Explorers

Question 1

List 4 key explorers

Answer 1

• David Livingstone
• Sir Richard Burton
• John Speke
• Henry Morton Stanley

Question 2

Explain the role of David Livingstone

Answer 2

• Travelled between 1841-56.
• Tried opening path for commerce and Christianity.
• He explored in South Africa, the Kalahari Desert, Luanda, Zambez.
• Discovered Lake Ngami (1849) and Zambezi (later Victoria) Falls (1855).
• wrote 2000 letters about exploration of Zambezi river.
  -> conducted a series of celebrated lectures
  at Cambridge University, recollecting the geography, minerals, disease, languages, and cultures he had encountered.
• determined to end slave trade in Central and East Africa.

Question 3

Explain the role of Sir Richard Burton

Answer 3

• Linguistic scholar, explorer and diplomat.
• wrote about marriage, bizarre sexual practices, homosexuality and sexual education of women.
• wrote 43 volumes on his explorations including travel books, 5 on West Africa, 30 volumes of translations, including a 16-volume edition of Arabian Nights and the Kama Sutra and works on Muslim life and manners.
• explored Islamic cities: Mecca, Somaliland and Zanzibar.
• not known for religious conviction, nor was he a supporter of British imperial policy -> motivation was mostly spirit of adventure.

Question 4

Explain the role of John Speke

Answer 4

• Joined Burton on quest to find source of the Nile.
• First to find Lake Victoria which he argued was the source of the Nile -> Burton disputed this.
• Explored Somaliland , East Africa Coast, Southern Sudan, Lake Albert and Lake Victoria.
  -> important in surveying and mapping these areas and accounts of his exploration were published in 1863 and 1864.

Question 5

Explain the role of Henry Morton Stanley

Answer 5

• Worked as an agent for Leopold ii, helped set up own personal colony in Congo -> originally intended to establish British interests but Belgians were quicker.
• expedition in 1869-71 to find Livingstone -> published book entitled ‘How I Found Livingstone in Central Africa’.
  -> joined him to explore area around Lake Tanganyika.
• Work publicised Africa and opened up the Congo basin for colonisation.