Historic Travel
Historical travel includes various kinds of destinations, from Stone Age cave paintings to Cold War installations of the late 20th century. History is a central focus for some travellers and some destinations, and almost every traveller in most places will at least have a look at some old buildings or the local museums.
Historical travel includes various kinds of destinations, from Stone Age cave paintings to Cold War installations of the late 20th century. History is a central focus for some travellers and some destinations, and almost every traveller in most places will at least have a look at some old buildings or the local museums.
The early history of life on Earth is studied in paleontology, mainly through fossils. The earliest known fossils of the genus Homo date back at least 4.4 million years. Our species, Homo sapiens, is thought to have evolved between one and two hundred thousand years ago. Some homo sapiens migrated from Africa to the Middle East about 100,000 years ago and to Europe about 60,000 years ago.
The boundary between paleontology and archaeology, which deals mainly with the study of ancient human artifacts, is not at all well-defined. The oldest known tools made by hominids — Oldowan stone tools excavated in the Olduvai Gorge of Tanzania — are about 2.6 million years old. Australopithecines, of the genus which had included direct ancestors of Homo, had cruder stone tools starting at least 3.3 million years ago. Controlled use of fire is apparently at least a million years old.
The boundary between archaeology and history is also hard to define, and they overlap whatever boundary you choose. By one widely-used definition, real history starts with the beginning of written records, 3000-4000 BCE, apparently first in the Indus Valley Civilization in what's now Pakistan and a bit later in Ancient Egypt and Ancient Mesopotamia. However, one might also take earlier dates, based on various important developments. Pottery, the wheel, the first domesticated animals (dogs), and the first evidence of crop cultivation all appeared between 30,000 and 20,000 BCE. A number of other important developments took place between about 12,000 BCE and 3,000 — the transition of some societies from purely hunting/gathering to being based on agriculture, irrigation, cities, metalworking, and domestication of many more animals.
For purposes of this article, anything after 50,000 BCE counts as history. Naturally this overlaps considerably with our archaeology article.
The line between "historical" and "modern" is arbitrary; some draw it around the time of the European Renaissance or slightly later with the great voyages of discovery starting with Columbus and Vasco da Gama. For travel guide purposes it is more convenient to draw it at the Industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries, when cities, industries and railroads began to expand fast, displacing older structures. Surviving settlements and city districts from before the mid-19th century which were designed before and survived the advent of cars and trains, referred to as Old Towns, are typically smaller and more compact (and thus walkable) than modern cities. However, during the 19th and 20th centuries, older styles of art, architecture and furnishing have been revived and reproduced, so that many buildings that look ancient, might be younger than 100 years. There might even be a (neo)Gothic train station or an Ancient Greek-style building in the Americas.
Deserted settlements can be archaeological sites or ghost towns. Pioneer villages can be authentic or artificial. In some places you quite literally trip over historical remnants, whereas other historic sites have been painstakingly preserved and restored. While the latter is usually more interesting it may seem "fake", "sterile" or even "artificial" when done badly. Also — with few exceptions — there are fewer lines (if any) for historical places that people actually still live in (like old towns) or use for their original purpose (like many churches / mosques / synagogues / temples) than for museums or "theme parks".
Nostalgia tourism aims at recent history, remembered by people alive today (especially the middle-aged and elderly). As of the 2010s, it includes World War II, as well as postwar United States, Cold War Europe and the Soviet Union.
Some historical sites are threatened, either for natural causes or human-influenced ones like war or neglect. As of the late 2010s, cities such as Venice and New Orleans are sinking into the sea, ancient ruins in Iraq and Syria are damaged by modern warfare, and many indigenous cultures around the world have only a handful of survivors left. Future generations are in no way guaranteed to experience these places as they are. Responsible travel can provide incentives to save them, or at least their memory.
Regions :
1. Africa
2. Antarctica
3. Asia
4. Europe
5. Oceania
6. North America
7. South America
Historical travel includes various kinds of destinations, from Stone Age cave paintings to Cold War installations of the late 20th century. History is a central focus for some travellers and some destinations, and almost every traveller in most places will at least have a look at some old buildings or the local museums.
The early history of life on Earth is studied in paleontology, mainly through fossils. The earliest known fossils of the genus Homo date back at least 4.4 million years. Our species, Homo sapiens, is thought to have evolved between one and two hundred thousand years ago. Some homo sapiens migrated from Africa to the Middle East about 100,000 years ago and to Europe about 60,000 years ago.
The boundary between paleontology and archaeology, which deals mainly with the study of ancient human artifacts, is not at all well-defined. The oldest known tools made by hominids — Oldowan stone tools excavated in the Olduvai Gorge of Tanzania — are about 2.6 million years old. Australopithecines, of the genus which had included direct ancestors of Homo, had cruder stone tools starting at least 3.3 million years ago. Controlled use of fire is apparently at least a million years old.
The boundary between archaeology and history is also hard to define, and they overlap whatever boundary you choose. By one widely-used definition, real history starts with the beginning of written records, 3000-4000 BCE, apparently first in the Indus Valley Civilization in what's now Pakistan and a bit later in Ancient Egypt and Ancient Mesopotamia. However, one might also take earlier dates, based on various important developments. Pottery, the wheel, the first domesticated animals (dogs), and the first evidence of crop cultivation all appeared between 30,000 and 20,000 BCE. A number of other important developments took place between about 12,000 BCE and 3,000 — the transition of some societies from purely hunting/gathering to being based on agriculture, irrigation, cities, metalworking, and domestication of many more animals.
For purposes of this article, anything after 50,000 BCE counts as history. Naturally this overlaps considerably with our archaeology article.
The line between "historical" and "modern" is arbitrary; some draw it around the time of the European Renaissance or slightly later with the great voyages of discovery starting with Columbus and Vasco da Gama. For travel guide purposes it is more convenient to draw it at the Industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries, when cities, industries and railroads began to expand fast, displacing older structures. Surviving settlements and city districts from before the mid-19th century which were designed before and survived the advent of cars and trains, referred to as Old Towns, are typically smaller and more compact (and thus walkable) than modern cities. However, during the 19th and 20th centuries, older styles of art, architecture and furnishing have been revived and reproduced, so that many buildings that look ancient, might be younger than 100 years. There might even be a (neo)Gothic train station or an Ancient Greek-style building in the Americas.
Deserted settlements can be archaeological sites or ghost towns. Pioneer villages can be authentic or artificial. In some places you quite literally trip over historical remnants, whereas other historic sites have been painstakingly preserved and restored. While the latter is usually more interesting it may seem "fake", "sterile" or even "artificial" when done badly. Also — with few exceptions — there are fewer lines (if any) for historical places that people actually still live in (like old towns) or use for their original purpose (like many churches / mosques / synagogues / temples) than for museums or "theme parks".
Nostalgia tourism aims at recent history, remembered by people alive today (especially the middle-aged and elderly). As of the 2010s, it includes World War II, as well as postwar United States, Cold War Europe and the Soviet Union.
Some historical sites are threatened, either for natural causes or human-influenced ones like war or neglect. As of the late 2010s, cities such as Venice and New Orleans are sinking into the sea, ancient ruins in Iraq and Syria are damaged by modern warfare, and many indigenous cultures around the world have only a handful of survivors left. Future generations are in no way guaranteed to experience these places as they are. Responsible travel can provide incentives to save them, or at least their memory.
Regions :
1. Africa
2. Antarctica
3. Asia
4. Europe
5. Oceania
6. North America
7. South America
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