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Travelers and their discoveries. Great Russian travelers whose names are immortalized on the geographical map

Apr 26, 2016

Age of the Greats geographical discoveries has long been completed, the world map is fully formed and is replete with tourist routes. Lovers of traditional holidays enjoy. But there are also those who do not stop with what they have known and constantly strive for new heights. the site talks about contemporaries for whom travel is not a vacation, but the meaning of life associated with constantly overcoming the elements.

Russia is responsible for many domestic and global geo- and ethnographic discoveries and research. At one time, the country was glorified by many travelers who explored unknown lands. Centuries later, their exploits inspire our compatriots to new achievements - to repeat the historical route or create their own special one.

The heroes of our time set themselves a very realistic goal and approach it from a young age, or after a significant career. The passion for travel gives rise to project after project, inspiring people all over the world to travel personally, and our heroes selflessly share their successes, publishing books, participating in painting and photo exhibitions, and uniting like-minded people.

Fedor Konyukhov was born and raised on the shores of the Azov Sea. He began to conquer the sea elements with his father on a fishing boat, and then on his own. Sports, military service and study strengthened character and fostered endurance, resourcefulness and courage, which would later manifest themselves in expeditions to conquer the highest mountains. mountain peaks, water, air and land travel.

There is a significant moment in the biography of Fyodor Konyukhov when he inherits from his grandfather pectoral cross the great conqueror of the north Georgy Sedov. The Russian explorer left it before the last trip to the North Pole in the hope that Mikhail Konyukhov would give the cross to the child who could reach the Arctic.

Fedor was able to achieve his cherished goal three times: by following the route of the legendary Vitus Bering and recreating the conditions of that period; as part of the Soviet-Canadian trans-Antarctic ski expedition, as well as completing a solo 72-day trek to the North Pole in 1990.

Subsequently, Fedor conquered the South Pole in 59 days, participated in land and bicycle expeditions, carried out solo sea voyages, and 6 circumnavigations; climbed 7 peaks of the world, and this year he plans to travel 33-35 thousand km across the Tasman Sea, Pacific Ocean, Chile, Argentina, Atlantic Ocean, Cape of Good Hope, Indian Ocean, return back.

Wherever a Russian traveler is, his trips are connected with research activities and the development of Russian science, as well as creativity. He is the author of 17 books and 3000 paintings.

Successful Russian businessman Sergey Dolya main reason travel named fear of air travel.

Overcoming himself led to a hobby, which Sergei talks about in the blog “Page of Virtual Travelers”, trying to introduce the uniqueness of each place visited, be it a village in the Russian outback, or a fishing village in Tanzania.

Sergey Share in the Toyota expedition in the Far North in 2016 The expedition with Sergey’s participation moves along the ice of the Laptev Sea to the northernmost port of Tiksi locality Yakutia, located far beyond the Arctic Circle.

Photo reports fill exhibition halls, publications are formed into two full-fledged books, and Dolya sets herself new tasks: she fights against garbage dumps for the sake of the country, rapidly loses weight for the sake of her health, and visits the mystical Dyatlov Pass. “Exprussia” is considered the most patriotic project: in 2014, Share with like-minded people.

The founder of the Academy of Free Travels society, Anton Krotov, is the author of about 40 books about visiting cities in Russia, Europe, Africa, Asia, America, as well as the features of a safe stay and hitchhiking, finding travel companions and the attractions of the usual way of life in these places.

The most important project of the traveler is the “House for Everyone”, which has existed since 2006, which has become a base for travel researchers in various countries.

Vladislav Ketov. Journey around the earth, the main stage, 1998 - 2000: America. Photo from the website www.ketov.ru.

The founder of the “Ethical Ecological Movement” (EDEM), St. Petersburg resident Vladislav Ketov, considers the preservation of life on earth and the protection of environment. For this, he received official representative status from the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) in 1995.

Map of the first trip in history around the earth along the coastline, made by Vladislav Ketov. Photo from the website www.ketov.ru.

The bicycle, as an ecological mode of transport, and the desire to travel a unique route helped to put into practice the very first trip in history around the earth (along the coastline of the continents) from May 14, 1991 to June 3, 2012.

Having traveled 167,000 km and visited 86 countries, without passing through combat zones (Yugoslavia, the Middle East, Western Sahara, Angola, Mozambique, Northeast Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, Cambodia, Colombia), mainly in difficult places, Ketov communicated with the local population, gave press conferences and painted graphic portraits as mementos.

Vladimir Nesin

Vladimir has always been interested in in a healthy way life, sports (sambo) and hiking, so after retirement I took up walking around the world barefoot. Currently, I have traveled through more than 100 countries using only GPS without a map from gadgets and instruments. In 1999, he received a Citizen of the World passport in Australia and strives to pass on his experience to the younger generation.

Anatoly Khizhnyak

Sports hobbies pushed Anatoly Khizhnyak to travel alone. As a fourteen-year-old boy, he had already crossed Kola Peninsula, and in 1991 he went to South America, where he walked 500 km through the Amazon jungle. He is considered the best expert on Peru in Russia.

Expedition to Peru with Anatoly Khizhnyak

He is called the Russian Indiana Jones, because the journey through South America started without any understanding of the language, practically without a map, during a real war between the local population and almost died after staying in an Inca cave.

Leonid Kruglov

Currently, Leonid Kruglov is preparing a documentary project “The Great Northern Route”.

Traveler and documentarian Leonid Kruglov, based on the latest facts and research, repeated the path of I.F.’s first Russian trip around the world. Kruzenshtern to create a complete reconstruction and documentary film. In 13 months, three oceans were crossed again on the legendary bark Sedov.

