The 39 Greatest Names in Travel and Adventure
Lists: These men and women changed the world through their travels. Michael Yessis appreciates them for more superficial reasons.
07.08.09 | 10:33 AM ET
Juan Ponce de Leon, from an anonymous 16th Century portraitWant to be transported? If these magic travel words don’t do it for you, just seeing or hearing the names of these men and women should trigger mental journeys to far-off lands, even if you don’t know their exploits.
Vasco da Gama
Zheng He
Scylax of Caryanda
Sacagawea
Tenzing Norgay
Xu Fu
Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen
Juan Ponce de León
Thor Heyerdahl
Genghis Khan
Kira Salak
Marco Polo
Amerigo Vespucci
Ferdinand Magellan
Herodotus
René-Robert Cavelier, sieur de La Salle
Mungo Park
Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Battuta
Jacques Cartier
Hernán Cortés
Arthur Frommer
Louis-Joseph Gaultier de La Vérendrye
Vasco Núñez de Balboa
Gaspar Corte-Real
Henry Hudson
Pánfilo de Narváez
Fray Marcos de Niza
Freya Stark
Piri Reis
Jacques-Yves Cousteau
Henryk Arctowski
Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra
Étienne Brûlé
What traveler or adventurer’s name sends you on a mental journey?