E E - Columbus

During some of my travels to places where nature reigns supreme, I have come across thick jungles,   water bodies, mountainous terrain, vast deep seas - pretty hostile environments for us delicate humans.

The fear of getting lost, of being drowned, of being bitten by mosquitoes or snake or leeches or deadly spiders, of non-potable water, of unpalatable food, of changing weather conditions, of the aircraft crashing and so on, all of which can stop us from continuing with our trip is always at the back of my mind, despite being well prepared and led by an excellent guide.

Source: Google Images

That made me wonder about the mental make-up & physical fitness of the early explorers.

History lessons talks about Christopher Columbus and his brethren like Captain James Cook, Magellan, Vasco Da Gama, who set sail into the unknown immense expanses of waters in their clippers, with the blessings of their royalty in a bid to discover new trade routes or new lands masses to conquer. Similarly, there were those including David Livingstone, who did their exploring over land conquering new mountain peaks or discovering deserts, etc tackling the hostile & non-hostile natives, battling new diseases, making their way through thick jungles the likes of which they had never come across in their lives till then.

The very majestic Victoria Falls discovered by David Livingstone; Source : Google Images.

Yes, it’s a known story that America was discovered by mistake. Still, imagine crossing the expansive deep Atlantic in non-motorized clippers with minimal navigation equipment! Imagine the hardships (no pun intended) they encountered, communication-wise, food-wise, weather-wise, health-wise and direction-wise. Add pirates to this list and the challenges look almost insurmountable. BTW, did pirates exist then? 

Source : Google Images

All these were centuries ago when navigation equipment, clothing, medicines, food storage technology, hygiene products, armour, meteorological equipment, maps, charts were all very basic and minimal! Even the material used for building the respective transport vehicles / vessels was very basic. And they were away from land for months together. Also, the most important thing of all, the communication between ships or between people was through very basic means and communication between ships and land was almost nil, I guess. 

Source : Google Images

It is almost like they were on suicidal missions. No guarantees of returning home, let alone returning safe and sound. I wonder how many insurance company existed at that time. So many constraints! Still, they succeeded. Succeeded beyond anyone's wildest imagination. What drove them to commit themselves to such insanities? Were they after recognition & riches? What was promised to them by their sponsors? From what and where did they derive the courage to take head-on, such mind-boggling challenges? Were they scared at any point in time for their lives, since humans have this instinctive fear of the unknown?

Source : Google Images

At this age with such advances in technologies in almost all fields which matter for traveling and exploring, I wonder whether how many such brave hearts we have in our midst. We dare not leave our homes without GPS & without proper directions, lest we get lost.

Exploration started looking upwards in the new age and it was to take human kind where no man has gone before, you know, the final frontier. Space exploration is going great guns. We have been able to make several trips to the Moon which is no mean feat. I hope the day when man goes beyond Earth and Moon on a more extensive and regular basis, leaving the safety of Earth's orbit, comes soon enough. Somehow I can't shake the feeling that the exploration in our times is more of a incremental nature in one direction (up, of course!), given the technological advancements we have.

Are we treading a tad more cautiously than the Early Explorers (E E for short)?

What do you think?





For A-Z Challenge 2014