Travel

Carla Guerrón-Montero

From a Western perspective, travel begins with Europe's fascination with the “Other.” Examples of this include religious pilgrimages and the Renaissance expeditions of trade and exploration. Undoubtedly, travel is also tied to colonization by European forces, beginning with the travels of the Portuguese to Africa in 1455 to obtain slave labor when Pope Nicolas V granted the Portuguese the right to do so; followed by the voyages of the Portuguese navigator Bartholomew Dias in 1488 around the Cape of Good Hope; Christopher Columbus's voyages to the Americas from 1492 to 1502; and culminating with the numerous voyages of exploration of the Pacific by Spanish, French, Dutch and English navigators, mainly in the 16th and 17th centuries. Religious missionaries also contributed to the waves of travelers around the world, oftentimes writing long and detailed accounts of their experiences. Many of these accounts, if read with a critical eye, provide valuable insights ...

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