Travel History: Famous Travelers of the Age of Discovery. Famous geographers and travelers - bibliography

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If you think that with the passing of the Age of the Great geographical discoveries have sunk into oblivion and outstanding travelers, then you are mistaken! Our contemporaries also made the most amazing travels. Among them are scientists who went in search of confirmation of their theories, explorers of the deep sea, and just adventurers who ventured to trip around the world alone or with like-minded people. Many documentaries have been created about their travels, and thanks to them, we can see the whole world through their eyes, real, alive, full of dangers and adventures.

Jacques-Yves Cousteau

Captain Cousteau is a famous French explorer of the World Ocean, author of books and films, and inventor. The oceans have revealed many of their secrets, have shown the beauty of their depths, which is still inaccessible to people, for a huge number of diving enthusiasts. We can say that Captain Cousteau is the father of modern diving, because it was he who created the main diving apparatus. Being engaged in research of the underwater world of our planet, Cousteau created the famous floating laboratory "Callisto" and the first diving apparatus "Denise". Jacques Yves Cousteau captivated millions of people, showing them on the movie screens how beautiful underwater world, making it possible to see what was previously inaccessible to man.

Thor Heyerdahl

The name of the most famous Norwegian of the 20th century is spelled "Thor" in his native language, as well as the name of one of the main gods of Norse mythology, Thor. He made many trips on home-made floating craft of contacts of ancient civilizations with each other. Heyerdahl proved in practice his theory of visiting residents South America the islands of Polynesia, since the scientific world did not perceive his ideas. Together with his team, he reached Raroia atoll in 101 days, having swum 4300 miles. It was one of his most famous travel"Kon-Tiki Expedition" on a makeshift raft. The film, which he shot during the trip, won an Oscar in 1951. And in 1969, he embarked on a dangerous new expedition on a papyrus boat to prove, to prove the possibility of African peoples crossing the Atlantic Ocean. However, the first trip of Thor Heyerdahl on the boat "Ra" ended in failure, the boat sank, before reaching only 600 miles to the island of Barbados. A year later, the stubborn Norwegian repeated his journey and sailed from Morocco to Barbados in 57 days. By the way, our compatriot Yuri Senkevich was the doctor on this expedition. Heyerdahl later visited Maldives, in Peru and Tenerife.

Yuri Senkevich

The popular TV presenter of the "Travelers' Club" program Yuri Senkevich was on the list of the most famous travelers not only as the doctor of the expedition of Thor Heyerdahl. His "track record" of a traveler commands respect:

as a research doctor, Senkevich was trained to participate in a space flight, participated in the 12th Antarctic expedition to the Vostok station in order to study human behavior in extreme conditions, traveled to papyrus boat"Ra", then to "Ra-2" and in Indian Ocean on the "Tigris". Millions of Soviet TV viewers were able to see the world, as they joked "through the eyes of Senkevich." By the way, the program "Film Travel Club", the program was entered in the Guinness Book of Records.

Nikolay Drozdov

More than 40 years ago, Nikolai Nikolaevich Drozdov became the host of the popular TV show "In the world of animals". An avid traveler, "gallant know-it-all", for hours talking about animals as the most wonderful and beautiful creatures in the world - be it an elephant, a bug, or even a poisonous snake. An amazing and wonderful person, the idol of millions of viewers of our country, to listen to stories about interesting facts from the life of birds, reptiles, domestic and wild animals, about the beauty of our nature - and incomparable pleasure, because only a person in love with life can talk like that. Interesting fact about Nikolai Nikolaevich himself - his great-great-great-uncle was the Metropolitan of Moscow Filaret, and his maternal great-great-grandfather Ivan Romanovich von Dreiling was an orderly to Field Marshal Mikhail Kutuzov.

Nikolay Drozdov traveled all over the world, all zoological and National parks, studying the habitats and habits of animals in natural conditions, climbed Elbrus, participated in a long expedition on the research vessel Callisto and in the first Soviet expedition to Everest, twice went to the North Pole, went along the Northern Sea Route on an icebreaker " Yamal ", sailed along the shores of Alaska and Canada on" Discoveryr ".

