Eduard Robert Flegel (13 October 1855 – 11 September 1886) was a German

explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

who played an important role in the

Scramble for Africa The Scramble for Africa, also called the Partition of Africa, or Conquest of Africa, was the invasion, annexation, division, and colonisation of Africa, colonization of most of Africa by seven Western Europe, Western European powers during a ...

Life

Born in

Vilna Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional u ...

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

, Flegel trained as a

merchant A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, a merchant is anyone who is involved in business or trade. Merchants have operated for as long as indust ...

before travelling to

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

in 1875, where, in 1879 opportunity arose to take part in an expedition along the

River Niger The Niger River ( ; ) is the main river of West Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in south-eastern Guinea near the Sierra Leone border. It runs in a crescent shape through Mali, ...

, which penetrated to about 125 miles beyond the farthest point hitherto explored. At the behest of the German African Society, which commissioned him to explore the entire

Benue River The Benue River (french: la Bénoué), previously known as the Chadda River or Tchadda, is the major tributary of the Niger River. The river is approximately long and is almost entirely navigable during the summer months. The size of its bas ...

basin, Flegel undertook further study of the Benue, and in 1880 travelled up the Niger to

Sokoto Sokoto is a major city located in extreme northwestern Nigeria, near the confluence of the Sokoto River and the Rima River. As of 2006 it has a population of over 427,760. Sokoto is the modern-day capital of Sokoto State and was previously the c ...

. There, he obtained leave from the sultan for an expedition to the

Adamawa Plateau The Adamawa Plateau (french: Massif de l'Adamaoua) is a plateau region in west-central Africa stretching from south-eastern Nigeria through north-central Cameroon ( Adamawa and North Provinces) to the Central African Republic. The part of the pl ...

. During his exploration of the Benue, he identified its source at Ngaundere in 1882. After a brief sojourn in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, Flegel returned to

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

on a commission from the German African Society to open the Niger-Benue district to German trade. His efforts were largely unsuccessful as he arrived to find the district occupied by

George Taubman Goldie Sir George Dashwood Taubman Goldie (20 May 1846 – 20 August 1925) was a Manx administrator who played a major role in the founding of Nigeria. In many ways, his role was similar to that of Cecil Rhodes elsewhere in Africa but he did ...

's National African Company, and it maintained its ascendancy. Although very ill, he attempted the ascent of the Benue, but turned back at Yola and died soon after arriving at the coast.

Works

* ''Lose Blätter aus dem Tagebuch meiner Haussa-Freunde und Reisegefährten'' (''Loose Leaves from the Diary of My Hausa Friends and Travel Companions''; Hamburg, 1885) * ''Vom Niger-Benüe; Briefe aus Afrika'' (''Concerning the Niger-Benue; Letters from Africa''; Leipzig, 1890)

Life

Works

References

Further reading