By Their Own Compass

Where a love of history meets a passion for travel.

Historian Jeremiah Jenne and journalist Sarah Keenlyside explore historical travellers and the worlds they encountered, connecting past journeys to today's travel destinations. bytheirowncompass.substack.com

Episodes

  1. 2 DAYS AGO

    Erik the Red & Leif Erikson: The outlaw who founded Greenland and the son who reached North America

    Around the year 985 A.D., Icelandic exile Erik the Red, a man renowned for his fiery temper, founded the first Norse settlement in Greenland. Years later, his ambitious son Leif Erikson went on to become one of the first known Europeans to set foot in North America – centuries before Columbus. In this episode, we dive into the real history of Greenland’s Norse origins, the legends of Vinland, and the first confirmed European site in North America at L’Anse aux Meadows. Who exactly were these seafaring Norse explorers? How did Greenland get its name? And how on earth did they survive (and thrive) in such inhospitable conditions? Amid the modern mythmaking of Netflix’s Vikings: Valhalla and the cultural misunderstandings around Greenland thanks to one Donald J. Trump, we unpack the reality of this father-son duo’s epic travels as they got further and further from their Scandinavian homeland; how they created a fragile Norse colony built on trade (including walrus ivory), got incredibly lucky with the climate during the Medieval Warm Period, and why they failed to settle North America once landing on its shores. We also take a little detour to discuss Freydís Eiríksdóttir, Leif’s formidable sister (whose bare-breasted sword posturing in the sagas shows she wasn’t exactly a believer in the art of making friends and influencing people), and discuss how Norse encounters with those they called skrælingjar* foreshadowed later patterns of contact and conflict with Arctic indigenous peoples. Plus: how to travel to Greenland and Newfoundland today, visit Norse ruins, and follow the route of the brave (and occasionally reckless) Vikings who sailed beyond the limits of their world. Warning: This word is a pejorative term for Indigenous people and appears in the episode in quotations from the Icelandic Sagas or in contexts that reflect Norse attitudes toward some of the people they encountered. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bytheirowncompass.substack.com/subscribe

    54 min
  2. The Grand Tour Explained: Bridgerton, Bad Behaviour and Too Many Sex Scandals to Count

    5 FEB

    The Grand Tour Explained: Bridgerton, Bad Behaviour and Too Many Sex Scandals to Count

    When the writers on Netflix’s Bridgerton send Colin Bridgerton off on the Grand Tour in season three, it’s treated as a throwaway plot device. In reality, the Grand Tour was one of the most influential – and ridiculous – phenomena in British history, shaping everything from travel writing to modern tourism. In this episode, we use Colin Bridgerton’s continental adventures as a starting point to explore the 18th-century Grand Tour: the original gap year for wealthy young men. Its participants travelled through Paris, Rome and Venice, crossed the Alps, wrote pompous letters home, got embroiled in scandals, caught STDs, and became the target of savage satirical cartoons. We unpack how the Grand Tour also helped invent the travel guidebook, why tourists still flock to the same “must-see” sights today, how so-called souvenirs often meant mass produced art and looted antiquities, and why Venice became both a cultural hotspot and an early warning about over-tourism. It’s a story of privilege, taste-making and cultural theft –and explores how many of travel’s biggest controversies in 2026 can be traced back to the Grand Tour. Ps. Hang around for the end of the podcast, where we’ve included another episode-themed musical easter egg. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bytheirowncompass.substack.com/subscribe

    40 min
  3. Bonus Dispatch: Modern-day Missionaries, Walking Safaris, and the Livingstone Trail with Dan Kobayashi

    29 JAN · BONUS

    Bonus Dispatch: Modern-day Missionaries, Walking Safaris, and the Livingstone Trail with Dan Kobayashi