Fedor Konyukhov

A lone traveler who covered what seemed impossible to conquer, more than once overcame a path that cannot be walked alone - the great contemporary Fyodor Konyukhov. The first among the travelers who conquered the North and South Poles, seas, oceans and the highest peaks of the world, which is proved by more than 40 expeditions made by him to the most inaccessible places on our planet. Among them are five round-the-world voyages, a solo voyage across the Atlantic (which, by the way, he crossed repeatedly) on a rowboat. Konyukhov was the first to cross the Pacific Ocean from continent to continent. But not only travels filled the life of our famous compatriot - Fedor Konyukhov became the youngest member of the Union of Artists of the USSR and the author of twelve books about travel. There were also new plans ahead: a flight around the world on hot-air balloon and circumnavigation in 80 days for the Jules Verne Cup, as well as diving in Mariana Trench... However, having accepted the ordination of a priest in 2010, Fyodor Konyukhov decided not to travel anymore, but ... the ways of the Lord are inscrutable and famous traveler again at the helm. In the spring of this year, he "broke" the Russian record and stayed in the air in a balloon for 19 hours and 10 minutes.

Bear Grylls

Glory came to the young English traveler thanks to the highest-rated television show on the Discovery Channel, "Survive at Any Cost", which first aired in October 2006. The TV presenter and traveler does not just "entertain" viewers with beautiful views of the most amazing places planet, its goal is to convey to the audience life recommendations that can be useful in unforeseen situations.

The list of his travels is respectable: he sailed around the British Isles in thirty days, crossed in an inflatable boat North Atlantic, on an airplane with a steam engine flew over Angel Falls, on a paraglider flew over the Himalayas, led an expedition to one of the farthest unconquered peaks in Antarctica and arranged ... a gala dinner in a balloon at an altitude of more than seven thousand meters! Most of Grills' expeditions are charitable.

Abby Sunderland

Not only men can boast of friendship with the wind of wanderings - Abby Sunderland, a young traveler who, at the age of 16, alone made a trip around the world on a yacht will give odds to many men. The decisiveness of Abby's parents is surprising, because they not only allowed her to participate in such a dangerous enterprise, but also helped prepare for it. Alas, the first start on January 23rd, 2010 was unsuccessful and Abby made a second attempt on February 6th. The journey turned out to be more dangerous than expected: between Australia and Africa, 2 thousand miles from the coast, the hull of the yacht was damaged and the engine failed. After this message, the connection was interrupted, the search for Abby's yacht was unsuccessful and she was declared missing. A whole month later, Australian rescuers found the lost yacht and Abby alive, unharmed in the area of ​​the most severe storm. After that, who will say that there is no place for a woman on the ship?

Jason Lewis

And, finally, the most original of modern travelers, who spent 13 years traveling around the world! Why so long? It's just that Jason refused any kind of technology and all kinds of achievements of civilization. The former janitor, along with friend Steve Smith, went around the world by bike, boat and rollerblading! The expedition started from Greenwich in 1994, in February 1995 the travelers reached the shores of the United States and after 111 days of sailing decided to cross America separately on roller skates. Lewis had to interrupt his trip for 9 months after an accident. After recovering, Lewis went to Hawaii, from where he sailed on a pedal boat to Australia, where he had to spend some time on earning funds for his onward journey ... selling T-shirts. In 2005, he reaches Singapore, then crosses China and India by bike. By March 2007, he reached Africa and also cycled all over Europe: Romania, Bulgaria, Austria, Germany and Belgium. After crossing the English Channel, in October 2007 Jason Lewis returned to London.

It seems that the days of the pioneers have already passed, there are no white spots left on the map. But it turns out that even today you can travel, explore unknown corners of the planet. Let all the continents and islands are already open, let one see the most remote and inaccessible regions from outer space, and let the inquisitive human mind set itself new tasks and solve them, organize expeditions. Who are they, modern travelers of the 21st century?

The names of modern travelers

When we think of the famous pioneers, along with the greats Columbus, Magellan, Cook, Bellingshausen, Lazarev and others, we also talk about our contemporaries. The names of Cousteau, Heyerdahl, Senkevich, Konyukhov and other researchers also sound like a hymn to the study of our planet. Modern travelers and their discoveries are a wonderful

Jacques Yves Cousteau

Cousteau is the greatest oceanographer, French research scientist. This is the man who discovered the underwater world for mankind. It was with his hands that goggles for the first scuba diving were made, the first scientific vessel was equipped to study the depths of the sea. He owns the first films shot underwater.

