Africa - Modern Exploration

AFRICA - MODERN EXPLORATION During the 18th century there is little to record in the history of Africa. The nations of Europe, engaged in the later half of the century in almost constant warfare and struggling for su premacy in America and the East, to a large extent lost their in terest in the continent. Only on the west coast was there keen rivalry, and here the motive was the securance of trade rather than territorial acquisitions. In this century the slave trade reached its highest development, the trade in gold, ivory, gum, and spices being small in comparison. In the interior of the continent—Portugal's energy being expended—no interest was shown, the nations with establishments on the coast "taking no further notice of the inhabitants or their land than to obtain at the easiest rate what they procure with as little trouble ass pos sible, or to carry them off for slaves to their plantations in America" (Encyclopedia Britannica, 3rd. ed. 1797). Even the scanty knowledge acquired by the ancients and the Arabs was in the main forgotten or disbelieved. It was the period when— Geographers, in Afric maps, With savage pictures filled their gaps, And o'er unhabitable downs Placed elephants for want of towns.

(Poetry, a Rhapsody. By Jonathan Swift.) The prevailing ignorance may be gauged by the statement in the third edition of the Encyclopedia Britannicci that "the Gambia and Senegal rivers are only branches of the Niger." But the closing years of the i8th century, which witnessed the partial awakening of the public conscience of Europe to the iniquities of the slave trade, were also notable for the revival of interest in inner Africa. A society, the African Association,' was formed in London in 1788 for the exploration of the interior of the con tinent. The era of great discoveries had begun a little earlier in the famous journey (177o-72) of James Bruce through Abys sinia and Sennar, during which he determined the course of the Blue Nile. But it was through the agents of the African Associa tion that knowledge was gained of the Niger regions. The Niger was reached by Mungo Park, who travelled by way of the Gambia, in 1795. Park, on a second journey in 1805, passed Timbuktu and descended the Niger to Bussa, where he lost his life, having just failed to solve the question as to where the river reached the ocean. (This problem was ultimately solved by Richard Lander and his brother in 183o.) The first scientific explorer of South-East Africa, Dr. Francisco de Lacerda, a Portu 'France acquired, as stations for her ships on the voyage to and from India, settlements in Madagascar and the neighbouring islands. The first settlement was made in 1642.

Association, in 1831, was merged in the Royal Geographical Society.

guese, also lost his life in that country. Lacerda travelled up the Zambezi to Tete, going thence towards Lake Mweru, near which he died in 1798. The first recorded crossing of Africa was ac complished between the years 1802 and 1811 by two half-caste Portuguese traders, Pedro Baptista and A. Jose, who passed from Angola eastward to the Zambezi.

Although the Napoleonic wars distracted the attention of Europe from exploratory work in Africa, those wars nevertheless exercised great influence on the future of the continent, in both Egypt and South Africa. The occupation of Egypt (1798-1803) first by France and then by Great Britain, resulted in an effort by Turkey to regain direct control over that country,' followed in 181i by the establishment, under Mohammed Ali, of an almost independent state, and the extension of Egyptian rule over the eastern Sudan (from 1820 onward). In South Africa the struggle with Napoleon caused Great Britain to take possession of the Dutch settlements at the Cape, and in 1814 Cape Colony, which had been continuously occupied by British troops since 1806, was formally ceded to the British crown.

The close of the European conflicts with the battle of Waterloo was followed by vigorous efforts on the part of the British Gov ernment to become better acquainted with Africa, and to sub stitute colonization and legitimate trade for the slave traffic, declared illegal for British subjects in 1807 and abolished by all other European Powers by 1836. To West Africa Britain devoted much attention. The slave trade abolitionists had already, in 1788, formed a settlement at Sierra Leone, on the Guinea coast, for freed slaves, and from this establishment grew the colony of Sierra Leone,' long notorious, by reason of its deadly climate, as "The White Man's Grave." Farther east the establishments on the Gold Coast began to take a part in the politics of the interior, and the first British mission to Kumasi, despatched in 1817, led to the assumption of a protectorate over the maritime tribes heretofore governed by the Ashanti.

