The Early Explorers

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 479.

A History Of Why People Travel

C) Make up 5-7 sentences about yourself using the words from 7a).

H & Ex. 8a) Read the text. As you are reading make a list of reasons for travelling. In what way are they different from the present-day ones?

Ever notice how when you sitstill for a few hours without moving, you suddenly get up and find your legs are cramped, or asleep, or feel tense? That's because they're not meant to be still…at least not for long. We're meant to move. Our limbs have to be in motion almost constantly.

Humans have always been on the move. Our skeletons and muscle structures have evolved to facilitate gathering our food, escaping from predators, and to satisfy our animal curiosity. As our brains grew larger, so did our inquisitiveness, and driven by different reasons, humans began to travel.

In the Neolithic age we saw the first sailing vessels and the invention of the wheel, both designed to move us around in different ways. Nomadic hunters and gatherers moved in search of food following seasonally available wild plants and game.

Then Ancient man began to build roads to facilitate the movement of troops through empires, and eventually civilians began to travel in caravans. Travel for the purpose of commerce and trade took explorers to strange lands to meet other people, and bring back riches of unfathomable value.

Wealthy Greeks and Romans began to travel for leisure to their summer homes and villas by the sea in cities like Pompeii and Baiae. The freedom of travel in the Roman Empire brought many Jews to flourishing cities of the ancient world, and Jesus himself is thought to have travelled a great deal with his disciples.

We know that Vikings had a particular skill for sailing and a keen interest in exploring. Through perilous voyages they conquered areas such as Iceland and Greenland, and were even the first to accidentally discover America in 985 A.D, when a ship was blown off course on the way to Greenland. In 1001, Leif Eriksson sailed back to explore it further and called it Vinland, or ‘land of pastures'.