For the first time, a person was able to freely move in the water column and descend to depths of up to 90 m. Under the leadership of Cousteau, the first underwater expeditions were organized. At first, it was archaeological research on the ocean floor and photography at depths of several kilometers.

When Cousteau created the "underwater saucer" - a mini-submarine, the possibilities for studying the water column increased dramatically. A continuation was the founding of temporary underwater scientific stations, where modern travelers lived for several months and could conduct observations directly at sea.

The result of Cousteau's many years of work on the study of the underwater world were books and films that were very popular: "In a world of silence", "A world without the sun", "Cousteau's Underwater Odyssey". Since 1957, he has headed the Oceanographic Museum in Monaco. In 1973, the Cousteau Society for the Conservation of Marine Nature was founded.

Among his honorary awards, he considered the Order of the Legion of Honor to be the main one. Cousteau died in 1997 in Paris.

Thor Heyerdahl

This name is also familiar to anyone who is even slightly interested in travel. Thor Heyerdahl became famous sea ​​trips, undertaken to prove their point of view on the settlement of different parts of the world.

Heyerdahl was the first to put forward the idea that the islands of Polynesia could be inhabited by immigrants from South America. To prove this theory, modern travelers under his leadership made an unparalleled voyage on balsa raft Kon-Tiki across the Pacific Ocean. Having overcome about 8 thousand km in 101 days, the expedition reached the Tuamotu Islands. At the same time, the raft retained its buoyancy, and if it were not for the storm, it probably could have reached the shores of Asia.

This was followed by expeditions on reed boats "Ra" and "Ra-2", in which our compatriot Yuri Senkevich took part. The boat "Tigris", sailing on which was supposed to show the possibility of links between Mesopotamia and the Indian subcontinent, was burned by the team in protest against the hostilities off the coast of Djibouti, and the expedition was not completed.

Heyerdahl on many issues did not agree with the scientific world and put forward his theories. For many years he studied the mysteries of Easter Island, especially the origin of the famous stone idols. Tour claimed that these giant statues could be made and delivered to the site by the aborigines of the island, who did not have modern tools for processing stone and vehicles. And the results of his research were sensational, although not recognized by most scientists.

Of the controversial theories of Heyerdahl, we also note the version about the connections between the Vikings and the inhabitants of the Caucasus and Azov. He believed that the Vikings were from the North Caucasus. But his death in 2002 prevented him from proving this theory.

Heyerdahl's numerous books on his views on world exploration and travel, documentaries, filmed about them, are still very exciting and interesting for any person.

Yuri Senkevich

A modern Russian traveler and host of the most popular television program in our country "Travel Club", a polar explorer, he took part in the 12th Soviet Antarctic expedition.

In 1969, when organizing an expedition to "Ra", Thor Heyerdahl wrote a letter to the USSR Academy of Sciences inviting a doctor with good knowledge to participate in it. of English language, with experience in expeditions and a sense of humor. The choice fell on Senkevich. Cheerful and cheerful, with an optimistic outlook on life and the skills of a medical practitioner, Yuri quickly became friends with Heyerdahl and the other team members.

Subsequently, they more than once participated in the expeditions of the famous Norwegian. Many of Heyerdahl's studies became known to the Soviet television viewer immediately thanks to a television program hosted by Yuri Senkevich. The "Film Travel Club" became for many a window into the world, which allowed them to get acquainted with interesting places the globe. The guests of the program were modern travelers: Heyerdahl, Cousteau, Jacek Palkiewicz, Carlo Mauri and many others.

Senkevich took part in the medical support of the expeditions to the North Pole and Everest. Yuri Alexandrovich died in 2006 on the set of another TV show.

Tim Severin

Many modern travelers follow the routes of seafarers and pioneers of the past. One of the most famous is Briton Tim Severin.

He made his first trip in the footsteps of Marco Polo on motorcycles. Leaving Venice, Severin and his comrades crossed almost all of Asia and reached the borders of China. Here the journey had to be completed, as permission to visit the country was not received. This was followed by a study (while sailing on it in a canoe and motor boat). The next expedition is on the St. Brendan route through Atlantic Ocean.

Inspired by the adventures of Sinbad the Sailor, Severin made the transition from Oman to China on sailing ship focusing only on the stars.

In 1984, Severin, with a team of 20 rowers, repeated the route of the Argonauts to Colchis (Western Georgia). And the next year he traveled in the footsteps of Odysseus from the imperishable poem of the same name by Homer.

These are just some of Severin's routes. He wrote fascinating books about his adventures, and for "The Journey of Sinbad" he was awarded the prestigious Thomas Cook Prize.

Modern travelers of the 21st century

Despite the fact that it is the 21st century, the spirit of love for adventure and travel has not faded away. And now there are people who do not sit at home in comfort, they are attracted by the unknown, the unknown.

Among them are modern travelers of Russia. Perhaps the most famous of them is Fedor Konyukhov.

Fedor Konyukhov

"First" is often added to his name. He was the first Russian to visit the three poles of the Earth: North, South and Everest. He was the first to conquer the five poles on Earth - the Pole of Inaccessibility in Antarctica and Cape Horn, considered as such for yachtsmen, were added to the previous ones. The first of the Russians to overcome the "big seven" - climbed the most high peaks all continents, counting Europe and Asia separately.

On his account there are many expeditions, mostly extreme ones. Konyukhov made four trips on a yacht around the world. Participant of the ski crossing "USSR - North Pole - Canada".

His books are read in one breath. And in plans for the future - a round-the-world trip in a hot air balloon.

Dmitry Shparo

Let's make a reservation right away: this is a polar traveler and explorer. Back in 1970, he led a ski expedition to the islands Komsomolskaya Pravda... Three years later, he made a trip to Taimyr in search of the warehouse of the famous polar explorer Eduard Toll. In 1979, under his leadership, the world's first skiing expedition to the North Pole was made.

One of the most famous trips to Canada across the Arctic Ocean as part of a joint Soviet-Canadian expedition.

In 1998 he crossed with his son on skis. In 2008 he organized two expeditions to the North Pole. One of them is famous for reaching the pole on skis for the first time in the world at night. And the second was attended by young people aged 16-18.

Dmitry Shparo is the organizer of the Adventure Club. The institution conducts marathons across the country with the participation of people confined to wheelchairs. The most famous is the international ascent of Kazbek for wheelchair users from Transcaucasia, Norway and Russia.

Modern travelers

The geography of modern travel is very extensive. These are mainly poorly studied and hard-to-reach areas of the Earth. These hikes most often take place in extreme conditions that require all your strength.

Of course, it is difficult to cover all the names in one article. Anatoly Khizhnyak, exploring little-studied tribes in the Amazon jungle and Papua New Guinea... Naomi Uemura, who single-handedly hiked to the North Pole, sailed across the Amazon, conquered Mont Blanc, Matterhorn, Kilimanjaro, Aconkugua, Everest ... the first person to climb all 14 eight-thousanders of the world ... You can write about each of them a separate book. Their adventures inspire travelers.

They are always attracted by the horizon line, an endless strip stretching into the distance. Their faithful friends are the ribbons of the roads leading to the unknown, mysterious and mysterious. They were the first to push the boundaries, opening up new lands and amazing beauty of metrics to mankind. These people are the most famous travelers.

Travelers who made the most important discoveries

Columbus spent three quarters of his life sailing. He traveled on Portuguese ships, managed to live in Lisbon and on British Isles... Staying briefly in a foreign land, he constantly drew geographical maps, made new travel plans.

It still remains a mystery how he managed to plan the shortest route from Europe to India. His calculations were based on the discoveries of the 15th century and on the fact that the Earth is in the shape of a ball.

Gathering 90 people of volunteers in 1492-1493, on three ships, he set off on a voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. He became the discoverer of the central part of the Bahamas, the Greater and Lesser Antilles. He is responsible for the discovery of the northeastern coast of Cuba.

The second expedition, which lasted from 1493 to 1496, already consisted of 17 ships and 2.5 thousand people. He discovered the islands of Dominica, Small Antilles, Puerto Rico island. After 40 days of sailing, arriving in Castile, he notified the government of the opening of a new route to Asia.