Text: Olga Mikhailova

If you think that with the passing of the Age of Great Geographical Discovery, outstanding travelers also disappeared into oblivion, then you are mistaken! Our contemporaries also made the most amazing journeys. Among them are scientists who went in search of confirmation of their theories, explorers of the deep sea, and simply adventurers who risked going on a 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 world's oceans have revealed many of their secrets and shown the previously inaccessible beauty of their depths to a huge number of scuba diving enthusiasts. We can say that Captain Cousteau is the father of modern diving, because it was he who created the main diving apparatus. While researching the underwater world of our planet, Cousteau created the famous floating laboratory "Callisto" and the first diving apparatus "Denise".

Jacques Cousteau captivated millions of people by showing them on movie screens how beautiful undersea world, giving the opportunity to see what was previously inaccessible to man.

Thor Heyerdahl

The name of the most famous Norwegian of the 20th century on his native language spelled "Thor", just like the name of one of the main gods of Scandinavian mythology, Thor. He made many trips on homemade watercraft to bring ancient civilizations into contact with each other. Heyerdahl proved in practice his theory about the inhabitants of South America visiting the islands of Polynesia, since scientific world did not accept his ideas.

Together with his team, he reached Raroia Atoll in 101 days, sailing 4,300 miles. This was one of his most famous voyages, the Kon-Tiki Expedition, on a homemade raft. The film he shot during his trip won an Oscar in 1951.

And in 1969, he set out on a new dangerous expedition on a papyrus boat to prove, to prove the possibility of crossing the Atlantic Ocean by African peoples. However, Thor Heyerdahl's first voyage on the boat "Ra" ended in failure; the boat sank just 600 miles short of 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, the doctor on this expedition was our compatriot Yuri Senkevich. Heyerdahl later visited the Maldives, Peru and Tenerife.

Yuri Senkevich

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

as a medical researcher, Senkevich was trained to participate in space flight,
participated in the 12th Antarctic expedition to the Vostok station in order to study human behavior in extreme conditions,
traveled on the papyrus boat "Ra", then on the "Ra-2" and in the Indian Ocean on the "Tigris".

Millions of Soviet television viewers were able to see the world, as they joked “through the eyes of Sienkiewicz.” By the way, the program “Cinema Travel Club” was included 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 Animal World.” An avid traveler, a “gallant know-it-all”, who spends hours talking about animals as the most wonderful and beautiful creatures in the world - be it an elephant, a bug, or even poisonous snake. An amazing and wonderful person, the idol of millions of viewers in our country, listening to whose stories about interesting facts from the life of birds, reptiles, domestic and wild animals, about the beauty of our nature is an incomparable pleasure, because only a person in love with life can talk like that.

An interesting fact about Nikolai Nikolaevich himself - his great-great-great-grandfather was Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow, and his maternal great-great-grandfather Ivan Romanovich von Dreiling was an orderly of Field Marshal Mikhail Kutuzov.

Nikolai Drozdov has 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, went to the North Pole twice, walked along the Northern Sea Route on the icebreaker "Yamal", sailed along the coasts of Alaska and Canada on "Discoverer".

Fedor Konyukhov

A single traveler who conquered what seemed impossible to conquer, who more than once overcame a path that was impossible to travel alone - the great contemporary Fyodor Konyukhov. The first among travelers who conquered the Northern and South pole, seas, oceans and highest peaks world, as proven by more than 40 expeditions he made to the most inaccessible places on our planet. Among them are five trips around the world, a solo voyage across the Atlantic (which, by the way, he crossed more than once) on a rowing boat. Konyukhov was the first to cross the Pacific Ocean from continent to continent.

But the life of our famous compatriot is not filled with travel alone - Fyodor Konyukhov became the youngest member of the Union of Artists of the USSR and the author of twelve books about travel. There were new plans ahead: a flight around the world in a hot air balloon and a circumnavigation in 80 days for the Jules Verne Cup, as well as a dive into the Mariana Trench. However, having been ordained a priest in 2010, Fyodor Konyukhov decided not to travel anymore, but... the ways of the Lord are mysterious and the famous traveler is again at the helm. This spring, he “broke” the Russian record and stayed in the air in a balloon for 19 hours and 10 minutes.

Bear Grylls

Fame came to the young English traveler thanks to the highest-rated television program 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 on the planet, his goal is to convey to the audience life recommendations that can be useful in unforeseen situations.

The list of his travels is impressive: he sailed around the British Isles in thirty days, crossed the North Atlantic in an inflatable boat, flew a steam-powered plane over Angel Falls, paraglided over the Himalayas, led an expedition to one of the most distant unclimbed peaks in Antarctica and arranged... a gala dinner in a balloon at an altitude of more than seven thousand meters! Most of Grylls' expeditions are for charity.

Abbey Sunderland

Not only men can boast of friendship with the wind of wanderings - Abby Sunderland, a young traveler who, at the age of 16, circumnavigated the world alone on a yacht, will give a head start to many men. The determination of Abby’s parents is surprising, because they not only allowed her to participate in such a dangerous enterprise, but also helped her prepare for it. Alas, the first start on January 23, 2010 was unsuccessful and Abby made a second attempt on February 6.

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, communication was interrupted, the search for Abby's yacht was unsuccessful and she was declared missing. A month later, Australian rescuers in the area of a severe storm discovered the lost yacht and Abby alive and unharmed. Who will say after this that a woman has no place on a ship?

Jason Lewis

And finally, the most original of modern travelers, who spent 13 years traveling around the world! Why so long? The simple fact is that Jason refused any technology and all achievements of civilization. The former janitor and his friend Steve Smith went around the world by bike, boat and rollerblades!

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 recovery, Lewis goes to Hawaii, from where he sails on a pedal boat to Australia, where he had to spend some time earning money for further travel... by selling T-shirts.

In 2005, he reaches Singapore and then crosses China and India by bicycle. By March 2007, he reached Africa and also crossed the whole of Europe on a bicycle: Romania, Bulgaria, Austria, Germany and Belgium. After swimming across the English Channel, Jason Lewis returned to London in October 2007.

