For while the motivation behind each individual journey may have ranged from philanthropic curiosity to the pursuit of adventure, the desire to seek out and control new trade routes was always a priority. It was a fixation that brought about the discovery of America, triggered Magellan’s circumnavigation of the globe and was the primary reason for Marco Polo’s travels in Asia. The following selection of images, drawn from the archives of the Royal Geographical Society, offer a glimpse of the people and places that fed world trade in everything from diamonds to rubber during the mid-1900s



July 2007