Landers Travels The Travels of Richard Lander into the Interior of Africa

Lander's explorations began as a servant to the Scottish explorer Hugh Clapperton with whom he went in to the Cape Colony , and then on to an expedition to Western Africa in Clapperton died on 13 April near Sokoto , in present-day Nigeria , leaving Lander as the only surviving European member of the expedition. He proceeded southeast to Kano [3] before returning through the Yoruba region to the coast and Britain in July In the delta they were kidnapped by the locals at Igbo-Ora , and a large ransom was demanded by the local king and paid. Despite this they were successful in solving the great river's course and termination.

In , Lander returned to Africa for a third and final time, as leader of an expedition organised by Macgregor Laird and other Liverpudlian merchants, with the intention of founding a trading settlement at the junction of the Niger and Benue rivers, using two armed steamers the Quorra and the Alburkah.

While journeying upstream in a canoe, Lander was attacked by local people and wounded by a musket ball deep in his thigh. He managed to return to the coast, but died there from his injuries. Having just arrived in "Combe", the author once again became the victim of curiosity and violence of the population: They gathered around the hut of the Negress where I was staying, and treated me with great insolence: Far from being an unusual event, the author's submissive condition throughout the account constantly appears, in increasingly exemplary form.

Being forced to undress and repeat verses of the Koran in Arabic, to eat when and what was offered to him, Park indicates that he had no choice and that he even began to envy the situation of the slaves: This planned and degrading insolence to which I was constantly exposed was one of the most bitter aspects of this stage of captivity; it often made my life a burden to me.

In these stressful moments, I often envied the situation of the slave , who amidst all his calamities, still had the pleasure of his own thoughts; a happiness that, for some time, was denied me. Faced with this situation, which was highly degrading for a European Christian, being placed in a position worse than slavery itself, the author was completely helpless and could do nothing but comply with every command and patiently endure every insult in return for the hope of keeping his own life.

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Although it would be possible, it is not necessary to multiply the examples. The passages above are sufficient to show the inequality of power in the relationship between the European and the African authorities of the interior, especially as he moved further away from the course of the Gambia River, and penetrated the Islamic region of the tributaries of the upper Senegal.

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On his way back, having failed to fully achieve the objective of the journey to map the course of the Niger River to its mouth, his resignation was still present, and he informed his African interlocutor - and consequently, the European reader - that he was obliged to " go begging for my subsistence, traveling from one place to another, or die of hunger" PARK, , From geography to philanthropy.

The balance of this relationship would be very different in subsequent British forays into neighboring regions. On the journey of Richard Lander and his brother, due to the material conditions in which it was made, they were subjected to some situations in which the Europeans could do very little against the African impositions.

Lander and his group were forced, at the beginning of the journey, to sleep outside a town, even though they had walked all day and were completely exhausted. The reason they were not allowed into the town was explained to them: Despite the association between the White presence and slavery, the meaning of which seems very clear to contemporary readers, what is important here is to understand the conditions on which these relations were based.

The Europeans were still subject to the decisions of the African powers, even among those with less influence at regional level. While not in abject poverty, as had happened with Park decades earlier, the European powerlessness in the interior was still present, as can be seen in the passage in which Richard Lander asked the 'natives' to leave him alone, as his brother was suffering from fever and fatigue. While my brother was sick, the natives made a hideous noise, singing and banging their drums in a celebration of their fetishes.

I went out hoping to persuade them to be quiet, but they just laughed at me and tormented us all the more; because they have no compassion for the suffering of a White man, and if they can humiliate him in any way, they consider this a laudable act. On this journey, however, the authors alternated between the bad receptions, like the one described above, and a series of more friendly encounters.

This is perhaps due to the recurring presence of the travelers in certain places. The route taken by Lander was practically the same as that taken by Clapperton, five years earlier. The same interpreter, a Hausa named Pascoe, accompanied Clapperton and then Lander, through the territory. Richard would also take part in the following trip, that of McGregor Laird, from to Also present on this latter trip was William Allen, who captained one of the steamships up the river in the official expedition of It was, therefore, a series of reencounters, in which the African chiefs' expectations of the 'gifts' offered by the Europeans, and the recognition of their apparently peaceful objectives, may have served to facilitate the passage of the latter groups in the interior of the continent.

It appears to be no accident, then, that the greatest difficulties in the journey of the Lander brothers occurred in territory where they were visiting for the first time. With regard to the specific objectives of the journey, the undertaking of the Landers in was not much different from those that had led to the beginning of the search, forty-two years earlier. The instructions received from the British government, reproduced in the introduction written by British Naval Lieutenant A.