The Age of Great Geographical Discovery is a period in human history from the end of the 15th to the middle of the 17th centuries.
Conventionally divided into two parts:
Spanish-Portuguese discoveries the end of the 15th century and the entire 16th century, the list of which includes the discovery of America, the opening of the sea route to India, Pacific expeditions, the first circumnavigation of the world
Anglo-Dutch-Russian discoveries the end of the 16th century to the middle of the 17th century, which includes English and French discoveries in North America, Dutch expeditions to the Indian and Pacific oceans, Russian discoveries throughout Northern Asia

A geographical discovery is a visit by a representative of a civilized people to a new part of the earth previously unknown to cultural humanity or the establishment of a spatial connection between already known parts of the land.

Why did the era of great geographical discoveries come?

The growth of European cities in the 15th century
Active development of trade
Active development of crafts
Depletion of European mines of precious metals - gold and silver
The discovery of printing, which led to the spread of new technical sciences and knowledge of antiquity
Distribution and improvement of firearms
Discoveries in navigation, the appearance of the compass and astrolabe
Advances in cartography
The conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks, which interrupted the economic and trade ties of Southern Europe with India and China

Geographical knowledge before the era of great geographical discoveries

In the Middle Ages, Iceland and the shores of North America were discovered by the Normans, European travelers Marco Polo, Rubruk, Andre of Longjumeau, Veniamin of Tudela, Afanasy Nikitin, Carpini and others established land connections with the countries of Far Asia and the Middle East, the Arabs explored the southern and eastern shores Mediterranean Sea, the shores of the Red Sea, the western shores of the Indian Ocean, roads connecting Eastern Europe through Central Asia, Caucasus, Iranian Plateau - with India

The beginning of the era of great geographical discoveries

The beginning of the era of great geographical discoveries can be considered the activities of the Portuguese navigators of the 15th century and the inspirer of their achievements, Prince Henry the Navigator (03/04/1394 - 11/13/1460)

At the beginning of the 15th century, the geographical science of Christians was in a deplorable state. The knowledge of the great scientists of antiquity has been lost. Impressions from the travels of singles: Marco Polo, Carpini, Rubruk - did not become public knowledge and contained many exaggerations. Geographers and cartographers used rumors in the production of atlases and maps; discoveries made by chance were forgotten; lands found in the ocean were lost again. The same applied to the art of navigation. The skippers had no maps, instruments, or knowledge of navigation; they were terrified of the open sea and huddled close to the shores.

In 1415, Prince Henry became Grand Master of the Portuguese Order of Christ, a powerful and wealthy organization. With her funds, Henry built a citadel on the isthmus of Cape Sagres, from where until the end of his days he organized sea expeditions to the west and south, created a navigation school, attracted the best mathematicians and astronomers from the Arabs and Jews, collected information wherever and whenever he could about distant countries and voyages. , seas, winds and currents, bays, reefs, peoples and shores, began to build more advanced and larger ships. The captains went to sea against them, not only inspired to search for new lands, but also well prepared theoretically.

Portuguese discoveries of the 15th century

Madeira Island
Azores
the entire western coast of Africa
mouth of the Congo River
Cape Verde
Cape of Good Hope

The Cape of Good Hope, the southernmost point of Africa, was discovered by the expedition of Barthalomeu Dias in January 1488

Great geographical discoveries. Briefly

1492 —
1498 - Vasco da Gama discovered a sea route to India around Africa
1499-1502 - Spanish discoveries in the New World
1497 - John Cabot discovers Newfoundland and Labrador
1500 - discovery of the mouth of the Amazon by Vicente Pinzon
1519-1522 - Magellan's first circumnavigation of the world, discovery of the Strait of Magellan, Mariana, Philippine, Moluccas Islands
1513 - discovery of the Pacific Ocean by Vasco Nunez de Balboa
1513 - Discovery of Florida and the Gulf Stream
1519-1553 - discoveries and conquests in South America by Cortes, Pizarro, Almagro, Orellana
1528-1543 - Spanish discoveries of the interior of North America
1596 - discovery of the island of Spitsbergen by Willem Barents
1526-1598 - Spanish discoveries of the Solomon, Caroline, Marquesas, Marshall Islands, New Guinea
1577-1580 - second voyage around the world by the Englishman F. Drake, discovery of the Drake Passage
1582 - Ermak’s campaign in Siberia
1576-1585 - English search for the northwest passage to India and discovery in the North Atlantic
1586-1629 - Russian campaigns in Siberia
1633-1649 - discovery by Russian explorers of the East Siberian rivers to the Kolyma
1638-1648 - discovery of Transbaikalia and Lake Baikal by Russian explorers
1639-1640 - exploration by Ivan Moskvin of the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk
The last quarter of the 16th century - the first third of the 17th century - the development of the eastern shores of North America by the British and French
1603-1638 - French exploration of the interior of Canada, discovery of the Great Lakes
1606 - independent discovery of the northern coast of Australia by the Spaniard Quiros and the Dutchman Janson
1612-1632 - British discoveries of the northeastern coast of North America
1616 - discovery of Cape Horn by Schouten and Le Mer
1642 - Tasman's discovery of the island of Tasmania
1643 - Tasman discovers New Zealand
1648 - Dezhnev’s discovery of the strait between America and Asia (Bering Strait)
1648 - discovery of Kamchatka by Fyodor Popov

Ships of the Age of Discovery

In the Middle Ages, the sides of ships were sheathed with planks - the top row of boards overlapped the bottom. This lining is durable. but this makes the ships heavier, and the edges of the plating belts create unnecessary resistance to the hull. At the beginning of the 15th century, the French shipbuilder Julien proposed sheathing ships end-to-end. The boards were riveted to the frames with copper stainless rivets. The joints were glued with resin. This covering was called “caravel”, and the ships began to be called caravels. Caravels, the main ships of the era of the Great Geographical Discoveries, were built at all shipyards in the world for another two hundred years after the death of their designer.

