Lady Wen-Chi

I think its kind of bittersweet that the first of the women on this list was an involuntary captive. Not all discovery or exploration came out of a desire to find it, but for those who survived it and shared their journeys, much gratitude is owed.
Lady Wen-Chi was taken from her Chinese family at around the age of twelve by a band of Mongol warriors. She than traveled with them to Inner Mongolia and its steppes. She was wed to one of the senior commanders and thus had to adapt to the Mongolian nomadic lifestyle and customs. Life was lonely and hard. She did bore two children to the Mongolian chief, and although she was disgusted with being pregant with a “barbarian’s” child, she loved her children once they were born. Fifteen or so years after her capture she was given the heart-wrenching choice of returning to China or staying with her children. She choose China. (Which can only be insight into how truely hard life must have been.)
On her return to China she imortalized her journey in The Eighteen Songs of a Nomadic Flute. These works opened a window into a world previously little was known about.