Life and Travels of Mungo Park

by Mungo Park

This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

Genres: Travel, Africa, History

248 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1840

About the author

Mungo Park (1771 – 1806) was a Scottish explorer of the African continent. He was the first Westerner known to have traveled to the central portion of the Niger River.

Reviews

[Louisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is mostly overlapping with Travels in the Interior of Africa (Mungo Park’s own account of his first expedition to Africa from 1795-1797) but in addition there is an introduction on Park's early life and travel to Sumatra, his return to England after his first Africa expedition, his friendship with Joseph Banks and Sir Walter Scott, and the narrative of the second Africa expedition (in 1805) based on letters and journal entries that have survived. Interesting how this book sparked a discussion between defenders and protesters of the slave trade, each group finding that Mungo Park's narrative supported their particular views.

[Graham Bear · Rating 4 out of 5]

A riveting tale

I have the greatest admiration for Mungo Park. His first journey is one of fortitude , deprivation , resolute and indefatigable courage. His second journey was rash , foolish and ill prepared. The rest of the book is mainly concerning those that followed him in the decades after his death.

[Tom G · Rating 3 out of 5]

“His thoughts had always continued to be haunted with Africa. He told Scott, that whenever he awoke suddenly in the night, owing to a nervous disorder with which he was troubled, he fancied himself still a prisoner in the tent of Ali; but when the Poet expressed some surprise that he should design again to revisit those scenes, he answered, that he would rather brave Africa and all its horrors, than wear out his life in long and toilsome rides over the hills of Scotland, for which the remuneration was hardly enough to keep soul and body together.”

Mungo Park had PTSD, but he would still rather die on an adventure in Africa than live a domestic life back home. Honestly inspiring.