![1813 Thomson Map of Africa - Geographicus - Africa-thomson-1813](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/1813_Thomson_Map_of_Africa_-_Geographicus_-_Africa-thomson-1813.jpg)
The geography of
North Africa
North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...
has been reasonably well known among Europeans since
classical antiquity
Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD centred on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ...
in
Greco-Roman geography. Northwest Africa (the
Maghreb
The Maghreb (; ar, الْمَغْرِب, al-Maghrib, lit=the west), also known as the Arab Maghreb ( ar, المغرب العربي) and Northwest Africa, is the western part of North Africa and the Arab world. The region includes Algeria, ...
) was known as either ''Libya'' or ''Africa'', while
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
was considered part of Asia.
European exploration of
Sub-Saharan Africa begins with the
Age of Discovery
The Age of Discovery (or the Age of Exploration), also known as the early modern period, was a period largely overlapping with the Age of Sail, approximately from the 15th century to the 17th century in European history, during which seafarin ...
in the 15th century, pioneered by the
Kingdom of Portugal under
Henry the Navigator. The
Cape of Good Hope was first reached by
Bartolomeu Dias on 12 March 1488, opening the important
sea route to India and the
Far East
The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.
The ter ...
, but European exploration of
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 ...
itself remained very limited during the 16th and 17th centuries. The European powers were content to establish trading posts along the coast while they were actively exploring and colonizing the
New World
The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. ...
. Exploration of the interior of Africa was thus mostly left to the
Muslim slave trade
The history of slavery in the Muslim world began with institutions inherited from pre-Islamic Arabia;Lewis 1994Ch.1 and the practice of keeping slavery, slaves subsequently developed in radically different ways, depending on social-political fac ...
rs, who in tandem with the
Muslim conquest of Sudan
The Islamization of the Sudan region (Sahel) encompasses a prolonged period of religious conversion, through military conquest and trade relations, spanning the 8th to 16th centuries.
Following the 7th century Muslim conquest of Egypt and t ...
established far-reaching networks and supported the economy of a number of
Sahelian kingdoms
The Sahelian kingdoms were a series of centralized kingdoms or empires that were centered on the Sahel, the area of grasslands south of the Sahara, from the 8th century to the 19th. The wealth of the states came from controlling the trade routes ...
during the 15th to 18th centuries.
At the beginning of the 19th century, European knowledge of the geography of the interior of Sub-Saharan Africa was still rather limited. Expeditions exploring
Southern Africa
Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number o ...
were made during the 1830s and 1840s, so that around the midpoint of the 19th century and the beginning of the colonial
Scramble for Africa, the unexplored parts were now limited to what would turn out to be the
Congo Basin and the
African Great Lakes
The African Great Lakes ( sw, Maziwa Makuu; rw, Ibiyaga bigari) are a series of lakes constituting the part of the Rift Valley lakes in and around the East African Rift. They include Lake Victoria, the second-largest fresh water lake in th ...
. This "Heart of Africa" remained one of the last remaining "blank spots" on
world map
A world map is a map of most or all of the surface of Earth. World maps, because of their scale, must deal with the problem of projection. Maps rendered in two dimensions by necessity distort the display of the three-dimensional surface of th ...
s of the later 19th century (alongside the
Arctic
The Arctic ( or ) is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenland), Finland, Iceland, N ...
,
Antarctic and the interior of the
Amazon basin). It was left for 19th-century European explorers, including those searching for the famed
sources of the Nile
The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest rive ...
, notably
John Hanning Speke
Captain John Hanning Speke (4 May 1827 – 15 September 1864) was an English explorer and officer in the British Indian Army who made three exploratory expeditions to Africa. He is most associated with the search for the source of the Nil ...
,
Sir Richard Burton,
David Livingstone
David Livingstone (; 19 March 1813 – 1 May 1873) was a Scottish physician, Congregationalist, and pioneer Christian missionary with the London Missionary Society, an explorer in Africa, and one of the most popular British heroes of t ...
and
Henry Morton Stanley, to complete the exploration of Africa by the 1870s. After this, the general geography of Africa was known, but it was left to further expeditions during the 1880s onward, notably, those led by
Oskar Lenz, to flesh out more detail such as the continent's geological makeup.
History
Antiquity
![Hecataeus world map-en](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Hecataeus_world_map-en.svg)
The
Phoenicians
Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their histor ...
explored North Africa, establishing a number of colonies, the most prominent of which was
Carthage
Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the cla ...
. Carthage itself conducted exploration of West Africa. The first alleged circumnavigation of the African continent attested to was made by Phoenician sailors, in an expedition commissioned by Egyptian pharaoh
Necho II
Necho II (sometimes Nekau, Neku, Nechoh, or Nikuu; Greek: Νεκώς Β'; ) of Egypt was a king of the 26th Dynasty (610–595 BC), which ruled from Sais. Necho undertook a number of construction projects across his kingdom. In his reign, accordi ...
, circa 600 BC which took three years. A report of this expedition is provided by
Herodotus
Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer
A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society ...
(4.37). They sailed south, rounded the Cape heading west, made their way north to the Mediterranean, and then returned home. He states that they paused each year to sow and harvest grain. Herodotus himself is sceptical of the historicity of this feat, which would have taken place about 120 years before his birth; however, the reason he gives for disbelieving the story is the sailors' reported claim that when they sailed along the southern coast of Africa, they found the Sun stood to their right, in the north; Herodotus, who was unaware of the
spherical shape of the Earth found this impossible to believe. Some commentators took this circumstance as proof that the voyage is historical, but other scholars still dismiss the report as unlikely.
The West African coast may have been explored by
Hanno the Navigator in an expedition c.500 BC. The report of this voyage survives in a short ''Periplus'' in Greek, which was first cited by Greek authors in the 3rd century BC.
There is some uncertainty as to how far precisely Hanno reached; he may have sailed as far as
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierr ...
,
Guinea or even
Gabon
Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the nort ...
. However, Robin Law notes that some commentators have argued that Hanno's exploration may have taken him no farther than southern Morocco.
![Trans-Saharan roman expeditions-explorations](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/Trans-Saharan_roman_expeditions-explorations.png)
''Africa'' is named for the
Afri
(singular ) was a Latin name for the inhabitants of Africa, referring in its widest sense to all the lands south of the Mediterranean (Ancient Libya). Latin speakers at first used as an adjective, meaning "of Africa". As a substantive, it den ...
people who settled in the area of current-day Tunisia. The
Roman province of Africa
Africa Proconsularis was a Roman province on the northern African coast that was established in 146 BC following the defeat of Carthage in the Third Punic War. It roughly comprised the territory of present-day Tunisia, the northeast of Algeria, ...
spanned the Mediterranean coast of what is now Libya, Tunisia, and Algeria. The parts of North Africa north of the
Sahara were well known in antiquity. However, the Romans never seem to have explored the Sahara itself, or the lands South of it.
Prior to the 2nd century BC, however,
Greek geographers
;Pre-Hellenistic Classical Greece
*Homer
*Anaximander
*Hecataeus of Miletus
* Massaliote Periplus
* Scylax of Caryanda (6th century BC)
*Herodotus
;Hellenistic period
*Pytheas (died c. 310 BC)
*''Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax'' (3rd or 4th century B ...
were unaware that the landmass then known as
Libya
Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...
expanded south of the Sahara, assuming that the desert bounded on the outer
Ocean
The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the wo ...
. Indeed,
Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...
, according to
Plutarchus
Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ' ...
' ''Lives'', considered sailing from the mouths of the
Indus back to Macedonia passing south of Africa as a shortcut compared to the land route. Even
Eratosthenes around 200 BC still assumed an extent of the landmass no further south than the
Horn of Africa.
By the Roman imperial period, the
Horn of Africa was well-known to Mediterranean geographers. The trading post of
Rhapta
Rhapta ( grc, Ῥάπτα and Ῥαπτά) was an emporion said to be on the coast of Southeast Africa, first described in the 1st century CE. Its location has not been firmly identified, although there are a number of plausible candidate sites. ...
