In this article, we recall the contribution to the development of geography made by the researchers of Africa. And their discoveries completely changed the idea of the Black Continent.
First exploration of Africa
The first known journey around the African continent was made as early as 600 BC. e. explorers of ancient Egypt on the orders of Pharaoh Necho. African pioneers circled the continent and discovered hitherto unexplored lands.
And in the Middle Ages, this part of the world began to arouse serious interest in Europe, which was actively trading with the Turks, reselling Chinese and Indian goods at a huge price. This prompted European sailors to try to find their own way to India and China in order to exclude the mediation of the Turks.
Explorers of 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. The researchers decided that this is the southern point of the mainland. Modern scientists believe that the Portuguese were simply afraid of the dark-skinned natives. Europeansit was believed that the sun hung so low over the new earth that the locals burned themselves black.
Portuguese King Juan II equipped a new expedition led by Bartolomeo Diaz, and in 1487 the Cape of Good Hope was discovered - the real southern point of the mainland. This discovery helped the Europeans pave the way to the eastern countries. In 1497-1499 Vasco Da Gama was the first to reach India and return to Portugal.
The table "Explorers of Africa" below will help to systematize the knowledge gained.
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 captured and colonized. Only Liberia and Ethiopia retained their freedom. Active exploration of Africa began in the 19th century.
David Livingston
Scottish African explorer David Livingston became the first European scientist to cross the Kalahari Desert from south to north. He described the desert landscape, the local population - the settled Tswana aliens and nomadic Bushmen. In the north of the Kalahari, he discovered the gallery forests that grow along the banks of the 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 drain of which feeds the Congo, and the eastern one feeds the Zambezi. In 1855, a huge waterfall was discovered, which is named after the British Queen Victoria. Livingston became very ill and disappeared for a while. He was discovered by the traveler Henry Morton Stanley, and together they explored Lake Tanganyika.
The explorer 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 undertook two expeditions to the Black Continent. His goal was to study western Africa, mainly its interior, the sources of the Gambia and Sinegal rivers. Also a desirable goal was to establish the exact location of the city of Timbuktu, which Europeans had only heard about from local residents until that moment.
The expedition was sponsored by Joseph Banks, who participated in the first journey of James Cook. The budget was modest enough - only 200 pounds.
The first expedition was undertaken in 1795. It began at the mouth of the Gambia, where there were already English settlements at that time. From one of them, the researcher with three assistants went up the Gambia. He was forced to stay in Pisania for 2 months because he contracted malaria.
Later he traveled further up the Gambia and along its Neriko tributary, along the southern border of the Sahara, where he was taken prisoner. A few months later, the scientist managed to escape and reach the Niger River. Here he made a discovery - the 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 the Niger, but falls ill again and returns to the mouthGambia.
The second expedition was better equipped, 40 people took part in it. The goal was to explore the Niger River. However, the trip was unsuccessful. Due to illness and clashes with local residents, only 11 people were able to get to Bamako alive. The park continued the expedition, but before sailing, he sent all his notes with an assistant. It is not always possible for African explorers 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 Livingston, accompanied by a detachment of natives, and found him seriously ill in Ujiji. Stanley brought medicines with him, and Livingston was soon on the mend. Together they explored the northern 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 2000 people, who were equipped by the king of Uganda, Henry Morton Stanley made a great trip, corrected the map of Lake Tanganyika, discovered Lake Albert Edward, reached Nyangwe, explored the Lualaba River and ended the expedition at the mouth of the Congo River. Thus, he crossed the mainland from east to west. The scientist described the journey in the book "Through the Black Continent".
Vasily Junker
Russian explorers of Africa have made a great contribution to the study of the Black Continent. Vasily Junker is considered one of thethe 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 research. Traveled through the Libyan desert, the rivers Baraka, Sobat, Rol, Jut, Tonji. Visited the countries of Mitta, Kalika.
Junker not only collected the rarest collection of representatives of flora and fauna. His cartographic studies were accurate, he made the first map of the upper Nile, the scientist also described the flora and fauna, especially in detail the great apes, discovered an unknown animal - the six-winged. Valuable and ethnographic data that were collected by Juncker. He compiled dictionaries of Negro tribes and collected a rich ethnographic collection.
Egor Kovalevsky
Explorers of Africa arrived on the continent and at the invitation of local authorities. Egor Petrovich Kovalevsky was asked to come to Egypt by the local Viceroy Mohammed Ali. The scientist conducted various geological studies in northeast Africa, discovered alluvial deposits of gold. He was one of the first to indicate the position of the source of the White Nile, explored in detail and mapped a large territory of Sudan and Abyssinia, described the life of the peoples of Africa.
Alexander Eliseev
Alexander Vasilyevich Eliseev spent several years on the continent, from 1881 to 1893. He explored northern and northeastern Africa. He described in detail the population and nature of Tunisia, the Red Sea coast and the lower reaches of the Nile.
Nikolai Vavilov
Soviet African explorers often visited the Black Continent, but 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 Kabylia, Morocco, Tunisia, Somalia, Egypt, Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Botany was primarily interested in the centers of occurrence of cultivated plants. He devoted a lot of time to Ethiopia, where he collected more than six thousand samples of cultivated plants and found about 250 types of wheat. In addition, a lot of information was received about wild-growing representatives of the flora.
Nikolai Vavilov traveled all over the world, researching and collecting plants. He wrote the book Five Continents about his travels.