Becher, indicate that the brothers' work was to complete the mapping of the course of the Niger river that had been partially accomplished by Park and Clapperton on previous journeys. According to the letter: The introduction itself is the first piece in the process of valorization of the British activity on the coast and in the interior of West Africa. Based on a short history of African geography, returning to the Greek, Roman, and Arab authors before the contemporary period, Becher reports that: A completely new Era in the progress of African geography had begun".

This "Era" had begun with the formation of the African Association, according to the author, with the express purpose of promoting discovery in that region. Again, it is important to note the complete absence of reference to slavery and the Atlantic slave trade, among the concerns raised. These objectives were markedly different in the following accounts. The geographic search was over. The British service on the coast and in the interior of West Africa needed a new rationale.

The fight against slavery, which in fact, had already been a British concern since the beginning of the century, now assumed a fundamental role. In the account of Laird and Oldfield, this appears very explicitly in the dedication to the merchants and philanthropists of Great Britain , with the hope that the report would help both: Thus, a direct relationship between the slave trade and degeneration is noted, that was completely lacking in the previous accounts.

In fact, comparing the statement above with that of Park, at the end of the 18th century, we see a complete reversal of the equation. Although from the beginning, the Africans were presented as "unenlightened", the opinion of Park was that the slave trade had nothing to do with that.

Also significant is the adjective used to describe the Africans in general. While it is difficult to find any positive value in "unenlightened", this qualification is certainly less aggressive than "degraded and repugnant" 17 , or the comparison with "harmful reptiles" or "wild beasts" in the passage above. To use the polished phrase of Patrick Brantlinger, " Africa grew dark as Victorian explorers, missionaries and scientists flooded it with light". The difference was complete with the culpability of the European countries for the state in which the interior of Africa found itself.

This proved to be a key text for understanding the changes in planning for British operations in Africa. Entitled "Remarks on our Commerce with Africa", the text proposed, according to the author: To argue that the African trade deserved the protection of Britain - not from free competition, but from 'an illegal and brutalizing traffic' -, Laird offers the coeval data of the relationship between Britain and Africa, pointing out the products involved, the structure and functioning, and comparing the total value of the British income with that obtained from trade relations with other European countries, such as Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Prussia, always to the advantage of African trade.

The delay in the loading of the British vessels on the African coast, caused by the constant interruptions caused by the slave traffic, ended up incurring a cost both in financial terms, and in terms of the lives of Europeans. All the arguments presented by the author are accompanied by detailed calculations of the financial loss that the increased costs of insurance and the depreciation caused, for each ton shipped. To resolve the problem, even knowing that it would not be a definitive solution, Britain should immediately declare slave trade to be like piracy, and keep a cruiser at anchor in each of the ports of embarkation.

This is because the form hitherto used to constantly patrol the coasts, without the right to seize vessels that did not carry slaves on board, only increased the suffering of the slaves, and did nothing to stop the trade, due to the relatively low risk for the traffickers.

This situation was further morally aggravated by the form of reward offered to the British officers and sailors for the capture of an illegal slave ship, that is, the price per head. As this struggle was being done in the wrong way and worsening the conditions of the slaves, a plan was needed, particularly, to encourage legal trade. This project could be executed by installing a belt of British posts in the upper Niger and from the upper Niger to the mouth of the Gambia.

This was because both were the only forms of penetration easily achievable by the Europeans, and it had already been shown in practice that maintenance of the coastal establishments alone could not alter the situation. To those who saw the project as visionary, Laird gave the following explanation: The reception we have met with, and the freedom which we enjoy, the freedom which we enjoyed from all molestation, sufficiently attest the peaceful and friendly character of the natives.

Richard Lander - Wikipedia

But even if these people are included to oppose the occupation of different points on the banks of the river by our countrymen, they are incapacitated from doing so effectually on account of the disorganized state of the country In this point, the great difference is again noted from the previous accounts, i. The position of travelers after Lander had little or nothing to do with that of Park, at least textually. This reversal of the position is not derived solely from the notion of 'reencounters' mentioned above, but also from the form and technology used in these journeys, after that time.

