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A combination of two journeys, Scotsman Mungo Park's story of his
first trip in 1795 as a 24-year old, and again in 1805, provided
Europeans with their first reliable description of the interior of
the continent. The first trip was full of an endearing
vulnerability and the heroic generosity of a fit young man, while
the second was one of Conradian tragedy, murder, and mayhem.
Despite starvation, imprisonment, and frequent illness, he managed
to keep a record. Though he failed in the object of his mission--to
chart the course of the Niger River--he did succeed in exploring
West Africa and opening in trade routes. His first-hand experiences
of tribal justice, gold mining, and the slave trade are recorded,
as well as his own understated heroism, a story of courage,
open-hearted friendship, and betrayal. His vivid record of his
travels brought a new image of Africa to the European public,
though the continent claimed him for itself in death. Travels is
still considered the most readable of all the classics of African
exploration.
Mungo Park (1771 1806) was a Scottish surgeon and explorer.
Encouraged by Sir Joseph Banks, he was sent by the African
Association, in 1795, to explore the interior of Africa, forbidden
to western traders. He is believed to have been the first European
to reach the River Niger. His return was delayed by imprisonment
and illness, and he did not arrive back in Scotland until December
1797, having been thought dead. He later went on a second
expedition to Africa, and died there in 1806. This account of his
earlier travels, published in 1799, was an immediate best-seller,
with three editions in the first year. Park presents a
straightforward account of his journey, together with observations
about daily life in West Africa, with none of the arrogant
superiority so often expressed by European travellers. The book
includes a vocabulary of Mandinka words, plates and maps, and a
geographical appendix.
Mungo Park was the original lone explorer of West Africa. The first
European to reach the Niger, record its flow direction and return
alive, he was considered a hero on his return. He died during his
second exploration attempt inland along the Niger to discover the
city of Timbuktu. Published posthumously in 1815 by the African
Institution, which had sponsored his journey, a biography, personal
letters and the account of the rescue team sent to discover his
fate accompany Park's own journal of the expedition. The journals
and letters are a fascinating description of the constant dangers
and thrill of the age of exploration. Battling adverse weather,
local hostility, tropical diseases and the death of nearly all his
party including his brother-in-law, Park writes 'I would still
persevere; and if I could not succeed in the object of my journey,
I would at least die on the Niger.'
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