An expedition sent in 1816 to explore the Congo from its mouth did not succeed in getting beyond the rapids which bar the way to the interior, but in the central Sudan much better results were obtained. In 1823 three English travellers, Walter Oudney, Dixon Denham, and Hugh Clapperton, reached Lake Chad from Tripoli—the first white men to reach that lake. The partial exploration of Bornu and the Hausa states by Clapperton, which followed, revealed the existence of large and flourishing cities and a semi-civilized people in a region hitherto unknown. The discovery in 1830 of the mouth of the Niger by Clapperton's servant, Lander, already mentioned, had been preceded by the journeys of Maj. A. G. Laing (1826) and Rene Caillie (1827) to Timbuktu, and was followed (1832-33) by the partial ascent of the Benue affluent of the Niger by MacGregor Laird. In 1841 a disastrous attempt was made to plant a white colony on the lower Niger, an expedition (largely philanthropic and anti-slavery in its inception) which ended in utter failure. Nevertheless, from that time British traders remained on the lower Niger, their con tinued presence leading ultimately to the acquisition of political rights over the delta and the Hausa states by Great Britain.' Aqother endeavour by the British Government to open up com mercial relations with the Niger countries resulted in the ad dition of a vast amount of information concerning the countries between Timbuktu and Lake Chad, owing to the labours of Heinrich Barth (1850-55), originally a subordinate, but the only surviving member of the expedition sent out.

Meantime considerable changes had been made in other parts of the continent, the most notable being the occupation of Algiers by France in 1830, an end being thereby put to the pirati cal proceedings of the Barbary States; the continued expansion southward of Egyptian authority, with the consequent additions to the knowledge of the Nile ; and the establishment of independ ent states (Orange Free State and the Transvaal) by Dutch 'The Mamelukes, whom the Turks had overthrown in the i6th century, had regained practically independent power.

imitation of the British example, an American society founded in 1822 the negro colony (now republic) of Liberia.

'The first territorial acquisition made by Great Britain in this region was in 185i, when Lagos Island was annexed.

farmers (Boers) dissatisfied with British rule in Cape Colony. Natal, so named by Vasco da Gama, had been made a British colony (1843), the attempt of the Boers to acquire it being frustrated. The city of Zanzibar, on the island of that name, founded in 1832 by Seyyid Said of Muscat, rapidly attained im portance, and Arabs began to penetrate to the great lakes of East Africa,' concerning which little more was known (and less believed) than in the time of Ptolemy. Accounts of a vast in land sea, and the discovery in 1848-49, by the missionaries Lud wig Krapf and J. Rebmann, of the snow-clad mountains of Kili manjaro and Kenya, stimulated in Europe the desire for further knowledge.

Livingstone and Stanley.