The steamship guaranteed a certain safety for Europeans in the relations with the African states on the banks of the Niger River. And here the role of MacGregor Laird's company is notable, in the development of this technology. While it was not Laird's shipyard that built the ships for his own journey, he would be at the forefront of the technological development of the field in the years that followed. A great enthusiast of steam technology, Laird believed in the possibilities of the British successfully penetrating the African continent, as they held the moral power religion , the physical power the adaptability of the 'Anglo-Saxon race' , and the mechanical power needed for this task.

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The latter derived from: By his invention, every river is laid open to us, time and distance are shortened. It was Laird's company that was commissioned to build the steamships used in the expedition of But even more important, it was also he who designed and built the steamship that would become the protagonist of the first opium war, under commission from the East India Company. Launched in , with mobility, speed, and heavy artillery, the Nemesis led a large part of the British victory in the battles. With the arrival of the steamships, particularly the Nemesis , Sino-European relations acquired a whole new character.

This was no longer the futile confrontation between the whale and the elephant. The steamships brought modern warfare to the heart of modern China. On board the steamships, European expeditions now had the capacity to threaten any towns and cities within shooting distance of the banks of the Niger, or any other navigable river on the African continent. Perhaps this was the source of Laird's certainty and confidence, rather than the 'disorganized state of the country', despite the high mortality rate that was still afflicting the Europeans in Africa.

The posts in the interior of the continent could, in the author's view, be of two types: The author's preference was for the first alternative, as the second would involve greater costs, with the maintenance of a structure of civil government in those locations. A part of this plan would be clearly taken up again in the plans for the official expedition of , as we shall see. The official expedition of The fight against the Atlantic slave trade was now the main explicit objective that would give legitimacy to the official expedition of The rhetorical justification for the persistence in attempting to establish a new kind of contact with the interior of the continent, even with the high mortality rate, was based on a moral duty of Europe, as mentioned in the account of Laird, rather than on possible commercial or political interests.

According to the authors: Now, all the journeys were made on the grounds of slave trafficking, and supposedly, to build tools for its extinction. As it turned out, however, this was not the opinion expressed in Park's text. It was, therefore, a reconstruction of the history of the geographic and commercial search in a philanthropic and moral ideal.

This British moral force also appears in the history of the search to discover the African interior, promoting the achievements of the British and showing contempt for others. As regards the expedition itself, it was completely different from the others. It was heavily funded and supported by the British government, with a series of 'scientists' on board botanist, zoologist, ethnologist, etc. While on the previous journey, the presence of the steamships had guaranteed a relative balance between the Europeans and the Africans in the interior, this time it was recognized and duly valued.

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Although it was a mission of peace, it needed to have an imposing appearance , according to the authors. The situation was therefore very different this time. Armed steamships apparently managed to instill a certain apprehension among the African leaders. In fact, throughout the trip, it was the African kings and chiefs who came on board the vessels to negotiate treaties, not the other way round.

The incursions on land of the Europeans were made only to collect data for their scientific reports, and apparently they faced little or no opposition. In one of the more emblematic cases of this journey, the naturalist on board, returning from an expedition to collect plant specimens, fired at what he thought was a monkey: The aggression, unthinkable a decade earlier, was resolved by a small bargain, when the chief " Black Will " had his anger appeased by a small gift consisting of "a cloth and an ax".

This passages shows not only the violence involved in collecting material, by the British 'scientists' FRANEY, , , but also the ease with which the Europeans managed to circumvent an event that, decades earlier, would likely have resulted in the deaths of some of the members of the group. This new form of contact, and the scientific pretensions of the report, gave rise to a different Africa, in the eyes of the European readers. Little space was devoted to describing these encounters, the survival strategies, and the construction of routes.

Along the way he explored the coasts of eastern Africa. The Portuguese soon captured trading cities all along the east coast. The Portuguese had thus completed many of their main objectives in exploring Africa. They had established profitable trade with western Africa and had found a route to India. Instead of venturing farther inland, the Portuguese focused on maintaining and exploiting their colonies on the coasts. They continued to trade in gold and slaves in Africa and in spices in Asia. However, Jesuit missionaries from Portugal began to travel through the interior in order to convert Africans to Christianity.

Those Jesuits became the first Europeans to reach many areas of inland Africa. The Portuguese kept much of the work of their explorers secret. The achievements of the early Jesuit explorers thus remain less well known than those of later explorers. After the Portuguese expeditions, European exploration of Africa largely ceased for some years. European countries were more interested in exploiting the trade in slaves and gold at the west coast. In the 19th century the growing movement to abolish slavery began to draw attention to the continent. Scientific curiosity also sparked new interest in the interior.

Indeed, it was seen as a rebuke to modern science that one of the continents remained largely unknown. Explorers also trekked into the interior in search of new avenues for profitable trade. They viewed native African religions and cultures as markedly inferior. Travel in the interior remained challenging. Explorers had to contend with the extreme climates of the deserts and the rainforests. Diseases such as malaria, yellow fever, dysentery , and sleeping sickness abounded. By the end of the 19th century, the renewed European interest in Africa had led to the colonization of nearly the entire continent.

It was hoped that the rivers could provide transportation into the interior. Better transportation would help advance trade and development. He searched for the source of the Nile River during daring and difficult travels in Ethiopia in — Meanwhile, Europeans explored the Niger River in the west, the Zambezi and Congo rivers in the central regions, and the East African lakes. The Europeans were, of course, exploring a land that was already populated.

They were usually assisted in their explorations by local Africans. Africans served as guides, envoys, servants, laborers, and porters for the explorers. African interpreters were essential. They helped the explorers communicate with various local peoples along the way. Many expeditions to the interior were sponsored by the African Association. That British organization was founded in to promote the scientific exploration of Africa. It soon absorbed the African Association and continued its mission of funding African exploration.

The African Association initially emphasized western Africa. Since ancient times, Europeans had known that a great river—the Niger —existed in the western interior. Others thought that its outlet was in the Gambia, the Congo, or even the Nile. The African Association sent several explorers to the Niger River. The first few expeditions were not successful. For example, the explorer Daniel Houghton did not reach the river on his quest in — However, he heard from local people that the river flowed eastward.

He sent news of that discovery back to England, but he never returned himself. Houghton was robbed by some traders and abandoned in the desert of western Mali, where he died. Park began his exploration at the mouth of the Gambia River on June 21, He traveled up that river for miles kilometers to a British trading station called Pisania now Karantaba, Gambia. He continued inland on the river and then set off on foot.

Park was robbed, and most of his servants deserted him. An Arab chief then captured and imprisoned him for four months. Park escaped on July 1, However, he had to continue his journey with little more than a horse and a compass. He determined once and for all that the river flows from west to east. He traveled downstream on the Niger for 80 miles kilometers to the village of Silla.

He was finally forced to turn back for lack of supplies. Traveling on foot, he took a more southerly route on his return. After crossing mountainous country, he became dangerously ill with fever for seven months. With the assistance of a slave trader, he reached Pisania on June 10, He returned to Britain and wrote an account of his adventures. The book became a popular success and made him famous. A few years later the British government asked Park to head a second expedition to the Niger. Commissioned as captain, he led a party of 40 Europeans, mostly soldiers. Park first traveled to Pisania.

By then all but 11 of his party had died of disease. The local ruler gave him permission to continue his voyage down the unexplored river. They were never heard from again. In it was learned that the explorers had sailed more than 1, miles 2, kilometers down the river. They reached the rapids at Bussa, where they were attacked by local inhabitants and Park was drowned. Hugh Clapperton was the first European to return with a firsthand account of what is now northern Nigeria.

In he joined an expedition to the Niger River basin that was sponsored by the British government. The party also included Walter Oudney and Dixon Denham. The men left Tripoli now in Libya and journeyed southward across the Sahara. They successfully crossed the great desert. In early they became the first Europeans to view Lake Chad.

They were also the first to enter the province of Bornu now in Nigeria. In December Denham explored the region around Lake Chad. Meanwhile, Clapperton and Oudney set out westward. Oudney died within about a month. Clapperton continued on, traveling to the cities of Kano, Katsina, Sokoto, and Zaria all now in Nigeria.

He and Denham returned to England in June Almost immediately afterward, Clapperton sailed to western Africa to begin a second expedition. The explorers crossed the Niger River and traveled via Kano to Sokoto. Clapperton became ill and died near Sokoto in April Lander returned to Kano and then traveled back to the coast. The ancient city of Timbuktu now in Mali had long captured the imagination of explorers. Rumors of its great wealth in gold and of its many scholars had reached Europe centuries earlier.

Several explorers, including Mungo Park, had tried in vain to reach the fabled city. Timbuktu has often been used as a symbol for remoteness. Some routes to the city took explorers through disease-ridden jungles. The other routes passed through deserts where explorers were attacked by bandits. He took the desert route. In July he left the north coast at Tripoli on his journey across the Sahara. He reached Ghadamis now in Libya by September.

