No More Age Of Discovery?

The map is filled in. The 20th century saw the last of the Earth's great wildernesses, with the exception of the deep ocean, conquered by man. But the innate restlessness of our kind could not be sated. Bruce Chatwin said of Patagonia that it called to him because it was the last place that mankind settled...still to him a kind of 20th century frontier. But 35 years on from Chatwin's wanderings in the wilderness, Patagonia is high on the hit-lists of intrepid backpackers...I don't blame them, and I will soon be one of them. We set foot on the moon in 1969, and apparently now, in the infancy of the new millennium, we have our sights set on Mars.

But we cannot all be astronauts. What of the desire in normal men to seek new horizons, and that primal impulse to explore? The impulse that sent impoverished men like Francisco Pizarro across the Atlantic to eventually conquer an empire. Or Captain Cook across the globe to strange, uncharted lands. In the world of the GPS, how do we find the unknown?

Some people have decided, it seems, to try and improve on the past achievements of pioneers, in increasingly bizarre and meaningless ways. It started with Scott, whose Antarctic expedition became a perverse sort of race with his other competitors, and since than exploration has become some sort of ego-massaging sport. Recently Jordan Romero, aged 13, reached the summit of Everest. Why? Fuck knows? It's madness. the kid sounds like a wanker, and he'll never shut up about it ever again! Other bizarre records, or "triumphs" are being undertaken every day. Who can be the first man to walk across the Sahara, without turning left? Who will be the first toddler to circumnavigate the globe in an armchair?

Others, as I mentioned above, have turned to the stars. Since the moon landings, people have paid attention to all our excursions into space. It is as though we are collectively willing mankind to discover something new, and push the boundaries of where we know, as well as what we know. Incredible stuff, but I do think we have more pressing matters to deal with here on Earth, it's a colossal waste of money, and as the American government are at the forefront of space exploration, it will probably all end in some sort of inter-galactic war!


I know I may come across as snobbish, like I want to hog the world for myself, but that is not my intention. I fully understand why people travel, and I applaud them for it. But I do genuinely feel a pang of sadness knowing that there is no corner that I can uncover, and nothing I can discover that is new in Patagonia, or anywhere else. Or maybe I can't fill in a map, but I can discover a place for myself? The world will always be big enough for that, and that is a heartening thought.