Your favourite explorer

[firecrest]

As someone mentioned one of Ray's next programs may be on his favourite explorer, I was wondering who is everybodies elses favourite, seems as we all tend to have different ideas on who is the greatest at this and that.

Im going to put forward a little known man named Ibn Battuta. I watched a programe on this man last year and was fascinated. He was by far the most travelled explorer of the ancient world, covering more distance than Marco Poloan estimated 75,000 miles. However, he is little known because he is a Muslim and travelled within the muslim world.
Butthata was born in 1304 and begun his travels from Morocco aged 20. The places he covered, over a period of 30 years include North Africa, West Africa, Southern Europe and Eastern Europe in the West, to the Middle East, Indian subcontinent, Central Asia, Southeast Asia and China.

Its a shame hardly anyone has heard of him. though there are several books about him
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/The-Travels-of-Ibn-Battuta-in-the-Near-East-Asia-and_W0QQitemZ250282011272QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item250282011272&_trkparms=72%3A984|39%3A1|66%3A2|65%3A12|240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

I had a camel for riding and a she-camel for carrying provisions. When we set out on the first stage the she-camel broke down. AI-Hajj Wujjin took what was on her and divided it among his companions. They shared out the burden. There was in the caravan a Maghribin (man of Arab north-west Africa) of the people of Tadala who refused to carry any of it in the way other people had done. My servant lad was thirsty one day. I asked the Maghribin for water; he did not give it.

Then we arrived at the land of the Bardama people (a Tuareg group). a tribe of the Berbers. The caravan cannot travel except under their protection; and amongst them the protection of a woman is more important than that of a man. They are nomads, they do not stay in one place. Their dwelling places are strange in form: they set up poles of wood and place mats around them, over that they put interwoven sticks and over them skins or cotton cloth. Their women are the most perfect of women in beauty and the most comely in figure, in addition to being pure white and fat. I did not see in the land anyone who attained to their standard of fatness. These women's food is cow's milk and pounded millet; they drink it mixed with water, uncooked, morning and evening. A man who wants to marry among them has to settle with them in the country near them, and not take his spouse farther than either Kawkaw or Iwalatan.

 

[Sniper]

For me I think it would be Scott. An expedition into the Arctic waste with the kit they had and very little in the way of game so having to carry everything with them. The constant cold etc. with no means of fire to keep them warm. What an ordeal these people had to endure, planning and preparation to the highest degree, definately a traveller of the highest calibre. And to make the ultimate sacrifice, with no need for a speech before hand, truly remarkable.

If not him it would be Livingstone. All the same qualities and endurance feats except heat instead of cold. Tribes of dangerous native peoples and the wild animals. Walking all the way for both you have to admire both men. Going, to coin a phrase where no man had gone before, with no maps or directions, very little in the way of rescue when things go wrong. Courage and bravery, tenacity and confdence in their own abilities. And both were Scottish so an added bonus for a fellow native.

 

[Shewie]

For me it has to be a toss-up between James Cook and map maker David Thompson

I read a lot about Thompson when I was in Canada and Cook speaks for himself.


David Thompson

David Thompson was born in Westminster, England, April 30, 1770. His Welch father died when he was two years old. At the age of seven, his mother enrolled him in the charitable Grey Coat School near Westminster Abbey. At the age of fourteen, he apprenticed to the Hudson's Bay Company as a clerk, arriving at Churchill Factory on Hudson Bay in September of 1784. His first two years were spent on the shores of Hudson Bay at the Churchill and York factories before being stationed at several posts on the Saskatchewan River.
David Thompson ranks as the premier surveyor, map maker and one of the leading explorers of North America. From 1792 to 1812, David Thompson mapped most of the country west of Hudson Bay and Lake Superior, across the Rocky Mountains to the source of the Columbia River, and the length of the Columbia to the Pacific Ocean. For the Hudson's Bay Company, and then as a wintering partner for the North West Company,
David Thompson traveled fifty-five thousand miles. The map prepared by Thompson filled in the blank spaces on one million, nine hundred thousand square miles of northwest Canada.
His men erected the first establishments west of the Continental Divide in Washington, Idaho, and Montana. He opened the first trade with the northwestern Indian tribes of the United States and Lower Canada. David Thompson made the first recorded information on Northern Plains Indian warfare, guns, and horses. And it should be added that he accomplished all of this, much to the chagrin of several North West partners, without trading whiskey to the Indians. The North West Company map prepared by David Thompson covered an area of two million three hundred and forty thousand square miles from Lake Superior and Hudson Bay to the mouth of the Columbia River. The David Thompson map was placed in the Great Hall of the North West Company headquarters at Fort William, which was located on Thunder Bay of Lake Superior. In 1814, he revised all of his surveys into a second great map that measured six and a half by ten feet long. The revised David Thompson map showed an accurate location of all the North West Company posts. In 1846, at age 76, his vision became so bad that he could no longer work. The following year, he began to write his Narrative. Over the remaining years, he was forced to sell all of his possessions, including his navigation and surveyor instruments, to support his family. David Thompson died on February 10, 1857, two months before his eighty-seventh birthday. Charlotte, his faithful companion for most of her life, followed three months later. They are buried side by side in Montreal's Mount Royal cemetery.


What an existence and not a bad CV either.