He then entered the vast country of the nomadic people known as the Tuareg. One night in early , some Tuareg attacked the explorers in their tents. Laing had to fight for his life and was severely wounded. He recovered and continued onward with the other survivors. Eventually, however, all his remaining companions died of disease. After trekking alone through the desert, he finally reached Timbuktu on August 18, The local ruler urged him to depart because he was concerned that a non-Muslim would not be safe in the area.

Laing left Timbuktu on September 24 and was murdered by Tuareg people two days later.

Travels of Richard and John Lander into the interior of Africa, for the

He reached Timbuktu disguised as an Arab. He left the coast of western Africa in April , but his journey was interrupted by five months of illness. He remained there for about two weeks, finding the city significantly less impressive than was suggested in legend. Timbuktu had declined; it had no fabulous wealth, and it was no longer a great center of scholarship. At the request of the British government, the English explorer Richard Lemon Lander who had earlier traveled with Hugh Clapperton returned to western Africa. This time he traveled with his brother John.

The Lander brothers sailed to the Bight of Benin. They landed at Badagry now in Nigeria on March 22, From there they traveled inland to Bussa and explored the Niger River upstream for about miles kilometers. They became the first Europeans to reach the mouth of the Niger River. They thus confirmed that the river empties into the Atlantic Ocean. While exploring the delta, the Lander brothers were seized by local tribesman. They were held captive until a large ransom was paid.

The greatest tributary of the Niger River is the Benue. He participated in an expedition sponsored by the British government that aimed to suppress the slave trade. Early in he set out from Tripoli. The expedition was led by the English explorer and antislavery activist James Richardson.

The party also included the German geologist and astronomer Adolf Overweg. From Tripoli the men crossed the Sahara. When Richardson died in March in northern Nigeria, Barth assumed command of the expedition. He explored the area south and southeast of Lake Chad. He also mapped the upper reaches of the Benue River. Overweg died in September Barth continued on to the city of Timbuktu, remaining there for six months.

He returned to London via Tripoli in Despite ill health and the loss of his colleagues, he had traveled some 10, miles 16, kilometers. He had returned to Europe with the first account of the middle section of the Niger River. Flegel was the first European to reach the source of the Benue River. In he traveled about miles kilometers up the Benue. In he sailed on the Niger River to Sokoto. For more than 30 years, the Scottish missionary David Livingstone explored Africa. He traveled the continent from near the Equator to the Cape and from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean.

On long voyages in southern and central Africa, he explored the Kalahari basin and the Zambezi River. He later investigated the East African lakes. Livingstone gained worldwide fame as an explorer. His exploits helped awaken the interest of the outside world in the then largely unknown continent. In so doing, he helped pave the way for its European colonization later in the 19th century. Livingstone believed deeply, however, that Africans could advance into the modern world. In that sense he later served as an inspiration for African nationalism and independence. Of working-class origins, Livingstone studied theology and medicine in Glasgow while working part-time in a cotton mill.

He had originally intended to work in China as a medical missionary, introducing Western medicine and Christianity. He was prevented from going to China, however, when war broke out between China and Britain. He later met Robert Moffat , the noted missionary to southern Africa. That meeting convinced Livingstone that he should instead take up his work in Africa. On November 20, , Livingstone was ordained as a missionary.

From the moment he arrived, Livingstone determined to become an explorer. He wanted to open up the continent for Christianity and European commerce and civilization. He believed that accomplishing that would help end the slave trade, which he strongly opposed. In addition, the delights of geographic discovery soon became apparent to him. A major aim of his great journeys was to gather new information about the continent. For the next 15 years, Livingstone was constantly on the move in the African interior.

First, he ventured north of Cape Town into the Kalahari , a vast dry plain. By he had already traveled farther north in the Kalahari than any other European. In he traveled to Mabotsa to establish a mission station. Along the way he was mauled by a lion, and his left arm was injured. She accompanied him on many of his travels. With assistance from local peoples, Livingstone crossed the Kalahari in He was accompanied by William Oswell, an English big-game hunter.

It was difficult to travel in the Kalahari, large parts of which are desert. Although other parts receive slightly more rainfall, they completely lack surface water. Much of the basin is also covered by deep sands. The expedition traversed the Kalahari from south to north with great effort. The men used local water holes found by local guides. For that discovery Livingstone was awarded a prize from the Royal Geographical Society.

That was the beginning of his lifelong association with the society, which encouraged him to continue his explorations.