Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
servants, food, and wine. Widely varying accommodations aboard, stormy seas, and pirate attacks
were worrisome realities.
Chinese
Several tourism history scholars decry the eurocentricity of writings about the history of tourism. Most
notable of these is Trevor So eld, of the University of Tasmania, who states:
The emperors of China had ministers for travel 4,000 years ago
well before imperial Rome and
Herodotus. So, this is a plea to move beyond Chaucer
s
ventures from Venice, and go further back in time to explore other civilizations and their histories of
travel besides (mainly western) Europe and North America. The history of pilgrimage travel in
countries such as India, China, Nepal, Thailand, Iran, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and others pre-
dates much European travel history. Inns and hospitality industries in these countries pre-date
European examples. 26
'
is pilgrimage to Canterbury and Marco Polo
'
So eld and Li in their article ''Tourism Development and Cultural Policies in China'' report that one
of the main features of China
s domestic tourism lies in the traditions about travel and heritage sites
established over a 4,000-year period when ancestral gods and animistic spirits resided in mountains,
rivers, lakes, and other natural features:
'
Stretching in an unbroken chain from the beginnings of the Shang dynasty ( CA 1350
-
1050 BC )to
the
final demise of the emperors in the fall of the Quing dynasty and the declaration of a
Republic in 1912, each successive emperor and his court paid homage to a wide range of gods
and goddesses. The sites multiplied over the centuries and as Buddhism became established,
even more sacred sites were added. Much ancient travel was thus for pilgrimage, embedded in
the beliefs of the godkings. 27
Polynesians
Among early voyages, those in Oceania were amazing. Small dugout canoes not over 40 feet in length
were used for voyages from Southeast Asia southward and eastward through what is now called
Micronesia across the Paci c to theMarquesas Islands, the TuamotuArchipelago, and the Society Islands.
About 500 C . E .,
from the Society Islands traveled to Hawaii, a distance of over 2,000 miles.
Navigation was accomplished by observing the position of the sun and stars, ocean swells, clouds, and
bird flights. Considering the problems of fresh water and food supplies, such sea travel was astonishing.
Later, navigation by the early explorers was facilitated by using a sandglass to measure time, a
Polynesians
''
log
''
line
trailed behind the ship to measure distance, and a compass to gauge direction.
Europeans
The collapse of the Roman Empire in the fourth and fifth centuries spelled disaster for pleasure travel
and tourism in Europe. During the Dark Ages (from the fall of the Western Roman Empire, 476 C . E ., to
the beginning of the modern era, 1450 C . E .), only the most adventurous Europeans would travel. A trip
during this period in history was dangerous; no one associated travel with pleasure. The most notable
exception to this in Europe during the period was the Crusades.
By the end of the Dark Ages, large numbers of pilgrims were traveling to such popular shrines as
Canterbury in England (immortalized in Chaucer
'
s Canterbury Tales) and St. James of Compostela, the
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