, described as "the last marketplace of
Azania
Azania ( grc, Ἀζανία) is a name that has been applied to various parts of southeastern tropical Africa. In the Roman period and perhaps earlier, the toponym referred to a portion of the Southeast Africa coast extending from northern Keny ...
," may correspond to the coast of
Tanzania
Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...
. The
Periplus of the Erythraean Sea
The ''Periplus of the Erythraean Sea'' ( grc, Περίπλους τῆς Ἐρυθρᾶς Θαλάσσης, ', modern Greek '), also known by its Latin name as the , is a Greco-Roman periplus written in Koine Greek that describes navigation and ...
, dated to the 1st century AD, appears to extend geographical knowledge further south, to
Southeast Africa
Southeast Africa or Southeastern Africa is an African region that is intermediate between East Africa and Southern Africa. It comprises the countries Botswana, Eswatini, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania ...
.
Ptolemy's world map
The Ptolemy world map is a map of the world known to Greco-Roman societies in the 2nd century. It is based on the description contained in Ptolemy's book ''Geography'', written . Based on an inscription in several of the earliest surviving manusc ...
of the 2nd century is well aware that the African continent extends significantly further south than the Horn of Africa, but has no geographic detail south of the equator (it is unclear whether it is aware of the
Gulf of Guinea
The Gulf of Guinea is the northeasternmost part of the tropical Atlantic Ocean from Cape Lopez in Gabon, north and west to Cape Palmas in Liberia. The intersection of the Equator and Prime Meridian (zero degrees latitude and longitude) is in ...
).
Middle Ages
Jaume Ferrer
Jaume Ferrer (, fl. 1346) was a Majorcan sailor and explorer. He sailed from Majorca to find the legendary "River of Gold" on 10 August 1346, but the outcome of his quest and his fate are unknown. He is memorialized in his native city of Palma, Ma ...
sailed from
Majorca down the
West African
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, ...
coast to find the legendary "River of Gold" in 1346, but the outcome of his quest and his fate are unknown.
Early Portuguese expeditions
![Henry the Navigator1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Henry_the_Navigator1.jpg)
Portuguese explorer
Prince Henry Prince Henry (or Prince Harry) may refer to:
People
*Henry the Young King (1155–1183), son of Henry II of England, who was crowned king but predeceased his father
*Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal (1394–1460)
*Henry, Duke of Cornwall (Ja ...
, known as ''the Navigator'', was the first European to methodically explore Africa and the oceanic route to the Indies. From his residence in the
Algarve
The Algarve (, , ; from ) is the southernmost NUTS II region of continental Portugal. It has an area of with 467,495 permanent inhabitants and incorporates 16 municipalities ( ''concelhos'' or ''municípios'' in Portuguese).
The region has it ...
region of southern Portugal, he directed successive expeditions to circumnavigate Africa and reach India. In 1420, Henry sent an expedition to secure the uninhabited but strategic island of
Madeira. In 1425, he tried to secure the
Canary Islands as well, but these were already under firm Castilian control. In 1431, another Portuguese expedition reached and annexed the
Azores
)
, motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace")
, anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores")
, image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg
, map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union
, map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...
.
Naval charts of 1339 show that the
Canary Islands were already known to Europeans. In 1341, Portuguese and Italian explorers prepared a joint expedition. In 1342 the Catalans organized an expedition captained by
Francesc Desvalers to the
Canary Islands that set sail from Majorca. In 1344,
Pope Clement VI
Pope Clement VI ( la, Clemens VI; 1291 – 6 December 1352), born Pierre Roger, was head of the Catholic Church from 7 May 1342 to his death in December 1352. He was the fourth Avignon pope. Clement reigned during the first visitation of the Bl ...
named French admiral
Luis de la Cerda ''Prince of Fortune'', and sent him to conquer the Canaries. In 1402,
Jean de Bethencourt and
Gadifer de la Salle
Gadifer de La Salle (Sainte-Radegonde, 1340 –1415) was a French knight and crusader of Poitevine origin who, with Jean de Béthencourt, conquered and explored the Canary Islands for the Kingdom of Castile.
Life
Gadifer de La Salle was bor ...
sailed to conquer the Canary Islands but found them already plundered by the
Castilians
Castilians (Spanish: ''castellanos'') are those people who live in certain former areas of the historical Kingdom of Castile, but the region's exact limits are disputed. A broader definition is to consider as Castilians the population belonging ...
. Although they did conquer the isles, Bethencourt's nephew was forced to cede them to Castile in 1418.
In 1455 and 1456 two Italian explorers,
Alvise Cadamosto
Alvise Cadamosto or Alvise da Ca' da Mosto (, also known in Portuguese as ''Luís Cadamosto''; c. 1432 – 18 July 1488) was a Venetian explorer and slave trader, who was hired by the Portuguese prince Henry the Navigator and undertook two known ...
from
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...
and
Antoniotto Usodimare
Antoniotto Usodimare or Usus di Mare (1416–1462) was a Republic of Genoa, Genoese trader and explorer in the service of the Kingdom of Portugal, Portuguese Prince Henry the Navigator. Jointly with Alvise Cadamosto, Usodimare discovered a great st ...
from
Genoa
Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...
, together with an unnamed Portuguese captain and working for Prince Henry of Portugal, followed the
Gambia river, visiting the land of
Senegal
Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 ...
, while another Italian sailor from Genoa,
Antonio de Noli, also on behalf of Prince Henry, explored the
Bijagós islands, and, together with the Portuguese
Diogo Gomes
Diogo Gomes () was a Portuguese navigator, explorer and writer.
Diogo Gomes was a servant and explorer of Portuguese prince Henry the Navigator. His memoirs were dictated late in his life to Martin Behaim. They are an invaluable (if sometimes in ...
, the
Cape Verde archipelago.
Antonio de Noli, who became the first governor of Cape Verde (and the first European colonial governor in Sub-Saharan Africa), is also considered the discoverer of the First Islands of Cape Verde.
Along the western and eastern coasts of Africa, progress was also steady; Portuguese sailors reached
Cape Bojador
Cape Bojador ( ar, رأس بوجادور, trans. ''Rā's Būjādūr''; ber, ⴱⵓⵊⴷⵓⵔ, ''Bujdur''; Spanish and pt, Cabo Bojador; french: Cap Boujdour) is a headland on the west coast of Western Sahara, at 26° 07' 37"N, 14° 29' 57"W ...
in 1434 and
Cape Blanco in 1441. In 1443, they built a fortress on the island of
Arguin
Arguin ( ar, أرغين, pt, Arguim) is an island off the western coast of Mauritania in the Bay of Arguin. It is approximately in size, with extensive and dangerous reefs around it. The island is now part of the Banc d'Arguin National Park.
H ...
, in modern-day
Mauritania, trading European wheat and cloth for African gold and slaves. It was the first time that the semi-mythic ''gold of the Sudan'' reached Europe without Muslim mediation. Most of the slaves were sent to Madeira, which became, after thorough deforestation, the first European plantation colony. Between 1444 and 1447, the Portuguese explored the coasts of
Senegal
Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 ...
,
Gambia, and
Guinea. In 1456, the Venetian captain Alvise Cadamosto, under Portuguese command, explored the islands of
Cape Verde. In 1462, two years after Prince Henry's death, Portuguese sailors explored the
Bissau islands and named
Serra Leoa (''Lioness Mountains'').
![Lázaro Luis 1563](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/L%C3%A1zaro_Luis_1563.jpg)
In 1469,
Fernão Gomes rented the rights of African exploration for five years. Under his direction, in 1471, the Portuguese reached modern
Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...
and settled in A Mina (''the mine''), today's
Elmina
Elmina, also known as Edina by the local Fante, is a town and the capital of the Komenda/Edina/Eguafo/Abirem District on the south coast of Ghana in the Central Region, situated on a bay on the Atlantic Ocean, west of Cape Coast. Elmina w ...
. They had finally reached a country with an abundance of gold, hence the historical name of "
Gold Coast
Gold Coast may refer to:
Places Africa
* Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana:
** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642)
** Dutch G ...
" that Elmina would eventually receive.
