The South American Handbook - a step through travel history

The South American Handbook, Footprint's flagship title, has been published annually for 82 years, making it the longest running travel guide in the English language.

"I carried the South American Handbook from Cape Horn to Cartagena and consulted it every night for two and a half months. I wouldn't do that for anything else except my hip flask." Michael Palin, BBC Full Circle

It was 1921
Ireland had just been partitioned, the British miners were striking for more pay and the federation of British industry had an idea. Exports were booming in South America - how about a Handbook for businessmen trading in that far away continent? The Anglo-South American Handbook was born that year, written by W Koebel, the most prolific writer on Latin America of his day.

Two editions later the book was 'privatized' and in 1924, in the hands of Royal Mail, the steamship company for South America, became the South American Handbook, subtitled 'South America in a nutshell'. This annual publication became the 'bible' for generations of travellers to South America and remains so to this day. In the early days travel was by sea and the Handbook gave all the details needed for the long voyage from Europe. What to wear for dinner; how to arrange a cricket match with the Cable & Wireless staff on the Cape Verde Islands and a full account of the journey from Liverpool up the Amazon to Manaus: 5898 miles without changing cabin!

1939
As the continent opened up, the South American Handbook reported the new Pan Am flying boat services, and the fortnightly airship service from Rio to Europe on the Graf Zeppelin. For reasons still unclear but with extraordinary determination, the annual editions continued through the Second World War.

1970s
From the 1970s, jet aircraft transformed travel. Many more people discovered South America and the backpacking trail started to develop. All the while the Handbook was gathering fans, including literary vagabonds such as Paul Theroux and Graham Greene (who once sent some updates addressed to "The publishers of the best travel guide in the world, Bath, England".)

1990s
During the 1990s Patrick and James Dawson, the publishers of the South American Handbook set about developing a new travel guide series using this legendary title as the flagship. By 1997, when the Footprint imprint was launched, there were over a dozen guides in the series, spreading far beyond the confines of Latin America to countries in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe and the Middle East.
 

In January 2004, the South American Handbook reached another milestone: 80 annual editions. A memorable birthday party was held at Stanfords in London to celebrate.

Follow the guides not the crowd
Footprint travel guides now cover six continents and an alphabet of destinations from Argentina to Vietnam. They are written by people who are passionate about a particular place; who know it intimately and understand it fundamentally. Footprint authors get to the very essence of a country and feel its pulse. They describe it with authority, honesty, warmth, affection and humour. Footprint travel guides are renowned for their reliability, depth of knowledge and for inspiring readers to get off the beaten track.

The world in your pocket
In 2003, Footprint launched a new series of pocket guides designed for the short break travel market and focusing on international cities from Berlin to New York and Dubai to Cape Town. The series grew quickly to encompass guides on the Caribbean islands and on European regions, so that by the end of 2004 there were over 30 pocket titles covering destinations all around the world.

Live, surf, travel [Surfing Europe 1e - 300dpi RGB.jpg]
An activity series was launched in 2004, with the publication of Surfing Europe. This guide covers 600 surf breaks in Europe and Morocco, plus hundreds of places to sleep, eat and drink, and is illustrated with 500 full-colour photographs and 70 maps and charts. Its unique fusion of essential surf and travel information has proved hugely popular with the surfing fraternity and has provided a successful blueprint for the series. It was followed at the beginning of 2005 by Surfing Britain.

"The ultimate travel companion exploring not only the waves of Europe but also its diverse culture, because surf and travel are inextricably linked." Sam Lamiroy, top European pro surfer.

Backpacking - the next generation [BGSM 1e - 300dpi RGB.jpg]
Early 2005 saw the launch of the Backpacker series, designed for travellers who are short on time but don't want to miss out on big adventures. Until recently, backpacking was the preserve of the impecunious student, stretching their pesos/baht/rupees as far as possible, sleeping in cockroach-infested, cell-like rooms and risking food poisoning by eating at the cheapest market stalls they could find. Today's backpackers are different. They still have the same adventurous spirit but they probably don't have endless months to swan around the globe; they're interested in the people, culture, wildlife and history of a region and they're willing to splash out occasionally to ensure that their trip is truly memorable.
 

Footprint's Backpacker guides are designed precisely for this new breed of traveller. A selection of the best sights, sleeping options, restaurants and adventure activities is combined with plenty of photos, maps and special features to create guides that are easy to use and enjoyable to read, without compromising any of Footprint's trademark insider knowledge and integrity.
 

The future
There are many more guides in the pipeline, including Surfing Central America and Backpacker guides to Vietnam, Cambodia & Laos, East Coast Australia and Thailand's Islands & Beaches. Footprint continues to stay one step ahead of current travel trends by responding quickly to the changing demands of readers and travellers. To keep up-to-date with new releases check out the Footprint website, www.footprintbooks.com

Responsible tourism - How big is your footprint? [Footprint Logo - 300dpi RGB.jpg]
Travel to the furthest corners of the globe is now commonplace and the mass movement of people for leisure and business is a major source of foreign exchange and economic development in many parts of the world. The benefits of international travel are self-evident for both hosts and travellers: employment, increased understanding of different cultures, business and leisure opportunities. At the same time, there is clearly a downside to the industry.
 

Where visitor pressure is high and/or poorly regulated, adverse impacts to society and the natural environment may be apparent. This is just as true in undeveloped and pristine areas (where culture and the natural environment are less 'prepared' for even small numbers of visitors) as in major resort destinations.