After 3 years, having collected 6 ships, he led an expedition across the Atlantic. In Haiti, because of the denunciation of an envious person about his successes, Columbus was arrested and shackled. He was released, but he kept the fetters all his life, as a symbol of betrayal.

He was the discoverer of America. Until the end of his life, he mistakenly believed that it was connected with Asia by a thin isthmus. He believed that the sea route to India was opened by him, although history later showed the fallacy of his delusions.

Vasco da Gama. He was lucky to live in the era of the great geographical discoveries. Perhaps that is why he dreamed of travel and dreamed of becoming the discoverer of uncharted lands.

He was a nobleman. The family was not the most noble, but it had ancient roots. As a young man, he became interested in mathematics, navigation and astronomy. Since childhood, he hated secular society, playing the piano and French, which noble nobles tried to "show off".

Decisiveness and organizational skills made Vasco da Gama close to Emperor Charles VIII, who, having decided to create an expedition to open a sea route to India, appointed him as chief.

At his disposal were given 4 new ships specially built for the trip. Vasco da Gama was equipped with the latest navigation instruments and naval artillery.

A year later, the expedition reached the shores of India, stopping in the first city of Calicut (Kozhikode). Despite the cold meeting of the natives and even military clashes, the goal was achieved. Vasco da Gama pioneered the sea route to India.

They discovered the mountainous and desert regions of Asia, made bold expeditions to the Far North, they "wrote" history, glorifying the Russian land.

Great Russian travelers

The famous naturalist Ernst Haeckel became interested in the 19-year-old boy, inviting him to his expedition to study the marine fauna.

In 1869, returning to St. Petersburg, he enlisted the support of the Russian Geographical Society, went to study New Guinea... It took a year to prepare the expedition. He sailed to the shores of the Coral Sea, and having set foot on the ground did not even know that the descendants of this place would call him by his name.

After living for over a year in New Guinea, he not only discovered new lands, but also taught the natives to grow corn, pumpkin, beans and fruit trees. He studied the life of the natives in Java, Louisiades and the Solomon Islands. He spent 3 years in Australia.

He died at 42. Doctors diagnosed him with severe deterioration of the body.

Afanasy Nikitin is the first Russian traveler to visit India and Persia. Returning back, he visited Somalia, Turkey and Muscat. His notes "Voyage across the Three Seas" became valuable historical and literary aids. He simply and truthfully described medieval India in his notes.

A native of a peasant family, he proved that even a poor person can travel to India. The main thing is to set a goal.

The world has not revealed all its secrets to man. There are still people who dream of opening the veil of unknown worlds.

Famous modern travelers

And even though the era of great discoveries is long over. It doesn't matter that the Earth has been photographed thousands of times from space. Let all places of the globe be open to travelers and discoverers. He, like a child, believes that there is still a lot of unknown things in the world.

On account of his 40 expeditions and ascents. He crossed seas and oceans, was at the North and South Poles, made 4 voyages around the world, crossed the Atlantic 15 times. Of these, once on a rowing boat. Most travels he made alone.

Everyone knows his name. His programs had an audience of millions of TV viewers. He is the one great person who gave this world unusual beauty nature, hidden from view in the bottomless depths. Fedor Konyukhov visited different places on our planet, including the hottest place in Russia, which is located in Kalmykia. The site has Jacques-Yves Cousteau, perhaps the most famous traveler in the world

Even during the war, he continued his experiments and explorations of the underwater world. He decided to devote his first film to sunken ships. And the Germans who occupied France allowed him to engage in research activities and take pictures.

He dreamed of a ship that would be equipped with modern technology for filming and observation. Helped him completely stranger, who gave Cousteau a small military minesweeper. After renovation work, it turned into the famous ship "Callipso".

The crew of the ship were researchers: journalist, navigator, geologist, volcanologist. His wife was his assistant and companion. Later, his 2 sons also took part in all expeditions.

