Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Russian Empire
About Matas Šalčius
- Matas Šalcius (September 20, 1890 – May 26, 1940) was a Lithuanian traveler, journalist, writer, political figure. Šalcius was born in the Ciudiškiai village in the modern Prienai district, central Lithuania (at that time part of the Russian Empire).
- He attended Marijampole Gymnasium.
- While studying he began writing articles for newspapers, launching his career in journalism.
- Šalcius later worked as a teacher in Šilute district.
- He was a prominent critic of tsarist Russia so soon he had flee from political persecution.
- Then Šalcius began his first travels through China, Japan to the United States where he continued his work as a journalist. After Lithuania gained independence in 1918, Šalcius returned there and worked as a journalist (he was the director of the ELTA news agency).
- He helped to establish the Lithuanian Riflemen's Union.
- Šalcius traveled across Europe, and attempted to launch the tourism industry in Lithuania.
- In 1929, Šalcius, together with another famous Lithuanian traveler, Antanas Poška, began a great journey through the Balkans, Greece, Egypt, Near East to India.
- After this travel he published the six-volume series Sveciuose pas 40 tautu (At the company of 40 nations), which was awarded the National Press Prize.In 1936, Šalcius traveled to South America.
- At first he unsuccessfully attempted to unite Lithuanian diaspora communities in South America.
- Šalcius planned to journey through all the Americas to Alaska, but he became sick with malaria and encephalitis and died in the town of Guayaramerín, Bolivia.
- In 2005, an expedition organized by Lithuanian travelers and journalists reached Guayaramerín and marked the approximate location of Šalcius' burial with a bas-relief.
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