Global History of Travel
Several members of the Global History and Culture Centre conduct research in the global history of travel and travel writing, which includes the following projects:
Wheeler History of Travel Writing Programme
The Wheeler History of Travel Writing Programme (click hereLink opens in a new window for main page) has been made possible through the generous donation of Warwick alumnus and co-founder of Lonely Planet, Tony Wheeler.
Starting out as a journalist at the Warwick student newspaper, Tony Wheeler graduated from the University with a BSc in Engineering Science, 1969 and later received an Honorary Doctor of Letters (DLitt) from the University of Warwick and Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. His transformative adventure along the 'hippie trail' in early 1970s Asia inspired him to pen the inaugural Lonely Planet guide and led him to be distinguished as ‘the patron saint of backpackers and adventure enthusiasts’ by The New York Times.
Over five years (2023-28), the Wheeler programme will offer four fully-funded PhD studentships. For more information, and how to apply, see The Wheeler History of Travel Writing PhD ScholarshipLink opens in a new window (Course applications for September 2025 entry are now open).
Marco Polo International Programme
Project lead: Luca Molà
In 2024, the year marking the 700th anniversary of the death of Marco Polo, the University of Warwick is proud to partner with 36 global institutions to launch the Marco Polo International ProgrammeLink opens in a new window. As part of the Marco Polo International Programme, Warwick academics, in conjunction with our European, Singaporean and Chinese partners, are involved in:
- the rediscovery, restoration and public display of 14th century records of Venetian travellers in India;
- the high-resolution scanning and interdisciplinary study of textiles, ceramics and lacquerware to aid our understanding of goods that travelled across the Silks Roads culminating in a series of virtual and physical exhibitions across the globe;
- the first-ever digitisation of the writings of the Islamic traveller Ibn Battuta as he explored around Africa and Asia;
- a deep dive into the worlds and cultures, which Marco Polo travelled through;
- the uncovering of the views of modern travellers to China during key moments of 20th century Chinese history;
- as well as a wider re-examination of what is at stake in travel writing – in the past and today.
Carletti's World: An Early Modern Global Voyage
Project leads: Luca Molà and Giorgio Riello
The travel account left by the Florentine merchant Francesco Carletti (1573-1636) remains a major understudied source for global historians. Between 1594 and 1602, Carletti circumnavigated the world, traveling and trading in West Africa, the Spanish Americas, the Philippines, Japan, China, briefly stopping in Malacca and Ceylon before arriving in Portuguese India on his way back to Europe. Captured by the Dutch off St. Helena, he found his goods confiscated and litigated until 1605 for their return before traveling through France to reach Tuscany in 1606. Carletti presented his patron Grand Duke Ferdinando I with an account of his voyage (Ragionamenti sopra le cose da lui vedute ne' suoi viaggi), which remained in manuscript until its publication in Florence in 1701.
This project Link opens in a new window– jointly sponsored by Villa I Tatti with the European University Institute (Giorgio Riello), University of Warwick (Luca Molà), Syracuse University (Brian Brege), and Stanford University (Paula Findlen) – will result in a new translation and critical edition of Carletti’s My Voyage Around the World as well as a volume of essays which situates Carletti's voyage in its global context ca. 1600.
Decolonising Travel Studies
Project leads: Guido van Meersbergen and Natalya Din-Kariuki
The “Decolonising Travel Studies” project seeks to make visible and challenge the indebtedness of both academic and public histories of travel to Eurocentric notions rooted in the colonial past. It originated in a three-day conference, "Decolonising Travel Studies: Sources and ApproachesLink opens in a new window", organised in collaboration with the Hakluyt Society, which aimed to take stock of the historiography on global travel and exploration and reflect on what a decolonised history of travel looks like. It focused on the historical development of and colonial legacies contained in travel and exploration studies, empirical case studies of underrepresented histories of travel, unpublished sources for the history of travel, ways in which dominant methodologies have rendered certain demographics absent or invisible in histories travel, and the potential of decolonial theory as applied to histories of travel and travel writing. The project will result in a special issue for the journal Studies in Travel Writing and a collection of essays published in the Hakluyt Society Studies in the History of Travel, published by Routledge. Follow-up workshops include:
