The contributions of female explorers - Courtney Stephens

Doprinosi žena istraživača - Kortni Stivens

Transcriber: Andrea McDonough Reviewer: Jessica Ruby

Prevodilac: Branka Malenica Lektor: Ivana Krivokuća

Nowadays, we take curiosity for granted.

Radoznalost danas uzimamo zdravo za gotovo.

We believe that if we put in the hard work,

Verujemo da, ako u nešto uložimo trud,

we might one day stand before the pyramids,

možda jednog dana stanemo ispred piramida,

discover a new species of flower,

otkrijemo novu vrstu cveća,

or even go to the moon.

ili čak i da odemo na mesec.

But, in the 18th and 19th century,

Ali, u 18. i 19. veku,

female eyes gazed out windows

žene su posmatrale kroz svoje prozore

at a world they were unlikely to ever explore.

svet za koji su bile male šanse da ga ikad istraže.

Life for women in the time of Queen Victoria

Život žena u doba kraljice Viktorije

was largely relegated to house chores and gossip.

u velikoj meri se svodio na rad u domaćinstvu i tračarenje.

And, although they devoured books on exotic travel,

Iako su uživale u knjigama o egzotičnim putovanjima,

most would never would leave the places

večina nikada nije napustila svoje rodne gradove.

in which they were born.

However, there were a few Victorian women, who,

Ipak, bilo je nekoliko viktorijanki

through privilege,

koje su, zahvaljujući privilegijama,

endurance,

and not taking "no" for an answer,

izdržljivosti

i tome što nisu prihvatale „ne“ kao odgovor,

did set sail for wilder shores.

krenule u pohod na neistražena područja.

In 1860, Marianne North,

Godine 1860, Merijen Nort,

an amateur gardener and painter,

amaterska slikarka i baštovanka,

crossed the ocean to America

prešla je okean do Amerike

with letters of introduction,

sa posetnicama,

an easel,

slikarskim stalkom i ljubavlju prema cveću.

and a love of flowers.

She went on to travel to Jamaica,

Potom je posetila Jamajku,

Peru,

Japan,

Peru,

India,

Japan,

Australia.

Indiju,

Australiju.

Zapravo, posetila je svaki kontinent sem Antartika,

In fact, she went to every continent except Antarctica

in pursuit of new flowers to paint.

u potrazi za novim cvetovima koje bi slikala.

"I was overwhelmed with the amount

„Bila sam preplavljena količinom tema

of subjects to be painted," she wrote.

koje je trebalo naslikati“, pisala je.

"The hills were marvelously blue,

„Brda su bila čudesno plava, poređana jedno iza drugog.

piled one over the other beyond them.

Nikada nisam videla takvo obilje čiste boje.“

I never saw such abundance of pure color."

With no planes or automobiles

Bez aviona i automobila, i po retko sređenim stazama,

and rarely a paved street,

North rode donkeys,

Nort je jahala magarce,

scaled cliffs,

osvajala litice

and crossed swamps

to reach the plants she wanted.

i prelazila močvare kako bi stigla do željenih biljaka.

And all this in the customary dress of her day,

I sve to u haljinama do poda modernim u to vreme.

floor-length gowns.

As photography had not yet been perfected,

Budući da fotografija tada nije bila tako napredna,

Marianne's paintings gave botanists back in Europe

Merijenine slike su evropskim botaničarima pružile uvid

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

u neke od najneobičnijih biljaka na svetu,

like the giant pitcher plant of Borneo,

poput velike biljke mesožderke sa Bornea,

the African torch lily,

afričke biljke žarača

and the many other species named for her

i brojnih drugih biljaka nazvanih po njoj

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

jer je bila prva Evropljanka koja ih je katalogizovala u divljini.

Meanwhile, back in London,

U međuvremenu, u Londonu,

Miss Mary Kingsley was the sheltered daughter

gospođica Meri Kingsli, poćerka putujućeg doktora,

of a traveling doctor

who loved hearing her father's tales

volela je da sluša očeve priče o tradicionalnim običajima u Afirici.

of native customs in Africa.

Midway through writing a book on the subject,

Usred pisanja knjige na ovu temu, njen otac se razboleo i umro,

her father fell ill and died.

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

te je Kingslijeva odlučila da završi njegovu knjigu.

