate readers and listeners with stories about what he saw that made Adams one of the most famous travelers of his time. Over time, she learned to turn her impressions into articles for magazines and even gave lectures about what she saw. Her reporting on South America is best known, but Harriet Chalmers also traveled to Asia and became a war correspondent when World War I broke out. Since at that time a woman could not become a full member of the Geographical Society, Harriet Chalmers Adams founded the "Society of Women Geographers" and became its first chairman.

Freya Stark (1893-1993)

Freya Stark

In an obituary, Freya Stark is called "the last romantic traveler." It was the romantic view of the world that was so fond of the readers of her travel reports. During her long (Freya Stark lived to be a hundred years old) and adventurous life, she traveled almost the whole world. Her childhood and youth were spent in Italy, where she lived with her grandmother. At the age of 9, she was presented with “1000 and 1 nights” and little Freya “fell ill” with the East.

In her youth, due to health problems, she spent most of her time at home, with books: she read a lot, studied languages. At the age of 13, Freya had an accident at a factory, spent several months recovering from skin grafts, and during this time she learned Latin. Then the girl devoted herself completely to her hobby - she studied Persian and Arabic, and in the late 1920s. went to the Middle East. In her second book, The Valley of the Assassins, Freya Stark recounts how she became the first European to set foot on the land of Luristan, Iran, and how she first saw the destroyed castles of the Assassins. Returning from this expedition, Freya published the first of nearly thirty travel books that are also a success with the modern reader.

In addition, in Egypt, Freya Stark created a democratic political group to combat fascist propaganda spread by German agents. After the war, she continued to travel and write, for which she was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1974.

Nellie Bly (1864-1922)

Nellie Bly

Nellie Bly is one of the most famous names on the list of female travelers, but originally Nellie Bly was called differently - Elizabeth Cochran. Most of the travels and adventures of journalist Nellie Bly are associated with her work in the New York World newspaper. This was the era of "sensational" journalism, and Bly's first report was devoted to exposing the conditions of the patients in the lunatic asylum for women. Posing as a mental patient, Bly voluntarily went to the clinic and experienced all the “charms” of isolation on the island from her own experience. The patients were fed spoiled rancid food, the nurses were cruel and indifferent, and the conditions of detention were not suitable for people. Bligh's article was a breakthrough in the field of investigative journalism, provoked a scandal in society and served as an impetus for the reform of psychiatric hospitals.

Nellie Bly's next adventure brought her worldwide fame. She became the only woman who wanted to break the record of the hero of Jules Verne's novel "Around the World in 80 Days" Phileas Fogg. Nellie Bly set off on November 14, 1889 with the only "trump card" - a special foreign passport signed by the US Secretary of State. Her journey began with seasickness, but ended in triumph.

In France, Bly met with Jules Verne, who believed that she would be able to complete the trip around the world in 79 days, but not in 75, as she had hoped. Bly crossed several seas, went through the Suez Canal, visited Colombo and Aden, visited a leper colony in China, bought a monkey and returned back to New York, spending 72 days 6 hours 10 minutes 11 seconds.

Louise Boyd (1887-1972)

Louise Boyd

Louise Boyd was born into a wealthy family and later used her large inheritance to explore the Arctic regions she loved so much. Boyd became the first woman to fly over the North Pole (in 1955). Traveling in Europe after the death of her parents in 1920, Boyd spent some time in Svalbard, where she fell in love with the beauty of the ice. Her first Arctic expedition took place in 1926; she was engaged in film and photography of the Arctic flora and fauna. Boyd's polar bear hunting earned her the nickname "Diana of the Arctic". She was also called the "Ice Woman" for her adventurous exploration of Greenland. Boyd not only studied fjords and glaciers, but also discovered an underwater mountain range in the Arctic Ocean.

Louise Boyd's most famous expedition is her participation in the search for the famous Antarctic explorer Roald Amundsen, who disappeared while assisting a downed Italian airship. Boyd flew ten thousand miles in her plane, but Amundsen was never found. For participation in this search expedition, Boyd - the first woman who is not a subject of Norway - was awarded the Order of St. Olaf by King Haakon VII. Boyd returned to the United States and led five expeditions to Greenland, for which she was especially noted by the Geographical Society. Greenland has an area named Louise Boyd Land in her honor.

Kira Salak (1971-

Kira Salak

It seems that the golden age of adventure and discovery has long passed, and travel has become a pleasant pastime for women. But the life of Kira Salak, a journalist and professional adventurer, proves that there are still many unexplored places and “dark spots” in the world.

Salak worthily continues the traditions of famous women travelers. After completing her PhD in Literature and Travel Reporting, Kira Salak embarked on a long journey through Papua New Guinea. She turned this experience into the book Four Corners. Since then, she has written many books. Her daring adventure was in the Congo, where she followed the trail of mountain gorillas. Salak was smuggled into the country by Ukrainian arms smugglers. Kira wrote an article about this trip, for which she received several professional awards. In the city of Bunia, Salak met with several child soldiers from the local militia.

There is not a trace of the Victorian sentimentality traditionally expected of British journalism in her style, but Salak describes phenomena that leave no room for such emotions. In her less shocking reporting, Kira Salak reveals a fascinating world that we, who live in an age when traveling is easy and pleasant, often do not notice.

Gertrude Bell (1868-1926)

Gertrude Bell

Gertrude Bell has many accomplishments but is best remembered today for her role in establishing the nation state in post-World War I Iraq. Bell was in many ways a first: the first woman to earn a master's degree in history from Oxford; the first woman to write a document for the British government. She made two trips around the world. Once, while climbing a mountain in Switzerland, Bell got into a snowstorm and hung on a safety rope for two days.

Bell found her true calling when she traveled to Tehran to visit her uncle. In the Middle East, she taught local languages ​​and studied archaeology. Many archaeologists working in the Middle East at the time were also agents of British intelligence, such as Lawrence of Arabia, whom Bell met at the excavations.

In 1915 she worked again with Lawrence, in Cairo, at the British Arab Bureau. Her knowledge of the Middle East found wide application in times of peace. In Basra, Gertrude Bell met and made contacts with many important local people, including the future kings of Iraq, Abdullah and Faisal. At post-war conferences on British influence in the Middle East, Bell advocated Iraqi self-government and for some time was an unspoken adviser to King Faisal. Gertrude Bell is buried in Baghdad, the capital of the nation she helped create.