In 1472,
Fernão do Pó
Fernão do Pó (; ''fl.'' 1472), also known as Fernão Pó, Fernando Pó or Fernando Poo, was a 15th-century Portuguese navigator and explorer of the West African coast. He was the first European to see the islands in the Gulf of Guinea around 14 ...
discovered the island that would bear his name for centuries (now
Bioko
Bioko (; historically Fernando Po; bvb, Ëtulá Ëria) is an island off the west coast of Africa and the northernmost part of Equatorial Guinea. Its population was 335,048 at the 2015 census and it covers an area of . The island is located of ...
) and an estuary abundant in
shrimp ( pt, camarão,), giving its name to
Cameroon
Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...
.
Soon after, the
equator was crossed by Europeans. Portugal established a base in
Sāo Tomé that, after 1485, was settled with criminals. After 1497, expelled Spanish and Portuguese Jews were also sent there.
In 1482,
Diogo Cão
Diogo Cão (; -1486), anglicised as Diogo Cam and also known as Diego Cam, was a Portuguese explorer and one of the most notable navigators of the Age of Discovery. He made two voyages sailing along the west coast of Africa in the 1480s, explori ...
found the mouth of a large river and learned of the existence of a great kingdom,
Kongo
Congo or The Congo may refer to either of two countries that border the Congo River in central Africa:
* Democratic Republic of the Congo, the larger country to the southeast, capital Kinshasa, formerly known as Zaire, sometimes referred to a ...
. In 1485, he explored the river upstream as well.
But the Portuguese wanted, above anything else, to find a route to India and kept trying to
circumnavigate
Circumnavigation is the complete navigation around an entire island, continent, or astronomical body (e.g. a planet or moon). This article focuses on the circumnavigation of Earth.
The first recorded circumnavigation of the Earth was the Magel ...
Africa. In 1485, the expedition of
João Afonso d'Aveiros, with the German astronomer
Martin of Behaim as part of the crew, explored the
Bight of Benin (Kingdom of Benin), returning information about African king
Ogane.
In 1488,
Bartolomeu Dias and his pilot
Pêro de Alenquer, after putting down a mutiny, turned a cape where they were caught by a storm, naming it Cape of Storms. They followed the coast for a while realizing that it kept going eastward with even some tendency to the north. Lacking supplies, they turned around with the conviction that the far end of Africa had finally been reached. Upon their return to Portugal, the promising cape was renamed
Cape of Good Hope.
Some years later,
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
* lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo
* es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón
* pt, Cristóvão Colombo
* ca, Cristòfor (or )
* la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...
landed in America under rival Castilian command.
Pope Alexander VI decreed the ''
Inter caetera
''Inter caetera'' ('Among other orks) was a papal bull issued by Pope Alexander VI on the 4 May () 1493, which granted to the Catholic Monarchs King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile all lands to the "west and south" of ...
'' bull, dividing the non-Christian parts of the world between the two rival Catholic powers, Spain and Portugal.
Finally, in the years 1497 to 1498,
Vasco da Gama, again with Alenquer as a pilot, took a direct route to Cape of Good Hope, via
St. Helena
Saint Helena () is a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote volcanic tropical island west of the coast of south-western Africa, and east of Rio de Janeiro in South America. It is one of three constit ...
. He went beyond the farthest point reached by Dias and named the country
Natal
NATAL or Natal may refer to:
Places
* Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil
* Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa
** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843)
** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ( ...
. Then he sailed northward, making land at
Quelimane
Quelimane () is a seaport in Mozambique. It is the administrative capital of the Zambezia Province and the province's largest city, and stands from the mouth of the Rio dos Bons Sinais (or "River of the Good Signs"). The river was named when Va ...
(
Mozambique
Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...
) and
Mombasa
Mombasa ( ; ) is a coastal city in southeastern Kenya along the Indian Ocean. It was the first capital of the British East Africa, before Nairobi was elevated to capital city status. It now serves as the capital of Mombasa County. The town is ...
, where he found
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
traders, and
Malindi
Malindi is a town on Malindi Bay at the mouth of the Sabaki River, lying on the Indian Ocean coast of Kenya. It is 120 kilometres northeast of Mombasa. The population of Malindi was 119,859 as of the 2019 census. It is the largest urban cent ...
(both in modern
Kenya
)
, national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Nairobi
, coordinates =
, largest_city = Nairobi
...
). In this town, he recruited an Arab pilot who led the Portuguese directly to
Calicut
Kozhikode (), also known in English as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. It has a corporation limit population of 609,224 and a metropolitan population of more than 2 million, making it the second l ...
. On 28 August 1498, King
Manuel of Portugal informed the Pope of the good news that Portugal had reached India.
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
and
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...
reacted to this news with hostility; from the
Red Sea
The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; ...
, they jointly attacked the Portuguese ships that traded with India. The Portuguese defeated these ships near
Diu in 1509. The
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
's indifferent reaction to Portuguese exploration left Portugal in almost exclusive control of trade through the
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...
. They established many bases along the eastern coast of Africa except for Somalia (See Ajuran-Portuguese wars). The Portuguese also captured
Aden in 1513.
One of the ships under command of
Diogo Dias
Diogo Dias, also known as Diogo Gomes, was a 15th-century Portuguese explorer. He was the brother of Bartolomeu Dias and discovered some of the Cape Verde islands together with António Noli.
Serving with da Gama
In 1497 on the first Portugu ...
arrived at a coast that was not in East Africa. Two years later, a chart already showed an elongated island east of Africa that bore the name
Madagascar
Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...
. But only a century later, between 1613 and 1619, did the Portuguese explore the island in detail. They signed treaties with local chieftains and sent the first
missionaries, who found it impossible to make locals believe in
Hell, and were eventually expelled.
Early modern history
Portuguese
The Portuguese presence in Africa soon interfered with existing Arab trade interests.
By 1583, the Portuguese established themselves in
Zanzibar
Zanzibar (; ; ) is an insular semi-autonomous province which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of many small islan ...
and on the
Swahili coast.
The
Kingdom of Congo
The Kingdom of Kongo ( kg, Kongo dya Ntotila or ''Wene wa Kongo;'' pt, Reino do Congo) was a kingdom located in central Africa in present-day northern Angola, the western portion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Republic of th ...
was
converted to Christianity
Conversion to Christianity is the religious conversion of a previously non-Christian person to Christianity. Different Christian denominations may perform various different kinds of rituals or ceremonies initiation into their community of belie ...
in 1495, its king taking the name of
João I. The Portuguese also established their trade interests in the
Kingdom of Mutapa
The Kingdom of Mutapa – sometimes referred to as the Mutapa Empire, Mwenemutapa, ( sn, Mwene we Mutapa, pt, Monomotapa) – was an African kingdom in Zimbabwe, which expanded to what is now modern-day Mozambique.
The Portuguese term ''Mon ...
in the 16th century, and in 1629 placed a puppet ruler on the throne.
The Portuguese (and later also the Dutch) also became involved in the local slave economy, supporting the state of the
Jaggas, who performed slave raids in the Congo.
![Queen Nzinga 1657](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/Queen_Nzinga_1657.png)
They also used the Kongo to weaken the neighboring realm of the
Ndongo
The Kingdom of Ndongo, formerly known as Angola or Dongo, was an early-modern African state located in what is now Angola.
The Kingdom of Ndongo is first recorded in the sixteenth century. It was one of multiple vassal states to Kongo, though ...
, where Queen
Nzinga put up a fierce but eventually doomed resistance to Portuguese and Jagga ambitions. Portugal intervened militarily in these conflicts, creating the basis for their colony of
Angola
, national_anthem = " Angola Avante"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capital = Luanda
, religion =
, religion_year = 2020
, religion_ref =
, coordina ...
. In 1663, after another conflict, the royal crown of Kongo was sent to
Lisbon. Nevertheless, a diminished Kongo Kingdom would still exist until 1885, when the last Manicongo, Pedro V, ceded his almost non-existent domain to Portugal.
The Portuguese dealt with the other major state of Southern Africa, the Monomotapa (in modern
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...
