blogschol1: This Day in African History -- Mungo Park Begins his First Exploration of Africa (About)

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

This Day in African History -- Mungo Park Begins his First Exploration of Africa (About)

In 1795 The Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Parts of
Africa appointed Mungo Park to explore the course of the River Niger - it had
been believed that the Niger was a tributary of either the river Senegal or
Gambia until Major Daniel Houghton, an Irish soldier who had explored west
Africa from a base at Goree, on behalf of the Association, discovered it
flowed from West to East. Park set out on 22 MAy 1895.

The Association wanted proof of the river's course and to know where it
finally emerged. Three current theories were: that it emptied into Lake Chad,
that it curved round in a large arc to join the River Zaire, or that it
reached the coast at the Oil Rivers.

Find out more about the life of Scots explorer Mungo Park.

This Day in African History -- Mungo Park Begins his First Exploration of
Africa originally appeared on About.com African History on Sunday, May 22nd,
2011 at 08:25:46.

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