Women Explorers: From the Vikings to Space

What is an explorer? ►T►T►T►The famous explorers in history books were usually the leaders of expeditions to find new places.

These expeditions usually included many other people—soldiers, sailors, cartographers, scientists, guides, cooks, and even musicians. They were explorers too.

Some of them were women.

The earliest adventurers from Europe to America included women

Women Sometimes Led Exploring Expeditions—the Vikings ► Freydis Eiriksdottir was the daughter of Erik the Red. ► She commanded an expedition to Greenland and Vinland in 1000.

Did women ever sail with the Spanish explorers? ► We don’t know for sure. But women, sometimes dressed as men, often sailed on European ships. ► Women traveled as religious pilgrims, as settlers, sometimes even as pirates. We know that women traveled through the American Southwest with Coronado.

Catalina de Erauso: A Spanish Explorer To escape becoming a nun, she dressed as a boy and sailed to America as a cabin boy in about When she was older, she dressed as a man and became a swordsman in the Spanish army. She called herself Antonio. With the army, she joined expeditions to Peru and Argentina. Later she worked as a mule caravan driver on a route between Mexico and South America.

We know what Catalina de Erauso looked like because she had her portrait painted in 1630.

Some Women Served as Scientists on Exploring Expeditions Jeanne Baret, from France, wanted to see the world. Wearing a man’s clothes— and giving her name as Jean Bare— she sailed on a voyage to the South Pacific in 1768 as a naturalist.

Later she explored Mauritius and Madagascar in Africa Jeanne Baret was the first woman to circumnavigate the globe.

Some Women Worked as Guides on Exploring Expeditions--Sacagawea

Sacagawea was captured by the Hidatsas Born in a Shoshone village, like this one, and sold to the Mandans.

When her husband was hired by Lewis and Clark to be their guide, Sacagawea and her baby went too. She worked as an interpreter and helped the company find good food and medicines along the way. She also gathered food, cooked, and sewed clothes for the company. One day, she saved Clark’s scientific instruments from being washed overboard in a storm.

Like all the other members of Lewis and Clark’s company, Sacagawea voted on where to spend the winter in 1806 after the company had reached the Pacific coast.

We don’t know what Sacagawea looked like, but Many artists have drawn or painted what she may have looked like.

But she is one of the best remembered early American explorers. Sacagawea’s picture is on the dollar coin. Can you find her in this sculpture?

In the 1800s and 1900s, many more women began to lead exploring expeditions to explore places like Africa, Asia, and Canada. Here are just a few...

Lady Anne Blunt Explored Saudi Arabia

Mary Kingsley Explored West Africa

Alexandra David-Neel French—Explored Tibet in the early 20 th century

Gertrude Bell -An archaeologist, Gertrude Bell explored the Middle East. -She helped establish Iraq as a nation, drafting laws that made sure women could get an education. -The British Royal Geographic Society gave her a gold medal for exploration.

The American Trans-Arctic Team In , Ann Bancroft led a team of four women explorers on an expedition to cross Antarctica on skis. For 67 days, the four women pulled 200-pound sleds And skiied across Antarctica. The American Women’s Trans-Artic Expedition (AWE) made it to the South Pole in 1993.

In 2001, Ann Bancroft and Liv Arnesen became the first women in history to ski and sail across Antarctica. Ann Bancroft won the 2008 Women of Discovery Courage Award for her expeditions in Antarctica.

Explorers are discoverers. ► Some explorers look for new places, as we have seen. ► Some expand what we know about science.

Marie Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and the first person to win two Nobel Prizes. She won the Prize in both Physics and in Chemistry for her work with radioactive materials and her discovery of the element polonium. Marie Curie

Jane Goodall Jane Goodall spent her life studying chimpanzees in Tanzania. She has won many honors, including becoming a United Nations Messenger of Peace.

Some famous women explorers were pilots or aviators. Amelia Earhart: -First woman to fly alone across North America & back. (1928) -First woman to fly alone across the Atlantic Ocean (1932) -First person to fly alone from Honolulu, Hawaii, to Oakland, CA (1935) -Awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross by Congress (1932)

Today, some women explorers learn about—or visit—outer space. Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman to fly in space, in 1963, from the Soviet Union. Sally Ride, the first American woman to fly in space, in Ellen Ochoa, the first Latina to fly in space, in 1993.

You can learn a lot more about women explorers! On the internet: Books: Women of Discovery: A Celebration of Intrepid Women Who Explored the World Women of Discovery: A Celebration of Intrepid Women Who Explored the World Women Who Dare: Women Explorers Women Who Dare: Women Explorers How High Can We Climb? The Story of Women Explorers (very good book for kids) How High Can We Climb? The Story of Women Explorers (very good book for kids) Extraordinary Women Explorers (also good for kids) Extraordinary Women Explorers (also good for kids)