Hidden in History: The Untold Stories of Female Explorers and Adventurers

Book excerpt: In “Hidden in History: The Untold Stories of Female Explorers and Adventurers,” travel the globe — and history. While it’s fairly common to have women researchers, pilots, and captains in the 21st century, this was not always the case. Exploring and adventuring, even in the name of science and research, were privileged activities reserved solely for men. But some women just couldn’t stay put, even when faced with the harsh resistance of those who favored the norm. These women broke with convention and trekked into the unknown, paving the way for women of today to seek adventure as they see fit. In 1766, Jeanne Baret performed botanical research as she made a complete voyage around the world, making her the first woman ever recorded to do so. Marguerite Hay Drummond-Hay became the first woman to circumnavigate the globe from the sky when she flew around the world in a zeppelin prior to World War II. Louise Arner Boyd traveled to the Arctic in 1926 –– a hard journey even in modern times. Now we have women like Sylvia Earle, a world-renowned oceanographer and the first woman to walk on the ocean floor, and Barbara Hillary, the first woman of color to travel to both the North and the South Pole. With this installment in the Hidden in History series, readers can explore for themselves the exciting stories, harrowing adventures, and meaningful research conducted by these daring women. No longer forgotten in the past, the adventurous women of yesterday can once again inspire tomorrow’s explorers to chart their own expeditions into the great unknown.