Catalog
Francis Drake's circumnavigation ran from Plymouth through San Julian, Valparaíso and Callao to California and the Spice Islands of Ternate. The voyage lasted from 1577 to 26 September 1580. This route follows seven stops, from the storm-hit departure at Plymouth to treasure at Callao and a royal welcome on Ternate. Several places are approximate, and the California landing is only traditionally identified.
John Muir's 1867 walk from Kentucky to the Gulf of Mexico passed Mammoth Cave, the Cumberland Mountains, Savannah's Bonaventure Cemetery and Cedar Key. He told it in A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf. The route follows the book from Louisville to Florida, then on to Yosemite Valley in 1868. Some stops are general areas rather than exact spots, as marked on each point.
In 1970 Thor Heyerdahl sailed the papyrus boat Ra II from Safi in Morocco to Barbados, with reed from Lake Tana, builders from Lake Titicaca and a finish in Barbados. Today the boat sits in the Kon-Tiki Museum in Oslo. The route follows the boat from its materials and builders to the departure, the landfall and the museum. Most stops are approximate: sources name the lakes, the port and the island, not exact docks.
Sir John Franklin's 1845 search for the Northwest Passage began at Stromness in Orkney, passed Disko Bay in Greenland and Beechey Island, and ended off King William Island, where HMS Erebus and HMS Terror were trapped in ice in 1846. No one from the expedition came home. The route follows the ships from Orkney to the Victory Point note, the last message the crew left, then to the two wrecks found in 2014 and 2016. Most Arctic stops are remote or protected, so treat them as map stories rather than places to visit.
York has been defended by walls since Roman times, and this walk strings together six places around them: the Multangular Tower, York Minster, Clifford's Tower, Micklegate Bar, the Shambles and Walmgate Bar. Each stop is a moment in the city's story, from a Roman fort built around 71 AD to a siege in 1644.
A short walk from the Rialto Bridge to Piazza San Marco packs in Shylock's Rialto, a clock tower from a Bond film, the basilica that holds Saint Mark, Galileo's telescope demonstration and Casanova's roof-top escape from the Doge's Palace. Six stops lead from the Rialto to the Doge's Palace, each tied to a story: Shakespeare, Moonraker, the legend of Saint Mark, Galileo, Casanova and A Little Romance. The film links are screen fiction, not history.
The Cuban Revolution runs from the Moncada Barracks in Santiago to a Mexican port, a mangrove beach near Niquero, the Sierra Maestra, an armored train in Santa Clara and the old Presidential Palace in Havana. In December 1956 eighty-two men crowded onto the yacht Granma; only about twelve survived the ambush at Alegría de Pío. Two years later the rebels were in Havana. The route follows that arc in seven stops. Three of the pins are approximate, and two places have no pin.
Oda Nobunaga's rise runs from Kiyosu Castle and the Okehazama battlefield through Gifu, Mount Hiei, Nagashino and Azuchi to Honnō-ji in Kyoto. The seven stops follow his campaigns in order, from a family struggle in Owari to the 1582 day Akechi Mitsuhide turned on him. Several are castle ruins or rebuilt replicas, and the Honnō-ji pin marks the rebuilt temple.
Nelson Mandela's life runs from a Mbashe River village to the lawns of the Union Buildings in Pretoria, with stops at Fort Hare, Liliesleaf Farm in Rivonia, Robben Island and Victor Verster Prison along the way. The route follows him from his birth in Mvezo on 18 July 1918 through student days, underground work, years in prison and his inauguration as South Africa's first democratically elected president on 10 May 1994. Most stops can be visited; the pins at Mvezo and Qunu mark the villages, not a single building.
The first transcontinental railroad began at the Sacramento waterfront in 1863, climbed through Dutch Flat and Donner Pass, and ended at Promontory Summit, Utah, where the Golden Spike was driven on 10 May 1869. The route follows the Central Pacific's eastward build from California: the groundbreaking, Judah's Sierra survey, the granite labour of Chinese workers and the final ceremony. Some stops are approximate.
Bonnie and Clyde's two-year run took them from Eastham prison farm in Texas through a Joplin shootout, the Red Crown Tourist Court in Missouri and Dexfield Park in Iowa, to a roadside ambush near Gibsland, Louisiana. This route follows the real trail in order, from Clyde Barrow's prison years to the morning of 23 May 1934 and his burial in Dallas. Some spots are only approximately known, and each says so.
Wyatt Earp's story runs from the Long Branch Saloon in Dodge City, Kansas, to the Oriental Saloon, the lot beside Fly's and Boothill Graveyard in Tombstone, Arizona, and on to the railroad tracks of Tucson. It follows the lawman from his 1878 job as a Dodge City assistant marshal through the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral on 26 October 1881 to the killings that followed in 1882. Exact buildings are uncertain for several stops, and those pins are marked approximate.