Atthis period, the middle of the i9th century, Protestant missions were carrying on active propa ganda on the Guinea coast, in South Africa, and in the Zanzibar dominions. Their work, largely beneficent, was being conducted in regions and among peoples little known, and in many instances missionaries turned explorers and became pioneers of trade and empire. One of the first to attempt to fill up the remaining blank spaces in the map was David Livingstone, who had been engaged since 1840 in missionary work north of the Orange. In Livingstone crossed the Kalahari desert from south to north and reached Lake Ngami, and between 1851 and 1856 he traversed the continent from west to east, making known the great water ways of the upper Zambezi. During these journeyings Living stone discovered, Nov. 1855, the famous Victoria Falls, so named after the queen of Great Britain. In 1858-64 the lower Zambezi, Shire, and Lake Nyasa were explored by Livingstone, Nyasa having been first reached by the confidential slave of Antonio da Silva Porto, a Portuguese trader established at Bihe in Angola, who crossed Africa during 1853-56 from Benguella to the mouth of the Rovuma. While Livingstone circumnavigated Nyasa, the more northerly lake, Tanganyika, had been visited (1858) by Richard Burton and J. H. Speke, and the last named had sighted Victoria Nyanza. Returning to East Africa with J. A. Grant, Speke reached, in 1862, the river which flowed from Victoria Nyanza and, following it (in the main) down to Egypt, had the distinction of being the first man to read the riddle of the Nile. In 1864 another Nile explorer, Samuel Baker, discovered the Albert Nyanza, the chief western reservoir of the river. In 1866 Livingstone began his last great journey, in which he made known Lakes Mweru and Bangweulu and discovered the Lualaba (the upper part of the Congo), but died (1873) before he had been able to demonstrate its ultimate course, believing indeed that the Lualaba belonged to the Nile system. Livingstone's lonely death in the heart of Africa evoked a keener desire than ever to com plete the work he left undone. H. M. Stanley, who had in 1871 'As early as 1848 an Arab from Zanzibar journeying across the continent had arrived at Benguella.

succeeded in finding and succouring Livingstone, started again for Zanzibar in 1874, and in the most memorable of all exploring expeditions in Africa circumnavigated Victoria Nyanza and Tan ganyika, and, striking farther inland to the Lualaba, followed that river down to the Atlantic ocean—reached in Aug. 1877—and proved it to be the Congo. In South Africa, Karl Mauch in 1871 discovered the ruins of the great Zimbabwe in Mashonaland; and in the following year F. C. Selous began his journeys over South Central Africa.

Explorers were active also in other parts of the continent. Southern Morocco, the Sahara, and the Sudan were traversed in many directions between 186o and 1875 by Gerhard Rohlfs, Georg Schweinfurth and Gustav Nachtigal. These travellers not only added considerably to geographical knowledge, but ob tained invaluable information concerning the people, languages, and natural history of the countries in which they sojourned.' Among the discoveries of Schweinfurth was one that confirmed the Greek legends of the existence beyond Egypt of a pygmy race. But the first discoverer of the dwarf races of Central Africa was Paul du Chaillu, who found them in the Ogowe district of the west coast in 1865, five years before Schweinfurth's first meeting with the pygmies ; du Chaillu having previously, as the result of journeys in the Gabun country between 1855 and 1859, made popular in Europe the knowledge of the existence of the gorilla, perhaps the gigantic ape seen by Hanno the Carthaginian, and whose existence, up to the middle of the 19th century, was thought to be as legendary as that of the pygmies of Aristotle.

Stanley's great journey down the Congo in 1875-76 initiated a new era in African exploration, and since 1875 the map has been filled with authentic topographical details. Within their respective spheres of influence each Power undertook detailed surveys, and the most solid of the latest accessions to knowledge have resulted from the labours of hard-working colonial officials toiling individually in obscurity.

In 1877 an important expedition was sent out by the Portu guese Government under Serpa Pinto, Brito Capello, and Roberto Ivens for the exploration of the interior of Angola. The first named made his way by the head-streams of the Kubango to the upper Zambezi, which he descended to the Victoria Falls, pro ceeding thence to Pretoria and Durban. Capello and Ivens con fined their attention to the south-west Congo basin, where they disproved the existence of Lake Aquilunda, which had figured on the maps of that region since the 16th century. In a later jour ney (1.884-85) Capello and Ivens crossed the continent from Mossamedes to the mouth of the Zambezi, adding considerably to the knowledge of the borderlands between the upper Congo and the upper Zambezi. More important results were obtained by the German travellers, Paul Pogge and Hermann von Wissmann, who (188o-82) passed through previously unknown regions be yond Muata Yanvo's kingdom, and reached the upper Congo at Nyangwe, whence Wissmann made his way to the east coast. In 1884-85 a German expedition under Wissmann solved the most important geographical problem relating to the southern Congo basin by descending the Kasai, the largest southern tributary, which contrary to expectation, proved to unite with the Kwango and other streams before joining the main river. Further ad ditions to the knowledge of the Congo tributaries were made at the same time by the Rev. George Grenfell, a Baptist missionary, who (accompanied in 1885 by K. von Francois) made several voyages in the steamer "Peace," especially up the great Ubangi, ultimately proved to be the lower course of the Welle, discovered in 187o by Schweinfurth.