    David Livingstone spent thirty years wandering across Africa. In our main episode we spent forty minutes talking about him. We may have missed a few spots. Dan Kobayashi, a writer and longtime Africa analyst, helps us fill in the blank spaces on the map. Dan spent 13 years as an expert on Southern and Central Africa for the U.S State Department, and most recently analyzed global power competition on the African continent. He has worked at the U.S. Embassies in Lesotho, Zambia, Malawi, and Botswana and has organized U.S observation of five African elections. We get into the geography we skipped, especially Malawi and Tanzania, and the complicated modern legacy of Victorian missionaries. We also discuss the importance of humility when traveling, and why a walking safari can be both the best and most nerve-wracking way to see wildlife there. He is currently a writer, consultant, and stay-at-home father based in Geneva, and writes at expatriarch.substack.com. If you would like to hire him for Africa analysis, strategic communications, or writing and editing projects, or to publish his memoir "Africa: A Love Story," ask us for his email. Show Notes & Reading List Destinations Discussed * Zimbabwe: Harare, Mosi-oa-Tunya (Victoria Falls), Mana Pools. * Zambia: Lower Zambezi National Park, South Luangwa National Park, Zambezi Breezers. * Botswana: Kalahari Desert, Okavango Delta, Deception Valley Lodge, Chobe National Park, Maun. * Tanzania: Zanzibar (Stonetown), Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater. * Malawi: Zomba (Chancellor College), Majete National Park. * South Africa: Kruger National Park, Sabi Sands. Books & References * Men with Tales (Safari guide anthology) * Livingstone by Tim Jeal * Stanley: The Impossible Life of Africa’s Greatest Explorer by Tim Jeal * Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller Links * Expatriarch: Dan Kobayashi’s Substack – Subscribe Here * Further Reading: “I Suppose I Have to Talk About Lesotho Now” by Dan Kobayashi Episode Transcript Jeremiah: Hello and welcome to a special bonus edition of By Their Own Compass. I’m Jeremiah Jenne, and I’m really pleased today to be joined by Dan Kobayashi, a thirteen-year Africa analyst for the State Department’s Office of Africa Analysis. He spent quite a bit of time living and working in the places we talked about in our David Livingstone episode. Dan, thank you for joining us today. Dan Kobayashi: Happy to be here. Jeremiah: Now, in our episode, one of the things that was difficult was that David Livingstone went to so many different places in southern Central Africa, and because we had to narrow it down, we chose Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Botswana. But of course, there were so many more places we could have covered. What are some of the places that we missed, and what are your impressions of the area where David Livingstone once explored, traveled, and lived? The Missing Pieces: Malawi and Tanzania Dan Kobayashi: Sure. When I first heard you were doing this episode and you invited me on, I thought the choice of Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Botswana—”Zim-Zam-Bots” for short—was slightly curious. Zimbabwe and Zambia everyone obviously thinks of with Livingstone because that’s where Mosi-oa-Tunya (Victoria Falls) is, right on the border. There are statues of him on each side of the border. I knew that he had crossed the Kalahari and whatnot, but it was in some ways almost a footnote to me. The third country I think of really very heavily with him is Malawi. Part of that is because Malawi is my first African home. It’s probably my favorite place on the continent. And then, of course, I also think of Tanzania, because Zanzibar was the epicenter of the slave trade, which he worked so tirelessly to abolish. Tanzania is where he had his famous encounter with Stanley—though I’ll note, Burundi claims it was there. I’ve got a picture of myself, which I sent to you actually, in front of the monument in Burundi commemorating their meeting, which absolutely did not happen there. That makes it an even better picture. Tanzania and Malawi are sort of the ones I think of more than Botswana. That said, Botswana is a critical place. And I could go on and on about Malawi and its joys as one of the underappreciated locations in Africa and home to the single most lovely, nicest people I’ve ever met. But “Zim-Zam” and Botswana are places for perhaps more accessible travel than Malawi, with the qualification that Zimbabwe is not always accessible. First Impressions and Hyperinflation in Zimbabwe Dan Kobayashi: The first time I was in Africa south of the Sahara was Christmas 2007. I flew into Harare, Zimbabwe, to meet my then-girlfriend, who was a doctor and who I met while she was doing a Master of Public Health at Harvard. She’d worked in Zim previously and had gone off to take a job in Malawi. I met her in Zimbabwe in Christmas 2007, and I was a pretty experienced traveler. I’d been to some weird places so Africa might not have been as completely different. But Zim in that particular moment certainly was. One of the tips she gave me at the time was, “Don’t bring one hundred dollar bills.” But this was the period of hyperinflation in Zimbabwe. You would trade, like, twenty US dollars, and you would get—going to betray my New England roots here—a hockey bag full of bricks of 200,000 Zimbabwe dollar notes, all of which were effectively worthless. You couldn’t get more than that. You had to do business in local currency, but you couldn’t exchange currency on the local market. The official rate was something like 40,000 to 1, and the real rate was 1.8 million to 1, and it was going up every day. It was the highest inflation on record aside from one particular period in Hungary. So, it was a case where if you went to a bar, the second beer would literally cost twice as much as the first beer. Jeremiah: Wow. Dan Kobayashi: So you’d buy them two at a time. It was just for an introduction to Africa... it was sort of stunning. Without local help, we’d have been completely out of luck. But my girlfriend had a Zimbabwean colleague who sort of helped us through the system with fixers and how to change money on the black market, because even if you wanted to do it on the legal market, you couldn’t do it, and you’d be changing money for nothing. It was very important to do it in very careful ways. So this is my introduction to Africa. I’m there as a tourist. I’m not doing any work. I’m not doing sort of “do-gooder” stuff or even neutral stuff. I’m just there to visit my friend and see the sights. But to this day, it’s probably the strangest and most difficult situation I’ve ever traveled in. There was this question of, “Well, if you run out of US dollars to change on the black market, what do you do?” It’s a three-day line to wait at the ATM, and they’ll only let you take out maybe twenty dollars US worth of money at the official exchange rate, which is you’re effectively getting robbed. Same thing with Western Union. We actually had a period where we had to cross over into Botswana at Vic Falls to get Botswana Pula out of an ATM, which we could then change into US dollars, and then take back into Zimbabwe and change for local currency. Jeremiah: That sounds like quite an introduction to a place. And I would guess over the years, as you move from being a tourist to working or in an official capacity, I wonder, as you saw other people come into Malawi, Zimbabwe, and other parts of Africa for their first time... did you start to catalog a list of the most common rookie mistakes that people coming to Africa tended to make? The “Farmerista” Approach and Humility Dan Kobayashi: I was blessed to go in with a reasonable amount of humility because the doctor I was traveling with came out of the Paul Farmer school—what are often called “Farmeristas”—which is one of extreme humility, self-flagellating humility almost, in the context of Africa, or Haiti in the case of Farmer originally. So there was a real emphasis on respect and local knowledge. Don’t think that you’re so great or so smart coming from outside. Don’t think you understand people. Don’t think that they’re ignorant of the Western world. They have TV. They have radio. Though Malawi only got TV in 1996. I should add: don’t assume that a person of no particular competence in the US is somehow of more competence in Africa. I’d visit Chancellor College in Zomba, Malawi—the old colonial capital, which is like the fourth biggest city in Malawi—but it has the national college. The professors there are real professors. They’re not interested in having some random American come in and teach there. There are no jobs for that, any more than I could walk into Harvard and say, “Hey, I’m a very smart guy.” But it’s easy to be arrogant. One of the themes that’s unifying from Livingstone’s time through to today is Africa remains a place where Westerners, especially white Westerners frankly, of no particular distinction can go and be treated like they are something more than they are. But I think you have to be frank about the fact: I am not Livingstone. I am not going there in that time. As monstrous as some of these adventurers were, they were doing wild, incredibly risky things in places that really were unknown or relatively unknown to people like them. Stanley, as you correctly note, was a huckster and a charlatan. But you can’t say he lacked for physical bravery. Going into the African interior, having almost everyone on your mission die, and then somehow escape and do it again—just as Livingstone did, until it of course caught up with him eventually—is no joke. And that is decidedly not what we are dealing with as visitors to Africa, even in quite remote and rural places now. Perceptions of Livingstone Dan Kobayashi: To answer your question about perceptions of Livingstone, I do think Livingstone i

