In May 1846, the then 49-year-old Viennese woman Ida Pfeiffer set off on her first world trip. She traveled from Hamburg to Rio de Janeiro. In Brazil, she narrowly escaped an assassination attempt. In February 1847, she made the treacherous sea passage through the stormy waters around Cape Horn to Valparaíso in Chile. From there, she continued to Tahiti, where she was received by the queen, and then reached Macau, followed by Hong Kong and Canton. Her journey then took her to Singapore and on to Ceylon, and after longer excursions, she arrived in South India at the end of October 1847. The main stops on her journey through the Indian subcontinent included Calcutta, Benares, and Bombay. She was welcomed into the homes of wealthy and noble Indians, participated in a tiger hunt, but also traveled long distances in ox carts. In April 1848, she continued her travels to Mesopotamia and Persia, visiting Baghdad and accompanying caravans.