East Africa.

Thefirst new journey of importance in East Africa was made (1878-8o) on behalf of the British African Exploration committee by Joseph Thomson, who after the death of his leader, Keith Johnston, made his way from the coast to the north end of Nyasa, thence to Tanganyika, on both sides of which he broke new ground, sighting the north end of Lake Rukwa on the east. In 1882-84 the French naval lieutenant, Victor Giraud, proceeded by the north of Nyasa to Lake Bang 'Another great traveller of this stamp was Wilhelm Junker, who spent the greater part of the period 1875-86 in the east central Sudan.

weulu, of which he made the first fairly correct map. North of the Zanzibar-Tanganyika route a large area of new ground was opened in 1883-84 by Thomson, who traversed the whole length of the Masai country to Lake Baringo and Victoria Nyanza, shedding the first clear light on the great East African rift-valley and neighbouring highlands, including Mts. Kenya and Elgon. A. great advance in the region between Victoria Nyanza and Abys sinia was made in 1887-89 by the Austrians, Count Samuel Teleki and Lieut. Ludwig von Hohnel, who discovered the large Basso Norok, now known as Lake Rudolf, till then only vaguely indicated on the map as Samburu. At this time Somaliland was being opened up by English and Italian travellers. In 1883 the brothers F. L. and W. D. James penetrated from Berbera to the Webi Shebeli; in 1892 Vittorio Bottego (afterwards murdered in the Abyssinian highlands) started from Berbera and reached the upper Juba, which he explored to its source. The first person to cross from the Gulf of Aden to the Indian Ocean was an Ameri can, A. Donaldson Smith, who in 1894-95 explored the head streams of the Webi Shebeli and also explored the Omo, the feeder of Lake Rudolf.

In the region north-west of Victoria Nyanza the greatest ad ditions to geographical knowledge were made by H. M. Stanley in his last expedition, undertaken for the relief of Emin Pasha. The expedition set out in 1887 by way of the Congo and made its way, encountering immense difficulties, through the great equa torial forest, the character and extent of which were thus for the first time brought to light. The return was made to the east coast and resulted in the discovery of the great snowy range of Ruwenzori or Runsoro, and the confirmation of the existence of a third Nile lake discharging its waters into the Albert Nyanza by the Semliki river.