), in a similar manner: Portugal intervened in a local war hoping to get abundant mineral riches, imposing a protectorate. But with the authority of the Monomotapa diminished by the foreign presence, anarchy took over. The local miners migrated and even buried the mines to prevent them from falling into Portuguese hands. When in 1693 the neighboring
Cangamires invaded the country, the Portuguese accepted their failure and retreated to the coast.
Dutch
Beginning in the 17th century, the Netherlands began exploring and colonizing Africa. While the Dutch were waging a
long war of independence against Spain, Portugal had temporarily united with Spain, starting in 1580 and ending in 1640. As a result, the growing colonial ambitions of the Netherlands were mostly directed against Portugal.
For this purpose, two Dutch companies were founded: the
West Indies Company, with power over all the Atlantic Ocean, and the
East Indies Company, with power over the Indian Ocean.
The West India Company conquered Elmina in 1637 and
Luanda
Luanda () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city in Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major Angola#Economy, industrial, Angola#Culture, cultural and Angola#Demographics, urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atl ...
in 1640. In 1648, they were expelled from Luanda by the Portuguese. Overall the Dutch built 16 forts in different places, including
Gorée
(; "Gorée Island"; Wolof: Beer Dun) is one of the 19 (i.e. districts) of the city of Dakar, Senegal. It is an island located at sea from the main harbour of Dakar (), famous as a destination for people interested in the Atlantic slave trad ...
in
Senegal
Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 ...
, partly overtaking Portugal as the main slave-trading power. The
Dutch Gold Coast and
Dutch Slave Coast
The Dutch Slave Coast ( Dutch: ''Slavenkust'') refers to the trading posts of the Dutch West India Company on the Slave Coast, which lie in contemporary Ghana, Benin, Togo, and Nigeria. The primary purpose of the trading post was to supply sl ...
were successful.
But in the colony of
Dutch Loango-Angola
Loango-Angola is the name for the possessions of the Dutch West India Company in contemporary Angola and the Republic of the Congo. Notably, the name refers to the colony that was captured from the Portuguese between 1641 and 1648. Due to the di ...
, the Portuguese managed to expel the Dutch.
In
Dutch Mauritius
Mauritius was an official settlement of the Dutch East India Company on the island of Mauritius between 1638 and 1710, and used as a refreshing station for passing ships. It was already frequented by Dutch ships from 1598 onwards, but only settl ...
the colonization started in 1638 and ended in 1710, with a brief interruption between 1658 and 1666. Numerous governors were appointed, but continuous hardships such as cyclones, droughts, pest infestations, lack of food, and illnesses finally took their toll, and the island was definitively abandoned in 1710.
The Dutch left a lasting impact in
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
, a region ignored by Portugal that the Dutch eventually decided to use as a station in their route to East Asia.
Jan van Riebeeck founded
Cape Town
Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...
in 1652, starting the
European exploration and colonization of South Africa.
Other early modern European presence
![James Island and Fort Gambia](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/James_Island_and_Fort_Gambia.jpg)
Almost at the same time as the Dutch, other European colonial powers attempted to create their own outposts in West Africa, following in the footsteps of the Portuguese.
During the
Tudor period
The Tudor period occurred between 1485 and 1603 in England and Wales and includes the Elizabethan period during the reign of Elizabeth I until 1603. The Tudor period coincides with the dynasty of the House of Tudor in England that began wit ...
, English
merchant adventurers started trading in West Africa, coming into conflict with Portuguese troops. In 1581,
Francis Drake reached the Cape of Good Hope. In 1660, the
Royal African Company was founded. In 1663, the English built
Fort James in
Gambia. One year later, another English colonial expedition attempted to settle southern Madagascar, resulting in the death of most of the colonists. The English forts on the West African coast were eventually taken by the Dutch.
In 1626, the French
Compagnie de l'Occident was created. This company expelled the Dutch from
Senegambia (
Senegal
Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 ...
), making it the first French domain in Africa, they also conquered the island of
Arguin
Arguin ( ar, أرغين, pt, Arguim) is an island off the western coast of Mauritania in the Bay of Arguin. It is approximately in size, with extensive and dangerous reefs around it. The island is now part of the Banc d'Arguin National Park.
H ...
.
France also set her eyes on Madagascar, the island that had been used since 1527 as a stop in travels to India. In 1642, the
French East India Company
The French East India Company (french: Compagnie française pour le commerce des Indes orientales) was a colonial commercial enterprise, founded on 1 September 1664 to compete with the English (later British) and Dutch trading companies in th ...
founded a settlement in southern Madagascar called
Fort Dauphin. The commercial results of this settlement were scarce and, again, most of the settlers died. One of the survivors,
Etienne de Flacourt, published a ''History of the Great Island of Madagascar and Relations'', which was for a long time the main European source of information about the island. Further settlement attempts had no more success but, in 1667,
François Martin led the first expedition to the Malagasy heartland, reaching
Lake Alaotra
Lake Alaotra ( mg, farihin' Alaotra, ; french: Lac Alaotra) is the largest lake in Madagascar, located in Alaotra-Mangoro Region and on the island's northern central plateau. Its basin is composed of shallow freshwater lakes and marshes surrounded ...
. In 1665, France officially claimed Madagascar, under the name of Île Dauphine. However, little colonial activity would take place in Madagascar until the 19th century.
In 1651, the
Duchy of Courland and Semigallia (a vassal of the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and, after 1791, as the Commonwealth of Poland, was a bi- confederal state, sometimes called a federation, of Poland and Lithuania ru ...
) gained a colony in Africa on
St. Andrew's Island at the
Gambia River
The Gambia River (formerly known as the River Gambra) is a major river in West Africa, running from the Fouta Djallon plateau in north Guinea westward through Senegal and The Gambia to the Atlantic Ocean at the city of Banjul. It is navigabl ...
and established the Jacob Fort there. The Duchy also took other local lands including St. Mary Island (modern-day
Banjul) and
Fort Jillifree
In 1650,
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
merchants founded
Swedish Gold Coast
The Swedish Gold Coast ( sv, Svenska Guldkusten) was a colony of the Swedish Africa Company founded in 1650 by Hendrik Carloff on the Gulf of Guinea in present-day Ghana in Africa. Under foreign occupation for much of its existence, it disapp ...
in modern Ghana following the foundation of the
Swedish Africa Company (1649). In 1652 the foundations were laid of the fort Carlsborg.In 1658 Fort Carlsborg was seized and made part of the
Danish Gold Coast
The Danish Gold Coast ( da, Danske Guldkyst or ''Dansk Guinea'') comprised the colonies that Denmark–Norway controlled in Africa as a part of the Gold Coast (roughly present-day southeast Ghana), which is on the Gulf of Guinea. It was coloni ...
colony, then to the
Dutch Gold Coast. Later on the local population started a successful uprising against their new masters and in December 1660 the King of the
Akan people subgroup-
Efutu again offered
Sweden control over the area, but in 1663 were seized by the
Danish
Danish may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark
People
* A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark
* Culture of Denmark
* Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...
after a long
defense of
Fort Christiansborg
Osu Castle (also known as Fort Christiansborg or the Castle) is a castle located in Osu, Ghana on the coast of the Gulf of Guinea in Africa.
A substantial fort was built by Denmark-Norway in the 1660s, thereafter the fort changed ownership ...
.
The
Dano-Norwegian
Dano-Norwegian ( Danish and no, dansk-norsk) was a koiné/mixed language that evolved among the urban elite in Norwegian cities during the later years of the union between the Kingdoms of Denmark and Norway (1536/1537–1814). It is from thi ...
colonized the
Danish Gold Coast
The Danish Gold Coast ( da, Danske Guldkyst or ''Dansk Guinea'') comprised the colonies that Denmark–Norway controlled in Africa as a part of the Gold Coast (roughly present-day southeast Ghana), which is on the Gulf of Guinea. It was coloni ...
, from 1674 to 1755 the settlements were administered by the
Danish West India-Guinea Company
The Danish West India Company () or Danish West IndiaGuinea Company (') was a Dano-Norwegian chartered company that operated out of the colonies in the Danish West Indies. It is estimated that 120,000 enslaved Africans were transported on the co ...
