Exploration of Africa, Later European
1720 CE to 1874 CE
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Thousands of Africans have been transported from the Senegambian coast, the west African region of the interior of modern Benin, and from the coast of modern Angola to Louisiana from 1718 to 1750.
The geographic and perhaps linguistic similarities of many African captives in Louisiana does not necessarily imply a common heritage.
Religion is one significant difference among many of the Africans who were sold to the Americas from Senegal.
It is historically difficult to determine the religious beliefs of slaves, but it is likely that some, if not many, slaves from Senegal were Muslims.
Many were certainly captives taken in the religious wars that had engulfed the region from Futa Djallon to Futa Toro and Futa Bundu (modern Upper Niger River) in the early eighteenth century, as the inland territories of the African continent from which slaves are captured for transportation and sale in Louisiana is enormous.
Portugal cedes to Spain Fernando Poo, Annobón and the Guinea coast (modern Equatorial Guinea) in 1778, with the Treaty of El Pardo, signed between Queen Mary II of Portugal and King Charles III of Spain, in exchange for territory in the American continent.
Spain then mounts an expedition to Fernando Poo, led by the Conde de Argelejos, which remains for four months.
In October 1778, Spain installs a governor on the island (who is to stay only until 1780 when the Spanish mission leaves the island).
The African Association, organized by a dozen titled members of London’s upper-class establishment and led by Sir Joseph Banks, feels that it is the great failing of the Age of Enlightenment that, in a time when men can sail around the world, the geography of the Dark Continent remains almost entirely uncharted.
The Ancient Greeks and Romans knew more about the interior of Africa than do the British of the eighteenth century.
Motivated by sincere desires for scientific knowledge and the abolition of the slave trade, yet not averse to gaining opportunities for British commerce, the wealthy members each pledge to contribute five guineas per year to recruiting and funding expeditions from England to Africa.
The Mali Empire, from the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries, had dominated the region which stretched from the West African coast between the Gambia and Senegal rivers almost to Sokoto in the east, and from one hundred and fifty miles north of Timbuktu to the headwaters of the Niger.
From Timbuktu flowed exports of gold and slaves in such quantities that the city took on the reputation in the outside world of possessing endless wealth.
To Europeans fascinated by the discovery of new worlds, Timbuktu is too great a temptation to resist.
The Scotsman James Bruce had ventured to Ethiopia in 1769 and reached the source of the Blue Nile.
His account of his travels has provoked enthusiasm for further exploration into Africa by Europeans, and the men of the African Association are especially inspired in their own goals.
The location and course of the Niger River are almost completely unknown by Europeans in the eighteenth century, and most of their maps charting it are mere guesses.
Almost all the European theories of the river’s course hypothesize that it flows east to west, which contradicts reality.
Up to this point, no white man has ever seen the river itself.
In fact, many Europeans are not even convinced of its existence, though it has been well-known and well-traveled by Muslims for hundreds of years.
The Niger has long been the major highway of commerce between the kingdoms of Africa’s interior and traders from as far away as Iraq, and offers significant trade opportunities for Europe.
He had traveled around the world with Captain Cook and been acquainted with Thomas Jefferson before attempting a voyage across Russia, Siberia, and North America.
Having failed to complete his journey, he called on Sir Joseph and the African Association, who thought him a perfect fit for their enterprise.
After setting sail from England on June 30, 1788, he arrives in August at Cairo.
While preparing for his westward journey inland in search of the Niger, however, he falls ill and, trying to relieve his "bilious complaint", inadvertently poisons himself with a fatal dose of sulfuric acid.
He speaks fluent Arabic and, having spent time in Morocco, is already friendly with the Tripolitanian ambassador.
After arriving in Tripoli in October 1788, Lucas finds guides to take him across the Libyan Desert but their journey is continually delayed by tribal wars blocking the route.
Soon his guides abandon him, and he is forced to limp back to England.
He has, however, acquired some valuable information about the southern Libyan region.
The club’s curiosity has been further stimulated and they quickly renew their search for explorers.
He penetrates farther into Africa than any European before him.
From the highest navigable point on the Gambia he had continued on foot northeast toward Bundu, where the local authorities delayed his passage.
Houghton eventually made his way as far as the north Saharan village of Simbing, one hundred and sixty miles north of the Niger and five hundred miles short of Timbuktu, but in September 1791, he is lured into the desert, robbed, and killed.
They had authorized their committee to make "whatever application to Government they may think advisable for rendering the late discoveries of Major Houghton effectually serviceable to the Commercial Interests of the Empire."
A British presence on the Gambia would "strengthen the bonds of trade", so they have proposed to install James Willis as consul in Senegambia.
He is to develop good relations with the king of Bambouk by a gift of muskets, thereby opening up communication between the Niger and the Gambia and make inroads for trade with all the "gold-rich lands of the interior which undoubtedly lined the Niger’s banks".
Mungo Park, a Scottish country doctor, was to travel with Willis to Senegambia, but when Willis’ departure was held up by bureaucratic and logistical problems, Park had left England on the trade ship Endeavour, a vessel trading to the Gambia for beeswax and ivory and arrives on the Africa coast on June 4, 1795.
It had been established by British traders as a factory for trade, and was to be inhabited solely by them and their black servants.
It is situated on the banks of the River Gambia, sixteen miles to the north of Jonkakonda.
In 1795, the only white residents are Dr John Laidley and two brothers with the surname Ainslie.
Park stays in Pisania from July through to October 1795.
The journey was full of difficulties, and at Ludamar he had been imprisoned by a Moorish chief for four months.
He has escaped on July 1, 1796, alone and with nothing but his horse and a pocket compass, and on the 21st reaches the long-sought Niger River at Ségou, the capital of the Bamana Empire, being the first European to do so.