At the beginning of the 17th century, the flute was invented in Holland. "Fliite" in Dutch means "flowing, flowing." These ships could not be overwhelmed by even the largest wave. They, like corks, took off on the wave. The upper parts of the sides of the flute were bent inward, the masts were very high: one and a half times the length of the hull, the yards were short, and the sails were narrow and easy to maintain, which made it possible to reduce the number of sailors in the crew. And, most importantly, the flutes were four times longer than they were wide, which made them very fast. The sides of flutes were also installed end-to-end, and the masts were made up of several elements. Flutes were much more spacious than caravels. From 1600 to 1660, 15,000 flutes were built and plied the oceans, displacing caravels

Navigators of the Age of Discovery

Alvise Cadamosto (Portugal, Venice, 1432-1488) – Cape Verde Islands
Diego Caen (Portugal, 1440 - 1486) – West Coast of Africa
Barthalomeu Dias (Portugal, 1450-1500) - Cape of Good Hope
Vasco da Gama (Portugal, 1460-1524) - the route to India around Africa
Pedro Cabral (Portugal, 1467-1526) - Brazil
Christopher Columbus (Genoa, Spain, 1451-1506) - America
Nunez de Balboa (Spain, 1475-1519) - Pacific Ocean
Francisco de Orellana (Spain, 1511-1546) - Amazon River
Ferdinand Magellan (Portugal, Spain (1480-1521) - first circumnavigation of the world
John Cabot (Genoa, England, 1450-1498) - Labrador, Newfoundland
Jean Cartier (France, 1491-1557) east coast of Canada
Martin Frobisher (England, 1535-1594) - Canadian polar seas
Alvaro Mendaña (Spain, 1541-1595) – Solomon Islands
Pedro de Quiros (Spain, 1565-1614) - Tuamotu Archipelago, New Hybrids
Luis de Torres (Spain, 1560-1614) - the island of New Guinea, the strait separating this island from Australia
Francis Drake (England, 1540-1596) - second circumnavigation of the world
Willem Barents (Netherlands, 1550-1597) - the first polar explorer
Henry Hudson (England, 1550-1611) - explorer of the North Atlantic
Willem Schouten (Holland, 1567-1625) - Cape Horn
Abel Tasman (Holland, 1603-1659) - island of Tasmania, New Zealand
Willem Janszoon (Holland, 1570-1632) - Australia
Semyon Dezhnev (Russia, 1605-1673) - Kolyma River, strait between Asia and America

Jacques-Yves Cousteau

Jacques Cousteau captivated millions of people by showing them on movie screens how beautiful the underwater world is, giving them the opportunity to see what was previously inaccessible to humans.

Thor Heyerdahl

The name of the most famous Norwegian of the 20th century is spelled "Thor" in his native language, just like the name of one of the main gods of Norse mythology, Thor. He made many trips on homemade watercraft to bring ancient civilizations into contact with each other. Heyerdahl proved in practice his theory about the inhabitants of South America visiting the islands of Polynesia, since the scientific world did not accept his ideas.

Yuri Senkevich

Nikolay Drozdov

More than 40 years ago, Nikolai Nikolaevich Drozdov became the host of the popular TV show “In the Animal World.” An avid traveler, a “gallant know-it-all”, who spends 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 in our country, listening to whose stories about interesting facts from the life of birds, reptiles, domestic and wild animals, about the beauty of our nature is an incomparable pleasure, because only a person in love with life can talk like that.

Nikolai 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, went to Mount Everest twice. The North Pole, walked along the Northern Sea Route on the icebreaker Yamal, sailed along the coasts of Alaska and Canada on the Discovery.

Fedor Konyukhov

A single traveler who conquered what seemed impossible to conquer, who more than once overcame a path that was impossible to travel alone - the great contemporary Fyodor Konyukhov. The first among travelers who conquered the North and South Poles, seas, oceans and the highest peaks of the world, which is proven by more than 40 expeditions he made to the most inaccessible places on our planet. Among them are five trips around the world, a solo voyage across the Atlantic (which, by the way, he crossed more than once) on a rowing boat. Konyukhov was the first to cross the Pacific Ocean from continent to continent.

Bear Grylls

Abbey Sunderland

Jason Lewis

1. FAMOUS TRAVELERS OF ANCIENT BPEMEH

Hanno (505) - Herodotus (484) - Pytheas (340) - Eudoxus (146) - Strabo (63)

Hanno of Carthage - Fortunate (Canary) Islands, Evening Horn, Southern Horn, Rio de Oro Bay - Herodotus visits Egypt, Libya, Ethiopia, Phenicia, Arabia, Babylonia, Persia, Media, Colchis, Caspian Sea, Scythia and Thrace - Pytheas explores the shores of Iberia and Celtis, the English Channel, the island of Albion, the Orcadian (Orkney) Islands, the land of Thule - Nearchus travels around the Asian coast from the Indus to the Persian Gulf - Eudoxus gets acquainted with the western coast of Africa - Strabo travels through Inner Asia, Egypt, Greece and Italy

The first traveler mentioned in historical sources was Hanno, sent by the Carthaginian 1 (figures - see note at the end) Senate to colonize new territories on the west coast of Africa. The account of this expedition was written in Punic 2 and translated into Greek; it is known as “Hanno’s Sea Voyage Around the World.” What era did this explorer live in? Historians have different opinions. But the most reliable version is considered to be the one according to which his visit to the African shores dates back to 505 BC 3 .

Map of the Argonauts' voyage

The Southern Horn was, without a doubt, the final point reached by the Punic expedition. Some historians claim that the Carthaginian fleet did not go further than Cape Bojador, located two degrees north of the tropics, but the first point of view seems to us more likely.