. From December 1680 to 29 August 1682, the Portuguese occupied Fort Christiansborg. In 1750 it was made a Danish
crown colony. From 1782 to 1785 it was under British occupation. From 1814 it was made part of the territory of
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark
, establish ...
.
In 1677, King
Frederick William I of Prussia sent an expedition to the western coast of Africa. The commander of the expedition, Captain Blonk, signed agreements with the chieftains of the Gold Coast. There, the Prussians built a fort named
Gross Friederichsburg and restored the abandoned Portuguese fort of Arguin. But in 1720, the king decided to sell these bases to the Netherlands for 7,000
ducats
The ducat () coin was used as a trade coin in Europe from the later Middle Ages from the 13th to 19th centuries. Its most familiar version, the gold ducat or sequin containing around of 98.6% fine gold, originated in Venice in 1284 and gained ...
and 12 slaves, six of them chained with pure gold chains.
In 1777, the
Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its prede ...
and
Portuguese Empire
The Portuguese Empire ( pt, Império Português), also known as the Portuguese Overseas (''Ultramar Português'') or the Portuguese Colonial Empire (''Império Colonial Português''), was composed of the overseas colonies, factories, and the ...
signed the
Treaty of San Ildefonso in which
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
give the islands of Annobón and Fernando Poo in waters of the
Gulf of Guinea
The Gulf of Guinea is the northeasternmost part of the tropical Atlantic Ocean from Cape Lopez in Gabon, north and west to Cape Palmas in Liberia. The intersection of the Equator and Prime Meridian (zero degrees latitude and longitude) is in ...
, as well as the
Guinean
Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: République de Guinée), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the we ...
coast between the
Niger River
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 ...
and the
Ogooué River
The Ogooué (or Ogowe), also known as the Nazareth river, some long, is the principal river of Gabon in west central Africa and the fifth largest river in Africa by volume of discharge, trailing only the Congo, Kasai, Niger and Zambezi. Its wa ...
, to
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
.
The British expressed their interest by the formation in 1788 of
The Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa. The individuals who formed this club were inspired in part by the Scotsman
James Bruce
James Bruce of Kinnaird (14 December 1730 – 27 April 1794) was a Scottish traveller and travel writer who confirmed the source of the Blue Nile. He spent more than a dozen years in North Africa and Ethiopia and in 1770 became the first Eur ...
, who had ventured to
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
in 1769 and reached the source of the
Blue Nile
The Blue Nile (; ) is a river originating at Lake Tana in Ethiopia. It travels for approximately through Ethiopia and Sudan. Along with the White Nile, it is one of the two major tributaries of the Nile and supplies about 85.6% of the water to ...
.
Overall, the European exploration of Africa in the 17th and 18th centuries was very limited. Instead, they were focused on the
slave trade
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
, which only required coastal bases and items to trade. The real exploration of the African interior would start well into the 19th century.
The 19th century
![Routes of European explorers in Africa, to 1853](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c/Routes_of_European_explorers_in_Africa%2C_to_1853.jpg)
Although the
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
distracted the attention of Europe from exploratory work in Africa, those wars nevertheless exercised great influence on the future of the continent, both in Egypt and South Africa. The occupation of Egypt (1798–1803), first by France and then by Great Britain, resulted in an effort by the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
to regain direct control over that country. In 1811,
Mehemet Ali
Muhammad Ali Pasha al-Mas'ud ibn Agha, also known as Muhammad Ali of Egypt and the Sudan ( sq, Mehmet Ali Pasha, ar, محمد علي باشا, ; ota, محمد علی پاشا المسعود بن آغا; ; 4 March 1769 – 2 August 1849), was ...
established an almost independent state, and from 1820 onward established Egyptian rule over eastern Sudan. In South Africa, the struggle with Napoleon caused the United Kingdom to take possession of the Dutch settlements at the Cape. In 1814, Cape Colony, which had been continuously occupied by British troops since 1806, was formally ceded to the British crown.
Meanwhile, considerable changes had been made in other parts of the continent. The occupation of
Algiers by France in 1830 put an end to the piracy of the
Barbary states. Egyptian authority continued to expand southward, with the consequent additions to knowledge of the
Nile
The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest ...
. The city of
Zanzibar
Zanzibar (; ; ) is an insular semi-autonomous province which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of many small islan ...
, on the island of that name, rapidly attained importance. Accounts of a vast inland sea, and the discovery of the snow-clad mountains of
Kilimanjaro
Mount Kilimanjaro () is a dormant volcano in Tanzania. It has three volcanic cones: Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain above sea level in the world: above sea level and a ...
in 1840–1848, stimulated the desire for further knowledge about Africa in Europe.
In the mid-19th century,
Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
missions were carrying on active missionary work on the Guinea coast, in South Africa and in the Zanzibar dominions. Missionaries visited little-known regions and peoples, and in many instances became explorers and pioneers of trade and empire.
David Livingstone
David Livingstone (; 19 March 1813 – 1 May 1873) was a Scottish physician, Congregationalist, and pioneer Christian missionary with the London Missionary Society, an explorer in Africa, and one of the most popular British heroes of t ...
, a Scottish missionary, had been engaged since 1840 in work north of the
Orange River
The Orange River (from Afrikaans/Dutch: ''Oranjerivier'') is a river in Southern Africa. It is the longest river in South Africa. With a total length of , the Orange River Basin extends from Lesotho into South Africa and Namibia to the north ...
. In 1849, Livingstone crossed the
Kalahari Desert
The Kalahari Desert is a large semi-arid sandy savanna in Southern Africa extending for , covering much of Botswana, and parts of Namibia and South Africa.
It is not to be confused with the Angolan, Namibian, and South African Namib coastal d ...
from south to north and reached
Lake Ngami
Lake Ngami is an endorheic lake in Botswana north of the Kalahari Desert. It is seasonally filled by the Taughe River, an effluent of the Okavango River system flowing out of the western side of the Okavango Delta. It is one of the fragmented remn ...
. Between 1851 and 1856, he traversed the continent from west to east, discovering the great waterways of the upper
Zambezi River
The Zambezi River (also spelled Zambeze and Zambesi) is the fourth-longest river in Africa, the longest east-flowing river in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. Its drainage basin covers , slightly less than hal ...
. In November 1855, Livingstone became the first European to see the famous
Victoria Falls
Victoria Falls ( Lozi: ''Mosi-oa-Tunya'', "The Smoke That Thunders"; Tonga: ''Shungu Namutitima'', "Boiling Water") is a waterfall on the Zambezi River in southern Africa, which provides habitat for several unique species of plants and anim ...
, named after
the Queen of the United Kingdom. From 1858 to 1864, the lower Zambezi, the
Shire River
The Shire is the largest river in Malawi. It is the only outlet of Lake Malawi and flows into the Zambezi River in Mozambique. Its length is . The upper Shire River issues from Lake Malawi and runs approximately before it enters shallow Lake Malo ...
and
Lake Nyasa
Lake Malawi, also known as Lake Nyasa in Tanzania and Lago Niassa in Mozambique, is an African Great Lake and the southernmost lake in the East African Rift system, located between Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania.
It is the fifth largest fre ...
were explored by Livingstone. Nyasa had been first reached by the confidential slave of
António da Silva Porto, a Portuguese trader established at
Bié in Angola, who crossed Africa during 1853–1856 from Benguella to the mouth of the Rovuma. A prime goal for explorers was to locate the source of the River Nile. Expeditions by Burton and Speke (1857–1858) and Speke and Grant (1863) located
Lake Tanganyika and
Lake Victoria. It was eventually proved to be the latter from which the Nile flowed.
Henry Morton Stanley, who had in 1871 succeeded in finding and succouring Livingstone (originating the famous line "Dr. Livingstone, I presume"), started again for Zanzibar in 1874. In
one of the most memorable of all exploring expeditions in Africa, Stanley circumnavigated Victoria Nyanza (Lake Victoria) and Lake Tanganyika. Striking farther inland to the Lualaba, he followed that river down to the Atlantic Ocean—which he reached in August 1877—and proved it to be the Congo.
