40: Around the World on Foot – Part 3 (1894-1899)

During the very late 1800s, people from various countries started to attempt to walk around the world for attention, money, and fame. In Part 2 of this series on walking around the world, I shared several stories of several “fakes” who took advantage of the American public by traveling around the midwest United States claiming to be on treks around the world, but making little or no effort to actually leave the States.

However, others at that time made more sincere attempts and successfully did extended walking on multiple continents, accompanied by newspaper stories confirming their presence in different countries. Several walkers were well-educated and certainly not the typical tramps and drunks that were highlighted in Part 2. Some of the individuals covered in this article became famous as explorers and were given credit for conducting valid walks around the world. But did they actually do it? What was their motivation for spending months and years in this activity? What did they do with their lives after their walk? Here are five intriguing stories of individuals who became very famous.  They were a Russian, a Frenchman, a Greek. and two Americans.