    34 min
  4. Dr. David Livingstone's Thirty-year Journey in Africa

    22 JAN

    Dr. David Livingstone's Thirty-year Journey in Africa

    In 1871, Scottish missionary and explorer David Livingstone (1813-1873) was hanging out in the village of Ujiji, in what is today Tanzania. He wasn’t exactly lost, but the last few years had been rough, full of heartbreak and disappointment. Livingstone had spent three decades exploring and mapping territory that is now part of the modern countries of Botswana, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. But after crossing the African continent, running the Zambezi River, renaming Victoria Falls, crossing the Kalahari Desert, and seeking the source of the Nile, the legendary Victorian voyager was nearing the end of the trail. That’s when the American (by way of Wales) journalist and huckster Henry Morton Stanley blundered into Ujiji with a caravan, drums, and a parade worthy of the Fourth of July. It was, perhaps, the most famous greeting in African history, but there is more to the legend of David Livingstone than what Henry Stanley presumed. In this week’s episode of By Their Own Compass, we are hacking our way through the dense undergrowth of myth surrounding David Livingstone, the Scottish explorer and anti-slavery crusader, to uncover the life of the man who spent years traveling through Central and Southern Africa, fuelled by a potent mix of abolitionist zeal and a total inability to sit still. This is the story of one of history’s most fascinating travelers, a man who loved Africa and understood it better than most non-Africans of his era. And as always, at the end of the episode, we talk about how today’s travelers can follow David Livingstone’s footsteps and plan their own modern-day explorations of Botswana, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bytheirowncompass.substack.com/subscribe

    53 min
  5. Bonus Episode: Sacagawea Does K-Pop, Lewis and Clark, and AI in Podcasting

    15 JAN

    Bonus Episode: Sacagawea Does K-Pop, Lewis and Clark, and AI in Podcasting

    In this bonus episode of By Their Own Compass, we go behind the scenes of our Sacagawea episode to unpack one of the most misunderstood figures in American history — and the creative choices involved in telling her story today. We pull back the curtain on podcasting and creative production, including a candid discussion about AI in creativity. From AI-generated music (yes, including a Sacagawea K-pop experiment) to voice modulation, artwork, and workflow shortcuts. Where does AI genuinely enhance storytelling, and when does human judgement remain non-negotiable? We also explore the challenges of responsibly representing Native American history, why Meriwether Lewis might have been the Steve Jobs of his day, and the power of music to shape cultural narratives. How much interpretation is too much? And what does ethical storytelling look like when the archive is incomplete? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bytheirowncompass.substack.com/subscribe

    31 min
  6. Sacagawea

    8 JAN

    Sacagawea

    In this episode of By Their Own Compass, we explore the extraordinary journey of Sacagawea, a nursing teenager travelling across North America with the Lewis and Clark expedition and the Corps of Discovery from 1804–1806. Looking beyond the legend, we examine her role as a traveller, cultural mediator, and Native American woman navigating survival, motherhood, and agency in a rapidly changing America. Join us as we gently dismantle the stereotypes attached to Sacagawea to tell her story as a voyager and cultural pioneer learning to move between two radically different worlds. Was she the faithful guide so often portrayed in American history books? A collaborator in a process that brought devastation to Indigenous peoples across the United States? Or was Sacagawea acting for her own reasons – making the best of a situation she did not choose, while doing what she believed was right for herself and her newborn child? Do you know someone who loves travel? How about someone who loves great stories from history? Send them a link to this episode. It’s an even better gift than a dead sea otter. Just ask Thomas Jefferson. Born into a world shaped by seasonal migrations and annual rhythms, her tribe, the Shoshone, were part of a complex network of exchange, cooperation and conflict with neighbouring peoples, including the Hidatsa, Mandan, Sioux and Crow – each with their own languages, customs and political realities. It was a world Sacagawea understood instinctively, and one the expedition did not. Along the way, she repeatedly saved Lewis and Clark from disaster, asserted herself when it mattered – insisting on being allowed to see a beached whale – and experienced moments of deep emotion, including a brief reunion with her long-lost brother, only to be forced to leave him again. This is a story of a Native American woman negotiating colonial expansion, motherhood on the move, and the power of finding your voice in a world being reshaped around you. We finish the episode by exploring how modern travellers can follow in Sacagawea’s footsteps today along the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, tracing her route through some of the most dramatic landscapes in the United States – from the Missouri River breaks to the mountain passes of her Shoshone homeland. Join the By Their Own Compass club and subscribe to a paid membership. Get special bonus episodes, invitations to chat with the hosts, behind-the-scenes emails with notes from our research, as well as a transcript and reading list for every episode. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bytheirowncompass.substack.com/subscribe

