The contributions of female explorers - Courtney Stephens

Kvindelige eventyreres bidrag til verden - Courtney Stephens

Transcriber: Andrea McDonough Reviewer: Jessica Ruby

Translator: Malene Erkmann Reviewer: Anders Finn Jørgensen

Nowadays, we take curiosity for granted.

I dag tager vi nysgerrighed for givet.

We believe that if we put in the hard work,

Vi tror på, at hvis vi virkelig ønsker det,

we might one day stand before the pyramids,

så vil vi en dag stå foran pyramiderne,

discover a new species of flower,

opdage en ny blomsterart

or even go to the moon.

eller rejse til månen.

But, in the 18th and 19th century,

Men i det 18. og 19. århundrede

female eyes gazed out windows

så kvinder drømmende ud af vinduet

at a world they were unlikely to ever explore.

mod en verden, de aldrig kunne udforske.

Life for women in the time of Queen Victoria

Livet for kvinder i Victoriatiden

was largely relegated to house chores and gossip.

var begrænset til husarbejde og lokal sladder.

And, although they devoured books on exotic travel,

Og selvom de slugte bøger om eksotiske rejsemål

most would never would leave the places

så ville de fleste aldrig forlade det sted,

in which they were born.

hvor de var født.

However, there were a few Victorian women, who,

Alligevel var der nogle få victorianske kvinder, som,

through privilege,

i kraft af deres privilegier,

endurance,

deres udholdenhed,

and not taking "no" for an answer,

og fordi de ikke accepterede et "nej"

did set sail for wilder shores.

rejste mod fjerne horisonter.

In 1860, Marianne North,

I 1860 rejste Marianne North,

an amateur gardener and painter,

amatørgartner og maler,

crossed the ocean to America

over Atlanterhavet til Amerika.

with letters of introduction,

Hun medbragte anbefalinger,

an easel,

et staffeli,

and a love of flowers.

og en stor kærlighed til blomster.

She went on to travel to Jamaica,

Hun fortsatte sin rejse til Jamaica,

Peru,

Japan,

Peru,

Japan,

India,

Indien

Australia.

og Australien.

In fact, she went to every continent except Antarctica

Faktisk besøgte hun alle kontinenter - udover Antarktis -

in pursuit of new flowers to paint.

i sin jagt på nye blomster, hun kunne male.

"I was overwhelmed with the amount

"Jeg var overvældet over mængden

of subjects to be painted," she wrote.

af blomster, der skulle males", skrev hun.

"The hills were marvelously blue,

"Bjergene var vidunderligt blå,

piled one over the other beyond them.

stakket det ene ovenpå det andet.

I never saw such abundance of pure color."

Ingen andre steder så jeg den overflod af farve".

With no planes or automobiles

Uden fly eller biler

and rarely a paved street,

og sjældent på asfalterede veje,

North rode donkeys,

red North på æselryg,

scaled cliffs,

besteg bjerge

and crossed swamps

og krydsede sumpområder

to reach the plants she wanted.

for at de finde de planter, hun var ude efter.

And all this in the customary dress of her day,

Alt dette foregik i den traditionelle påklædning:

floor-length gowns.

gulvlange kjoler.

As photography had not yet been perfected,

Da fotografiet ikke var særlig udviklet,

Marianne's paintings gave botanists back in Europe

gave Mariannes malerier botanikerne i Europa

their first glimpses of some of the world's most unusual plants,

det første glimt af nogle af verdens mest usædvanlige planter,

like the giant pitcher plant of Borneo,

som kandebærere fra Borneo,

the African torch lily,

den afrikanske raketblomst

and the many other species named for her

eller de mange andre arter hun navngav

as she was the first European to catalog them in the wild.

fordi hun var den første europæer, der registrerede dem på deres levested.

Meanwhile, back in London,

På samme tid, i London,

Miss Mary Kingsley was the sheltered daughter

levede Miss Mary Kingsley et beskyttet liv

of a traveling doctor

som datter af en rejsende læge.

who loved hearing her father's tales

Hun elskede at høre sin fars historier

of native customs in Africa.

om de indfødtes skikke i Afrika.

Midway through writing a book on the subject,

Mens han skrev på en bog om emnet

her father fell ill and died.

blev han syg og døde.

So, Kingsley decided she would finish the book for him.

Kingsley besluttede sig for at færdiggøre hans bog.

