Africa

VI. EXPLORATION AND SURVEY SINCE 1875

In giving the history of the partition of the continent, the later work

of exploration, except where, as in the case of de Brazza's expeditions, it

had direct political consequences, has of necessity not been told. The

results achieved during and after the period of partition may now be

indicated. Stanley's great journey down the Congo in 1875-1876 initiated a

new era in African exploration. The numbers of travellers soon became so

great that the once marvellous feat of crossing the continent from sea to

sea became common. With increased knowledge and much ampler means of

communication trans-African travel now presents few difficulties. While

d'Anville and other cartographers of the 18th century, by omitting all that

was uncertain, had left a great blank on the map, the work accomplished

since 1875 has filled it with authentic topographical details. Moreover

surveys of high accuracy have been made at several points. As the work of

exploration and survey progressed journeys of startling novelty became

impossible—save in the eastern Sahara, where the absence of water and

boundless wastes of sand render exploration more difficult, perhaps, than

in any other region of the globe. Within their respective spheres of

influence each power undertook detailed surveys, and the most solid of the

latest accessions to knowledge have resulted from the labours of hard-

working colonial officials toiling individually in obscurity. Their work it

is impossible here to recognize adequately; the following lines record only

the more obvious achievements. The relation of the Congo basin to the

neighbouring river systems was brought out by the journeys of many

travellers. In 1877 an important expedition was sent out by the Portuguese

government under Serpa Pinto, Brito Capello and Roberto

Work in the Congo.

Ivens for the exploration of the interior of Angola. The first named made

his way by the head-streams of the Kubango to the upper Zambezi, which he

descended to the Victoria Falls, proceeding thence to Pretoria and Durban.

Capello and Ivens confined their attention to the south-west Congo basin,

where they disproved the existence of Lake Aquilunda, which had figured on

the maps of that region since the 16th century. In a later journey (1884-

1885) Capello and Ivens crossed the continent from Mossamedes to the mouth

of the Zambezi, adding considerably to the knowledge of the borderlands

between the upper Congo and the upper Zambezi. More important results were

obtained by the German travellers Paul Pogge and Hermann von Wissmann, who

(1880-1882) passed through previously unknown regions beyond Muata Yanvo's

kingdom, and reached the upper Congo at Nyangwe, whence Wissmann made his

way to the east coast. In 1884-1885 a German expedition under Wissmann

solved the most important geographical problem relating to the southern

Congo basin by descending the Kasai, the largest southern tributary, which,

contrary to expectation, proved to unite with the Kwango and other streams

before joining the main river. Further additions to the knowledge of the

Congo tributaries were made at the same time by the Rev. George Grenfell, a

Baptist missionary, who (accompanied in 1885 by K. von Francois) made

several voyages in the steamer ``Peace,'' especially up the great Ubangi,

ultimately proved to be the lower course of the Welle, discovered in 1870

by Schweinfurth.

In East as in West Africa operations were started by agents of the

Belgian committee, but with less success than on the Congo.

Opening up East Africa.

The first new journey of importance on this side was made (1878-1880) on

behalf of the British African Exploration Committee by Joseph Thomson, who

after the death of his leader, Keith Johnston, made his way from the coast

to the north end of Nyasa, thence to Tanganyika, on both sides of which he

broke new ground, sighting the north end of Lake Rukwa on the east. In 1882-

1884 the French naval lieutenant Victor Giraud proceeded by the north of

Nyasa to Lake Bangweulu, of which he made the first fairly correct map.

North of the Zanzibar-Tanganyika route a large area of new ground was

opened in 1883-1884 by Joseph Thomson, who traversed the whole length of

the Masai country to Lake Baringo and Victoria Nyanza, shedding the first

clear light on the great East African rift-valley and neighbouring

highlands, including Mounts Kenya and Elgon. A great advance in the region

between Victoria Nyanza and Abyssinia was made in 1887-1889 by the

Austrians, Count Samuel Teleki and Lieut. Ludwig von Hohnel, who discovered

the large Basso Norok, now known as Lake Rudolf, till then only vaguely

indicated on the map as Samburu. At this time Somaliland was being opened

up by English and Italian travellers. In 1883 the brothers F. L. and W. D.

James penetrated from Berbera to the Webi Shebeli; in 1892 Vittorio Bottego

(afterwards murdered in the Abyssinian highlands) started from Berbera and

reached the upper Juba, which he explored to its source. The first person,

however, to cross from the Gulf of Aden to the Indian Ocean was an

American, A. Donaldson Smith, who in 1894-1895 explored the headstreams of

the Webi Shebeli and also explored the Omo, the feeder of Lake Rudolf.

In the region north-west of Victoria Nyanza the greatest additions to

geographical knowledge were made by H. M. Stanley in his last expedition,

undertaken for the relief of Emin Pasha. The expedition set out in 1887 by

way of the Congo to carry supplies to the governor of the old Egyptian

Equatorial province. The route lay up the Aruwimi, the principal tributary

of the Congo from the north-east, by which the expedition made its way,

encountering immense difficulties, through the great equatorial forest, the

character and extent of which were thus for the first time brought to

light. The return was made to the east coast, and resulted in the discovery

of the great snowy range of Ruwenzori or Runsoro, and the confirmation of

the existence of a third Nile lake discharging its waters into the Albert

Nyanza by the Semliki river. A further discovery was that of a large bay,

hitherto unsuspected, forming the south-west corner of the Victoria Nyanza.

Great activity was also displayed in completing the work of earlier

explorers in North and West Africa. Morocco was in

Expeditions in North and West Africa.

1883-1884 the scene of important explorations by de Foucauld, a Frenchman

who, disguised as a Jew, crossed and re-crossed the Atlas and supplied the

first trustworthy information as to the orography of many parts of the

chain. In 1887-1889 Louis Gustave Binger, a French officer, made a great

journey through the countries enclosed in the Niger bend, and in 1890-1892

Col. P. F. Monteil went from St Louis to Say, on the Niger, thence through

Sokoto to Bornu and Lake Chad, whence he crossed the Sahara to Tripoli.

Meantime explorers had been busy in the region between Lake Chad, the Gulf

of Guinea and the Congo. The Sanga, one of the principal northern

tributaries of the Congo, was reached from the north by Lieut. Louis Mizon,

a French naval officer, who drew the first line of communication between

the Benue and the Congo (1890-1892). In 1890 Paul Crampel, who in the

previous year had explored north of the Ogowe, undertook a great expedition

from the Ubangi to the Shari, but was attacked and killed, with several of

his companions, on the borders of the Bagirmi. Several other expeditions

followed, and in 1806 Emile Gentil reached the Shari, launched a steamer on

its waters and pushed on to Lake Chad. Early in 1900 Lake Chad was also

reached by F. Foureau, a French traveller, who had already devoted twelve

years to the exploration of the Sahara and who on this occasion had crossed

the desert from Algeria and had reached the lake via Air and Zinder.

The last ten years of the 19th century also witnessed many interesting

expeditions in east Central Africa. In 1891 Emin

Lakes and mountains of Equatorial Africa.

Pasha, accompanied by Dr F. Stuhlmann, made his way south of Victoria

Nyanza to the western Nile lakes, visiting for the first time the southern

and western shores of Albert Edward. Stuhlmann also ascended the Ruwenzori

range to a height of over 13,000 ft. In the same year Dr O. Baumann, who

had already done good work in Usambara, near the coast, started on a more

extended journey through the region of steppes between Kilimanjaro and

Victoria Nyanza, afterwards exploring the headstreams of the Kagera, the

ultimate sources of the Nile. In the steppe region referred to he

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