![Scramble-for-Africa-1880-1913-v2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/Scramble-for-Africa-1880-1913-v2.png)
In 1895, the
British South Africa Company hired the American scout
Frederick Russell Burnham
Frederick Russell Burnham DSO (May 11, 1861 – September 1, 1947) was an American scout and world-traveling adventurer. He is known for his service to the British South Africa Company and to the British Army in colonial Africa, and for teach ...
to look for minerals and ways to improve river navigation in the central and southern Africa region. Burnham oversaw and led the
Northern Territories British South Africa Exploration Company expedition that first established that major copper deposits existed north of the
Zambezi
The Zambezi River (also spelled Zambeze and Zambesi) is the fourth-longest river in Africa, the longest east-flowing river in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. Its drainage basin covers , slightly less than hal ...
in
North-Eastern Rhodesia
North-Eastern Rhodesia was a British protectorate in south central Africa formed in 1900.North-Eastern Rhodesia Order in Council, 1900 The protectorate was administered under charter by the British South Africa Company. It was one of what were ...
. Along the
Kafue River
The Kafue River is the longest river lying wholly within Zambia at about long. Its water is used for irrigation and for hydroelectric power. It is the largest tributary of the Zambezi, and of Zambia's principal rivers, it is the most centra ...
, Burnham saw many similarities to copper deposits he had worked in the United States, and he encountered native peoples wearing copper bracelets.
Copper rapidly became the primary export of Central Africa and it remains essential to the economy even today.
The emergence of modern cartography, and placing it at the heart of the approach to scientific exploration, meant that a new drive to explore Africa began in Europe, particularly Britain. According to John Barrow, undersecretary to the Admiralty in the early 1800s, described British knowledge of the African continent as "retrograded" and "almost blank", and pushed for further explorations of the continent. This cartographic approach "emptied African space of prior political and ethnic identifications" in Europeans' eyes.
Explorers were also active in Southern Morocco, the Sahara and the Sudan, which were traversed in many directions between 1860 and 1875 by
Georg Schweinfurth
Georg August Schweinfurth (29 December 1836 – 19 September 1925) was a Baltic German botanist and ethnologist who explored East Central Africa.
Life and explorations
He was born at Riga, Latvia, then part of the Russian Empire. He was edu ...
and
Gustav Nachtigal
Gustav Nachtigal (; born 23 February 1834 – 20 April 1885) was a German military surgeon and explorer of Central and West Africa. He is further known as the German Empire's consul-general for Tunisia and Commissioner for West Africa. His missio ...
.
These travellers not only added considerably to geographical knowledge, but obtained invaluable information concerning the people, languages and natural history of the countries in which they sojourned. Among the discoveries of Schweinfurth was one that confirmed Greek legends of the existence beyond Egypt of a "pygmy race". But the first western discoverer of the pygmies of Central Africa was
Paul Du Chaillu
Paul Belloni Du Chaillu (July 31, 1831 (disputed)April 29, 1903) was a French-American traveler, zoologist, and anthropologist. He became famous in the 1860s as the first modern European outsider to confirm the existence of gorillas, and later t ...
, who found them in the Ogowe district of the west coast in 1865, five years before Schweinfurth's first meeting with them. Du Chaillu had previously, through journeys in the Gabon region between 1855 and 1859, made popular in Europe the knowledge of the existence of the gorilla, whose existence was thought to be as legendary as that of the Pygmies of Aristotle.
List of Africa explorers
15th century
![Fernão Vaz Dourado 1571-1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/Fern%C3%A3o_Vaz_Dourado_1571-1.jpg)
*
Diogo Cão
Diogo Cão (; -1486), anglicised as Diogo Cam and also known as Diego Cam, was a Portuguese explorer and one of the most notable navigators of the Age of Discovery. He made two voyages sailing along the west coast of Africa in the 1480s, explori ...
*
Diogo de Azambuja
*
Bartolomeu Dias
*
Pêro de Alenquer
*
João Infante
*
João Grego
*
Álvaro Martins
Álvaro Martins, also known as Álvaro Martins Homem, was a 15th-century Portuguese explorer alleged to have explored the western Atlantic and later the African coast. He is claimed to have accompanied João Vaz Corte-Real on an undocumented ex ...
*
Pêro Dias
*
Gil Eanes
Gil Eanes (or Eannes, in the old Portuguese spelling; ) was a 15th-century Portuguese navigator and explorer.
Biography
Gil Eanes was born in Lagos in 1395. Little is known about his personal life prior to his role in the Portuguese Age of Dis ...
*
Nuno Tristão
Nuno Tristão was a 15th-century Portuguese explorer and slave trader, active in the early 1440s, traditionally thought to be the first European to reach the region of Guinea (legendarily, as far as Guinea-Bissau, but more recent historians belie ...
*
Antão Gonçalves
Antão Gonçalves was a 15th-century Portuguese explorer who was the first European to capture Africans in the Rio do Ouro region.
Biography
In 1441, Gonçalves was sent by Henry the Navigator to explore the West African coast in an expedition ...
*
Dinis Dias
Dinis Dias was a 15th-century Portuguese explorer who sailed down the coast of West Africa, passing the Senegal River and reaching the Cape Verde Peninsula for the first time.
In 1445, as Dias was beginning to enter old age and made the decision t ...
*
Álvaro Fernandes
Álvaro Fernandes (sometimes given erroneously as António Fernandes), was a 15th-century Portuguese explorer from Madeira, in the service of Henry the Navigator. He captained two important expeditions (in 1445 and 1446), which expanded the limit ...
*
Pêro de Sintra
*
Fernão do Pó
Fernão do Pó (; ''fl.'' 1472), also known as Fernão Pó, Fernando Pó or Fernando Poo, was a 15th-century Portuguese navigator and explorer of the West African coast. He was the first European to see the islands in the Gulf of Guinea around 14 ...
*
Alvise Cadamosto
Alvise Cadamosto or Alvise da Ca' da Mosto (, also known in Portuguese as ''Luís Cadamosto''; c. 1432 – 18 July 1488) was a Venetian explorer and slave trader, who was hired by the Portuguese prince Henry the Navigator and undertook two known ...
(Venetian born)
*
António de Noli
Antonio de Noli (born 1415 or possibly 1419) was a 15th-century Genoese nobleman and navigator, and the first governor of the earliest European overseas colony in Subsaharan Africa. He discovered some of the Cape Verde islands on behalf of Henry ...
(Genoese born)
*
Diogo Gomes
Diogo Gomes () was a Portuguese navigator, explorer and writer.
Diogo Gomes was a servant and explorer of Portuguese prince Henry the Navigator. His memoirs were dictated late in his life to Martin Behaim. They are an invaluable (if sometimes in ...
*
Álvaro Caminha
Álvaro Caminha was appointed by King John II of Portugal in 1492 Captain-major (governor) – apparently the third – of the Portuguese colony of São Tomé and Príncipe which had been discovered 22 years earlier.
He was a knight of the king' ...
*
João de Santarém
João de Santarém (15th century) was a Portuguese explorer who discovered São Tomé (in December 21, 1471), Annobón (in January 1472) and Príncipe (January 17, 1472). Together with Pêro Escobar, he also encountered the town of Sassandra in t ...
*
Pedro Escobar
Pedro is a masculine given name. Pedro is the Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician name for ''Peter''. Its French equivalent is Pierre while its English and Germanic form is Peter.
The counterpart patronymic surname of the name Pedro, meaning ...
*
Duarte Pacheco Pereira
Duarte Pacheco Pereira (; c. 1460 – 1533), called the Portuguese Achilles (''Aquiles Lusitano'') by the poet Camões, was a Portuguese sea captain, soldier, explorer and cartographer. He travelled particularly in the central Atlantic Ocean we ...
*
Lopes Gonçalves (and Atlantic Ocean)
15th/16th century
*
Vasco da Gama (and discovered sea route to India)
*
Diogo Dias
Diogo Dias, also known as Diogo Gomes, was a 15th-century Portuguese explorer. He was the brother of Bartolomeu Dias and discovered some of the Cape Verde islands together with António Noli.