Having reached the Southern Horn, Hanno began to lack food supplies. Then he turned north and returned to Carthage, where, by his order, a marble slab with a description of the journey “around the world” was placed in the temple of Baal Moloch.

After the Carthaginian navigator, the most famous of the ancient travelers in historical times was the Greek scientist Herodotus, nicknamed "the father of history." For our purpose we will separate the traveler from the historian and follow him to the countries he visited.

Greek galley. 500 BC

Herodotus born around 484 BC 9 in the Asia Minor city of Halicarnassus. He came from a wealthy and noble family with extensive trade connections, which may have contributed to the development of the instincts of a traveler and explorer awakened in the boy.

At that time, there was no consensus regarding the shape of the Earth. The Pythagorean school had already begun to spread the doctrine that the Earth was spherical. But Herodotus did not take any part in these disputes that worried the scientists of his time. In his early youth, he left his homeland with the intention of carefully studying distant countries, about which very scanty and contradictory information was received.

In 464, at the age of twenty, he left Halicarnassus. Apparently, Herodotus first went to Egypt, where he visited the cities of Memphis, Heliopolis and Thebes. During the trip, he managed to obtain a lot of valuable information about the Nile floods. In his notes, he gives various opinions regarding the sources of this great river, which the Egyptians revered as a deity.

“When the Nile floods,” says Herodotus, “nothing is visible except cities; they appear to be built on top of water and resemble the islands of the Aegean Sea.”

Herodotus talks about religious rites Egyptians, about how they make sacrifices to their gods and how they solemnly celebrate holidays in honor of the goddess Isis in the city of Busiris, the ruins of which are still visible today. Herodotus also reports how the Egyptians revered wild and domestic animals, considering them sacred, and gave them funeral honors. With the precision of a true naturalist, he describes the Nile crocodile and its habits; describes the methods by which crocodiles are caught. We find out what other animals there are and what the Egyptian hippopotamus, ibis bird, and various snakes are like.

Herodotus draws home life Egyptians, their customs, games, talks about the art of embalming the dead, which the Egyptians mastered to perfection. Next, he reports what structures were erected under Pharaoh Cheops: a labyrinth built near Lake Merisa, the remains of which were discovered in 1799; Lake Meris, created by human hands, and two pyramids that rose above the surface of its waters; Herodotus speaks with surprise about the temples erected in Memphis, about the famous colossus made of solid stone, on the transportation of which two thousand people worked for three years from Elephantine 10 to Sais.

Having carefully studied Egypt, Herodotus headed to other countries of Libya, that is, Africa, but the young traveler did not even imagine that Africa extended far to the south, beyond the Tropic of Cancer; he believed that the Phoenicians could go around this continent and return to Egypt through the Strait of Gibraltar 11.

Egyptian ship. 1600 BC

Listing the peoples living in Libya, Herodotus mentions the shepherd tribes wandering along the coast of Africa, and also names the Ammonians, who live in the interior of the country, in places abounding in wild beasts. The Ammonians built the famous temple of Zeus of Ammon, the ruins of which were discovered in the northeast of the Libyan Desert, 500 kilometers from the city of Cairo 12. He also describes in detail the customs and morals of the Libyans and reports what animals are found in this country: snakes of terrible size, lions, elephants, horned donkeys (probably rhinoceroses), baboon monkeys - “headless animals with eyes on their chests”, foxes , hyenas, porcupines, wild sheep, panthers, etc.

According to Herodotus, Libya is inhabited by two peoples: Libyans and Ethiopians. But did he really travel through this country? Historians doubt this. Most likely, he wrote down many of the details from the words of the Egyptians. But there is no doubt that he really sailed to the city of Tyre, in Phenicia, since here he gives quite accurate descriptions. In addition, Herodotus collected information from which he compiled short description Syria and Palestine.

Following this, Herodotus descends to the south - to Arabia, a country he calls Asian Ethiopia, that is, to that part of Southern Arabia, which he considers the last inhabited land. The Arabs living on the Arabian Peninsula, according to him, are strictly religious people. In their country valuable plants grow in abundance, from which frankincense and myrrh are obtained. The traveler provides interesting details about how fragrant substances are extracted from these plants.

Then we meet Herodotus in the countries he vaguely calls either Assyria or Babylonia. He begins the story of these countries with a careful description of Babylon, in which the kings lived since the destruction ancient capital Nineveh. The ruins of Nineveh have survived to this day, in the form of mounds scattered along both banks of the Euphrates, at a distance of 78 kilometers southeast of Baghdad. The large, fast and deep Euphrates River then divided the city of Nineveh into two parts. In one there was a fortified royal palace, in the other - the temple of Zeus. Next, Herodotus speaks of the two queens of Babylon - Semiramis and Nitocris; then he goes on to describe crafts and agriculture, telling how wheat, barley, millet, sesame, grapes, fig trees and palm trees are cultivated in this country.

Having studied Babylon, Herodotus went to Persia and, since the purpose of his trip was to collect accurate information about the long Greco-Persian wars, he visited the places where these wars took place in order to obtain on the spot all the details he needed. Herodotus begins this part of his history with a description of the customs of the Persians. They, unlike other peoples, did not give their gods a human form, did not erect either temples or altars in their honor, content with performing religious rites on the tops of the mountains.

Next, Herodotus speaks about the life and morals of the Persians. They have an aversion to meat, a love of fruit, and a passion for wine; they show interest in foreign customs, love pleasure, value military valor, take raising children seriously, respect the right to life of everyone, even a slave; they hate lies and debts, and they despise lepers. The disease of leprosy serves as proof for them that “the unfortunate person has sinned against the Sun.”