    43 min
  7. When Travel Goes Catastrophically Wrong: History's Greatest Fiascos

    18/12/2025

    When Travel Goes Catastrophically Wrong: History's Greatest Fiascos

    Pour yourself something strong (we suggest a nice scotch for reasons that will become clear a few minutes into the episode) and settle in for a festive tour through history's most spectacular travel disasters. Whilst the rest of the world is busy booking flights and packing bags for the holidays, we thought we'd offer a public service: a cautionary tale (or four) about what happens when travelers combine breathtaking optimism with catastrophically poor preparation. For your benefit, dear listeners, we've organized historical travel fiascos into convenient categories, because even disasters deserve structure: High Expectations, Low Planning: Scotland gambles a quarter of its national wealth on a fever swamp in Panama, armed with thousands of wigs and exactly zero useful supplies. Spoilers: It does not go well. Scotland is still somewhat tetchy about it. High Expectations, Low Cultural Awareness: Lord Macartney shows up to the Chinese Emperor's birthday party thinking he's the guest of honour, only to discover he's one of dozens on the mailing list. Then he refuses to kowtow. The Emperor is not impressed. Low Expectations, Proven Entirely Correct: Tobias Smollett travels through France and Italy with preemptive contempt for everything he's about to see, then spends 400 pages confirming his suspicions. He mansplains the Venus de Medici and complains about the weather on the French Riviera. The patron saint of one-star reviews. High Expectations, Catastrophically Poor Equipment: Thomas Stevens circumnavigates the globe on a penny farthing bicycle—a vehicle designed by someone who absolutely hated gravity but loved concussions. He crashes roughly 500 times and starts riots in China. Somehow survives. If you've ever wondered whether your holiday travel could possibly go worse than you imagine, we can confirm: yes, but probably not as badly as these. Perfect listening for anyone currently stuck in an airport, contemplating a long drive to see relatives, or simply grateful their ancestors didn't invest the family fortune in Panamanian swampland. Happy Holidays from your correspondents Listen on Apple Podcasts Further Reading & Useful Links: The Darien Scheme: Scotland's Darien Disaster – BBC History Some account of the public life, and a selection from the unpublished writings, of the Earl of Macartney Tobias Smollett's Travels through France and Italy Thomas Stevens' Around the World on a Bicycle This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bytheirowncompass.substack.com/subscribe