Serving with da Gama
In 1497 on the first Portugu ...
(and
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...
, discovered
Madagascar
Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...
)
*
Pêro da Covilhã
Pedro, or Pêro da Covilhã or (; c. 1460 – after 1526), sometimes written: Pero de Covilhăo, was a Portuguese diplomat and explorer.
He was a native of Covilhã in Beira. In his early life he had gone to Castile and entered the servi ...
(15th/16th century diplomat and explorer in
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
)
*
Pedro Álvares Cabral
Pedro Álvares Cabral ( or ; born Pedro Álvares de Gouveia; c. 1467 or 1468 – c. 1520) was a Portuguese nobleman, military commander, navigator and explorer regarded as the European discoverer of Brazil. He was the first human in ...
(discovered Brazil, explored India along the African coast)
*
Sancho de Tovar Sancho de Tovar, 6th Lord of Cevico, Caracena and Boca de Huérgano (c. 1465–1547) was a Portuguese nobleman of Castilian birth, best known as a navigator and explorer during the Portuguese age of discoveries. He was the vice-admiral (''soto-capi ...
and Vicente Pegado among others (also among the first Europeans ever to contemplate and to describe the ruins of Great Zimbabwe, then referred to by the Portuguese as Monomotapa).
16th century
*
Paulo Dias de Novais
Paulo Dias de Novais (c. 1510 – 9 May 1589), a fidalgo of the Royal Household, was a Portuguese colonizer of Africa in the 16th century and the first Captain-Governor of Portuguese Angola. He was the grandson of the explorer Bartolomeu Dias.
...
*
![Flag Portugal (1521)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/Flag_of_Portugal_%281521%29.svg)
António Fernandes (he travalled to Monomotapa and beyond, exploring most of the present day Zimbabwe and possibly northeastern South Africa)
[http://www.rhodesia.nl/rhodesiana/volume19.pdf ]
*
Lourenço Marques
Maputo (), formerly named Lourenço Marques until 1976, is the capital, and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a population of 1,088 ...
(trader and explorer in East Africa)
*
Francisco Álvares
Francisco Álvares ( – 1536-1541) was a Portuguese missionary and explorer. In 1515 he traveled to Ethiopia as part of the Portuguese embassy to emperor Lebna Dengel accompanied by returning Ethiopian ambassador Matheus. The embassy arriv ...
(missionary and explorer in Ethiopia)
*
Gonçalo da Silveira (jesuit missionary, travalled up the Zambezi River to the capital of the Monomotapa which appears to have been the N'Pande kraal, close by the M'Zingesi River, a southern tributary of the Zambezi)
18th century
*
Francisco de Lacerda (explorer in
Zambia
Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are t ...
)
*
Mungo Park (explored Niger River in 1790s)
19th century
![Capelo and Ivens](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/Capelo_and_Ivens.jpg)
*
Antoine Thomson d'Abbadie
Antoine Thomson d'Abbadie d'Arrast (3 January 1810 – 19 March 1897) was an Irish-born French explorer, geographer, ethnologist, linguist and astronomer notable for his travels in EthiopiaAlthough referred to as Ethiopia here, the region that ...
(1810–1897) (Irish born), explored Ethiopia
*
Heinrich Barth
Johann Heinrich Barth (; ; 16 February 1821 – 25 November 1865) was a German explorer of Africa and scholar.
Barth is thought to be one of the greatest of the European explorers of Africa, as his scholarly preparation, ability to speak and wri ...
*
Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza
Pietro Paolo Savorgnan di Brazzà, later known as Pierre Paul François Camille Savorgnan de Brazza; 26 January 1852 – 14 September 1905), was an Italian-born, naturalized French explorer. With his family's financial help, he explored the Ogoou ...
(Italian born)
*
Johann Ludwig Burckhardt
*
Frederick Russell Burnham
Frederick Russell Burnham DSO (May 11, 1861 – September 1, 1947) was an American scout and world-traveling adventurer. He is known for his service to the British South Africa Company and to the British Army in colonial Africa, and for teach ...
(1861-1947), an American explorer of south, west, central, and east Africa.
*
Richard Francis Burton
Sir Richard Francis Burton (; 19 March 1821 – 20 October 1890) was a British explorer, writer, orientalist scholar,and soldier. He was famed for his travels and explorations in Asia, Africa, and the Americas, as well as his extraordinary kn ...
(1821–1890) (
African Great Lakes
The African Great Lakes ( sw, Maziwa Makuu; rw, Ibiyaga bigari) are a series of lakes constituting the part of the Rift Valley lakes in and around the East African Rift. They include Lake Victoria, the second-largest fresh water lake in th ...
)
*
René Caillié
Auguste René Caillié (; 19 November 1799 – 17 May 1838) was a French explorer and the first European to return alive from the town of Timbuktu. Caillié had been preceded at Timbuktu by a British officer, Major Gordon Laing, who was murdere ...
*
Hermenegildo Capelo
Hermenegildo de Brito Capelo (Palmela, 1841 – Lisbon, 1917) was an officer in the Portuguese Navy and a Portuguese explorer, helping to chart territory between Angola and Mozambique in southern Central Africa that was unknown to Europeans ...
*
Roberto Ivens
Roberto Ivens (12 June 1850 in Ponta Delgada – 28 January 1898 in Dafundo, Oeiras) was a Portuguese explorer of Africa, geographer, colonial administrator, and an officer of the Portuguese Navy.
Early life
Roberto Ivens was the son of Margar ...
*
Candido José da Costa Cardoso (visited Lake Malawi
lso known as Lake Nyasa or Lake Niassain 1846)
*
Paul Du Chaillu
Paul Belloni Du Chaillu (July 31, 1831 (disputed)April 29, 1903) was a French-American traveler, zoologist, and anthropologist. He became famous in the 1860s as the first modern European outsider to confirm the existence of gorillas, and later t ...
*
Hugh Clapperton
Bain Hugh Clapperton (18 May 1788 – 13 April 1827) was a Scottish naval officer and explorer of West and Central Africa.
Early career
Clapperton was born in Annan, Dumfriesshire, where his father, George Clapperton, was a surgeon. He gained s ...
(1788–1827), explored west and central Africa
*
Victor de Compiègne (1846–1877), explored Gabon
*
Dixon Denham
Dixon Denham (1 January 17869 June 1828) was an English soldier, explorer of West Central Africa, and ultimately Governor of Sierra Leone.
Early life
Dixon Denham was born at Salisbury Square, Fleet Street, London on New Year's Day, 1786, the ...
(1786–1828), explored west central Africa.
*
James Frederic Elton (1840–1877)
*
Emil Holub
Emil Holub (7 October 1847 – 21 February 1902) was a Czech physician, explorer, cartographer, and ethnographer in Africa.
Early life
Holub was born in Holice in eastern Bohemia (then within the Austrian Empire, now the Czech Republic), to t ...
*
Ignatius Knoblecher
Ignatius Knoblecher ( sl, Ignacij Knoblehar or ''Knobleher''; 6 July 1819 – 13 April 1858), also known by his Arabian nickname Abuna Soliman (meaning "Our Father Solomon"), was a Slovene Roman Catholic missionary in Eastern North Africa. He ...
(1819–1858), explored the White Nile basin
*
Alexander Gordon Laing
Major Alexander Gordon Laing (27 December 179426 September 1826) was a Scottish explorer and the first European to reach Timbuktu, arriving there via the north-to-south route in August 1826. He was killed shortly after he departed Timbuktu, som ...
(1793–1826)
*
Macgregor Laird (1808–1861)
*
Richard Lemon Lander
Richard Lemon Lander (8 February 1804 – 6 February 1834) was a British explorer of western Africa. He and his brother John were the first Europeans to follow the course of the River Niger, and discover that it led to the Atlantic.
Biograp ...