The marriage was accompanied by nationwide publicity

Herodotus's India, according to Vivien de Saint-Martin 13 , is limited to the countries irrigated by the five tributaries of the present Panjnad, and to the territory of Afghanistan. The young traveler headed there, leaving the Persian kingdom 14. The Indians, in his opinion, are the most numerous of the known peoples. Some of them lead a sedentary lifestyle, others are constantly nomadic. The tribes living in the east of this country, as Herodotus claims, not only kill the sick and old people, but allegedly even eat them. The tribes living in the north are distinguished by their courage and skill in crafts. Their land is rich in golden sand.

Herodotus believes that India is the last inhabited country in the East. It maintains the same fertile climate at all times of the year as in Greece, located on the opposite end of the earth.

Then the indefatigable Herodotus went to Media, 15 where he compiled the history of the Medes, the first people to overthrow the yoke of the Assyrians. The Medes founded large city Ecbatana (Hamadan), which was surrounded by seven rows of walls. Having crossed the mountains that separated Media from Colchis, the Greek traveler entered the country famous for the exploits of Jason 16 and studied its customs and customs with his characteristic conscientiousness.

Athenian merchant ship. 500 BC

Herodotus, apparently, was well acquainted with the contours of the Caspian Sea. He says that "this sea is in itself, and has no communication with another." The Caspian Sea, according to him, is limited in the west Caucasus mountains, and in the east by a vast plain inhabited by the Massagetae, who probably belonged to the Scythian tribe. The Massagetae worshiped the sun and sacrificed horses to it. Herodotus also speaks of the great river Arak, which flows into the Caspian Sea.

Then the traveler ends up in Scythia. Scythians - according to Herodotus' definition - various tribes inhabiting the vast space between the Danube and Don, that is, a significant part European Russia. Herodotus calls the tribe of “princely Scythians” who occupied the banks of the Tanais (Don) river the most numerous and powerful. In addition, Herodotus mentions the tribes of Scythian nomads and Scythian farmers.

Although Herodotus lists various Scythian tribes, it is not known whether he personally visited the countries located north of Pontus Euxine 17. He describes in detail the customs of these tribes and comes into sincere delight from the Pontus Euxine - this “hospitable sea”. Herodotus determines the dimensions of the Black Sea, the Bosporus, the Propontis 18 and the Sea of Azov, and his definitions are almost correct. He lists the large rivers flowing into the Black Sea: Istr, or Danube; Borysthenes, or Dnieper; Tanais, or Don.

The traveler conveys many myths about the origin of the Scythian people; in these myths, a large role is given to Hercules. He ends his description of Scythia with a story about the marriages of Scythians with warlike women from the Amazon tribe, which, in his opinion, can explain the Scythian custom that a girl cannot get married until she kills an enemy.

From Scythia, Herodotus arrived in Thrace. There he learned about the Hets - the most courageous people who inhabited this country 19. He then traveled to Greece, where he wanted to collect the missing information for his history. He visited areas where the main events of the Greco-Persian wars took place, including the Passage of Thermopylae, the Field of Marathon and Plataea. He then returned to Asia Minor and traveled around its coast, exploring the numerous colonies founded there by the Greeks.

Returning at the age of 28 to his homeland, Halicarnassus, the famous traveler took part in the popular movement against the tyrant Lygdamis and contributed to his overthrow. In 444 BC, Herodotus attended the Panathenaic festivals and read excerpts from the description of his travels there, arousing general enthusiasm. At the end of his life, he retired to Italy, to Turium, where he died in 426 BC, leaving behind him the fame of a famous traveler and an even more famous historian.

After Herodotus, we will step a century and a half later, mentioning a doctor by name Ctesias, a contemporary of Xenophon 20. Ctesias wrote an account of his journey through India, although there is no reliable information that he actually completed it.

In chronological order, let us now move on to Pytheas from Massilia - to a traveler, geographer and astronomer, one of the most learned men of his time. In 340 BC, Pytheas ventured to sail the Atlantic Ocean on a single ship. Instead of following the coast of Africa to the south, as his Carthaginian predecessors usually did, Pytheas went north, where he began exploring the coast of the Iberian Peninsula 21 and the coast of the Celtic country, right up to the granite Cape Finisterre. Then Pytheas entered the English Channel and landed on the island of Albion 22. He met the inhabitants of this island, who, according to him, were distinguished by good nature, honesty, moderation and ingenuity. They traded in tin, for which traders from distant countries came here.

Continuing north, Pytheas passed the Orkney Islands, located at the northern tip of Scotland, and rose to a latitude where “in summer the night did not exceed two hours.” After a six-day voyage across the North Sea, Pytheas reached the land known since then as Ultima Thule. Apparently, this was the Scandinavian peninsula. But Pytheas was no longer able to move further north. “Further,” he says, “there was no sea, no land, no air.”

Pytheas was forced to turn back, but his journey did not end there: he sailed east and arrived at the mouth of the Rhine, where the Ostions lived, and even further the Germans. From there he sailed to the mouth of a large river, which he calls Thais (probably the Elbe), and then sailed back to Massilia and returned to his hometown a year after he left.

The remarkable traveler Pytheas was no less a remarkable scientist; He was the first to prove the influence of the Moon on the ebb and flow of the sea and noticed that the North Star does not occupy a point in celestial space that is located above the earth's pole, which was subsequently confirmed by science.

A few years after Pytheas, around 326 BC, another Greek traveler became famous for his research - Nearchs islands of Crete. As commander of the fleet of Alexander the Great, he was ordered to travel around the entire coast of Asia from the Indus to the Euphrates.

Nearchus sailors scare the whales

The idea of such an expedition was prompted by the need to establish communications between India and Egypt, in which Alexander was extremely interested, being at that time with his army 800 miles from the coast, in the upper reaches of the Indus. The commander equipped a fleet for Nearchus, consisting of thirty-three double-decker galleys and a large number of transport ships, which accommodated two thousand people. While Nearchus sailed with his fleet down the Indus, Alexander's army followed him on both banks. Having reached the Indian Ocean four months later, Nearchus sailed along the coast that now forms the border of Balochistan.