    36 min
  8. Bonus Episode: Emily Hahn’s Shanghai

    11/12/2025 · BONUS

    Bonus Episode: Emily Hahn’s Shanghai

    If you enjoyed our deep dive into the life of the New Yorker correspondent, Emily Hahn wild times in China, you won’t want to miss this special bonus episode. Sarah sits down with Tina Kanagarathnam of Historic Shanghai to answer the burning question: What is actually left of Emily’s world? Every week, we transport you to a different time and place. Subscribe to get full show notes, reading lists, and historic itineraries like this one delivered straight to your inbox. No visa required. From the smell of the Huangpu River to the preserved Art Deco apartment where Emily lived (and kept her pet gibbons), Tina reveals the ghosts of the 1930s International Settlement. Whether you are planning a trip to China or just armchair traveling, tune in to discover the hidden ballrooms, surviving bookstores, and jazz haunts that defined an era of glamour and chaos. Sarah and Tina map out a specific “Emily Hahn Loop” you can walk today, taking you from the grandeur of the Peace Hotel (formerly the Cathay) to the exact apartment building on the old “Red Light” line where Emily wrote her early dispatches. We discuss what has been demolished, what has been gentrified, and the surprising corners where the spirit of Old Shanghai is still very much alive. A co-founder of Historic Shanghai, Tina is an award-winning writer and, in her almost 30 years in the magic city, has authored several books and numerous articles on Shanghai. These include the original Insight Guides Shanghai guidebook, the Zagat Guide to Shanghai, and two historic walking guides to the city. She also wrote a column on historic Shanghai architecture for the Shanghai Daily for several years. Know a friend who loves 1930s jazz, Art Deco architecture, or just a good travel story? Forward this dispatch their way and help them plan their next mental escape. Podcast Transcript: Emily Hahn’s Shanghai Host: Sarah Keenlyside | Guest: Tina Kanagarathnam (Historic Shanghai) Introduction: The Emily Hahn Bonus Episode Sarah (00:08) Hi everyone, it’s Sarah. And today we’re going to be doing an Emily Hahn episode companion podcast, a bonus podcast, if you like, about how you can follow in her footsteps today. We want to go in a bit more depth about Shanghai because it’s such a wonderful city that I’ve spent a lot of time in. And today the person who is still there and knows even more about it than I do—much more about it than I do in fact—is Tina Kanagarathnam from Historic Shanghai. Tina and her team have led deeply researched walking tours that bring the city’s past to life. For those of you who don’t know, I have a travel company called Bespoke Travel Company and we’ve worked with Historic Shanghai for many years. And yes, I can tell you that our clients, our guests, always absolutely love their tours. And so, there’s really no one better to speak to about Emily Hahn and the places that she went and that still exist that were in her orbit back in the 30s than Tina. So welcome, Tina, to the podcast. Tina (01:10) Thank you, and thank you for that very wonderful and warm introduction. Sarah (01:14) So let’s start. Let’s jump straight in. Obviously, Emily, she’s a real character. If you haven’t already listened to the podcast that we did, the episode that we did on Emily to our listeners, please go back and have a listen. Jeremiah and I talk in depth about her journey from America to Shanghai and beyond. And today, we really want to jump straight in and find out a little bit about what Emily would have seen in 1935. For a traveler arriving around that time, Tina, what do you think Shanghai would have felt like to her on day one when she first stepped foot in the city? First Impressions: The Bund and the Skyline Tina (01:53) Well, one of the best things about Shanghai is that history is all around us in terms of the buildings. And in those days, people came by ship. And so what Emily would have seen as she came down the Huangpu River would have been pretty much what a traveler today standing on the Bund would see. That is, all the buildings of the Bund. There were a couple that weren’t yet built in 1935 when she arrived in the spring, but the vast majority of the buildings were there. It would have been—and again, this is not alien to anybody who’s lived in China—it would have been a city under construction because this was the period between the wars and things were going crazy money-wise. People were building and building and building. So, Emily, her first sight would have been the Bund. And the nice thing is, if you want to walk in Emily’s footsteps, all you have to do is just, you know, go down to the Bund and turn around and you’ll see the Peace Hotel where she spent a lot of time with her buddy Victor Sassoon. Sarah (03:03) And Tina, if we were to explain to someone who doesn’t know what the Bund is, can you explain what that is? Because I think before I went to China, also, I kept hearing this word and I didn’t actually know what it was referring to. In fact, for a long time, I thought it was referring to the other side of the river where the tall flashy buildings are. Tina (03:07) No, where the new buildings are. So the “Bund” is actually an Anglo-Indian term that just means the embankment of a river. And there are bunds all over the British colonies. The word came from, obviously, their colonies in India. But the Shanghai Bund is the most famous. And it was known as the Wall Street of Asia. So it was basically the strip—it’s about a mile long—where all the banks and financial companies, a couple of hotels, were all built between the 1880s and currently the last one was 1948. And it’s interesting because it also tells you a little bit about how Shanghai progressed because the first buildings to be built on the Bund were the 1860s. But Shanghai’s DNA has always been: What is the latest? What’s the newest? What’s the most modern? So they just kept knocking down and building up and knocking down and building up. And I always say that if not for the communist Revolution in 1949, the Bund would look very different. It was a gift that it was frozen for 50 years. So we can see Emily’s Shanghai. Sarah (04:39) And I think it’s quite surprising to some people because it’s very European looking, isn’t it? It’s not necessarily what you’d expect when you think of Chinese buildings. You think of sort of temples and peaked roofs. And of course, this really famous waterfront is very European looking, isn’t it? Can you explain why briefly? Tina (04:55) It is very European because at that point, that part of the city was the International Settlement, which was governed by 14 different countries, but let’s say primarily Britain and America were sort of the leading forces. But on the Bund, you will find countries from all over the world. There’s Russian buildings, there’s Bank of China, there’s Japanese banks. There are hotels owned by Baghdadi Jewish businessmen. So it was a very international strip. But yes, all the buildings did look very European. I’ve been told that it looks a lot like Liverpool. And that’s also because even if you were a Japanese bank or a French bank or a Russian bank, that was the status style of the era. You wanted to look Western. You weren’t going to be building a Russian building. You weren’t going to be building a fully Chinese building, although the Bank of China does have some Chinese elements. The Sensory Experience of 1930s Shanghai Sarah (05:58) And if you had to choose one sound or one smell or one sight that sort of defines interwar Shanghai, what would they be? Bit of a tricky question, but... Tina (06:09) One sound. Well, you know, I think the sound... two things. People when they arrived in Shanghai, they always talk about the smell, the smell of the river. You know, there was a stench. People lived on the rivers. They lived on the Sampans and they, you know, waste went into the water. And so these Europeans who’d gone through these month-long voyages, they’d arrive in Shanghai and the first thing they’d do would step out—and if it was the summer, it would be unbearable heat—and they would smell this pretty awful stench. So that was your arrival smell. But if there was a sound, I think it was also the sounds of the bells. There were all these vendors who would sell all kinds of—whether it was food or wares—and actually until very recently, they’d still go up and down the streets, you know, fixing your umbrella. And they all had different cries. You know, they’d have different sounds. So that is another part of the soundscape, I think. The other thing that every single person who lived in old Shanghai talks about is the dead babies on the street. Because it was, you know, it was difficult times. Sometimes people couldn’t afford more children and they would wrap them up in rattan. And people talk about, you know, like kids, you know, they’d say that on their way to school, they know if they saw something wrapped up in rattan, what it was, and they just walk around and avoid it. And then trucks would come and carry them away. Every single person who lived in old Shanghai talks about the dead babies on the street. So that’s something that was there and was never forgotten. Sarah (07:54) So quite confronting actually for Emily. Probably wouldn’t have been... well, very much not like what it is today. But in terms of the buildings, they’re the sort of stalwarts that haven’t left, thankfully. Emily Hahn’s Haunts: Where She Lived and Worked Sarah (08:21) So we know, obviously, Emily Hahn wrote in the New Yorker a lot. She wrote these dispatches. Well, she wrote an awful lot in general, didn’t she? More than 50 books, I think, and so on. So whereabouts in the city did she spend most of her time? She did talk about a few streets in particular, but they had different names than they do today. Is that right? Tina (08:2

