In 1863, French lexicographer Littre defined the French word "touriste" as "a person who travels out of curiosity and boredom." "Because at that time in Europe, most of the people who loved to travel were the rich children of Britain, who traveled to the European continent on the pretext of increasing their knowledge, and the end point was usually Rome. The French often describe them in a mocking tone: tourists are wealthy people who pay for money, who claim to see the local customs, but don't really know how. However, by the end of the 18th century, the countries of continental Europe began to follow Britain's example and began to travel. At the end of the 19th century, with the advent of bicycles and automobiles, free travel began to become possible, and various clubs gathered the upper class who loved to travel also emerged, and the English word "touring" was used to describe this elitist herd behavior at that time.
In his book History of Western Tourism, Marc Boieille, a well-known French scholar, details the evolution and development of the term "tourism", as well as the innovation and transformation of tourism activities over the centuries. From the pilgrimage of the European Renaissance in the 16th century, to the spas, hiking, rural summers, mountain conquest, Alpine skiing, etc. on the European continent, we can see that the development of tourism is inseparable from socio-economic, political and cultural activities, through the systematic analysis of tourism activities in Western history over the past 500 years, we can re-understand how tourism shapes modern life, and rediscover the unique charm of travel in exploring the meaning of human life and self-worth.
With permission from the publisher, this article excerpts several chapters, in which the author describes the birth of the bicycle that gave birth to "cycling tourism", which became one of the popular activities of rural holidays in Europe in the 19th century.
History of Western Tourism (16th-21st Centuries), translated by Marc Boieille, Jin Longge, Qin Qiongfang, Li Qian, Xiang Dongxiao, Yao Lin, and Zhou Jin; Guangxi Normal University Press; Produced by Guangya; October 2022
Country sports and a quiet bicycle revolution
"The Quiet Bicycle Revolution" is a fun play on words from the Friends of the Earth Cycling Manifesto. Is there a quieter machine than this fast "little bike"? Its success at the end of the 19th century was so brilliant that we dared to use the word "revolution." At the opening ceremony of the third bicycle exhibition in 1885, Jules Grevi said passionately: If Bufeng were still alive, he would probably admit that the most beautiful conquest of man was no longer the conquest of horses, but bicycles.
This analogy is conscious; The President of the Republic pointed out that the bicycle has replaced horses as a tool for people to walk in the forest or go for a ride on the country roads, but he did not want to use the foreign word "cycle" from English. Contemporaries may know that around 1800, a French word was invented called "vélocifère", which means "a small wooden horse with two wheels, speeding forward by the rider's maneuvering", or rather the rider "moving fast on the ground". In the mid-19th century, the Vélocipède was chosen to denote a machine with wheels but no feet, and from 1855 it was equipped by Michaud with a "manivelle", the word manivelle first appeared and strangely used to refer to that pedal.
The first wooden two-wheeler (1820), also the prototype of the bicycle. Wikipedia image
The World's Fair made it an instant hit. People all over the world wanted to ride bikes, and businesses began exporting to the UK. In 1869, a Lyonnais named Davignon came up with the idea of placing rubber rings on the rims. People lost tricycles to the faint of heart, wheelbarrows to eccentrics, and fell in love with two machines with almost identical wheels—two-wheelers. Between 1870 and 1891, technology advanced by leaps and bounds, either exploratory or absurd (such as three-metre-tall wheels), until today's machinery, which means only rear-wheel drive—and from then on, progress was limited to gear shifters. Since the end of the 19th century, progress has certainly been made in the change of materials and names, but cycling has always been associated with physical recreation and tourism, and it has always been a physical activity for relaxing outdoors. This machine, which in 1870 was called a two-wheeler or "agile", became a bicycle, or bicycle or bicycle, and the person who rode it was called a bicycle rider. By around 1870, cyclists were more simply called riders. Learning to ride a bicycle is easy, and the first training courses were introduced around 1869; Cycling is an elegant act, and those who own bicycles are among the clubs of high society. The oldest club was founded in Grenoble in 1869, and twenty years later, some of its members decided to take some innovative measures to promote tourism in their cities. In 1889, these energetic bourgeoisie rode bicycles in front of the headquarters of the first tourist service under construction on Via Montocchi.
Women riding bicycles on unpaved roads in the United States at the end of the 19th century. Wikipedia image
In the decade around 1890, this elegant invention achieved brilliant results. The Englishmen who used "bicycles" around their estates gathered at the "Cyclists' Tourist Club", which was immediately emulated by the French Tourist Club, which was born in 1891. Some very wealthy people and only they could afford to buy this new type of machinery, because the price of this machine was equivalent to the salary of a worker in Saint-Etienne who made it for a year. What interests the elite is the incomparable freedom of movement of rigid public transport, which offers more possibilities for travel adventures. People's passion for bicycles is manifested through a large number of publications about bicycles. For more than three decades, from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, Baudry de Sonier was an authority in the field of bicycles and then automobiles, an authority reminiscent of another aristocracy, Baron Coubertin, the authority of the Olympic movement. The "social world" of Paris and the big cities was soon conquered by bicycles; Writer Edmund de Goncourt ridiculed "Zola the Fat Man on a Bicycle" (sic); But the French Cycling Tour Club (T.C.F.) had grown to 20,000 members four years after its founding. Caterina Berto-Ravenier's Wheels and Pens reveal the role of the members of the French Cycling Touring Club, whose magazine is full of passionate letters. The subtitle of "Wheels and Pens" is "How did we become tourists?" Neither of them are convincing, nor are they convincing to the so-called philosophical ideas of mediator Regis Debray, who believes that ideology is based on technological innovation, especially since they cannot explain the phenomenon of bicycles that took a century to give birth! How many times has it evolved from two-wheeled bicycles (1790) and De Nay bicycles (1816) to bicycles! After decisive refinement by the Raj Company and the advent of Dunlop's tires, it wasn't until the end of the 19th century that the bicycle became essentially what we are familiar with today: it had two wheels of the same size, both with brakes installed on them; The front wheels are operated by the handlebars, and the rear wheels are responsible for traction and receive energy from the central footrest; It had become flexible by 1900, but there was no transmission yet.