Cousteau is recognized as the best specialist in underwater research. He received an offer to head the famous Oceanographic Museum in Monaco. He not only studied the underwater world, but was also engaged in activities for the protection of marine and oceanic habitats.
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Russian navigators, along with European ones, are the most famous pioneers who discovered new continents, sections of mountain ranges and vast water areas. They pioneered significant geographic sites, took the first steps in the development of hard-to-reach territories, traveled around the world. So who are they - the conquerors of the seas, and what exactly did the world learn about thanks to them?

Afanasy Nikitin - the very first Russian traveler

He was able to prove that even as a member of a poor peasant family, one can become a famous explorer and traveler. Streets, embankments in several Russian cities, motor ship, passenger train and the airport.

Semyon Dezhnev, who founded the Anadyr prison

In 1643, as part of a detachment of researchers, Semyon Ivanovich discovered Kolyma, where, with his associates, he founded the city of Srednekolymsk. A year later, Semyon Dezhnev continued his expedition, walked along the Bering Strait (which did not yet have this name) and discovered the easternmost point of the continent, later called Cape Dezhnev. Also, an island, a peninsula, a bay, a village are named after him.

In 1648 Dezhnev hit the road again. His ship was wrecked in the waters located in the southern part of the Anadyr River. Having reached on skis, the sailors went up the river and stayed there for the winter. Subsequently, this place appeared on geographical maps and received the name Anadyr prison. As a result of the expedition, the traveler was able to make detailed descriptions, make a map of those places.

Vitus Ionassen Bering, who organized expeditions to Kamchatka

The discovery of the Kamchatka and Ozerny peninsulas, the Kamchatsky, Krest, Karaginsky bays, the Providence Bay, the St. Lawrence Island are also the merit of Bering and Chirikov. At the same time, another strait was found and described, which later became known as the Bering Strait.

The second expedition was undertaken by them in order to find a way to North America and exploring the Pacific Islands. On this journey, Bering and Chirikov founded the Peter and Paul prison. It got its name from the combined names of their ships ("St. Peter" and "St. Paul) and later became the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

On the approach to the shores of America, the ships of like-minded people lost sight of each other, a heavy fog affected. "St. Peter", piloted by Bering, sailed to the west coast of America, but got into a violent storm on the way back - the ship was thrown onto the island. The last minutes of Vitus Bering's life passed on it, and the island subsequently began to bear his name. Chirikov also reached America on his ship, but safely completed his voyage, having discovered several islands of the Aleutian ridge on the way back.

Khariton and Dmitry Laptev and their "named" sea

Each of the brothers made a significant contribution to the development of new territories. Dmitry became the first navigator who made a survey of the shores from the mouth of the Lena to the mouth of the Kolyma. He made detailed maps of these places, based on mathematical calculations and astronomical data.

Khariton Laptev and his associates conducted research on the northernmost part of the Siberian coast. It was he who determined the size and shape huge peninsula Taimyr - completed a survey of its eastern coast, was able to identify the exact coordinates of the coastal islands. The expedition took place in difficult conditions - a large number of ice, snowstorms, scurvy, ice captivity - Khariton Laptev's team had to go through a lot. But they continued their work. On this expedition, Laptev's assistant Chelyuskin discovered the cape, which was later named in his honor.

Noting the great contribution of the Laptevs to the development of new territories, members of the Russian geographic society decided to name one of largest seas Arctic. Also in honor of Dmitry, the strait between the mainland and the island of Bolshoi Lyakhovsky is named, and the name of Khariton is West Coast Taimyr islands.

Kruzenshtern and Lisyansky - organizers of the first Russian circumnavigation

This journey made it possible to collect important information... Based on data obtained by seafarers, detailed map The Pacific Ocean. Another important result of the first Russian round-the-world expedition was the data obtained on the flora and fauna of the Kuriles and Kamchatka, local residents, their customs and cultural traditions.

During their journey, the sailors crossed the equator and, according to maritime traditions, could not leave this event without a well-known ritual - a sailor, disguised as Neptune, greeted Kruzenshtern and asked why his ship had arrived where he had never been Russian flag... To which he received the answer that they were here exclusively for the glory and development of national science.