    33 min
  9. Emily Hahn

    04/12/2025

    Emily Hahn

    We’re back and in our second episode, we’re following the travels of Emily “Mickey” Hahn in 1930s China. Mickey Hahn was a writer, an adventurer, and a professional rule breaker whose wanderlust took her from the American Midwest to Europe and Africa and finally to China, all before she turned 30. By the time she got to China, she had already established herself as an up-and-coming literary voice and one of the New Yorker’s earliest star writers. In her career, she published 54 books and over 200 articles, but her most famous book is China to Me, a memoir of the years that we’re going to talk about in this episode. She partied with poets (and her pet gibbon) at Shanghai soirees. Wrote biographies while dodging bombs in wartime Chongqing, and did her best to keep herself and her family alive in Japanese-occupied Hong Kong. Along the way, she became famous (some might add “notorious”) for her affairs, including with Chinese writer Sinmay Zau (Shao Xunmei 邵洵美) and the head of British intelligence in Hong Kong, Charles Boxer. Mickey lived through some of China’s most tumultuous moments. While many foreigners experienced these events, Mickey gave her readers an unvarnished look at what was happening, with a style all her own. We’ll explore Mickey’s life, travels, and adventures, and we’ll also discuss how to follow in her footsteps today through the modern cities of Chongqing, Hong Kong, and especially Shanghai. Thanks for listening. If you’d like to support our project exploring the crossroad between history and travel, consider a paid subscription. Every donation matters, and we appreciate your support. Links: Books referenced in the episode * China to Me by Emily Hahn * Nobody Said Not To Go by Ken Cuthbertson (biography of Emily Hahn) * I Wonder as I Wander: An Autobiographical Journey by Langston Hughes * The Soong Sisters by Emily Hahn Tours & Resources: * Historic Shanghai - walking tours (Patrick Cranley and Tina Kanagarathnam) Further Reading: * Her Lotus Year: China, the Roaring Twenties, and the Making of Wallis Simpson by Paul French * Hong Kong Holiday by Emily Hahn * No Hurry to Get Home: A Memoir by Emily Hahn * Mr Pan by Emily Hahn If you know somebody who took a short trip to China and came back eight years later with a book deal, a baby, and an on-again-off-again opium habit, send them a link to this episode. We think they’ll enjoy it. Transcript By Their Own Compass: Emily “Mickey” Hahn in 1930s China Hosts: Sarah Keenlyside and Jeremiah Jenne Introduction Sarah (00:07) Welcome to By Their Own Compass. Each week we explore history’s most fascinating travelers and their journeys. I’m Sarah Keenlyside, journalist and lifelong traveler. Jeremiah (00:17) And I’m historian and writer Jeremiah Jenne. Together we dive into the remarkable lives of those who crossed borders, bridged cultures, and made the connections that built our world. It’s about the journey and the destination. After all, one person’s frontier is another person’s front door. Sarah (00:42) In today’s episode, we’re exploring the travels of Emily Hahn—she was better known as Mickey Hahn—in 1930s China. She’s a writer, an adventurer, and a professional rule breaker whose wanderlust took her from the American Midwest to Europe, Africa, and finally China, all before she turned 30. Jeremiah (01:01) That’s right, and you could call Mickey Hahn something of a patron saint of this podcast, even though she’d probably hate the idea of being made a candidate for sainthood. By the time she even got to China, she’d already established herself as a literary voice, as one of the New Yorker’s earliest star writers. She took an unconventional approach, both to her life and to her writing. Her most famous book is probably China to Me, a memoir of the years that we’re going to talk about in this episode. Sarah (01:30) Yeah, after reading China to Me, she’s just ballsy and moreover she’s funny and who doesn’t want to engage with a writer like that, right? Also at the end of the episode, we’ll dive into the ways that you can follow in Mickey’s footsteps and we’ll talk a bit about what the destinations she visited are like today. But before we get to where she went—and in this episode we’re going to cover her adventures in three Chinese cities in particular: Shanghai, Chongqing and Hong Kong—let’s put her in a bit of context and talk a little about who she was, where she came from and why she’s so fascinating. Early Life and Background Jeremiah (02:07) Born in St. Louis in 1905, Emily “Mickey” Hahn grows up in a large, bustling, competitive family. Her father, Isaac Newton Hahn, is a dry goods salesman with a knack for storytelling. He’s a born raconteur. Her mother, Hannah, a strong-willed former suffragette, gives Emily her nickname Mickey after a popular comic character of the day. And no, not the mouse. It’s a name she will use throughout her life. Later, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, when she tries to enroll in a geology class, she’s told it’s only open to mining engineering majors, a program no woman has ever entered at that university. In 1926, Mickey becomes the first woman to graduate with a mining engineering degree from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. After graduation, her career as a mining engineer proves disappointing. Hired as a secretary with no chance of advancement unless she becomes her boss’s girlfriend, she quits and heads west to New Mexico. There, she works as a tour guide, spending her nights partying in bars and her days writing amusing letters home to her family, including a brother-in-law who sends some of them to his friends in publishing. By the late 1920s, she’s in Manhattan, drinking with Dorothy Parker and writing for the New Yorker, emerging as a rising star among the bright young things. But Mickey’s wanderlust won’t let her settle. She sets off to explore Europe and then two years in Africa, traveling hundreds of miles on foot to the Congo and living in a remote camp where she adopts a baboon. Granted, not the best house pet, but it marks the start of her lifelong love of primates. Back in New York, a cocktail-fueled affair with a married screenwriter flames out. Mickey decides it’s time for another adventure. Her sister Helen, who’s recently divorced, proposes a trip with a quick detour to Shanghai. But this brief stop will turn into an eight-year sojourn that will come to define her literary career. Jeremiah (04:16) So I think before we get to China, it’s worth talking about where she comes from because she doesn’t exactly spring fully formed from the Missouri sod, but it does seem like there were the ingredients from the start. She’s headstrong, she’s whip smart. She had an absolute unwillingness to take even the littlest bit of crap from anyone. She had this very highly sensitive b******t detector and it became quite apparent to anyone that met her that this was somebody who was destined for more than hanging out in St. Louis or being a tour guide on the Grand Canyon. Sarah (04:53) Yeah, I think the thing that most strikes me about her story is that she’s part of this really big family. She’s got all these sisters and you know, when you grow up sandwiched between sisters, you either develop a personality or you’re going to disappear, right? Jeremiah (05:08) There’s this great biography of Mickey entitled, Nobody Told Me Not To Go. And it’s written by Ken Cuthbertson. By the way, “Nobody Told Me Not To Go”—great line. And Cuthbertson writes how the gender politics in the Hahn household must have been fascinating and at the same time, somewhat terrifying. Cuthbertson kind of argues she had already developed some sharp elbows. I mean, elbows that could cut glass. And I think that’s what I take away from his biography—that Mickey ends up carrying this chip on her shoulder. She was charming, but once you drop her in, say, genteel society, like a cocktail party in Shanghai or the club in Hong Kong, it didn’t always go over as well with the people that she interacted with. Whenever there is an obstacle, whenever a wall appears in front of Mickey, she goes right at it and leaves a Mickey-sized hole right in that wall. She may not have always made the best decisions, but when she’s confronted with something, she makes a choice and she goes for it with everything she’s got. Sarah (06:11) And somehow her writing talent does get recognized, doesn’t it? First in the letters home, her brother-in-law, who’s a minor literary figure in Chicago at the time, he can tell that Mickey’s more than just a smart letter writer. There’s definitely some serious writing chops there. Jeremiah (06:27) It’s a great story because some of these smaller publications, he sends them Mickey’s letters and over time the letters get circulated in the publishing community and she ends up writing for the New Yorker, which in this era was really in its infancy. This was the beginning of that magazine. The editors there were smart enough to snap her up. I think the problem for Mickey was that even when she’s writing for the magazine, even doing what really should have been a dream job, there seems to be this innate restlessness. She’s writing about pickup lines. She’s writing about cafe society and martinis and literary feuds. And she gets bored. And it seems over and over again in her life, when she gets bored, she gets the happy feet and she starts wandering. So she picks up, she hits Europe. She says, well, Africa is a place I’ve always wanted to go. Let me just go there, even though I don’t know a thing about where I’m going. And the same thing happens in 1935. Things are not working out with the screenwriter guy. She’s been on and off dating him. It’s turning into a disaster. Her sister’s just got divorced herself. They’re commiserating. And Mickey thinks,

