Mark Twain · 1897 · global

Mark Twain's 1897 account of the gruelling round-the-world lecture tour he undertook in 1895-96, at the age of sixty, to repay the creditors of his failed publishing house. Travelling always westward and roughly along the equator through the British Empire, he sailed from the Pacific coast of Canada to Hawaii, Fiji, Australia, New Zealand, Ceylon, India, Mauritius and South Africa before reaching England. His three months in India became the 712-page book's vivid centrepiece.

1. 1
   Victoria

   Bankrupt at sixty, Twain sets out from the Pacific coast on a round-the-world lecture tour to pay off his debts.

2. 2
   Honolulu

   Across the Pacific to Hawaii, where a cholera quarantine keeps him from going ashore.

3. 3
   Suva

   On to Fiji, the first stop near the equator he means to follow.

4. 4
   Auckland

   South to New Zealand and a tour of its geysers and fjords.

5. 5
   Sydney

   And Australia, where he lectures through the colonies and collects their tall tales.

6. 6
   Colombo

   The long voyage west to Ceylon, all colour and heat.

7. 7
   Bombay

   To India, the heart of the journey, by way of Bombay.

8. 8
   Calcutta

   Across the subcontinent to Calcutta, three months that became the centre of his book.

9. 9
   Mauritius

   South across the Indian Ocean to Mauritius.

10. 10
    Cape Town

    Around to South Africa, the Boer republics and the diamond fields.

11. 11
    Southampton

    And home to England at last, the circumnavigation complete.