In the course of the 18th c., various additions were made to our store of information on A. In the year 1788, the African society was founded in London, and, under its direction, Ledyard and Lucas were sent to explore the Niger, and were followed by major I foughtOn. The English colony of Sierra Leone was founded in 1790. The French expe dition to Egypt, towards the close of this c., gave a new impulse to researches in A.
In the 19th c., the most various motives have co-operated in favor of an extended knowledge of this vast continent. The captains of English cruisers, employed to sup press the slave-trade, have supplied some valuable information; the governors of the colo nies and private merchants have contributed their share; and enterprising travelers from all sides of the coast have endeavored to strike out paths to the interior. The works published on A. since the year 1800 are consequently very numerous. A few of the more important may be mentioned. In 1802 to 1803, Lichtenstein traveled in the district n. of the cape of Good Hope, and first furnished information regarding the Bechuana tribe. The travels of Mungo Park from Timbuctoo to Bussa are familiar to every one. In 1809, Burckhardt was sent out by the African society, and his explorations. rich in manifold results, occupied the years 1812-1816. To the French we are indebted for much valua ble information concerning Morocco, Algeria, and the neighboring parts of Sahara. The labors of Oudney, Clapperton, Denham and Lander in the Sahara and Sudan are memo rable by the discovery of lake Tchad and the course of the Niger. Since about 1840, our knowledge of South A. has received many important additions from the missionaries stationed there, especially Moffat; while David Livingstone, who, from 1843 to 1873. was engaged in trying to open the countries n. of the cape of Good Hope, penetrated in 1849 as far as lake N'gami, in 20' s. lat. ; and in 1833, ascending the Leeambye (Zambesi) northward for several hundred miles, succeeded in crossing the continent to Loando on the w. coast. Having retraced his steps to the point of the Zambesi from which he had started, the adventurous traveler next followed that stream till he reached the e. coast, at Quilimane, in 1856. From 1859 to 1863 was spent in various explorations of lake Nyassa and the neighboring regions. Again setting out in 1866, he found, in the region s. of lake Tanganyika, the river Chambezi. This river, which is specially known by ibis name ere it falls into lake Bemba or Bangweolo, is known between that lake and lake Moero as the Luapula, and further on in its course as the Lualaba; and was by Livingstone traced through these lakes and as far as 4° s. lat. Livingstone's belief was that this basin, now known to be the upper Congo, contained the heal-waters of the Nile. In 1871, along with Stanley, he found the river Rusizi flowing into the n. of lake Taneanyika. Ilk last enterprise consisted in further exploration of these regions, and new efforts to find the Nile sources. He died at Ilala, beyond lake Bemba, in May, 1873. Burton and Speke,
crossing the Border mountains from Zanzibar, in 1857, discovered lake Tanganyika; and the former, then journeying to the n.e., discovered the southern part of the great Victoria Nyanza, which he supposed to be the head reservoir of the Nile. A second expe dition, undertaken by Speke and Grant in the end of 1860, penetrated as far n. as Gem dokoro on the White Nile, and added vastly to our knowledge of the eastern equatorial regions of Africa. At Gondokoro, Speke and Grant were met by Mr. (now Sir Samuel) Baker. Baker, accompanied by his heroic wife, pushed on to the s., and discovered in 1861, w. of the Victoria, another great lake, which he called the Albert Nyanza. lie returned in Sept., 1873, from a second expedition—of a Military character—under taken in 1869, at the expense of the pasha of Egypt, to suppress slavery in the upper regions of the Nile. Thegeography, language and manners of the inhabitants of Abys sinia, Sennaar and Kordofan have also during late years been greatly illustrated by the efforts of various European travelers. The researches of Dr. Barth and his companions (1850-1855)—investigating the same central division of the continent as Clapperton and Denham—and Dr. Schweinfurth's travels (1868-1871) in unexplored regions, have enriched our store of knowledge regarding this hind of mystery. In 1874-5, lieut. Cameron surveyed tire lower half of lake Tanganyika, and walked across tropical Africa from e. to w., all but determining the source of the (Amp. Finally, Mr. Stanley, who had started from Zanzibar in 1874, explored the Victoria Nyanza and its affluent the Shim iyu in 1875-6. Then striking the Lualaba at Nyangwe in the end of 1876, he forced his way down the entire course of the stream; and arriving at the mouth of the Congo in autumn 1877, demonstrated that the Lualaba and the Congo are identical. (See NILE, NvaNzx, NYASSA, TANGANYIKA, ZAMBESI; and ALBERT NYANZA and SPEim) A. is situated in the eastern hemisphere, to the s. of Europe, and the s.w. of Asia, and lies between lat. 37° 20' n. and 34' 50' s., and long. 17° 30' w. and 51° 30' e. It is of an irregular triangular form, with the vortex towards the s., having the Mediterranean on the n., the isthmus of Suez, Red sea, and Indian ocean on the e., and the Atlantic on the w. The formation of the Suez canal has nominally converted A. into an island. The coast-line is marked by few indentations or projections; the most important gulf being that of Guinea, on the w.; and capes Bon, Verd, Good Hope and Guardafui the extreme points respectively on the n., w., s. and e. The greatest length of the continent, taken from n. to s., is about 4085 m.; its greatest breadth, from e. to w., 4615; and its area, including the adjacent islands, not less than 11,854,000 sq.m.