Peers of her father advised her not to go,

Hendes fars venner advarede hende mod at rejse

showing her maps of tropical diseases,

ved at fortælle om risikoen for tropesygdomme.

but she went anyhow,

Men hun tog afsted alligevel

landing in modern-day Sierra Leone in 1896

og ankom i 1896 til det, der i dag er Sierra Leone.

with two large suitcases and a phrase book.

Med sig havde hun 2 store kufferter og en parlør.

Traveling into the jungle,

På rejse ind i junglen

she was able to confirm the existence

var hun i stand til at dokumentere

of a then-mythical creature,

et dengang mytisk væsen:

the gorilla.

gorillaen.

She recalls fighting with crocodiles,

Hun husker hvordan hun sloges med krokodiller,

being caught in a tornado,

blev fanget af en tornado

and tickling a hippopotamus with her umbrella

og kildede en flodhest med sin paraply

so that he'd leave the side of her canoe.

for at få den til at svømme væk fra sin kano.

Falling into a spiky pit,

Hun faldt ned på spydene i bunden af en fælde

she was saved from harm by her thick petticoat.

men blev reddet af sine tykke skørter.

"A good snake properly cooked

"En veltilberedt slange

is one of the best meals one gets out here," she wrote.

er et af de bedste måltider man kan få her" skrev hun.

Think Indiana Jones was resourceful?

Synes du Indiana Jones var sej?

Kingsley could out-survive him any day!

Kingsley overgår ham til enhver tid!

But when it comes to breaking rules,

Men når det kommer til at bryde med reglerne,

perhaps no female traveler was

så findes der sikkert ingen kvindelig eventyrer

as daring as Alexandra David-Neel.

så modig som Alexandra David-Neel.

Alexandra, who had studied Eastern religions

Alexandra havde studeret østens religioner

at home in France,

hjemme i Frankrig.

wanted desperately to prove herself

Hun var optaget af at vise sit værd

to Parisian scholars of the day,

overfor Paris' forskermiljø

all of whom were men.

som alene bestod af mænd.

She decided the only way to be taken seriously

Hun indså at den eneste måde hun kunne blive taget alvorligt

was to visit the fabled city of Lhasa

var ved at besøge den sagnomspundne by Lhasa

in the mountains of Tibet.

i Tibets bjerge.

"People will have to say,

"Folk skal engang sige:

'This woman lived among the things she's talking about.

Denne kvinde boede blandt de ting, hun talte om.

She touched them and she saw them alive,'" she wrote.

Hun rørte dem og så dem i virkeligheden", skrev hun.

When she arrived at the border from India,

Da hun kom til Indiens grænser

she was forbidden to cross.

fik hun forbud mod at krydse grænsen.

So, she disguised herself as a Tibetan man.

Så hun forklædte sig som en tibetansk mand.

Dressed in a yak fur coat

Hun havde en jakke af yak-okse skind på

and a necklace of carved skulls,

og en halskæde af udskårne dødningehoveder,

she hiked through the barren Himilayas

hun rejste gennem de golde Himalaya bjerge

all the way to Lhasa,

hele vejen til Lhasa,

where she was subsequently arrested.

hvor hun blev arresteret.

She learned that the harder the journey,

Hun lærte, at jo sværere hendes rejse var,

the better the story,

des bedre blev historien,

and went on to write many books on Tibetan religion,

og hun skrev mange bøger om den tibetanske religion,

which not only made a splash back in Paris

som ikke bare blev en succes i Paris

but remain important today.

men stadig er centrale den dag i dag.

These brave women, and others like them,

Disse modige kvinder, og andre som dem,

went all over the world to prove

rejste jorden rundt for at bevise

that the desire to see for oneself

at trangen til at se tingene i virkeligheden

not only changes the course of human knowledge,

ikke bare ændrer menneskehedens viden,

it changes the very idea of what is possible.

men ændrer hele billedet af, hvad der er muligt.

They used the power of curiosity

De udnyttede nysgerrighedens kraft

to try and understand the viewpoints

til at forsøge at forstå holdninger

and peculiarities of other places,

og skikke på fjerne steder,

perhaps because they, themselves,

måske fordi de selv

were seen as so unusual in their own societies.

blev betragtet som særlinge i deres eget liv.

But their journeys revealed to them

Men deres rejse afslørede mere

something more than the ways of foreign lands,

end bare nyt om fjerne lande,

they revealed something only they, themselves, could find:

de afslørede noget, som de kun selv kunne finde:

a sense of their own self.

en følelse af selvstændighed.