Researchers in Africa and their discoveries

In this article, we will recall the contribution to the development of geography made by researchers in Africa. And their discoveries completely changed the notion of the Black Continent.

The first studies of Africa

The first known journey around the African continent was carried out back in 600 BC. E. Explorers of Ancient Egypt on the orders of Pharaoh Neho. The pioneers of Africa rounded the continent and discovered unexplored land.

And in the Middle Ages, this part of the world began to cause serious interest in Europe, which was actively trading with the Turks, reselling for a huge price of Chinese and Indian goods. This prompted European seafarers to try to find their own way to India and China in order to exclude the mediation of the Turks.

There were researchers from Africa, and their discoveries significantly influenced world history. The first expedition was organized by the Portuguese Prince Henry. During the first voyages the sailors discovered Cape Boyadore, which is located on the west coast of Africa. The researchers decided that this is the southern point of the mainland. Modern scientists believe that the Portuguese were simply frightened of black Aborigines. Europeans believed that the sun hangs so low over the new earth that the locals burn to blackness.

Portuguese King Juan II equipped a new expedition led by Bartolomeo Diaz, and in 1487 the Cape of Good Hope was discovered - a real southern point of the mainland. This discovery helped the Europeans to pave the way for the eastern countries. In 1497-1499 Vasco da Gama was the first to reach India and returned to Portugal.

The table "Researchers of Africa", located below, will help to systematize the obtained knowledge.

After this discovery, Europeans poured into Africa. In the 16th century the slave trade began, and by the 17th most of the territories of the black continent were captured and colonized. Liberty was preserved only by Liberia and Ethiopia. In the 19th century, an active study of Africa began.

David Livingston

Scottish researcher of Africa David Livingston became the first European scientist who managed to cross the Kalahari desert from the south to the north. He described the landscape of the desert, the local population - sedentary aliens-tswana and nomadic Bushmen. In the north of Kalahari he discovered galleries that grow along the banks of rivers, and he planned to explore the large rivers of Africa.

Also, the scientist explored the lake of Ngami, the Zambezi river, described the tribes of Bushmen, Bacalachari and Makololo, and also discovered Lake Dilolo, the western drain of which feeds the Congo, and the eastern one - the Zambezi. In 1855 a huge waterfall was opened, which is named after the British Queen Victoria. Livingstone fell seriously ill and disappeared for a while. He was discovered by the traveler Henry Morton Stanley, and together they explored Lake Tanganyika.

He devoted most of his life to Africa, was a missionary and humanist, tried to stop the slave trade. The scientist died during one of the expeditions.

Mungo Park

Mungo Park undertook two expeditions to the Black Continent. Its purpose was to study western Africa, mainly its interior, the sources of the Gambia and Sinegal rivers. Also, the desired goal was to establish the exact location of the city of Timbuktu, about which Europeans until this moment only heard from local residents.

The expedition was sponsored by Joseph Banks, who participated in the first journey of James Cook. The budget was rather modest - only 200 pounds.

The first expedition was undertaken in 1795. It began with the mouth of the Gambia, where English settlements were already available. From one of them, a researcher with three assistants went up the Gambia. In Pisania, he was forced to stop for 2 months, as he contracted malaria.

Later he went further up the Gambia and along her tributary of Neriko, along the southern border of the Sahara, where he was taken prisoner. A few months later, the scientist managed to escape and reach the Niger River. Here he made a discovery - Niger is not the source of the Gambia and Senegal, although before that Europeans believed that it was divided. For a while the researcher travels across the Niger, but again falls ill and returns to the mouth of the Gambia.

The second expedition was equipped better, it involved 40 people. The aim was to study the Niger River. However, the trip was unsuccessful. Due to illnesses and skirmishes with local residents, only 11 people were able to get to Bamako. The park continued the expedition, but before departure he sent all his notes with his assistant. Not always the researchers of Africa can return home from dangerous places. The park was killed near the city of Busa, fleeing from the local residents.

Henry Morton Stanley

English explorer of Africa Henry Morton Stanley is a famous traveler and journalist. He went in search of the missing Livingstone, accompanied by a detachment of natives and found him seriously ill in Ujiji. Stanley brought medicines with him, and soon Livingstone went on to recover. Together they explored the northern shore of Tanganyika. In 1872 he returned to Zanzibar and wrote a famous book "How I Found Livingstone". In 1875, accompanied by a large group, the scientist reached Lake Ukerev.

In 1876, with a detachment of 2,000 people, which was equipped by the king of Uganda, Henry Morton Stanley made a great trip, fixed the map of Lake Tanganyika, discovered Lake Albert-Edward, reached Nyangwe, explored the Lualabe River and completed the expedition to the mouth of the Congo River. Thus, he crossed the mainland from east to west. Travel scientist described in the book "Through the Black Continent."

Vasily Junker

Russian researchers in Africa have made a great contribution to the study of the Black Continent. Vasily Junker is considered one of the largest researchers of the Upper Nile and the northern part of the Congo basin. His journey began in Tunis, where he studied Arabic. The scientist chose the equatorial and eastern Africa as the object of the study. Traveled the Libyan Desert, the rivers Baraka, Sobat, Role, Jute, Tonji. Visited the countries of Mitt, Kalika.

Junker not only collected a rare collection of representatives of flora and fauna. His cartographic studies were accurate, he compiled the first map of the headwaters of the Nile, also the scientist described the flora and fauna, especially in detail of anthropoid apes, discovered an unknown animal - the sixth wing. Valuable and ethnographic data, which were collected by Juncker. He compiled dictionaries of Negro tribes, collected a rich ethnographic collection.

Yegor Kovalevsky

Researchers from Africa came to the continent and at the invitation of local authorities. Egor Petrovich Kovalevsky asked the local vice-king Muhammad Ali to come to Egypt . The scientist conducted various geological studies in northeastern Africa, discovered loose gold deposits. He was one of the first to point out the location of the source of the White Nile, detailed and compiled a map of the large territory of the Sudan and Abyssinia, described the life of the peoples of Africa.

Alexander Eliseev

Alexander Vasilyevich Yeliseyev spent several years on the continent, from 1881 to 1893. He explored northern and northeastern Africa. Described in detail the population and nature of Tunisia, the coast of the Red Sea and the lower reaches of the Nile.

Nikolay Vavilov

Soviet researchers in Africa often visited the Black Continent, but among them the most prominent is Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov. In 1926, he accomplished an expedition that was most important for science. He explored Algeria, the Biskra oasis in the Sahara Desert, the mountain region of Kabili, Morocco, Tunisia, Somalia, Egypt, Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Botanica was primarily interested in the centers of the emergence of cultivated plants. He devoted much time to Ethiopia, where he collected more than six thousand samples of cultivated plants and found about 250 kinds of wheat. In addition, a lot of information was received about the wild flora representatives.

Nikolai Vavilov traveled all over the world, exploring and collecting plants. On his travels, he wrote the book "Five Continents."