North and West

Africa.—Greatactivity was also displayed in completing the work of earlier explorers in North and West Africa. Morocco was in 1883-84 the scene of important explora tions by de Foucauld, a Frenchman who, disguised as a Jew, crossed and re-crossed the Atlas and supplied the first trust worthy information as to the orography of many parts of the chain. In 1887-89 Louis Gustave Binger, a French officer, made a great journey through the countries enclosed in the Niger bend, and in 189o-92 Col. P. F. Monteil went from St. Louis to Say, on the Niger, thence through Sokoto to Bornu and Lake Chad, whence he crossed the Sahara to Tripoli. Meantime explorers had been busy in the region between Lake Chad, the Gulf of Guinea, and the Congo. The Sanga, one of the principal northern tribu taries of the Congo, was reached from the north by Lieut. Louis Mizon, a French naval officer, who drew the first line of com munication between the Benue and the Congo (189o-92). In 1890 Paul Crampel, who in the previous year had explored north of the Ogowe, undertook a great expedition from the Ubangi to the Shari, but was attacked and killed, with several 'of his com panions, on the borders of the Bagirmi. Several other expeditions followed, and in 1896 Emile Gentil reached the Shari, launched a steamer on its waters and pushed on to Lake Chad. Early in 1900 Lake Chad was also reached by F. Foureau, a French traveller, who had already devoted 12 years to the exploration of the Sahara, and who on this occasion had crossed the desert from Algeria and had reached the lake via Air and Zinder. Equatorial Africa.—Thelast ten years of the 19th century also witnessed many interesting expeditions in east Central Africa. In 1891 Emin Pasha, accompanied by Dr. F. Stuhlmann, made his way south of Victoria Nyanza to the western Nile lakes, visiting for the first time the southern and western shores of Albert Edward. Stuhlmann also ascended the Ruwenzori range to a height of over 13,00o feet. In the same year Dr. 0. Bau mann, who had already done good work in Usambara, near the coast, started on a more extended journey through the region of steppes between Kilimanjaro and Victoria Nyanza, afterwards exploring the head-streams of the Kagera, the ultimate sources of the Nile. In the steppe region referred to he discovered two new lakes, Manyara and Eiassi, occupying parts of the East Afri can valley system. This region was again traversed in 1893-94 by Count von Gotzen, who continued his route westwards to Lake Kivu, north of Tanganyika, which, though heard of by Speke over 3o years before, had never yet been visited. He also reached for the first time the line of volcanic peaks north of Kivu, one of which he ascended, afterwards crossing the great equatorial for est by a new route to the Congo and the west coast. Valuable scientific work was done in 1893 by Dr. J. W. Gregory, who as cended Mt. Kenya to a height of 16,000 feet. In 1893-94 Scott Elliot reached Ruwenzori by way of Uganda, returning by Tan ganyika and Nyasa, and in 1896 C. W. Hobley made the circuit of the great mountain Elgon, north-east of Victoria Nyanza. In 1890 Mt. Kenya was ascended to its summit by a party under H. J. Mackinder. The exploration of Mt. Kilimanjaro has been the special work of Dr. Hans Meyer, who first directed his at tention to it in 1887. The region south of Abyssinia proper and north of Lake Rudolf, being largely the basin of the Sobat tribu tary of the Nile, was traversed by several explorers, among whom may be mentioned Capt. M. S. Wellby, who in 1898-99 explored the chain of small lakes in south-east Abyssinia, pushed on to Lake Rudolf, and thence traversed hitherto unknown country to the lower Sobat. Other valuable expeditions of exploration and surveying were conducted by Donaldson Smith (1899-190o), Maj. H. H. Austin (1899-1901), Maj. A. St. H. Gibbons 96, 1898-190o), Commander B. Whitehouse (1904-06), Lieut. Boyd Alexander, Sir H. H. Johnston, Maj. Powell-Cotton, and the duke of Abruzzi.

The first journey through the whole length of the continent was accomplished in the last two years of the century when a young Englishman, E. S. Grogan, starting from Cape Town, reached the Mediterranean by way of the Zambezi, the central line of lakes and the Nile. Other travellers followed in Grogan's foot steps, among the first Maj. Gibbons.

Additions to topographical knowledge were made from about 1890 onwards by the international commissions which traced the frontiers of the protectorates of the European powers. The Anglo-French commission in 1903 traced the Nigerian frontier from the Niger to Lake Chad, and in 1903-04 the Anglo-German commission fixed the Cameroon boundary between Yola, on the Benue, and Lake Chad. In 1901-02 a German Congolese com mission surveyed Lake Kivu and the volcanic region north of the lake, while the Anglo-German boundary commission of 1902-04 surveyed the valley of the lower Kagera and fixed the exact posi tion of Albert Edward Nyanza.

At the same time administrative needs forced the governments concerned to take in hand the survey of the countries under their protection. Before the close of the first decade of the 20th century tolerably accurate maps had been made of the German colonies, of a considerable part of West Africa, the Algerian Sahara, and the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, mainly by military officers.