To Discover New Frontiers
Let’s learn about these ten women explorers who risked their life and reputation to discover frontiers.
Elizabeth Cochran Seaman, better known by her pen name Nellie Bly, was an American journalist, industrialist, inventor and charity worker. This intrepid lady reporter wrote some amazing news reports after going undercover in a lunatic asylum before going ‘Around the World In 80 Days’ in honor of Jules Verne novel. Nellie met Verne in Paris and he is quoted as hoping she might make it in 79 days but not being certain she could. In the event, she made it home in New York in a time of 72 days, 6 hours and 11 minutes.
Ruth Harkness, was a well-known socialite and fashionista. When her husband died during his expedition to China to bring back a giant panda, this lady decided to fulfill his dream and go there herself. She braved hardship and physical trails, as she trekked across two provinces of China, before finding a panda, and bought it home. Known as the ‘Panda Lady’, she fed her ‘baby’ with formula from a bottle and named it Su Lin. It was eventually found a home in the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago.
Sacagawea, this native American was part of the Lewis and Clark expedition to Oregon in 1804-06. This Shoshone woman was just 16 years old, travelled with the expedition thousands of miles from North Dakota to the Pacific Ocean helping to establish cultural contacts with Native American population and contributing to the expedition’s knowledge of natural history in different regions. She was honored with a depiction of her on a US Dollar coin in 2000.
Annie Smith Peck, It would be understandable if someone described this woman as Female Indiana Jones. She was an archaeology professor and explorer. She climbed many mountains in her lifetime, including the Matterhorn, Mount Popocatepetl and was the first person to climb Mount Huascaran in Peru. She wrote four books encouraging travel and expedition. Peck started a world tour at the age of 84, but became ill while in Athens, returned to her home in New York city and died of Pneumonia in 1935.
Gertrude Bell, was an English writer, traveler, political officer, administrator and archaeologist. She worked with T.E. Lawrence and remembered for her role in the birth of the modern-day nation of Iraq using her unique perspective from her travels and relations with the tribal leaders throughout the Middle East.
Harriet Chalmers Adams, was an American explorer, writer and photographer. Dubbed ‘America’s greatest woman explorer’ by the New York Times, she travelled extensively in South America, Asia and South Pacific and published accounts of her journeys in National Geographic Magazine. She even served as a war correspondent, even visiting the trenches of France during WW2.
Jeanne Baret, was a botanist in her own right when she disguised herself as a man and snuck on board a ship with her lover. During her adventures, she discovered and named several plants including the Bougainvillea. She was also the first woman to circumnavigate the world.
Louise Boyd, was an American explorer of Greenland and Arctic and in 1955 became the first woman to fly over North Pole. Born to a wealthy family, she used her inheritance to explore the Arctic in 1926 and throughout her life she led multiple expeditions. She was recognized as the key scientist in photogrammetry, or the science of taking pictures to create maps in difficult places. She died in 1972, at age 84, and asked her ashes to be scattered near the glaciers she loved so much.
Isabella Bird, was a British explorer, writer, photographer and naturalist. The author of books such as ‘The Englishwoman in America’, travelled extensively throughout her life, living along with the locals. She broke new ground in Hawaii and Colorado. In India the Maharaja of Kashmir gave her a piece of land on which to build a hospital. She founded John Bishop Memorial Hospital in Srinagar in memory of her husband who left funds for this purpose in his will. She became the first woman allowed to join the Royal Geographical Society.
Kira Salak, is an American writer, adventurer and journalist known for her travels in Mali and Papua New Guinea. The New York Times described as ‘real life Lara Croft’. She was the first person to Kayak the length of Niger River solo and remembered by Libyan Locals for climbing Devil’s mountain which they believe inhabited by demons.
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