(1804–1834)
*
Harry Johnston
Sir Henry Hamilton Johnston (12 June 1858 – 31 July 1927), known as Harry Johnston, was a British explorer, botanist, artist, colonial administrator, and linguist who travelled widely in Africa and spoke many African languages. He publishe ...
(1858–1927)
*
Frederick John Jackson
Sir Frederick John Jackson, (17 February 1860 – 3 February 1929) was an English administrator, explorer and ornithologist.
Early years
Jackson was born at Oran Hall, near Catterick, North Yorkshire in 1860. He attended Shrewsbury School ...
(1860–1929), explored Uganda
*
Oskar Lenz (1848–1925), expeditions in 1879-80 (trans-Sahara) and 1885-87 (Congo)
*
David Livingstone
David Livingstone (; 19 March 1813 – 1 May 1873) was a Scottish physician, Congregationalist, and pioneer Christian missionary with the London Missionary Society, an explorer in Africa, and one of the most popular British heroes of t ...
(1813–1873)
![In Darkest Africa emerging from forest](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/In_Darkest_Africa_emerging_from_forest.jpg)
*
John Kirk (1832–1922
*
Frederick Lugard
Frederick John Dealtry Lugard, 1st Baron Lugard (22 January 1858 – 11 April 1945), known as Sir Frederick Lugard between 1901 and 1928, was a British soldier, mercenary, explorer of Africa and colonial administrator. He was Governor of Hong ...
(1858–1945)
*
Joseph Thomson Joseph or Joe Thomson is the name of:
*J. J. Thomson (1856–1940), physicist
* Joseph Thomson (cricketer) (1877-1953), Australian cricketer
*Joseph Thomson (explorer)
Joseph Thomson (14 February 1858 – 2 August 1895) was a British geologist ...
(1858–1895) (
African Great Lakes
The African Great Lakes ( sw, Maziwa Makuu; rw, Ibiyaga bigari) are a series of lakes constituting the part of the Rift Valley lakes in and around the East African Rift. They include Lake Victoria, the second-largest fresh water lake in th ...
)
*
Samuel Baker
Sir Samuel White Baker, KCB, FRS, FRGS (8 June 1821 – 30 December 1893) was an English explorer, officer, naturalist, big game hunter, engineer, writer and abolitionist. He also held the titles of Pasha and Major-General in the Ottom ...
(1821–1893) (explored
Uganda
}), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...
and
the Sudan
Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...
)
*
Arthur Henry Neumann
Arthur Henry Neumann (12 June 1850 – 29 May 1907) was an English explorer, hunter, soldier, farmer and travel writer famous for his exploits in Equatorial East Africa. In 1898 he published ''Elephant Hunting in East Equatorial Africa''.A H Neum ...
(1850-1907) (explored what has since become
Kenya
)
, national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Nairobi
, coordinates =
, largest_city = Nairobi
...
and
Uganda
}), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...
)
*
Charles-Henri Pobéguin (1856–1951), explored French Africa
*
Luigi Robecchi Bricchetti
Luigi Robecchi Bricchetti (21 May 1855 – 31 May 1926) was an Italian explorer, geographer, cartographer and naturalist.
Biography
Robecchi Bricchetti was the illegitimate son of Ercole Robecchi, a land owner from Zerbolò, and a young sea ...
(1855–1926)
*
Carlo Piaggia
*
Serpa Pinto
Alexandre Alberto da Rocha de Serpa Pinto, Viscount of Serpa Pinto (aka Serpa Pinto; 20 April 184628 December 1900) was a Portuguese explorer of southern Africa and a colonial administrator.
Early life
Serpa Pinto was born at the Quinta das Pol ...
(soldier and colonizer of Africa)
*
António da Silva Porto
*
Arthur Henry Neumann
Arthur Henry Neumann (12 June 1850 – 29 May 1907) was an English explorer, hunter, soldier, farmer and travel writer famous for his exploits in Equatorial East Africa. In 1898 he published ''Elephant Hunting in East Equatorial Africa''.A H Neum ...
(1850-1907)
*
Manuel Iradier (1854-1911) (Explorer of Equatorial Guinea)
*
Vittorio Bottego
Vittorio Bottego (; Parma, 29 July 1860 – Dhaga Roba, 17 March 1897) was an Italian army officer and one of the first Western explorers of Jubaland in the Horn of Africa (now part of Gidami, West Wellega Ethiopia), where he led two expedition ...
(1860–1897)
*
Giuseppe Maria Giulietti (1847-1881)
*
Prince Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi
Prince Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi, (29 January 1873 – 18 March 1933) was an Italian mountaineer and explorer, briefly Infante of Spain as son of Amadeo I of Spain, member of the royal House of Savoy and cousin of the Italian King ...
(1873-1933)
*
Georg Schweinfurth
Georg August Schweinfurth (29 December 1836 – 19 September 1925) was a Baltic German botanist and ethnologist who explored East Central Africa.
Life and explorations
He was born at Riga, Latvia, then part of the Russian Empire. He was edu ...
(Latvian born)
*
Frederick Courtney Selous (1851-1917)
*
Henry Morton Stanley (1841–1904) (Welsh born)
*
William Edgar Geil (1 October 1865, Doylestown, Pennsylvania – 11 April 1925, Venice)
*
John Hanning Speke
Captain John Hanning Speke (4 May 1827 – 15 September 1864) was an English explorer and officer in the British Indian Army who made three exploratory expeditions to Africa. He is most associated with the search for the source of the Nil ...
(1827–1864) (discovered the source of the
Nile
The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest ...
)
*
James Hingston Tuckey
James Hingston Tuckey (August 1776 – 4 October 1816) was an Irish-born British explorer and a captain in the Royal Navy. Some sources mistakenly refer to him as James Kingston Tuckey.
Tuckey was born at Greenhill, near Mallow, August 1776 ...
(1776–1816) (Irish born)
*
Robert Bruce Napoleon Walker (1832–1901), explored
Gabon
Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the nort ...
as a trader for Hatton & Cookson
Early 20th century
*
Jan Czekanowski
Jan Czekanowski (October 8, 1882, Głuchów – July 20, 1965, Szczecin) was a Polish anthropologist, statistician, ethnographer, traveller, and linguist. His scientific contributions include introducing his system of racial classification and fou ...
*
William Edgar Geil
*
Kazimierz Nowak
See also
*
Saharan explorers
*
Cartography of Africa
*
Age of Discovery
The Age of Discovery (or the Age of Exploration), also known as the early modern period, was a period largely overlapping with the Age of Sail, approximately from the 15th century to the 17th century in European history, during which seafarin ...
References
Bibliography
*
Michael Crowder
Michael Crowder (9 June 1934 – 14 August 1988) was a British historian and author notable for his books on the history of Africa and particularly on the history of West Africa.
Early life and education
Michael was born in London and educat ...
, ''The Story of Nigeria'',
Faber and Faber, London, 1978 (1962)
*
Basil Davidson, ''The African Past'',
Penguin Books
Penguin Books is a British publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.[Donald Harden
Donald Benjamin Harden, (8 July 1901 – 13 April 1994) was an Anglo-Irish archaeologist and museum curator, who specialised in ancient glass. Having taught at the University of Aberdeen and the University of Michigan, he was assistant keeper (1 ...]
, ''The Phoenicians'', Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1971 (1962)
*
Herodotus
Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer
A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society ...
, transl.
Aubrey de Selincourt, Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1968 (1954)
''Historia Universal Siglo XXI. Africa: desde la prehistoria hasta los años sesenta'' Pierre Bertaux, 1972. Siglo XXI Editores S.A.
* Vincent B. Khapoya, ''The African Experience'',
Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, 1998 (1994)
* Louise Levanthes, ''When China Ruled the Seas'',
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, New York and Oxford, 1994
*
Kevin Shillington
Kevin Shillington is a teacher and a freelance historian based in Dorset, England, United Kingdom.
Education
He graduated from Trinity College, located in Dublin, Ireland, with a major in modern history in 1968. Shillington did his postgr ...
, ''History of Africa'',
St Martin's Press, New York, 1995 (1989)
{{DEFAULTSORT:European Exploration Of Africa
European colonisation in Africa
History of Africa