THE GREAT ATLAS OF DISCOVERY

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The Mystery
of Africa
Two HUNDRED YEARS AGO Europeans
knew nothing about Africa except for a few regions near the
coast, even though large and powerful African empires had
existed for more than a thousand years. Early European
explorers did not like the look of Africa. Safe harbors were NONE:

hard to find. The land was mostly desert or jungle, and the L45 \ATOR
rivers ended in huge, swampy deltas, or were blocked by
waterfalls. Apart from a little gold, ivory, and a few spices,
the European ships that came to African ports after the
16th century wanted only slaves to sell for large profits in

the American colonies. As late as the 18th century most A matter of guesswork
On this 16th-century French map of Afnca, the coasts
of Africa was still largely unknown to Europeans. are fairly accurate, thanks to the voyages of Portuguese
TANGIER
In 1788, the British botanist Joseph Banks, who had explorers, but the interior was still a mystery, so the • '•"•JTrj*!*^
mapmaker filled the blank spaces with pictures. These RABAT .•'!*/
crossed the Pacific with Captain Cook, founded the African imaginary details - a man with no head, one with six • •*
»,
*FEZ
Association to find out more about the interior of the arms, and some very sfrange animals '- show just
T t
how littleEuropeans knew about Africa. This
continent. This marked the beginning of serious exploration map also illustrates the popular 16ih-century C in Rabat

of Africa. The first expeditions were confined to the Sahara belief that the Nile stretched the entire
44. «r
length of the country down to
Desert and West Africa, and the search for the source of the "Mountains of the Moon."
Caillie crosses the
Africa's longest river, the Nile.
Atlas Mountains
in 6 weeks. He
Mungo Park reaches Tangier
and sails home
The African Association hired Mungo Park, a
for France.
Scotsman, to explore the Niger River in 1795.
His ambition was to be famous, and when he
Caillie leaves for
returned to Britain having succeeded in reaching Morocco with a
the Niger, he was disappointed that people did caravan oj
animals.
not recognize him as a great explorer. In 1805
he set out to follow the Niger to its source. The
following year his canoe was ambushed by
native Africans, and
he was drowned.

Park returns to Africa

in May 1805 and sets

out again to explore

Park 1771-1806 the Niger River,

» Timbuktu >
•
** j- " • and goes down
f,_ , 9EGI ! ihe SigjeKRiver. _

Park arrives atSegu Faus

and first sees the mgeriaver.
anajirst Niger River , re
Pun'; k attacked
<J
He tun&tfack duej.o floods. » \ b
b) tribesmen at
ussa Falls and
fawns, 1806^ •£
o m West Africa,* te. J*m '%j
The cruel desert March »fl?7 •-**" V.A« ' '-'

In the hot, dry Sahara Desert. Europeans were helpless on their

own. On long journeys they teamed up with traveling merchants
and their trade caravans (above); on short journeys they hired
guides. The biggest danger they faced was to run out of water.
Caillie 1799-1838
•;
Rene CailliE Heinrich Barth fy
In 1828 Frenchman Rene Caillie Heinnch Barth, a German who
became the first European to visit worked for the British government, KEY TO MAP
Timbuktu, in the Sahara Desert, was a more scientific explorer than + + +• +
JAMES BRUCE 1768-73
and return alive. In this region the Caillie or Park. He spent five years in MUNGO PARK 1st expedition 1795-97

people were Muslims and were the Sahara Desertand West Africa, 2nd expedition 1805-06
RENE CAILLIE 1827-28 Q • • • • •
hostile to Christians, so Caillie mostly on horseback, and grew to
traveled in disguise, pretending understand the people. He explored
HEINRICH BARTH 1st expedition 1844-45 O Rwara
2nd expedition 1850-55 o • • • •

tobe an Arab. When he reached Lake Chad and the Benue River, and BURTON & SPEKE 1857-58 A •• • • •
Timbuktu, he was disappointed to \1sited Timbuktu. To travel through JOHN SPEKE 1st expedition 1858
find that it was not a city of gold, as dangerous Arab regions, he stained 2nd expedition 1860-63 © • • > •

legend said, but a ullage of mud huts. Barth 1821-1865 his skin and dressed like an Arab.

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