Sacagawea was the Shoshone woman who accompanied Lewis and Clark on their journey to the Pacific. She and her husband Toussaint Charbonneau (French-Canadian) were hired as guides and interpreters. Sacagawea was particularly important to the Corps of Discovery in that she knew the terrain, the native plants as foods and medicines and she knew the Shoshones who provided horses to cross the mountains. You could say they expedition might have failed if not for Sacagawea. Today she is honored on a one dollar coin and her name graces many natural features in the Rocky Mountains. We never thought we’d come across Sacagawea’s name in Boulogne-Billancourt! But she has been selected as part of an exhibition on women travellers called ÉTONNANTES VOYAGEUSES AUTOUR DU MONDE honored for International Women’s Day.
For a long time, the woman who traveled alone was considered an “adventurer”, in the sense of spy and courtesan. Despite social pressure, many have managed to overcome the prejudices of their time, letting the call of the open sea, adventure, conquest or science carry them away.
These women have circumnavigated the planet, climbed peaks, explored inhospitable lands, faced hunger, fear and cold. They also went to meet other peoples, discovered new species for science and changed the way we look at the world. To follow their desires for distant horizons, these female adventurers deployed strength and courage, demonstrating that women too can love challenges, sometimes seeking danger, just like men. If some had difficulty, in their time, in demonstrating and having the validity of their discoveries or their exploits recognized, these women from all eras and all continents are finally emerging from the oblivion of History and are today taking their rightful place in the present.
The Espace Landowski, a municipal atrium in the city of Boulogne-Billancourt, is presenting (in French) short versions of the stories of these extraordinary women to celebrate International Women’s Day. From Catalina de Erauso (17th century) and Jeanne Baret (18th) to our contemporaries Sarah Marquis and Jessica Watson, including Alexandra David-Néel, Sacagawea (our personal favorite who has many places named after her in Montana) or Mary Seacole, this exhibition of American, French and many other nationalities invites you to meet some of these travelers and extraordinary explorers.
The exhibition consists of 22 panels on view in the Espace Landowski, free, until March 12th. if you can’t get there you can still read about these pioneers using the link: https://www.fia-asso.org/expo-femme-aventuriere
