The dangers of travel – Banditry on the roads in the old days

Background: Both in the most distant history and nowadays, travel is accompanied by danger. Nowadays, insecurity is becoming a basic barrier to tourist travel to high-risk areas. The aim of the study was to make a comparative review related to the subject of travel danger in retrospective terms. Material and methods: In a scholarly review, the authors mainly used the historical method, the method of establishing historical facts, the comparative method. The method of analysis and criticism of literature was also used. Results: Travel safety is not a common topic of historical literature on tourism. Although we have many fragmentary accounts in the diary literature, in Polish historiography there are no scholarly monographic works and articles that put the subject of travel safety in a historical context. Conclusions: Travel has always been accompanied by danger. Nowadays, insecurity is becoming a basic barrier to tourist travel to high-risk areas. Threats on the road are of a difficult nature to predict, from the dangers caused by the forces of nature to the deadly threat resulting from human actions, most often with an intent to rob, but also against a political (terrorism), religious or national background. Despite the ongoing civilizational changes, including the extraordinary dynamics of cultural changes, the dangers of travel still show an analogy to the former days. The end of the nineteenth century was a borderline period, it marked the irretrievable end of primitive road banditry. The development of safe communication, the emergence of strong state bodies in Europe with a developed system of security apparatus effectively limited and then eliminated the epicentres of high-risk areas, which does not mean the complete elimination of road banditry. Also today, information about attacks on tourists is coming from some regions of Europe, the mechanisms and methods are confusingly similar to those known from history.