In this article, we recall how African researchers made a contribution to the development of geography. And their discoveries completely changed the idea of the Black Continent.
The first studies of Africa
The first known trip around the African continent was carried out as far back as 600 BC. e. researchers of ancient Egypt on the orders of Pharaoh Necho. The pioneers of Africa circled the continent and discovered uncharted lands.
And in the Middle Ages, this part of the world began to cause serious interest in Europe, which conducted active trade with the Turks, reselling Chinese and Indian goods at a huge price. This prompted European sailors to try to find their own path to India and China in order to exclude the mediation of the Turks.
Researchers in Africa appeared, and their discoveries significantly influenced world history. The first expedition was organized by the Portuguese Prince Henry. During the first voyages, sailors discovered Cape Boyador, which is located on the west coast of Africa. Researchers decided that this is the southern point of the mainland. Modern scientists believe that the Portuguese were simply scared of black Aboriginal people. Europeans believed that the sun hangs so low above the new earth that local people burn themselves to blackness.
The Portuguese king Juan II equipped a new expedition led by Bartolomeo Diaz, and in 1487, the Cape of Good Hope was opened - the real southern point of the mainland. This discovery helped Europeans pave the way for eastern countries. In 1497-1499 Vasco Da Gama first reached India and returned to Portugal.
The “Explorers of Africa” table below will help you organize your knowledge.
After this discovery, Europeans poured into Africa. In the 16th century, the slave trade began, and by the 17th, most of the territories of the black continent were seized and colonized. Liberty was preserved only by Liberia and Ethiopia. In the 19th century, an active exploration of Africa began.
David Livingston
The Scottish explorer of Africa, David Livingston, was the first European scientist to cross the Kalahari Desert from south to north. He described the desert landscape, the local population - settled Tswana aliens and nomadic Bushmen. In the north of Kalahari, he discovered gallery forests that grow along the banks of rivers, and decided to explore the large rivers of Africa.
The scientist also explored Lake Ngami, the Zambezi River, described the Bushmen, Bakalahari and Makololo tribes, and also discovered Lake Dilolo, the western runoff of which feeds the Congo, and the eastern one - Zambezi. In 1855, a huge waterfall was opened, which is named after the British Queen Victoria. Livingston became very ill and disappeared for a while. He was discovered by traveler Henry Morton Stanley, and together they explored Lake Tanganyika.
The researcher devoted most of his life to Africa, was a missionary and humanist, tried to stop the slave trade. The scientist died during one of the expeditions.
Mungo Park
Mungo Park embarked on two expeditions to the Black Continent. His goal was to study West Africa, mainly its interior, the origins of the Gambia and Sinegal rivers. Also, the desired goal was to establish the exact location of the city of Timbuktu, which the Europeans until now had only heard from local residents.
Joseph Banks, who participated in the first journey of James Cook, undertook to sponsor the expedition. The budget was quite modest - only 200 pounds.
The first expedition was undertaken in 1795. It began with the mouth of the Gambia, where then there were already English settlements. From one of them, a researcher with three assistants went up the Gambia. In Pisania, he was forced to stay for 2 months, as he contracted malaria.
Later he went further up the Gambia and its tributary Neriko, along the southern border of the Sahara, where he was captured. A few months later, the scientist managed to escape and reach the Niger River. Here he made a discovery - Niger is not the source of the Gambia and Senegal, although before that the Europeans believed that it was divided. For some time, the researcher travels around Niger, but again falls ill and returns to the mouth of the Gambia.
The second expedition was better equipped, 40 people participated in it. The goal was to explore the Niger River. However, the trip was unsuccessful. Due to illnesses and clashes with local residents, only 11 people were able to get to Bamako alive. Park continued the expedition, but before leaving, he sent with his assistant all his notes. Explorers in Africa may not always be able to return home from dangerous places. The park died near the city of Busa, fleeing from local residents.
Henry Morton Stanley
English explorer of Africa Henry Morton Stanley is a famous traveler and journalist. He went in search of the missing Livingstone, accompanied by a detachment of natives, and found him seriously ill in Ujiji. Stanley brought the medicine with him, and Livingston soon got better. Together they explored the north coast of Tanganyika. In 1872 he returned to Zanzibar and wrote the famous book How I Found Livingston. In 1875, accompanied by a large group, the scientist reached Lake Ukereve.
In 1876, with a detachment of 2,000 men who were equipped by the king of Uganda, Henry Morton Stanley made a long trip, corrected the map of Lake Tanganyika, discovered Lake Alber Eduard, reached Nyangwe, explored the Lualabe River and completed an expedition to the mouth of the Congo River. Thus, he crossed the mainland from east to west. The scientist described the journey in the book “Across the Black Continent”.
Vasily Juncker
Russian explorers of Africa made a great contribution to the study of the Black continent. Vasily Juncker is considered one of the largest explorers of the Upper Nile and the northern part of the Congo Basin. He began his journey in Tunisia, where he studied Arabic. The scientist chose equatorial and eastern Africa as the object of study. He traveled through the Libyan desert, the rivers Baraka, Sobat, Role, Jute, Tongi. He visited the countries of Mitt, Kalika.
Junker not only gathered a rare collection of representatives of flora and fauna. His cartographic studies were accurate, he compiled the first map of the upper Nile, the scientist also described the flora and fauna, especially the apes, and discovered an unknown animal - six-winged. Valuable and ethnographic data that were collected by Junker. He compiled dictionaries of Negro tribes, collected a rich ethnographic collection.
Egor Kovalevsky
Explorers of Africa arrived on the continent and at the invitation of local authorities. Yegor Petrovich Kovalevsky was asked to come to Egypt by the local Viceroy Mohammed Ali. The scientist conducted various geological studies in northeast Africa, discovered loose deposits of gold. He was one of the first to indicate the position of the source of the White Nile, investigated in detail and compiled a map of the large territory of Sudan and Abyssinia, described the life of the peoples of Africa.
Alexander Eliseev
Alexander Vasilievich Eliseev spent several years on the continent, from 1881 to 1893. He explored northern and northeast Africa. Described in detail the population and nature of Tunisia, the Red Sea coast and the lower Nile.
Nikolay Vavilov
Soviet explorers of Africa often visited the Black Continent, but among them Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov stands out most of all. In 1926, he made the most important expedition for science. He explored Algeria, the Biskra oasis in the Sahara desert, the mountainous region of Kabilya, Morocco, Tunisia, Somalia, Egypt, Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Botany was primarily interested in the foci of emergence of cultivated plants. He devoted much time to Ethiopia, where he collected more than six thousand samples of cultivated plants and found about 250 species of wheat. In addition, a lot of information was received about the wild representatives of the flora.
Nikolai Vavilov traveled around the world, researching and collecting plants. About his travels, he wrote the book "Five Continents."