Exploration of the Niger Basin has a…

1840 CE to 1851 CE

Exploration of the Niger Basin has a commercial as well as scientific motivation, but curiosity about the course and destination of the river also play a part.

The delta masks the mouth of the great river, and for centuries Nigerians had chosen not to tell Europeans the secrets of the interior, initially probably because no one thought to ask but by the nineteenth century because of the commercial implications.

In 1794 the African Association had commissioned Mungo Park, an intrepid Scottish physician and naturalist, to search for the headwaters of the Niger and follow the river downstream.

Park reached the upper Niger the next year by traveling inland from the Gambia River.

Although he reported on the eastward flow of the Niger, he had been forced to turn back when his equipment was lost to Muslim slave traders.

In 1805 he set out on a second expedition, sponsored by the British government, to follow the Niger to the sea.

His mission failed, but Park and his party had covered more than fifteen hundred kilometers, passing through the western portions of the Sokoto Caliphate, before being drowned in rapids near Bussa.

Locations
Bussa Kebbi Nigeria View →

Groups
Igbo people View → Hausa Kingdoms, the View → Hausa people View → Yoruba people View → Ijaw people View → Kano (Hausa city state) View → Katsina (Hausa city state) View → Zaria (Zazzau), Hausa City-State of View → Gobir (Hausa city state) View → Benin Empire View → Ibibio people View → Bonny, Ijo city-state of View → Oyo Empire View → Calabar, Efik state of View → Dahomey, Kingdom of View → Khasso, Fulani Jihad State View → Aro Confederacy View → Fouta Djallon (Futa Jallon) Fulani Jihad State View → Elem, Ijo city-state of View → Fouta-Toro, or Futa Toro, Fulani Jihad State of View → Equatorial Guinea, Spanish colony of View → United States of America (US, USA) (Washington DC) View → Britain (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland) View → Nupe, Emirate of the View → Fulani Empire View → Freetown (Sierra Leone), British Crown Colony of View → Sokoto, Kingdom of View → Macina (Masina), Fulani Jihad State of View → Spain, Bourbon Kingdom (first restoration) of View → Denmark, Kingdom of View → France, constitutional monarchy of View → Gambia Colony and Protectorate View → Zaria, Emirate of View → Oyo, Yoruba Kingdom of View →

Topics
Sub-Saharan Africa, Modern View → West African Blockade View →

Commodities
Weapons View → Oils, gums, resins, and waxes View → Slaves View →

Subjects
Commerce View → Conflict View → Exploration View → Faith View → Government View → Custom and Law View →

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