    1 hr
  10. Ibn Battuta

    15/10/2025

    Ibn Battuta

    After months of planning, scripting, and the sort of meticulous historical fact-checking that would make Ibn Battuta himself say, “Mate, it’s just a travel story,” we’re thrilled to announce the launch of By Their Own Compass. Our inaugural episode features Ibn Battuta, one of history’s most spectacular travel overachievers, on his journey from modern-day Turkey, across Central Asia, to India, hoping to land a job but following an itinerary that redefines “taking the scenic route.” Along the way, he dined with sultans, khans, and emperors whilst braving rough seas, high mountain passes, questionable lodging arrangements, and all the usual adventures familiar to long-term travellers, whether backpacking across Southeast Asia or crossing the mediaeval world. It’s as if you responded to a job offer posted on LinkedIn with a message saying you’re interested and that you’ll be coming in for an interview sometime in two years. Subscribe to receive updates on new episodes and our regular newsletter The Compass Dispatch Why are we starting with Ibn Battuta? Because whilst most people know about Marco Polo, Ibn Battuta travelled five times farther than Marco, covering more ground, meeting more people, and leaving behind one of the most entertaining travel memoirs ever compiled. Ibn Battuta is the traveller’s traveller: curious, always ready for a detour, and eager to make contacts wherever he turns up. But he’s also a very human traveller: he can be judgmental, vain, occasionally insufferable, frequently brave, but always alive in the moment, whether it’s a Turkish bathhouse, a Mongol feast, or standing outside the Hagia Sophia. If you enjoy this episode, there’s much more to come. Episode 2 drops in November, and we’re following the adventures of Emily “Mickey” Hahn in 1930s China, an era of jazz clubs, opium dens, pet gibbons, and hunky Chinese poets. We’re soft-launching on Substack for now, but we’ll be adding feeds later this month so that you will be able to find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and all of the usual podcast haunts. Consider this first episode as a “friends and family” preview. By Their Own Compass is hosted by Sarah Keenlyside and Jeremiah Jenne: one journalist, one historian, both convinced that the best way to understand how we got here is to follow the people who actually made the journey. Welcome aboard. Pack light. Bring an open mind. And pro travel tip: if a Mongolian khan offers you a cup of fermented mare’s milk, it’s probably best to drink it, no matter what you think it tastes like. Thanks for Listening! If you know somebody who also likes taking the longest route possible just because, send them this episode. Episode TranscriptBy Their Own Compass: Ibn Battuta Episode Transcript Sarah (00:38) Welcome to By Their Own Compass. Each week we explore history’s most fascinating travellers and their journeys. I’m Sarah Keenleyside, journalist and lifelong traveller. Jeremiah (00:48) And I’m historian and writer Jeremiah Jenne. Together we dive into the remarkable lives of those who crossed borders, bridged cultures, and made the connections that built our world. It’s about the journey and the destination. After all, one person’s frontier is another person’s front door. Sarah (01:09) In today’s episode, we’re exploring the travels of Ibn Battuta. Now, you might vaguely remember his name from a BBC documentary or school textbook, depending on where you grew up, probably under the heading “The Muslim Marco Polo,” which is both inaccurate and deeply unfair. Jeremiah (01:26) Marco Polo’s journey was maybe 15,000 miles. By the time Ibn Battuta finally made it back to Tangier, he had traveled five times farther than Marco, covering an estimated 75,000 miles across three continents through territory that is now part of 44 modern countries. Sarah (01:43) Why does that matter? Because Ibn Battuta’s journey is a spectacular example of how connected the medieval world could be. A Moroccan could wander into a Mongol camp in Central Asia and be greeted with a banquet and a goblet of fermented mare’s milk, which by the way, he pretended to very much enjoy. Now, Ibn Battuta’s complete three-decade journey would take us many episodes to cover properly. And we promise this won’t be the last time he appears on our podcast. So why this leg of his journey? Because it captures one of history’s most famous travelers at a pivotal moment in his lifetime of wanderlust. Jeremiah (02:17) Either 1330 or 1332—Ibn Battuta isn’t always clear on dates. But by this point, he’s no longer the medieval equivalent of a gap year kid who refuses to come home. He’s in his mid-20s. He’s already done three pilgrimages to Mecca, including spending an extended sojourn there as a scholar and student of Quranic law to level up. While in Mecca, he hears about a possible job opening with the richest sultan of them all, the Sultan of Delhi. He’s supposedly on his way to India for a job but decides to take the longest route imaginable. Sarah (02:51) Yeah, and what also makes this part of his journey so fascinating is the time he’s doing it, because it’s not only a transitional time for our intrepid traveler but also for the medieval world. Jeremiah (03:02) The Ottoman Empire is rising, Constantinople is declining, and the Mongol Empire of Genghis Khan and his descendants is fragmenting. As Ibn Battuta makes his way from modern-day Turkey to Central Asia over the Hindu Kush, he is witnessing the end of one world order and the birth of another. Sarah (03:20) It’s an epic adventure and later in the episode, as always, we’ll talk about how you can follow this route today with some insider tips for the modern traveler. Jeremiah (03:34) So let’s talk about who Ibn Battuta actually was. Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Yusuf—try saying that three times fast—was born in 1304 in Tangier, Morocco into a family of legal scholars. In the Battuta household, you didn’t get a PlayStation for your birthday. You got a book on Quranic law and a quiz before bedtime. Sarah (03:56) Yes, they were very respectable, middle-class, scholarly, serious. The sort of family where becoming a judge is considered slacking off and your progress was measured against your Uncle Ahmed. And young Ibn Battuta, bright, well-behaved, articulate, memorized the Quran, and seemed perfectly destined to spend his life in Tangier telling other people what not to do. Jeremiah (04:18) So Sarah, do you know what they call somebody from Tangier? A Tangerine. Yes, I was this episode years old when I learned that. Sarah (04:25) Boom, there you go then. Jeremiah (04:27) At the age of 22, Ibn Battuta told his family, “Hey guys, I’m just going to run over to Mecca, do my religious obligations, maybe meet some folks, I’ll be back in a year. Two tops.” Sarah (04:37) Smash cut to 30 years later when Ibn Battuta finally returns home after basically doing a lap around what he considered the entire known world. He dictated his travels in a work called The Rihla or more formally, A Masterpiece to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Traveling. Jeremiah (04:55) Great title and one of the wildest, most detailed records of medieval travel we’ve got. In it, we also get to learn what kind of traveler Ibn Battuta was. Sure, he was brave, adventurous, and always willing to take the scenic route. Sarah (05:07) But he was also absolutely shameless about name-dropping and social climbing with a supernatural ability to insert himself into almost any situation. Jeremiah (05:16) As a result, his travel account can read a bit like a LinkedIn profile. “I stayed with this incredibly wealthy merchant in Damascus. Lovely fellow, gave me a horse, then I had dinner with the governor of Aleppo. We’re best friends now.” Sarah (05:28) And he could be the ultimate busybody with impossibly high standards. He was, after all, trained to be a judge. Jeremiah (05:35) Whether it was men not covering up their junk in bathhouses or women showing their faces, and sometimes way more than that in parts of Africa, Ibn Battuta was right there to tell you that he does not approve. Sarah (05:47) He could be vain, funny, savage. He often traveled with a spear and when traveling off the beaten track, that’s probably about as wise a precaution as Imodium would be to a modern traveler, but he’s always entertaining. Ibn Battuta’s traveling the world, but what kind of world was it? I seem to remember from university that this was about the time that Edward III takes control of England, but is still about a decade away from launching a war with France that will last 100 years. In other words, the Hundred Years War. Jeremiah (06:19) And in the Muslim world, there’s a general sense of relief that the worst of the Crusades are over, or at least in a timeout. “We’ll trade with you, but don’t get comfy” seems to be the motto. As this episode today opens in 1330, there’s an uneasy peace, two divorced people trying to co-parent the Eastern Mediterranean. Sarah (06:37) The shadow of the Mongols is still looming large, but here’s what makes the timing so perfect for our traveler. In the previous century, Genghis Khan’s armies rolled out of the steppe conquering everything from Korea to the suburbs of Vienna. Now Turkish tribes displaced from the West Asian steppe by Mongol pressure are staking out pieces of Anatolia, which is modern-day Turkey, creating a patchwork of ambitious mini-sultanates, each trying to outdo each other in terms of power, money and cultural capital. Jeremiah (07:06) Now Christian Constantinople was perched on the edge of this transformation clinging to what it can on the Asian mainland. Constantinople, still stunning. Ibn Battuta is amazed at all of the domes, the decor, the walls, the ceremonies. But the Byzant

    41 min
  • 10 Episodes

About

Historian Jeremiah Jenne and journalist Sarah Keenlyside explore historical travellers and the worlds they encountered, connecting past journeys to today's travel destinations. bytheirowncompass.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    Where a love of history meets a passion for travel.
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    10
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © By Their Own Compass
  • Show Website
    By Their Own Compass

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