Nearchus set out to sea on the second of October, without waiting for the winter monsoon, which could have been favorable for his voyage. Therefore, in forty days of travel, Nearchus barely managed to swim 80 miles to the west. His first sites were made in Stura and Koreistis; these names do not correspond to any of the current villages located in those places. Then he sailed to the island of Krokala, which lies near the modern Karantian Bay. The fleet, destroyed by storms, took refuge in a natural harbor, which Nearchus was forced to strengthen “to protect against the attack of savages.”

Twenty-four days later, the naval commander of Alexander the Great again raised the sails and set off to sea. Violent storms forced him to make frequent stops at various places on the coast and defend himself from attacks by the Arabites, whom Eastern historians characterized as “a barbarian people who wear long hair, grow beards and look like fauns or bears.”

After many adventures and skirmishes with coastal tribes, Nearchus landed on the land of the Orites, which in modern geography bears the name: Cape Moran. “In this area,” notes Nearchus, describing his journey, “the sun at noon illuminated all objects vertically, and they did not cast shadows.” But Nearchus is apparently mistaken, since at this time of year daylight was in the southern hemisphere, on the Tropic of Capricorn, and not in the northern hemisphere; in addition, the ships of Nearchus always sailed at a distance of several degrees from the Tropic of Cancer; therefore, even in summer in these areas, the sun at noon could not illuminate objects vertically.

When the northeast monsoon set in, sailing continued under favorable conditions. Nearchus followed the coast of the country of ichthyophages, that is, “people who eat fish” - a rather pitiful tribe who, due to a lack of pasture, were forced to feed their sheep with seafood. Here Nearchus's fleet began to lack food supplies. Having rounded Cape Posmi, Nearchus took the native helmsman into his galley. Driven by coastal winds, Nearchus' ships successfully moved forward. The coast became less barren. There were trees here and there. Nearchus landed at a city of ichthyophages, the name of which he does not indicate, and, suddenly attacking the inhabitants, forcibly seized from them the supplies that his fleet so needed.

Then the ships arrived in Kanazida, in other words, the city of Churbar. The ruins of this city can still be seen near the bay of the same name. By that time, the Macedonians were already running out of bread. It was in vain that Nearchus stopped in Kanata, in Troy and in Dagazir - he was unable to obtain anything from these poor peoples. The sailors had no more meat or bread, and yet they did not dare to eat turtles, which abound in these countries.

Almost at the entrance to the Persian Gulf, the fleet encountered a large herd of whales. The frightened sailors wanted to turn the galleys back, but Nearchus boldly went forward on his ship, towards the sea monsters, which they managed to disperse.

Having reached Carmania 23, the ships diverted to the northwest. The banks here were fertile; Everywhere there were grain fields, vast pastures, and fruit trees. Nearchus dropped anchor at Badis, present-day Jascus. Then, having rounded Cape Maseta or Mussendon, the navigators found themselves at the entrance to the Persian Gulf, to which Nearchus, like the Arab geographers, gives the unusual name of the Red Sea.

In the harbor of Harmosia (Ormuz), Nearchus learned that Alexander's army was five days' journey away. Having landed on the shore, he hastened to join the conqueror. Alexander, having not received any news about his fleet for twenty-one weeks, no longer hoped to see it. One can imagine the commander’s joy when Nearchus, emaciated beyond recognition, appeared before him safe and sound! To celebrate his return, Alexander ordered gymnastic games to be held and abundant sacrifices to be made to the gods. Nearchus then went again to Harmosia, where he left his fleet to sail from there to the mouth of the Euphrates.

Sailing along the Persian Gulf, the Macedonian fleet landed on many islands, and then, rounding Cape Bestion, sailed to the island of Keisho, on the border of Carmania. Then Persia began. Nearchus' ships, following along the Persian coast, stopped in different places to stock up on bread, which Alexander sent here.

After several days of sailing, Nearchus arrived at the mouth of the Endiana River, then reached the river flowing from the large, fish-infested lake Kataderbis, and finally dropped anchor near the Babylonian village of Degela, not far from the mouth of the Euphrates, thus sailing along the entire Persian coast. Here Nearchus again united with the army of Alexander the Great, who generously rewarded him and appointed him commander of his entire fleet. Alexander also wanted to explore the Arab coast of the Persian Gulf, right up to the Red Sea, and establish a sea route from Persia and Babylon to Egypt, but death prevented him from carrying out this plan.

Nearchus compiled a description of his journey, which, unfortunately, has not survived. A detailed account of his voyages is contained in the book of the Greek historian Flavius Arrian 24 “History of India”, which has come down to us in fragments.

Nearchus is believed to have been killed at the Battle of Ipsus. He left behind him the glory of a skilled sailor, and his journey is an important event in the history of navigation.

Now we should also mention the bold enterprise of the Greek geographer Eudoxa, who lived in the 2nd century BC. Having visited Egypt and the shores of India, this brave traveler had the intention of circumnavigating Africa, which was actually accomplished only sixteen centuries later by the Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama.

Eudox hired big ship and two longboats and set off across the unfamiliar waters of the Atlantic Ocean. How far did he take his ships? It's difficult to determine. Be that as it may, having met the natives, whom he mistook for Ethiopians, he returned to Mauritania, and from there crossed over to Iberia and began preparations for a new extensive journey around Africa. Was this journey made? Doubtful. It must be said that this Eudoxus, an undoubtedly brave man, does not deserve much trust. In any case, scientists do not take him seriously.

Roman galley. 110 BC

Among the ancient travelers it remains for us to mention the names of Caesar and Strabo. Julius Caesar 26, born in 100 BC, was primarily a conqueror and did not set out to explore new countries. Let us only recall that in 58 BC he began to conquer Gaul and ten years later he brought his legions to the shores of Great Britain, which was inhabited by peoples of Germanic origin.

