What is the title of Mark Twain's book about his travels in Australia, New Zealand, and India?
Answer
Following the Equator
Answer
Following the Equator
Mark Twain's book about his travels in Australia, New Zealand, and India is Following the Equator.
Published in 1897, Following the Equator is a travelogue and social commentary based on Twain's 1895 journey through parts of the British Empire. His route included Australia, New Zealand, India, Ceylon—now Sri Lanka—and other locations around the Indian Ocean. The book combines observations about landscapes, customs, politics, religion, and colonial society with Twain's characteristic satire.
The trip also had a practical purpose. Twain was struggling with debts, including losses connected to the failed Paige typesetting machine. At age 60, he undertook a lecture tour because English-speaking audiences along the route offered opportunities to earn money. The resulting book helped turn that journey into one of his major late travel works.
Readers sometimes confuse Following the Equator with A Tramp Abroad, which describes Twain's travels in Europe, or The Innocents Abroad, which focuses on an earlier excursion to Europe and the Holy Land. Following the Equator was also published in England under the alternate title More Tramps Abroad.
Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Aug. 2026