When using the English words cycle (1869) and cyclist (1886), the wealthy of continental Europe did not expect that cycle already existed in Greek, nor did they think that vélocipède might be appropriate. Affectionate titles appear in large numbers – "Little Queen" is one of them; Around 1890-1900, it was called bicycle or bicycle. Those who were riding boasted that they were "touring"; The hesitant French embraced the word touring so elegantly when confronted with the word tourism. When the bicycle first appeared, it was particularly expensive and not a practical means of transportation. This "useless invention," as they say, is not "a major invention that spawned the holidays." On the contrary, it reinforces the "leisure class" outlook on life: idlers are the best and can live an interesting life in a natural environment; There is a tendency for bicycles to replace horses, and it can be added to many other sports activities that have been joined by bicycles to make country holidays in the UK even more charming.
Henry Sandham's watercolor Touring the countryside, 1887. Wikipedia image
Vast parks, long stays in castles or estates, a wide variety of recreational and sporting activities, these make up the character of England, clumsished by continental Europe. Equestrian is a traditional activity, but compared to hunting, this traditional activity has become lawless. Golf has had its own rules since the 18th century. The game of croquet takes place on the greenery, and the social activities around which women have a place unfold; It didn't take long for the croquet to reach all of Europe and North America; Mr. Coubertin put croquet into the Olympic program until 1926; Today, the sport is still standard on elegant country holidays. The British aristocracy set complex rules for country sports, aiming to make these self-contained sports truly their own. In the privacy of their walled mansions, these amateurs perform challenge games for themselves, archery, cricket, football, rugby... At the end of the 19th century, tennis was also played on the lawn.
Sports, entertainment for hobbyists and tourism – these activities of the wealthy idlers have a unique and identical history in the context of the same rural resorts. The British invented them, exported their competition items and equipment to the continent, and they were emulated on the continent; In the second half of the 19th century, once a winter city, a hot spring or a beach received a lot of British tourists, it was equipped with golf courses, tennis courts and racetracks; Cannes is often the first stop in France to try these sports. Another British feature: in the male elite club, you can meet the needs of the party. Continental Europeans followed. What happened in mountaineering around 1870 was repeated in cycling around 1890 and then in 1900 in cycling and driving a car tour. Activity always has two sides: on the one hand, it is elitist, bringing honor and freedom, such as conquering peaks or discovering scenery through paths; On the other hand, it has a zeal to develop Protestants, who, like those believers, need to brag about what they have done and encourage people to follow their example.
What we observed at the French Mountaineering Club and other mountain people's clubs is reproduced at the French Tourist Club. Originally known as the "French Bicycle Tour Club", the French Touring Club was founded in 1890 by seven wealthy Parisian young men, one of whom was an aristocrat and the other a journalist named Marcel Violet, who was the first secretary general. The French Touring Club adopted bicycle tires as its logo and made it a big splash in its publications. Cycling trips have led to a resurgence in travel journals, with riders racing to write down their impressions and send them to the French Travel Club magazine, which will publish their contributions; Caterina Berto-Ravenier found that "it was filled with a lot of clichés". In front of these members and accompanying them were the authors of a number of essays and travel guides, almost all of them aristocrats.
"Rhodes Cycling Club" in Houston, Texas (1897). Wikipedia image
The National Museum of Scotland displays the 'Cyclist's Travelling Club' logo. Wikipedia image
As early as 1883, the Marquis de Baroncelli published the article "The Practical Bicycle", which spoke of the superiority of cycling over horseback riding and hunting: horseback riding, recreational boat tours and driving pleasures are expensive, very limited and not without danger, compared to the true sports queen cycling is completely independent and attractive.
Baudry de Sonnier has expanded the new edition of his travel guide, The Theory and Practice of Cycling, which offers visitors advice such as "a good brake on the rear wheels".
In addition to these two nobles, others such as Edward de Perodil or Lady Sotron de Saint-Clémont (pen name Léon J. Salti), also published regional guidebooks in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Some of the larger guide books, Murray, Bedeker, and Joana all champion railroads, and their blunt descriptions—from station to station—are not suitable for those who travel the world. What tourists want is little books that tell them everything, about their resorts, about the provinces they plan to travel around by bike. For example, at the end of the 19th century, there was a road guide recommending a 34-day tour of Savoie and Dauphine with an average speed of 12 kilometers per hour (with mountain passes), which included practical advice, as well as the addresses of hotels and repairmen, and tips for getting around. Paul de Vivier, a native of Saint-Etienne, was an avid cyclist, and in 1887 he published The Cyclist of Faure and then established a factory in Saint-Etienne, where the locals later built bicycle manufacturing into their own specialty industry. The people of Saint-Etienne gave Paul de Vivier the nickname Vélocio and gave this "ancestor of bicycle tourism" a brand. Saint-Etienne was the most industrialized city in France in the 19th century and the first to adopt the "elite mode of transport" – the bicycle. By bicycle, the Saint-Etienneon discovered Mount Pilla, their "nature", and every year more and more people come to the mountain for that "speeding man on a bicycle".