Since taking office, U.S. President Barack Obama has already visited 15 countries on seven foreign trips, spending a total of 30 days abroad. This doesn't include the foreign trips he took before even before taking office. Here are some highlights from Obama's travels.
Obama was an international president before he was even elected, taking the unusual step of traveling to the Middle East and Europe for a week while his campaign was in full swing. Here, candidate Obama lays a wreath at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem on July 23, 2008.
The high point of then-Senator Obama's trip was a speech before a crowd of 200,000 in Berlin on July 24, 2008. Describing himself as a "proud citizen of the United States and a fellow citizen of the world," Obama promised that as president, he would work to restore U.S. relations with its allies.
Obama's first major international trip was a visit to London for a G-20 summit on mitigating the damage of the global financial crisis. Here, the Obamas pose with Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his wife, Sarah, in front the prime minister's residence. Obama's less-than-chummy relationship with Brown has been the subject of much speculation in the British press.
First Dudes: Obama poses for a family portrait with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev at the G-20 summit.
Following the G-20 summit, Obama visited the Czech Republic, where he gave a major speech in Prague's Hradcany Square on April 5, setting out his goal of a nuclear-free world.
Keeping the faith: On the same trip, Obama made his fist visit as president to a Muslim country with a stop in Turkey. Here, he tours Istanbul's famous Blue Mosque with Prime Minsiter Recep Tayyip Erdogan on April 7.
Obama finished his tour with a visit to Iraq, where he held talks with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and met with U.S. troops like those above at Camp Victory outside Baghdad.
Southern hospitality: In April, Obama turned his attention to Latin America, meeting with Mexican President Felipe Calderón to discuss trade, immigration, and the war on drugs. Here, he shares a toast with Calderón and his wife Margarita Zavala in Mexico City on April 16.
On April 18, Obama had his first face-to-face encounter with controversial Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez at the Summit of the Americas meeting in Trinidad and Tobago. Chàvez took the opportunity to present Obama with a copy of the book The Open Veins of Latin America by Uruguayan leftist writer Eduardo Galeano. Domestic opponents criticized Obama's friendly interaction with the anti-American Chàvez.
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia presents Obama with the King Abdul Aziz Order of Merit -- the kingdom's highest honor -- during bilateral talks at his ranch near Riyadh on June 3. George W. Bush was awarded the same medal last year.
On June 4, Obama gave one of the most highly anticipated speeches of his presidency when he addressed the Muslim world from Cairo University. Obama evoked his own family's Muslim heritage, which he had downplayed previously, and called for a new era of understanding between Islam and the West. He promised to wind down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and work for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
In his Cairo speech, Obama decried the denial of the Holocaust by Israel's Middle Eastern enemies. To underscore his point, he spent the next day visiting the Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany with Chancellor Angela Merkel and concentration camp survivor Elie Wiesel.
Obama traveled to Moscow in July for talks with President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Obama has made improving relations with Russia a major focus of his foreign policy, hoping to gain cooperation on issues such as nuclear nonproliferation and Iran.
Holy handshake: After Russia, Obama visited Italy for a meeting of the G-8 in L'Aquila. While there, he paid a visit to Pope Benedict in Vatican City on July 10.
Obama made his presidential visit to sub-Saharan Africa on July 11 with a brief stop in Ghana. The first African-American U.S. president was mobbed by well-wishers. In a speech before Ghana's parliament, Obama said "Africa's future is up to Africans" and urged the continent's leaders to strive for good governance. It was widely noted that Obama chose Ghana for his first African presidential visit, rather than his father's homeland Kenya, where the political situation is more chaotic. Above, Obama walks with his daughter Malia at the former slave trade center at Cape Coast.
On Oct. 2, Obama flew to Copenhagen to lobby the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to award the 2016 Olympics to his hometown, Chicago. Despite the last-minute campaigning, the IOC instead chose Rio de Janeiro.
Obama's extensive travels so far have illustrated both the power (Cairo) and the pitfalls (Copenhagen) of personal presidential diplomacy. The president shows no sign of slowing down. This month, he leaves on a tour of East Asia, including stops in Japan, Singapore, China, and South Korea.