As for , born in Cappadocia 27 around 63 AD, he is known more as a geographer than a traveler. However, he traveled through Asia Minor, Egypt, Greece, Italy and lived for a long time in Rome, where he died in the last years of the reign of Tiberius. Strabo left a Geography divided into seventeen books, most of which have survived to this day. This work, together with the works of Ptolemy, constitutes the most important monument of ancient Greek geography.

NOTES

1Carthage was founded by the Phoenicians around 850 BC on the northern coast of Africa, in the Gulf of Tunis.

2 The Romans called the Carthaginians Punes; hence the name of the language - Punic.

3 The exact date expeditions Hanno impossible to install. Modern scholars date it to the 5th or 6th century BC. The description of this voyage has come to us in the form of an “adventure novel,” in which reliable facts are intertwined with fictional ones. However, the geographical description of the western coast of Africa and the story of steppe fires within the country leave no doubt about the authenticity of the journey, which was subsequently overgrown with various fables.

Hanno was the first navigator to visit the west coast of Africa. He sailed along this coast from the Strait of Gibraltar to the south for about 4,500 kilometers. Nineteen centuries later, it took Portuguese navigators fifty years to explore the coastline that Hanno had bypassed.

4 Pillars of Hercules- two mountains on the European and African shores of the Strait of Gibraltar, allegedly erected by the mythical hero Hercules. According to the ancient Greeks, the Pillars of Hercules were the western edge of the known world.

5 Probably the Senegal River.

6 Cymbals- an ancient musical instrument in the form of copper cymbals. Tambourine- a percussion musical instrument resembling a tambourine.

7 Southern Horn- now Sherborough Bay in the state of Sierra Leone (formerly an English colony), located on the shores of the Gulf of Guinea.

8 We must assume that these were not gorillas, but chimpanzees.

9 Biographical information about Herodotus is extremely scarce. The exact years of his life are not known; he is believed to have been born around 484 BC and died in 424 or 426 BC. Herodotus is the author of the first major historical work that has come down to us - the famous “History”, in which he included rich geographical material collected during his long travels. It is impossible to say exactly which countries Herodotus visited during his travels. There is no doubt that he visited Egypt and the northern coast of the Black Sea. In the east it probably reached Babylon. Herodotus also speaks of a journey to India, but this description has no historical basis.

10 Island Elephantine(Ivory) is located on the Nile River, at the first rapids, on the border of Egypt and Sudan.

11 Here the author is referring to the story Herodotus heard in Egypt about the journey of Phoenician sailors around Africa, undertaken by order of the Egyptian pharaoh Necho around 600 BC. This enterprise has no equal in the history of geographical discoveries, so we will present in full short story Herodotus: “Libya, it turns out, is surrounded by water all around, with the exception of the part where it borders on Asia; The first to prove this, as far as we know, was the Egyptian pharaoh Necho. Having suspended the digging of a canal from the Nile to the Arabian Gulf [Red Sea], he sent the Phoenicians on ships to the sea with orders to sail back through the Pillars of Hercules [Strait of Gibraltar] until they entered the North [Mediterranean] Sea and arrived in Egypt.

The Phoenicians sailed from the Erythraean [Red] Sea and entered the Southern Sea [Indian Ocean]. When autumn came, they landed on the shore and, no matter where they landed in Libya, sowed the land and waited for the harvest; After harvesting the grain, they sailed on. So two years passed in the voyage, and only in the third year they rounded the Pillars of Hercules and returned to Egypt.

They also said, which I don’t believe, but someone else might believe, that while sailing around Libya the Phoenicians had the sun with right side. This is how Libya became known for the first time.”

12 Ammon(Siwa) is an oasis in the Libyan desert.

13 Vivienne de Saint-Martin(1802–1897) - French geographer, author of the famous work “Essay on General Geography” and other works.

14 Herodotus did not travel through Afghanistan and India; He collected information about these countries in Babylon.

15 Mussel was located south of the Caspian Sea. Under the Persian king Cyrus (c. 558–529 BC) it became part of Persia. The main city is Ecbatana.

16 Jason- V Greek mythology leader of the Argonauts' campaign for the Golden Fleece. According to one version of the myth, he died under the wreckage of the Argo ship; according to another, he committed suicide. The myth of the Argonauts, who undertook a voyage from Greece to Colchis (the eastern coast of the Black Sea), is a reflection of the history of early Greek colonization (VIII-VII centuries BC).

17 The ancient Greeks originally called the Black Sea Pont Aksinsky(inhospitable) due to strong and frequent storms. Subsequently, when the Greeks colonized the Black Sea shores, the sea was renamed Pont Euxine (hospitable).

18 Propontis(literally: “lying in front of Pontus”) – Sea of Marmara.

19 Thrace- a country located in the north of the Balkan Peninsula; its shores were washed by the Black Sea from the east, and the Aegean from the south.

20 Xenophon- Greek historian of the late 5th - first half of the 4th century BC, author of “Greek History”, “Anabasis” and other works.

21 Iberia- the ancient name of Spain.

22 Albion– the ancient name of the island of Great Britain, which translated means “White Island” (the name was given by Pytheas because of the chalk cliffs towering over the English Channel).

23 Karmania– region in the south of Iran; according to the ancients, it was inhabited by nomads who fed on fish (ichthyophages).

24 Arrian Flavius(c. 95–175 AD) was a Roman-period Greek writer, historian and geographer. The main works: “Anabasis of Alexander” (History of the campaigns of Alexander the Great) and “History of India”.

25 Mauritania- an area on the northwestern coast of Africa. At the beginning of the 1st century AD it became a Roman province.

26 Caesar Julius (full name Gaius Julius Caesar) - Roman Emperor,

27 Cappadocia- the name of an area located in the southeastern part of the Asia Minor peninsula.