History books often overlook the groundbreaking journeys of women. While names like Amelia Earhart are familiar, many other daring female adventurers have been unfairly forgotten. It’s time to shine a light on ten of these remarkable women who carved their own paths and changed our world.
1. Aimée Crocker
Let’s start with Aimée Crocker, a true force of nature born in 1864. Known for her many husbands, lovers, adopted children, and unique collections like Buddhas and pearl tattoos, she was an explorer at heart. Aimée bravely faced headhunters in Borneo and even survived a poisoning in Hong Kong. She also dodged a murder attempt by knife-throwing servants in Shanghai. For a decade, she immersed herself in the cultures of “the Orient.”
Aimée inherited a fortune at age ten when her father passed away. However, she didn’t access this wealth until later. As a spirited teenager, her mother sent her to a school in Germany, but Aimée’s adventurous heart couldn’t be tamed. After a brief engagement to a prince and an affair with a Spanish bullfighter, she married Porter Ashe in 1883, her first of at least five husbands. They had a daughter, Alma, but the marriage ended, and Porter gained custody. During her travels in the Far East around 1888, Aimée met and married Commodore Henry Mansfield Gilling. Yet, she continued to have affairs, often with powerful men.
Her third marriage to Jackson Gourard, whom she met at a Buddhist colony she started in New York, lasted until his death in 1910. Together, they adopted three children and lived a life full of excitement, often shocking conservative society with their grand parties. One famous event, “The Dance of All Nations,” included a controversial performance by a “cannibal” dancer named Dogmeena. Her last two confirmed marriages were to Russian princes, both much younger than her. Imagine marrying a 26-year-old when you’re 62!
Aimée was also a talented writer, sharing her adventures in several memoirs. It’s no surprise, given her friendship with the famous Oscar Wilde. One of the most amazing facts about her? King Kalakaua of Hawaii was so charmed by Aimée that he gave her an entire island and the title Princess Palal-Kalani, meaning “bliss of heaven.” What an incredible woman!
2. Ida Pfeiffer
Ida Pfeiffer challenged the expectations for women in her time, mostly just to prove it could be done. Born in Vienna in 1797, she took her first trip at age five, sparking her lifelong love for travel. She married an older man to gain independence and later became the main provider for her family before starting her explorations around age 45. Ida completed two world tours. Her first one lasted three years, taking her through Asia, the Holy Land, Egypt, and Italy. She did all this after many told her a woman couldn’t possibly succeed on such journeys.
Ida is recognized as the first European woman to tour the world alone, simply for learning and enjoyment. She lived with tribes in Borneo and Brazil. As she became a symbol of female empowerment, steamship and railway companies offered her free travel. She was a true master of finding a way! The Austrian government even gave her 150 florins to support her travels, and she made the most of it. After surviving encounters with headhunters and cannibals, Ida sadly died in 1858 from a tropical fever.
3. Nellie Bly
Nellie Bly, born Elizabeth Jane Cochran in 1864, was a pioneering journalist. Her father was a mill owner and judge, and her mother came from a wealthy Pittsburgh family. Nellie was the youngest of thirteen children. When her father died when she was six, she learned about life’s hardships early on. One day, she read an article that dismissed women workers. Passionate about writing, she wrote a response and impressed the editor so much that he offered her a job.
This launched Nellie’s career as an investigative journalist. You might have seen movies like Escaping the Madhouse, which show her bravery. For one of her most famous stories, Nellie pretended to be mentally ill to get inside an asylum. Her goal was to expose the terrible conditions and the people running the institution. She also investigated sweatshops, baby-selling rackets, jails, and government corruption.
However, Nellie’s most famous adventure was her trip around the world. Working for The World newspaper, she decided to beat the fictional record from Jules Verne’s book, Around the World in 80 Days. She left New York on November 14, 1889, with only two dresses and one suitcase. Traveling by boat, train, horse, and rickshaw, Nellie returned to New York in an astonishing 72 days, 6 hours, 11 minutes, and 14 seconds. A true legend!
4. Annie Londonderry
Annie Londonderry was a master of media and sponsorship. She famously traveled the world by bicycle, partly to win a bet and prove that a woman could achieve such a feat. Also known as Annie Cohen Kopchovsky, this Latvian immigrant became the first woman to cycle around the globe.