Peers of her father advised her not to go,

Prijatelji njenog oca savetovali su je da ne ide,

showing her maps of tropical diseases,

pokazivali joj mape tropskih bolesti,

but she went anyhow,

ali svejedno je krenula

landing in modern-day Sierra Leone in 1896

i 1896. godine stigla u Sijeru Leone modernog doba

with two large suitcases and a phrase book.

sa dva velika kofera i rečnikom izraza.

Traveling into the jungle,

Tokom putovanja kroz džunglu,

she was able to confirm the existence

potvrdila je postojanje tada mitskog stvorenja,

of a then-mythical creature,

the gorilla.

gorile.

She recalls fighting with crocodiles,

Sećala se borbe sa krokodilima,

being caught in a tornado,

kako ju je uhvatio tornado

and tickling a hippopotamus with her umbrella

i kako je nilskog konja golicala kišobranom

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

ne bi li se sklonio sa njenog kanua.

Falling into a spiky pit,

Kada je pala u jamu punu šiljaka, spasla ju je njena debela podsuknja.

she was saved from harm by her thick petticoat.

"A good snake properly cooked

„Dobra zmija skuvana na pravilan način jedan je od najboljih obroka

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

koji se ovde mogu pojesti“, pisala je.

Think Indiana Jones was resourceful?

Mislite da je Indijana Džouns bio snalažljiv?

Kingsley could out-survive him any day!

Kingslijeva je mogla da ga pretekne bez problema!

But when it comes to breaking rules,

Ipak, kad pričamo o kršenju pravila,

perhaps no female traveler was

nijedna putnica nije bila tako odvažna kao Aleksandra Dejvid-Nil.

as daring as Alexandra David-Neel.

Alexandra, who had studied Eastern religions

Aleksandra, koja je studirala istočnjačke religije

at home in France,

u rodnoj Francuskoj,

wanted desperately to prove herself

očajnički je želela de se dokaže tadašnjim pariskim učenjacima,

to Parisian scholars of the day,

all of whom were men.

koji su svi bili muškarci.

She decided the only way to be taken seriously

Odlučila je da je jedini način da je shvate za ozbiljno

was to visit the fabled city of Lhasa

bio da poseti čuveni grad Lasa na Tibetu.

in the mountains of Tibet.

„Ljudi će morati da kažu:

"People will have to say,

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

'Ova žena je živela među stvarima o kojima govori.

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

Dodirnula ih je i videla ih uživo'“, pisala je.

When she arrived at the border from India,

Kada je stigla na granicu sa Indijom, zabranili su joj da je pređe.

she was forbidden to cross.

So, she disguised herself as a Tibetan man.

Stoga se prerušila u Tibetanca.

Dressed in a yak fur coat

Obučena u kaput od jakovog krzna, sa ogrlicom od klesanih lobanja,

and a necklace of carved skulls,

she hiked through the barren Himilayas

pešačila je po pustim Himalajima sve do Lase gde su je naposletku uhapsili.

all the way to Lhasa,

where she was subsequently arrested.

She learned that the harder the journey,

Naučila je da što je teže putovanje, ono nosi sa sobom bolju priču,

the better the story,

and went on to write many books on Tibetan religion,

te je napisala veliki broj knjiga o tibetanskoj religiji,

which not only made a splash back in Paris

koje nisu doživele uspeh samo u Parizu

but remain important today.

već su i danas vrlo važne.

These brave women, and others like them,

Ove hrabre žene i druge poput njih

went all over the world to prove

putovale su svetom kako bi dokazale

that the desire to see for oneself

da želja da stvari vidimo sopstvenim očima

not only changes the course of human knowledge,

ne samo da menja tok ljudskog znanja,

it changes the very idea of what is possible.

već i samu ideju o tome šta je moguće.

They used the power of curiosity

One su koristile moć radoznalosti

to try and understand the viewpoints

u pokušaju da razumeju uglove gledanja

and peculiarities of other places,

i osobenosti drugih mesta,

perhaps because they, themselves,

verovatno zato što su i one same u svojim okolinama bile smatrane čudnima.

were seen as so unusual in their own societies.

But their journeys revealed to them

Ali, kroz putovanja su otkrile više od različitosti stranih zemalja.

something more than the ways of foreign lands,

they revealed something only they, themselves, could find:

Otkrile su ono što su isključivo one same mogle da pronađu:

a sense of their own self.

svrhu sopstvenog postojanja.