No Companion Required: History’s Female Solo Travellers
For this year’s International Women’s Day, we wanted to spotlight some of the incredible women who went against the grain and travelled solo around the the world at a time when it was thought unseemly for women to do so.
It is worth mentioning that there are plenty of oral accounts from Indigenous communities about women travelling solo that were not recorded. Considering the history books were written by colonisers, it’s important we still listen to and share their stories.
Marianne North
Marianne North was a botanical painter who travelled solo from 1871 to 1885; in the space of 14 years, she visited over 16 countries across 5 continents and created over 800 pieces of art. During her childhood, she often joined her father on his travels through Europe. Aged 26, Marianne visited Kew Gardens with her father, trip sparking her passion for flora from faraway lands. After his passing, Marianne decided to go further afield, reignite her earlier interest in botanic art and pursue her passion.
In the early 1870’s, she spent a year in Brazil living deep in the forest in a hut. In 1875 she decided to continue travelling the world and went to Borneo, India, and Japan. Throughout her travels, she created over 800 oil paintings of local flora. Upon her return to Britain in 1879, she offered to build a gallery for the Kew Gardens director, Joseph Hooker, if he agreed to display her work, and after 3 years the gallery was completed. Her talent gained the appreciation and admiration of many notable scientists of her time, including Charles Darwin whom she met in 1881 after he invited her to Australia to paint the flora here.
Ynes Mexia
Ynes Mexia is another female explorer who didn’t start her travels until later in life. When Ynes was 51, she went back to school to study botany and, at age 55, joined a group from Stanford University to go on her first plant- collecting trip. During this trip, she realised that she preferred to work independently and broke off from the group. Here, she ended up collecting 1,500 specimens with one of the plants becoming the first of many to be named after her.
Her reputation as the first Mexican-American female botanist continued to grow which helped her secure sponsorships for her future expeditions. Most of her trips were completed solo, or with the help of Indigenous guides. Over the course of her career, she collected over 145,000 specimens, and her work played an important part in preserving redwoods in Northern California. During her travels, she would prefer to ride horses facing forward rather than side-saddle as was appropriate for women of her time; she preferred to wear trousers over skirts, and even when accommodation was available, her preference was to sleep outside under the stars.
Isabella Bird
Isabella Bird grew up as an adventurous woman seeking the freedom of the natural world around her. She got this from her father who taught her how to observe her surroundings and learn about the natural world, although he probably never imagined what adventures that would lead her to.
Isabella’s health brought many ups and downs throughout her life; after a doctor told her that a sea voyage could be restorative to her health, her life of travelling began. At the age of 23, she set sail to the Americas, a journey that was tumultuous and nearly claimed her life after a brutal storm. Instead of putting her off travel, Isabella saw this as the birth of a new era of her existence.
In 1873, in her 40’s, Isabella came back to the Americas to ride a horse solo through 800 miles of the Colorado Rockies. Here she developed an attachment with an unlikely companion, a one-eyed lawless and desperate man, Jim Nugent.
After a series of personal tragedies, Isabella decided to study medicine and continue her travels as a missionary. Nearing 60 years old, Isabella embarked on a journey through India — where the Maharajah of Kashmir gave her a piece of land to open up a hospital — before continuing to Tibet, Iran, Kurdistan and Turkey.
Isabella Bird’s life was a fascinating one, full of adventure and exploration. She became the first female fellow to be elected at the Royal Geographical Society.
Ada Blackjack
Ada Blackjack had a difficult life, suffering with chronic tuberculosis, and enduring an abusive marriage, where her husband eventually left her penniless. Unable to support her only surviving child, she was forced to leave him in an orphanage until she made enough money to get him back. During this bleak time in her life, a famed explorer, Vilhjalmur Stefansson, came to Alaska in 1921 to seek an English-speaking native to join an expedition to Wrangel Island, so Ada joined his team, receiving a salary of $50 a month, which was a life-changing wage for Ada.
The people of Alaska had many doubts about the expedition and all natives except Ada dropped out of joining. Stefansson didn’t even join the trip, instead sending a team of four men to carry out the expedition on his behalf, accompanied by Ada. Although terrified of the trip, she couldn’t miss the opportunity to earn enough money to get her son back, and so, at the age of 23, Ada set sail to Wrangel Island with her team. Although terrified of the trip and experiencing deep fear and sorrow, she persevered and threw herself into work.
This isn’t a traditional story of solo travelling; it’s a story of a mother desperate to be reunited with her son and her strong will to survive for him. Eventually, when summer broke the relief ship that was supposed to bring them back, never arrived. The island lacked sufficient nutrition for the group to survive, 3 of the men took the sled dogs to Siberia to seek help but never returned. The last man, Lorne Knight, died from scurvy nearly 2 years after they set sail to Wrangel Island. Ada survived on her own until in August 1923, when a ship finally came to rescue her, which is when she found out that she was the lone survivor of the expedition.
Ada was hailed as a hero, although she lived the rest of her life battling poverty, receiving less pay than Stefensson originally promised her. But she was successfully reunited with her son and went on to have a second son a year after her rescue from Wrangel Island. Although terrified, her desperation to get her son back and her perseverance ensured her survival.
Nellie Bly
Nellie Bly was an American journalist who most famously wrote an exposé on a women’s asylum on Roosevelt Island by infiltrating it. Nellie went to a boarding house where she didn’t sleep all night and made mad ramblings until eventually, the boarders called the police and she was sent to an asylum on today’s Roosevelt Island, where she endured her 10 days of despicable treatment, until the newspaper she was investigating for secured her release.
A year after her asylum infiltration, Nellie suggested to her editor that she should take a trip around the world following in the footsteps of Jules Verne’s fictional book Around the World in 80 Days and make it into a reality. In November 1889, Nellie departed on her journey to circumnavigate the world and did it in record time of 72 days (a record she only held for a few months). During her trip, she even met Jules Verne whilst in France.
Nellie’s reporting and her expedition showed the world that women were capable of more than simply getting married and looking after children, what was needed were better career opportunities.
Barbara Hillary
We often think of pioneering explorers from centuries past, however Barbara Hillary is a modern adventurer who challenged perceptions of race, age, and the capability of the human body and mind. After surviving breast cancer in her 20’s, and lung cancer in her 60’s that left her with 75% breathing capacity, her polar exploration didn’t begin until she was in her 70’s. At age 79, Barbara not only became the first known black woman to reach both the North and South Poles, but also the oldest.
Her interest in pursuing this goal was spurred by finding out that no black woman had ever reached the North Pole, and so she was determined to become the first one. Barbara sent out letters to potential sponsors to allow her to complete this objective. She ended up raising $25,000 to fund her trip. As the expedition also required her being able to ski, which she had never done before, she prepared by taking cross-country lessons, as well as weight training. On April 23 2007, Barbara became the first black woman and the oldest person to reach the North Pole.
Five years later, at age 79, Barbara reached the South Pole and once again became the first recorded black woman and the oldest person to do so. Her trips to the polar regions spurred on her activism for climate change, which she continued until her passing in 2019.
There are so many incredible women who have been lost to history who defied the norms, challenged societal perceptions, and who pushed physically and mentally beyond limitations. Although there are many records of women breaking barriers, there are also so many more that only remain in oral traditions, or whose records have been wiped throughout history. This International Women’s Day, we’re celebrating not only the women in our lives, and those we can read about, but also, those women who have been erased and forgotten.