Vasily Golovnin - the first navigator who was rescued from Japanese captivity

The leadership set the goal of a round-the-world expedition to study the North Pacific Ocean, with special attention to that part of it, which is located within the borders of the native country. Diana's path was not easy. The sloop passed the island of Tristan da Cunha, passed the Cape of Hope and entered a port belonging to the British. Here the ship was detained by the authorities. The British informed Golovnin about the beginning of the war between the two countries. The Russian ship was not declared captured, but the team was not allowed to leave the bay either. After spending more than a year in this position, in mid-May 1809 "Diana", led by Golovnin, tried to escape, which the sailors successfully managed - the ship arrived in Kamchatka.

The next important task Golovnin received in 1811 - he was supposed to compose descriptions of the Shantar and Kuril Islands, the shores of the Tatar Strait. During his travels, he was accused of violating sakoku principles and captured by the Japanese for more than 2 years. It was possible to rescue the command from captivity only thanks to the good relations between one of the Russian naval officers and an influential Japanese merchant, who was able to convince his government of the harmless intentions of the Russians. It is worth noting that before that, no one in history had returned from Japanese captivity.

In 1817-1819 Vasily Mikhailovich made another round-the-world voyage on the ship "Kamchatka" specially built for this.

Thaddeus Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev - discoverers of Antarctica

The results of this expedition exceeded all expectations. For 751 days, which it lasted, Bellingshausen and Lazarev were able to make several significant geographical discoveries. Of course, the most important of them is the existence of Antarctica, this historical event took place on January 28, 1820. Also, during the trip, about two dozen islands were found and mapped, sketches with views of Antarctica, images of representatives of the Antarctic fauna were created.

It is interesting that attempts to discover Antarctica were made more than once, but none of them was successful. European seafarers believed that either it does not exist, or it is located in places that simply cannot be reached by sea. But Russian travelers had enough perseverance and determination, so the names of Bellingshausen and Lazarev are included in the lists of the greatest seafarers in the world.

There are also modern travelers. One of them .

For some people, travel is not a process, but the meaning of a whole life. We invite you to find out about 6 people who have changed not only our understanding of travel, but also significantly influenced the world as a whole.

Jason Lewis: traveler who traveled around the world in 13 years without using trains, planes, ships or cars.

“They say to me:“ You’re cool! ”- and I think that the one who goes to work five days a week is cool. This "hamster in a wheel" is a real superhero for me. How does he do it? "

Jimmy Nelson: A photographer who captures the indigenous peoples of the Pacific and the High North, which are so few in number that they could disappear completely at any time.

“I spent about three years with 29 of the rarest tribes living in 44 countries, describing their rituals, photographing their clothes, jewelry, weapons, symbols.

I wanted to show more artistically the everyday life of the latter, in my opinion, truly beautiful people on the planet. The photograph is, in fact, just a decoration that hides real story people who live the most secluded and happiest, in my opinion, life. And all because they exist in complete harmony with themselves and the small world around them. "

Paul Salopek: the first hiker to cross the Hijaz deserts on foot in Saudi Arabia.

Paul Salopek, twice Pulitzer Prize winner for his work. For many years he worked as a foreign correspondent in Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, Balkan Peninsula and in Latin American countries.

“In the Hejaz - the legendary region of the vanished Hashemite Kingdom that once ruled the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia - there are abandoned and popular wells. There are wells, where the atmosphere of sorrow or joy reigns - and the Universe is enclosed in each ”.

Maria Leierstam: the first person to reach the South Pole by bicycle

35-year-old British native Maria Leierstam conquered the South Pole in a tricycle, trike, overtaking male competitors and setting a world record. Temperatures at the South Pole can reach -92 degrees Celsius.

"Travelers can only truly appreciate the beauty of a place if it took a lot of effort to get there."

Don Parrish: the traveler who has visited almost everything geographic locations in the world.

On this moment Donald Parrish, an American of Polish descent, has visited 847 places around the globe. To complete his journey, he had to go to another 28 places.

He studies the history of all the countries where he was. He deliberately decided not to have a family, he has no children and, having sufficient capital, he is completely free to achieve his goal.

Lavison Wood: Photojournalist, the first person in the world to walk 6,500 kilometers along the Nile.

The former British Army paratrooper loves to travel, especially in impenetrable jungle Africa. It was with this passion that his long journey began.

"I'd rather take a chance and see everything with my own eyes than rely on, frankly, biased media."

If these people inspired you to travel, then