‘Around the World in 80 Days’ — HISTORY OF AROUND THE WORLD TRAVEL

Long before Phileas Fogg set out to traverse the globe in eighty days, hearty explorers circled the globe looking for passage to the Far East, laying claims to new lands and territories, and collecting scientific data for research. Here are some of the highlights of around-the-world travel, pre-Phileas Fogg.

Ferdinand Magellan (1480 - 1521). Magellan, a Portuguese having offered his service to Spain, left Seville in 1519 with five ships and 239 men. The flotilla, seeking a Western route to the Indies, traveled south around the tip of South America (now known as the Strait of Magellan), and into the ocean that Magellan named the Pacific. Though Magellan was killed in what is now known as The Philippines, his ships continued under the leadership of Sebastian del Cano. When del Cano reached Seville on September 8, 1522 having successfully circumnavigated the globe, all that was left of the original flotilla was one ship, the Victoria, and a crew of 18.

Sir Francis Drake (c.1540 - 1596). The first British man to circle the globe, Drake was sent to find lands not yet taken by the Spanish. In 1577 Drake left England with five ships and sailed through the Strait of Magellan and up the Western coast of South and Central America. Along the way, four of the five ships in the expedition were lost to fire or storms after having pillaged many Spanish settlements. Drake traveled west from what is now California (naming it New Albion) on his last remaining ship, the Golden Hind, and passed through The Philippines, around the Cape of Good Hope, the southern tip of Africa, and back to England in 1580. Englishman Thomas Cavendish, who had been on an expedition in 1585 to what is now the state of Virginia, duplicated Drake's feat in 1586.

Louis Antoine Bougainville (1729 - 1811). The first Frenchman to travel around the world, Bougainville left Nantes (birthplace of Jules Verne), France in 1766 and returned in 1769. The plant bougainvillea is named after him.

Captain James Cook (1728 - 1779). Englishman Captain Cook is known for making three notable passes around the world. The first, from 1768 - 1771, was an astronomy expedition sent to Tahiti to observe Venus in transit across the Sun. The second expedition, from 1772 - 1775, is important because Cook explored the waters off Antarctica for the first time, proving that the "great Southern continent" was not attached to Africa or South America. The third expedition, from 1776 - 1779, was designed to find a Northern route, from West to East, around the top of North America. Cook made it through what is now now known as the Bering Strait, but was turned back due to ice. On a fateful trip to what is now Hawaii, Cook was brutally slain in a fight with natives and the expedition was continued by Charles Clerke and John Gore.

Robert Fitzroy (1805 - 1865). From 1831 - 1836, Lieutenant Fitzroy, an Englishman was given the mission to explore the coasts of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego (Argentina and Chile). On board for the mission was the naturalist, Charles Darwin, who had been given the assignment when his botany professor, J.S. Henslow, refused the position. Darwin, on this long and thorough mission, not only studied plants and animals, but earthquakes, volcanoes, and fossils. In 1839, Darwin and Fitzroy co-wrote the book, Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of H.M.S. Adventure and Beagle.

Charles Wilkes (1798 - 1877). The first American to circumnavigate the globe, New Yorker Wilkes was commissioned by Congress in an attempt to challenge France and England for rights to Antarctic land. After leaving Norfolk, Virginia on August 18, 1838, Lieutenant Wilkes in the Vincennes, (along with five other ships, the Peacock, the Relief, the Porpoise, the Sea Gull, and the Flying Fish), headed south to Tierra del Fuego where he set up base camp for Antarctic exploration. After surveying Antarctica, Wilkes surveyed and explored the west coast of America which is now Washington, Oregon, and Northern California. Next, Wilkes headed West to The Philippines and Singapore, and after four years of work returned to New York City on August 9, 1842. During the adventure, 3 ships were lost and of the 345 who had set sail, only 221 returned.