AFRICA. The Mediterranean coast of Africa has been known from very early time —more remote, indeed, than that of Europe hut down to so lato a date as the beginning o tho 15th century, the only portion of the wesi coast of Africa with which European naviga tors were acquainted was that between the Straits of Gibraltar and Cape Nun, or Nam or Non, in 40' N. lat., an extent of no nuch more than six hundred miles. From his latter point commenced that career of liscovety, by the Portuguese, by which the :mire coast of Africa has been made known ;o the modern world. Between the time of Prince Henry of Portugal (1415) and Vasco le Gama (1197), the Portuguese tracked the Aihole western coast of Africa from the Straits )1 Gibraltar to the Cape of Good Hope, and le whole east coast to within 1,000 miles of ;he mouth of the Red Sea, a distance, in all, )f more than 10,000 miles.
The 10th and 17th centuries were marked by discoveries and settlements on the rivers Senegal, Gambia, and Zaire, on the west coast.
The Dutch, the Danes, the French, and the English, all made attempts to imitate the Portuguese in their African researches ; but little was effected until about sixty years ago. It is since the formation of the African Asso ciation, in 1788, that the chief efforts have been made in the prosecution of discovery in the interior ; and it is important for us to notice such enterprises here, for they were induced almost wh9lly by commercial and manufac turing coniederations—the principle of inter change of commodities. The expeditions sent out by the Association and by government, and those filtdertaken by individual adven turers, have sought Timbuctoo and the Niger from various points. But no considerable progress was made till the first journey in 1795 and 1796 of Park, who, on that occasion, proceeding from the west coast in the direc tion of the Gambia, discovered much new country in the neighbourhood of Timbuctoo, and found reason to think that the Niger or Joliba (hitherto confounded with the Senegal by the Portuguese) was a wholly distinct river. On his second expedition, which was undertaken at the public expense, in 1805, this adventrirous traveller succeeded in sailing a considerable way down the Niger, passing Timbuctoo and many other cities, near one of which lie was murdered.
After a few partial discoveries, by Horne mann and Riley, an expedition was sent out by the government in 1810, under the com mand of Captain Tuckey, to the Congo, with the idea that it would be found to be the same with the Joliba or Niger ; he ascended that river for about 280 miles, and also examined part of the adjacent country. At the same time Major Peddie, and after his death Cap tain Campbell, conducted another party from the mouth of the Senegal, through the Foulah territory, as far as Xakundy. In 1817 Mr.
Bowdich explored a part of the extensive ter ritories of the Ashantees ; and soon after wards very considerable additions were made to the knowledge formerly possessed both of the geography and the people of interior Africa, by the publication of Mr. Jackson's account of the territories of Timbuctoo and Houssa, from the communications of El Hage AM Salem Shabeeny, a Mussulman mer chant, who had visited these states.
Various discoveries were made by Mollien, Ritchie, Lyon, and Laing, who respectively started for the interior from Senegal, Tripoli, and Sierra Leone. But a more important and successful attempt than any which had been hitherto made to explore the interior of Africa was that of Major Denham and Lieu tenant Clapperton, in 1822. These travellers, setting out from Tripoli, along with a caravan' of Arab merchants, crossed the desert, and reached the great inland sea or lake called the Tehad. The two travellers, sometimes together, and sometimes separated, visited Bornou, the Fcllatah country, and Sackatocr; but they could not trace the Niger (called at Sackatoo the Quoira) to its mouth. In a second expedition Clapperton reached Sack atoo from Guinea, and there died. His ser vant, Richard Lander, afterwards returned a considerable way towards the south, intending to embark on one of the branches of the Niger, and, if possible, to solve the grand problem of its termination by sailing down the stream. But he was stopped by the natives, and compelled to turn back when he had got as far as Dunrora, which he imder stood to he due west of Funda, and at no great distance from it. Meanwhile, Major Laing had succeeded in malting his way across the desert from Tripoli to Timbuctoo, in August, 1826, and had transmitted some brief notices of that famous city, where he spent some weeks. But he was murdered on his return, in the desert, and none of his papers have yet been recovered. Timbuctoo was also reached from Sierra Leone by Caine. The journey, however, which solved the pro blem of the Niger, was that of Richard and John Lander. Leaving Badagry on the 22nd of March, 1830, these two travellers, following nearly the same route which had been taken by Clapperton through tlidkkingdoin of Eyeo, reached Boussa on the-1174i of June. They afterwards ascended the Aer as far as Yaouri, from which they returned to Boussa, where they remained for some time, and then em barked on the river, which they hoped would conduct them to the sea. In this expectation they were not disappointed. After various ad ventures, Richard Lander had at last the hap piness, on the evening of the 18th of Novem ber, to find himself at the mouth of the greater branch of the river, here called the river Nun, in that gulf or depression known as the Bight of Biafra.