[6][11] Withdrawing from France due to the political events of December 1851, he spent the next six years (1852–1857) traveling and working in Great Britain, the United States, Central America, and Colombia.

He recounted his passage through the Mississippi River Delta and impressions of antebellum New Orleans and the state in Fragment d'un voyage à la Nouvelle-Orléans, published in 1855.

[12] On 11 March 1858, he was initiated in the regular Scottish Rite Masonic Lodge Les Émules d'Hiram, affiliated to the Grand Orient of France.

Among other works of this period was the short book Histoire d'un ruisseau, in which he traced the development of a great river from source to mouth.

[6] During the Siege of Paris (1870–1871), Reclus shared in the aerostatic operations conducted by Félix Nadar, and also served in the National Guard.

As a member of the Association Nationale des Travailleurs, he published a hostile manifesto against the government of Versailles in support of the Paris Commune of 1871 in the Cri du Peuple.

[6] According to Kirkpatrick Sale:[16] His geographical work, thoroughly researched and unflinchingly scientific, laid out a picture of human-nature interaction that we today would call bioregionalism.

It showed, with more detail than anyone but a dedicated geographer could possibly absorb, how the ecology of a place determined the kinds of lives and livelihoods its denizens would have and thus how people could properly live in self-regarding and self-determined bioregions without the interference of large and centralized governments that always try to homogenize diverse geographical areas.In 1882, Reclus initiated the Anti-Marriage Movement.

[18] The French government initiated prosecution from the High Court of Lyon, arrested him and Peter Kropotkin as the International Association's organizers, and sentenced the latter to five years' imprisonment.

[21] Reclus later assisted Galleani, and coordinated support for him, in fleeing Italy to Egypt when he faced persecution from the Italian state.

[19] Élisée Reclus continued to write, contributing several important articles and essays to French, German and English scientific journals.

[23] In 1905, shortly before his death, Reclus completed L'Homme et la terre, in which he rounded out his previous works by considering humanity's development relative to its geographical environment.

He argued that living naked was more hygienic than wearing clothes; he believed that it was healthier for skin to be fully exposed to light and air so that it could resume its "natural vitality and activity" and become more flexible and firm at the same time.

[31][32] Without first being engaged and against the advice of his parents, Reclus married Marguerite Claire, known as Clarisse Brian (1832-1869) in a ceremony at Sainte-Foy-La-Grande on December 13th, 1858.

[34] Reclus was admired by many 19th century thinkers, including Alfred Russel Wallace,[37] George Perkins Marsh, Patrick Geddes,[38] Henry Stephens Salt,[39] and Octave Mirbeau.

[40] James Joyce was influenced by Léon Metchnikoff's book La civilisation et les grands fleuves historiques, to which Reclus contributed a foreword.