Rich

 

[BOD]

I never ever thought Ibn Battuta would be mentioned on this site even though he ranks with the greats.

I found Samuel Hearne to be fascinating. His travels into the Canadian interior and encounters with the tribes are bushcraft classics in my opinion and the near universal importance of enlisting a native woman/women to help an expedition without which it is often doomed

 

[sharp88]

Can I say Everest? Hes buried about half a mile off from me.

 

[Mike Ameling]

Probably la Salle or Raddisson.

In the 1600's, la Salle sailed to New France, then traveled from the settled areas of Montreal/Quebec out through the Great Lakes, then down the Mississippi River to the Gulf coast and back. He made several of these huge trips to ... explore. His last great trip was to sail from France over around Florida on into the Gulf to establish a colony at the mouth of the Mississippi River. He only missed by a couple hundred miles - ending up over on the Texas coast near Corpus Christi. He was finally killed by some of his disgruntled men while travelling overland back to the Mississippi River with the intent to follow it back up to Montreal/Quebec. And all in the 1600's.

Or someone only known as Mr. Spillard - the celebrated walker. In a 1795 newspaper, he is reported as having just returned to St. Louis from a 3-year walk out across the Great Plains to the Rocky Mountains. And this was after walking all across the southern part of these United States. He only did this after first walking all across Europe, northern Africa, and Persia. Only small parts of his journals have ever come to light to be published.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

 

[Tengu]

Ibn Battura, yes,

but of course, in pre modern days, anyone who went on Haji was a hero.

(I cant remember the name of the englishman who in the thirties, got Mecca opened to european converts.)

The unnamed Roman merchants who got to China...

Maurice Wilson. He decided to climb mt Everest (named for the aforementioned surveyor) without equitment, on his own, as a test of faith. (Its interesting to note that he had no particular religion, but lots of spiritual faith) he died, of course, but not after a thrilling flight to India in a Tiger Moth (only a hundred flying hours experience, and every official obstructed him in that mad venture.) and a journey across the tibetian border in disguise.

While we are at it, Alexandria David Neel (Not for her big journeys maybe, but for her smaller ones she hardly wrote about) who had a life full of adventure, and lived to a 100.

Another woman traveller, Celia Fiennes "Ride a cock horse" who prefered to see this country, rather than grand vistas, as were beccoming popular in her time, she described many towns, was an enthusiast on Spas and beer, and could never resist a go at hands on crafts...what a telly presenter she would have made!

The crew of Apollo 8, who were the first men to go round the moon, only to rediscover the earth in all its glory.

 

[leon-1]

Having spent time on South Georgia, I have a lot of time for the efforts of Ernest Shackleton and his men.

 

[sapper1]

I think it's got to be Sir Rannulph Feinnes.
Having read his books he's the number one modern day lone explorer.

 

[huntersforge]

I think it's got to be Sir Rannulph Feinnes.
Having read his books he's the number one modern day lone explorer.

I second that

 

[hiraeth]

Colonel John Blashford Snell gets my vote.

 

[Sniper]

What about d3v after all he did jump into the lions den! HA ha ha ha ha ha
Ok I'll get me coat!

 

[redneck]

Ernest Shackleton, a leader of men who never lost a life of any of the men who followed him, I don't believe any other exporer can say that...

 

[rik_uk3]

It's impossible to pick just one, there are way too many out there

 

[Dougster]

It's impossible to pick just one, there are way too many out there

Too true, and some of the new ones are great, they have taken exploring to another level. I wish I had the time to read more. There was a programme on the Transglobe Expedition this morning on Radio 4. I hope to catch it on listen again soon. I loved that book.

I only just managed to catch the d3v thing. I think I may have met him at Uni....

 

[Graham_S]

I'm for Shackleton as well.
I read about his "adventures" last time I was down in the Falkland Islands.
If you're ever in Dundee a visit to the Discovery Centre is well worth a look.

 

[NatG]

Too true, and some of the new ones are great, they have taken exploring to another level. I wish I had the time to read more. There was a programme on the Transglobe Expedition this morning on Radio 4. I hope to catch it on listen again soon. I loved that book.

I only just managed to catch the d3v thing. I think I may have met him at Uni....

I think he was the nonce at the club who broke my glasses, still got until the end of the week to wait without them

 

[forrestdweller]

a few more suggestions for the list(in no particiular order):
nicolai miklukho-maklai
vitus bering
vladimir arsenyev
john mc douall stuart
the polynesian and viking explorers
grandpa smurf
matthew flinders
st. brendan


"disappointed by the monkeys, god created man. then he renounced to further experiments." mark twain

 

[Joonsy]

David Livingstone is among my ''greats'' for his achievements after such a humble start in life, he was born into poverty, so many of the ''greats'' came from a very privileged background, ''great'' things were expected from them and it's undeniable some achieved great things but for many people (even today) their financial constraints restrict their dreams (just paying the bills is sometimes a great achievement), not much is expected from a lad like Livingstone born into the poverty and grime of a mill town which for me makes his achievements the more remarkable.

 

[ANDYRAF]

a few more suggestions for the list(in no particiular order):
nicolai miklukho-maklai
vitus bering
vladimir arsenyev
john mc douall stuart
the polynesian and viking explorers
grandpa smurf
matthew flinders
st. brendan

You forgot Uncle Travelling Mac from Fraggle Rock.