by Antonis B. Petropoulos, ECOCLUB Editor

Many unfairly consider travel writers as leisurely types, or rather unimaginative authors who resort to travelling for inspiration. Few realise the hard work and skills required (you can read about this in this issue's interview) or the great significance, historical contribution and indeed scholarly roots of travel writing.

The origins of travel writing are naturally associated with the emergence of travel and (literary) writing and thus with exploration, commerce, geography, cartography, education and philosophy. It was no accident therefore, that what can still be today recognised as travel writing (as opposed to earlier forms such as the epic of Gilgamesh, Homer's Odyssey or religious scripts), appeared around 600 BC, in the Aegean sea ports of Asia Minor, in places like Miletus, which had become centres of geographic knowledge and cosmological speculation.

Hecataeus, a scholar of Miletus, probably produced the first book on geography in about 500 BC. Fifty years later Herodotus, born in nearby Halicarnassus, also considered as the father of History, having described the Greco-Persian wars, expanded Hecataeus' geography and recorded, among other things, an early circumnavigation of the African continent by the Phoenicians. Herodotus travelled for many years and widely from Egypt to Russia.

Thanks to travel, commerce, and science, by the mid-4th century the theory of a spherical Earth was well accepted among Greek scholars, while in 350 BC Aristotle rationally proved that the Earth was a sphere. Probably the first professional and methodical travel writer appeared five centuries later, during the peak of the Roman Empire, when the pax romana and roman roads (the equivalent of post WWII situation and modern aircraft) facilitated travel.

This was Pausanias, who wrote Ellados Periegisis (A Description of Greece) which proved an invaluable guide to many an ancient and medieval traveller, antiquities looter and eventually 19th and 20th century archaeologist. (In much the same way that modern guidebooks are also very useful to independent travellers but also real estate investors, correspondents, and indeed spies).

Before visiting Greece, Pausanias had travelled widely in Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Macedonia, Epirus and parts of Italy. His account takes the form of a tour of Greece starting from Athens and is divided into 10 books. Not unlike modern travel writers, for each important city he gives a sketch of its history; then following a topographical order, he informs the reader about the daily life, local ceremonies, and superstitious customs, and includes legends and folklore. Works of religious art (temples) and architecture attract his attention as well as pictures, portraits, and inscriptions recording laws; monuments of famous and fallen.

Unearthed remains all over Greece, not least the Lyceum found just a few years ago in Athens, prove the accuracy of his descriptions. He is also preoccupied with nature and describes various natural features and phenomena including earthquakes; tides; icebound seas; the summer solstice.

Of equal importance is the travel writing of another great traveller, Marco Polo (b 1254), who in "A Description of the World", (in possible reference to Pausanias masterpiece), covered and uncovered to his contemporaries, an area from Zanzibar to Japan and from the North Sea to Japan. Ibn Battutah (b. 1304) was the Arab Marco Polo who visited all the Muslim lands of his time.

Many lesser known medieval travellers, conquerors, and traders relied on earlier travel writing and used it to produce their own of varying quality, following the invention of the printing press.

In the 20th century, after the world wars, the paperback revolution that made books cheaper to buy and lighter to carry, lasting peace and the advent of wide bodied jet aircraft that revolutionised international travel, boosted demand for travel guides and well-known worldwide travel guide brands appeared, most of which started by accident, by inquisitive tourists.

For example, the first Lonely Planet guide was written by a couple of independent travellers, the Wheelers at their kitchen table, "hand collated, trimmed and stapled". Despite modern technology, some legends, like the 1,800 paged, 1kg weighing "South American Handbook" are still going strong in their 80th annual edition.

The Internet is nowadays a common, successful and most democratic platform for travel writing, although quantity and ease of edition sometime have adverse effects on quality. Even though the format and the focus may change or evolve, the motives and inspiration remain the same, and travel writing will continue to interpret, enlighten and caution the world, and be of use in times of pax and belum alike. And Ecotourism requires informed and prepared travellers.

In this issue we have the great pleasure of interviewing Mr. Andrew Dean Nystrom, an acclaimed travel writer who has authored many best-selling travel guides.

Source: ECOCLUB, International Ecotourism Monthly, Issue (issue #56).