Palenque, Tikal, Copán and Chichén Itzá are four great Maya cities, from the jungle of Chiapas to the plains of Yucatán. Their kings built tombs, pyramids and monuments that archaeologists have read and dug out of the forest. This route follows them in time, from Pakal's tomb in 683 to the capture of Copán's king in 738 and on to the pyramid and Sacred Cenote of Chichén Itzá. Pins at Tikal and Copán mark the whole site.
Admiral Yi Sun-sin fought Japan's invasion fleets in 1592–1598 along Korea's south coast, from his base at Yeosu to Okpo, Hansan Island, the Myeongnyang Strait and the Noryang Strait, where he died in the last major battle. The route follows five places in order: the headquarters, the first victory, the crane-wing trap, the strait where 13 ships faced a far larger fleet, and the final night. Several pins mark waters or harbours rather than exact battle spots.
Empress Elisabeth of Austria, known as Sisi, grew up at Possenhofen Castle in Bavaria, married in Vienna's Augustinerkirche and died in Geneva in 1898. Her life runs from a lakeside summer home to a hotel on Lake Geneva. The route follows her through Bad Ischl, Gödöllő, the Achilleion on Corfu and the Imperial Crypt in Vienna. The Gödöllő stop has no verified pin.
Antoni Gaudí's Barcelona runs from Casa Vicens in Gràcia and Palau Güell in El Raval to Park Güell, Casa Batlló, La Pedrera and the Sagrada Família. Follow the architect from his first major house in 1883 to the tram accident of June 1926. Most stops are open to visitors; the exact spot of the accident is approximate.
The Medici ruled Florence from Palazzo Vecchio, Palazzo Medici Riccardi, the Uffizi and the Pitti Palace, and plotters struck at them in the Duomo in 1478. This route follows the family from Cosimo's cell in 1435 to Vasari's private corridor of 1564. Seven stops, all in the old centre and almost all open to visitors, show how a banking family turned into a ducal court, and how they left offices, tombs and a museum behind.
Galileo's life runs through Pisa, Padua, Rome and Florence: the cathedral lamp and Leaning Tower of Pisa, the University of Padua, the Minerva convent in Rome, Villa Il Gioiello in Arcetri and Santa Croce. The route follows him from birth in Pisa in 1564, through his teaching years, the trial of 1633 and house arrest, to his burial in Florence. Two Pisa stories, the lamp and the cannonballs, are legend rather than record.
In 1860 Giuseppe Garibaldi sailed from Quarto near Genoa with 1,089 volunteers, landed at Marsala, won at Calatafimi, took Palermo and Milazzo, and handed southern Italy to King Victor Emanuel II at Teano. This route follows the Expedition of the Thousand through seven places, from the rock where the Redshirts embarked to the handshake that helped make Italy. Several stops are towns rather than precise battle sites, and are marked as approximate.
The Cathar story runs through Béziers, Carcassonne and Montségur: six places in southern France where the Albigensian Crusade of 1209 to 1255 left its mark. The route starts with the fall of Béziers and Carcassonne in 1209, continues through the castles of Lastours and the well of Minerve, and ends at Montségur and Quéribus, the last strongholds. Several stops are ruins or later rebuilds, so what you see is not always the medieval Cathar castle.
In June 1791 Louis XVI and his family fled the Tuileries Palace in Paris for the fortress of Montmédy, only to be stopped at Varennes-en-Argonne after being recognised at Sainte-Menehould. This route marks the royal coach's stops from the palace to Varennes, the citadel it never reached, and the way back through Châlons to a silent Paris. Several stops are approximate, because the sources do not name exact buildings.
Richard III's story runs from Middleham Castle in Yorkshire to Bosworth Field, where he died in 1485, and on to Leicester, where his grave was found under a car park in 2012. The route follows his childhood at Middleham, the battle of Tewkesbury, the princes at the Tower of London, his last charge at Bosworth, and the Greyfriars dig and cathedral tomb in Leicester. The exact Bosworth battlefield is still debated.
Prince Charles Edward Stuart's 1745 rising began on the beach of Eriskay, raised its standard at Glenfinnan, won at Prestonpans and ended on Culloden Moor, after which the prince fled through Skye and Raasay. The route follows the campaign from landing to flight in six stops across Scotland's west coast, the East Lothian coast, the area near Inverness and the islands of Skye and Raasay. Positions for the Skye crossing and for the battlefields are approximate, so check local signage before you go.
The Russian Revolution of 1917 played out across a few kilometres of Petrograd, now Saint Petersburg: the Tauride Palace, Finland Station, the Smolny Institute, the cruiser Aurora and the Winter Palace. All five can still be seen today. The route follows the year from the February Revolution to the October seizure of power, and separates what the sources record from the legend of the "storming" of the Winter Palace. Dates are Old Style, as used at the time.