The World’s Greatest Travelers™;

Here is our list of The World’s Greatest Travelers if you have any to add, please let us know at Inquiries.

Over the ages, traders and conquering forces were the first real travelers to terra incognita (unknown lands where serpents reside) and the mysteries they held. Then the Age of Exploration arrived on the scene along with the wandering religious pilgrimages/missionaries of Medieval Times. Once the "Here Be Dragons" myths were finally exorcised from maps, wealthy travelers began their Grand Tours of Europe, India and Africa, and then the world. With the advent of mass transit, the onslaught of tourists began to change the world by the turn of the 20^th Century. Toady, road warriors or FBT’s (Frequent Business Travelers), package tourism and backpackers can be found even in the most remote of places.

Traveling through the ages has not always been a noble aspiration. Mostly, travel was done for profit, colonial driven conquests and a missionaries zeal to convert the heathen. Few traveled to quench their thirst for knowledge or curiosity of foreign cultures. Thank goodness for those folks, and despite a few politically incorrect versions (with approximate dates) of their adventures, those are the members of our list of The World’s Greatest Travelers™. We’re not big on folks that do silly things like climb mountains because they’re there, or trek across deserts and massive ice shelves. So here’s our best effort from A to Z. Of course we welcome your comments. Enjoy…

The World’s Greatest Travelers™:

Abel Janszoon Tasman, 1642

Alexander the Great, 330 B.C.E.

Amelia Earhart, 1937

Armstrong & Aldrin, 1969

Blanchard & Jeffries, 1785

Bleier & Sheahen, 2004

Bruce McCandless II, 1984

Cailliaud & Caillie, 1828

Chalmers & Valvur, 1989

Charles Lindbergh, 1927

Christopher Columbus, 1492

David Livingstone, 1849

Erik the Red, 950

Fa-hesien, 400

Ferdinand Magellan, 1521

George Anson, 1740-1744

Giovanni Caboto, 1450

Henry Hudson, 1609

Henry Kissinger, 1972

Henry Morton Stanley, 1879

Herodotus, 485 B.C.E.

Hope & Crosby, 1950

Hunt & Qubain, 2005

Hunt & Hackley, 2008

Ibn Battuta, 1325

Indiana Jones, 1980

Jacques Cartier, 1535

Jacques-Yves Cousteau, 1960

James Bond, 1970

John Clouse, 1959-99

Joan Diaz, 1434

Juaon Ponce De Leon, 1502

Phineas Fogg, 1872

Lewis & Clark, 1805

Lief Eriksson, 986

Marco Polo, 1260

Michael Fay, 1999

Nain Singh, 1870

Nellie Bly, 1890

Nicholas Coleridge, 1984

Picard & Jones, 1999

Pytheas, 300 B.C.E.

Redmond O’Hanlon, 1990

Robert & Carmen Becker

Robert Edison Fulton, Jr, 1932

Rivers & Havard, 2002

Samuel de Champlain, 1613

Sir Francis Drake, 1577

Sir Richard Francis Burton, 1855

St. Brendan, 484

Sylvia Earle, 1981

Vasco da Gama, 1498

Vasco Nunez de Balboa, 1500

William of Rubruque, 1253

Yeager & Rutan, 1986

Yuri Gagarin, 1961

Zheng He, 1400

If you think that we’ve carelessly missed someone or would like us to make an addition to The World’s Greatest Travelers™ list, please contact us at Inquiries