In 1894, two businessmen in Boston wagered $10,000 that Annie couldn’t make the journey within 15 months. She also had to earn $5,000 along the way. Starting in Boston, she headed to New York and then took a ship to France to continue her adventure. Traveling by ship across oceans and by bike on land, she met the terms of the bet. Annie cleverly sold photos of herself, made appearances in stores, and even turned herself into a walking (or riding) billboard for sponsors.
One newspaper called her journey “the most extraordinary journey ever undertaken by a woman.” And they were right!
5. Dian Fossey
You might already know about Dian Fossey, a famous primatologist and conservationist. After working as a ranch hand for several years, she decided to go to Africa to study gorillas. It was a life-changing decision.
Dian spent 18 years living among the mountain gorillas of Rwanda. She was to gorillas what Jane Goodall is to chimpanzees. She dedicated her life to them and helped the world understand their importance. In 1967, she set up her camp high in the Virunga Mountains, home to the world’s largest population of mountain gorillas. At the time, there were about 240 individuals living in around twenty groups, each led by a dominant silverback male.
After years of patient observation, Dian slowly earned the gorillas’ trust. Eventually, she could sit with them as they ate and played. She studied four groups closely, learning to identify each gorilla and understand their family ties after spending 11,000 hours in the field. Dian observed behaviors rarely seen before, like infanticide and how females moved between groups. Her research formed the basis for her famous book, Gorillas in the Mist, which later became a movie. She also wrote articles and participated in a documentary, bringing her work to a wider audience.
Tragically, Dian Fossey was murdered in 1985 in her cabin. The mystery of who killed her remains unsolved to this day.
6. Gertrude Bell
Gertrude Bell was once called the “most powerful woman in the British Empire.” Some say she was even more influential than T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia). Gertrude was an archaeologist, spy, and diplomat who played a key role in shaping the modern state of Iraq.
Born in England in 1868 to a wealthy family, Gertrude lost her mother at age three and formed a close bond with her father. She was highly educated and often discussed politics with him, even holding several government positions. Before World War I, Gertrude organized grand desert expeditions. She skillfully connected with local tribes using her natural charm, cultural understanding, and language skills—something many male explorers couldn’t do. The British government later recruited her as a spy. Her deep knowledge of the region made her a vital figure in post-war talks to reshape the Middle East, especially in drawing Iraq’s southern border.
It’s said that Lawrence of Arabia felt intimidated by Gertrude, considering her his intellectual equal and someone who spoke better Arabic. She acted as a bridge between the Arab government in Iraq and British officials. Gertrude explored, mapped, and became highly influential in British policy due to her expertise and connections. She traveled widely through Greater Syria, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, and Arabia, and helped support the Hashemite dynasties in what is now Jordan. Gertrude wrote several books about her travels and left behind 7,000 photo negatives, now preserved at Newcastle University.
7. Harriet Chalmers Adams
In photos, Harriet Chalmers Adams looks every bit the classic explorer, often seen in a hard hat and khaki jackets. Born in California in 1875, her first expedition was at age two, when she joined her father in the Sierra Nevada mountains. By eight, she was exploring the Pacific coast on horseback, from California to the Canadian Rockies. At fourteen, she went on a year-long trip with her father from Oregon to Mexico. Harriet once said, “I’ve never faced a difficulty a woman could not handle as well as a man.”
In 1903, Harriet and her husband, Franklin Adams, started a three-year, 40,000-mile journey through remote parts of South America. They traveled by horseback and in dugout canoes, facing numerous hardships. They survived an earthquake in Bolivia and a harsh blizzard in the Andes by huddling with their guides’ llamas for warmth. Harriet also had close calls with vampire bats, boa constrictors, and alligators. She was the first woman to travel from the Amazon River to Cayenne. Even a severe back injury couldn’t stop her travels. The couple also followed Christopher Columbus’s trails and journeyed from Siberia to Sumatra.
Harriet wrote articles about her adventures for National Geographic and learned Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German, and French. She became a war correspondent and was the only female journalist allowed to visit soldiers on the front lines and photograph French battles.
