A fascinating tale: Marco Polo
Born in 1254, Marco Polo remains one of the most famous explorers in history. Born in Venice to a merchant family, Marco embarked on his first trip in 1271, while still in his teens, accompanying two of his uncles to Asia via the Middle East and along the Silk Road. Eventually the group reached China and the court of the emperor, Kublai Khan. Marco Polo did not return to Venice for more than two decades, having spent those years exploring Asia. Marco Polo had kept a record of his travels, but the original manuscript was lost. Upon Marco’s return to Europe, he became a prisoner of war during a conflict between Genoa and Venice and, fortunately for the modern world, recounted his stories to a fellow inmate, who wrote them down. One of the earliest editions of this journal, The Adventures of Marco Polo, is preserved in the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford.
An explorer in the New World: Christopher Columbus
Born in Genoa in 1451, Christopher Columbus was not the first European explorer to reach the Americas, but he remains the most notorious and certainly can be included among famous explorers who changed the world. He was commissioned by the Spanish monarchy of the time to sail to India, an eastern land allegedly rich with gold and other treasures, via a western route, mainly because the existing land and sea routes were difficult to access due to ongoing geopolitical conflicts. As we know, instead of reaching India, Columbus landed on completely different shores. Many researchers believe his ships first reached the Bahamas and then Cuba. Trying to sail to Japan, he then ended up on various other Caribbean islands. Subsequently, Christopher Columbus led three more voyages to South America and the Caribbean. His explorations opened the path to the settlement and exploitation of the “New World” by European colonialists.
One of the 20 figures who shaped history: Evliya Çelebi
Born in 1611, Evliya Çelebi is also considered among the most famous explorers in the world. The Anatolian writer spent more than forty years of his life traversing the Middle East, the Caucasus and the Balkan region, as well as what is now Türkiye. Evliya Çelebi kept detailed records of his adventures, which were compiled into a ten-volume travelogue; the manuscript is preserved in İstanbul’s Topkapı Palace. In 2010, the Council of Europe named Evliya Çelebi one of the “20 People Who Shaped the History of Humanity.”
America’s namesake: Amerigo Vespucci
Born in Florence just a few years after Christopher Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci was a cartographer who sailed to the Americas on behalf of the Medici family. It is believed that Vespucci, among the world’s most significant explorers, took part in at least two expeditions to South America between 1499 and 1502, serving as the navigator. Like Columbus, Vespucci thought at first that the ships had landed on the Asian continent. However, Vespucci’s study of Marco Polo’s writings, along with his knowledge of cartography and astronomy, led him to conclude that, in fact, this was a different place altogether. In a letter to Italy, he described this land mass as the “New World.” In 1507, German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller proposed that the new lands be called ‘America’, after Amerigo Vespucci.
Eastern horizon: Ibn Battuta
Now we turn to Morocco, where Ibn Battuta was born in 1304. In many ways, Ibn Battuta could be considered among the most significant explorers – during his lifetime, he was one of very few people who traveled out of curiosity rather than for commercial, educational or religious purposes. That being said, his first trip was to Mecca for the Hajj and, from there, he traveled to Egypt and Syria to study. But the urge to explore had been activated and Ibn Battuta proceeded to travel far and wide for the next thirty years to places in the Middle East, Africa and the Caucasus, as well as Asia, India and the Maldives. Ibn Battuta related his adventures in his manuscript, Riḥla (The Travels).
The road to India: Vasco da Gama
Born in Portugal in 1460, Vasco da Gama is considered among the world’s most significant explorers. It is worth noting that he was the first European explorer to finally reach India via the ocean route – a feat that had eluded Columbus and Vespucci among others. Da Gama set out in 1496, reaching Calicut, on India’s Malabar Coast, in 1498. On his third and last voyage to India, Da Gama fell ill and died in Cochin in 1524.
Heinrich Barth
Born in 1821 in Hamburg, Germany, Heinrich Barth is considered one of the world’s most famous explorers due to his extensive travels in Africa, as well as in Anatolia and Asia. Barth’s book, Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa, detailing his expeditions from 1849 to 1855, is still considered an important source book. His travels in Türkiye are related in H. Barth’s Reise von Trapezunt durch die nördliche Hälfte Klein-Asiens nach Scutari 1858 (H. Barth’s journey from Trebizond through the northern half of Asia Minor to Scutari 1858).