8. Dervla Murphy
Dervla Murphy is known for cycling around the world with very few belongings. Her most important item was a .25 automatic pistol, which she used to defend herself against attackers and even wolves.
Several books detail Dervla’s incredible bike trips through Europe, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. Along her journeys, she met remarkable people, like Tibetan refugees and muleteers in Ethiopia. After her daughter was born, Dervla took a short break from travel writing. But once her daughter was old enough, she joined Dervla on her adventures. In Ethiopia, she faced threats from soldiers, and in Siberia, she was robbed.
Dervla’s first major trip in 1963 was a challenging journey from Ireland to India. She traveled through Europe and into the Middle East, where being a woman traveling alone was a significant hurdle. In Armenia, police questioned her about her weapon. Instead of taking her to the station, a police officer led her to his home, where she had to fight off an attack using her quick thinking, knees, and teeth.
When she reached Iran, Dervla was told the road to Afghanistan was closed to women because a Swedish girl had been killed by bandits there. Unfazed, Dervla convinced the American Consul to write a letter asking the Afghan government to make an exception for her. Despite warnings that Afghanistan was dangerous, she encountered no bandits. Instead, she found the people to be kind and considerate, as she wrote in her book Full Tilt.
Dervla emerged from these experiences even stronger. Known as one of the coolest modern-day female explorers, she passed away in May 2022 at the age of 90. Many remember her as a fun-loving woman who always enjoyed a laugh and a cup of tea.
9. Isabella Bird Bishop
You might have heard of Isabella Bird Bishop. She is one of the more well-known female explorers, though that’s not saying much given how history often overlooks women. Isabella is truly inspiring. As a child, she loved to read for hours in secret hiding spots. Health issues with her feet and spine might have kept others at home, but not Isabella. She often joined her father, a county parish priest, on his rounds. At 22, she even stopped an assassination attempt on a Cabinet member.
When medicine failed to cure her depression and tiredness, her doctor suggested a long sea voyage. Isabella managed to join a seven-month trip that cost only £90. She wrote about her experiences in her book, The Englishwoman in America. Friends called her the “Stormy Petrel” because she loved strong winds and rain. On a trip to Hawaii, her ship nearly sank, but such discomforts thrilled her. Danger only made her more eager for adventure.
After most of her family passed away, Isabella explored Hawaii (then known as the Sandwich Islands) on horseback. In America, she met and traveled with “Mountain Jim” Nugent, a legendary figure of the Old West. Her time with him inspired her most popular book, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains.
A friend, Anna Stodart, once said about Isabella, “without alarms and difficulties, she would probably have made her journey a failure.” This highlights her adventurous spirit perfectly.
10. Shannon Lucid
Shannon Lucid’s life started with incredible hardship. Before she was even one year old, she spent six months in an internment camp. Born in Shanghai, China, in 1943 to Baptist missionary parents, her family was imprisoned by the Japanese for a year. After their release, they returned to China but had to leave again when communists came to power. Shannon always dreamed of going to space and was angry that the first seven Apollo astronauts were all men. So, she earned her Ph.D. and a pilot’s license. Despite her qualifications, she couldn’t find a job as a pilot. As she said, “They weren’t hiring females, period.”
After years of hard work, Shannon was finally accepted into the space program in 1978. Her first space mission was on the Space Shuttle Discovery in 1985. She learned Russian to communicate with her fellow astronauts and described her time in space as living “every scientist’s dream.” In 1996, she spent 188 days aboard the Russian space station, Mir. This set a record for the longest time a woman had spent in space, a record she held until 2007.
Throughout her distinguished NASA career, Shannon held many important roles, including Chief Scientist and lead capsule communicator in Mission Control. President Clinton called her a “determined visionary” when he awarded her the Congressional Space Medal of Honor. Although she retired from NASA in 2012, her contributions continue to inspire and resonate through space and NASA’s halls.
These ten women, driven by curiosity, courage, and a desire to break barriers, did more than just travel; they expanded our understanding of the world and what women can achieve. Their stories deserve to be told and celebrated.
Which of these adventurers inspires you the most? Do you know of other forgotten female explorers? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
