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Exploration of Africa: From Cairo to the Cape
An illustrated look at the exploration of the African continent describes the adventures and tragedies of the men and women who traveled to the sources of the Nile and tracked the course of the Congo and Zambezi rivers. Original.
- GenresNonfictionHistoryAfrica
175 pages, Paperback
First published March 15, 1993
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 15, 2014
A very decent little survey of how Europeans came to explore and understand the geography of the African contentment. There is less about the exotic animals, people, and minerals that would later be exploited. This history sets the stage for this exploitation. I wish there had been a sequel.
July 20, 2016
Unexpectedly engrossing.
February 17, 2021
This is a really neat little chapbook-style (but longer, at 176 pages) book about the great Western explorers, especially the British explorers, of Africa. It is filled with amazing drawings and maps of Africa from the late 1800s, and photos of the explorers and of Africa and Africans of the era.
It’s major flaw is that it ought be be magazine-sized to show off those drawings. Five by seven is much too small. Technically that makes it easier to read on a plane (I bought it at a nice little bookstore in Saint Augustine) but it was exciting enough that I finished it before even getting to the airport.
It highlights, especially, Livingstone and Stanley, and the quest for the source of the Nile.
The author then slides into Stanley’s famous meeting and “those words whose very banality, given the significance of the occasion, have made them famous”.
Something new I learned from this book is that much of the impetus for the exploration was opposition to the slave trade.
There was no way to stop the African slave trade without stopping it on the continent, among Arab and African slave traders. However, a minor flaw to the book is that not only is that mostly glossed over by Hugon, she even seems to downplay the importance of ending the slave trade.
Read precisely, this is true, but read normally it’s very misleading. Christian leaders had recognized that the slave trade and slavery itself were wrong since at least the fifth century. Even recognizing that this statement applies specifically to political leaders misses an important point, however: belatedly it may have been given the teachings of the church that slavery was wrong, the recognition of slavery as a general wrong (as opposed to “wrong for me”) was nonexistent among political leaders elsewhere, including among African tribes.
Now, there’s certainly something that could be said about the condescension of Europe toward Africa. But ending the evils of slavery is not one of them.
This fits with what she wrote one page earlier that European technologists saw ending slavery as a reason for their technological progress—correctly so, in my opinion.
On the one hand, you have to give her some props here: she tried to strike a blow at the sturdiest argument in favor of European, especially British, moral superiority. On the other hand, downplaying the evils of slavery is not a very convincing blow. Among the many differences between cultures, it is difficult, and probably morally wrong, to argue that cultures that support slavery are not inferior to cultures that abolish slavery.
The author also seems to conflate different definitions of “superior”, which results in muddy paragraphs such as:
But if Livingstone believed that the white man’s superiority was the result of education, and that Africans would be equal with similar education, then he did not believe in the superiority of the white man, a phrase that has a specific meaning; nor, for that matter if by “the influence of Christianity” he meant the belief that slavery was wrong, was he wrong about that education’s moral superiority.
The quotes around “save” in that respect seem entirely misleading because the major thing he came to save them from according to the author was slavery both from external, at that point mostly Arab, slavers and, internally, African slavers. That is a morally superior position and to the extent that his efforts reduced slavery in the region, real saving, not quoted saving.
Those asides are mostly a small part of the book, however. Most of it is presenting exciting stories and anecdotes about great explorers, possibly the last great explorers of lands unknown to them.
She also reproduces fascinating excerpts from the books written by these explorers, which makes me want to read more: Mary Kingsley, Richard Burton, Henry Morton Stanley, and David Livingstone. This was a fascinating era, not just because the explorers were true adventurers more exciting than fiction, but because they were also of an era where their skills were up to the task of relating those adventures themselves. And supporting themselves on the proceeds from their works.
It’s major flaw is that it ought be be magazine-sized to show off those drawings. Five by seven is much too small. Technically that makes it easier to read on a plane (I bought it at a nice little bookstore in Saint Augustine) but it was exciting enough that I finished it before even getting to the airport.
It highlights, especially, Livingstone and Stanley, and the quest for the source of the Nile.
By 1871 Europe had been without news of the explorer for three years. Some of his porters, returning prematurely to the coast, had spread rumors of his death. But the Europeans were not wholly convinced.
As it happened, Livingstone was not “lost”; he knew exactly where he was, and he had excellent guides with him, namely Susies, Chuma, and Jacob Wainwright, who had accompanied him for years. But he was of necessity heavily reliant on the Arab [slave] traders who regularly plied the route between Ujiji and the coast, and his strong opposition to the slave traffic did little to win him the sympathies of those who were engaged in it. The Arab traders were not in the least anxious to help him maintain his contacts with Europe, and they balked at acting as his messengers.
The author then slides into Stanley’s famous meeting and “those words whose very banality, given the significance of the occasion, have made them famous”.
Something new I learned from this book is that much of the impetus for the exploration was opposition to the slave trade.
It was Great Britain that first turned toward Africa with new eyes. When it came to fighting the slave trade and exploring the continent, the British were the real pioneers.
There was no way to stop the African slave trade without stopping it on the continent, among Arab and African slave traders. However, a minor flaw to the book is that not only is that mostly glossed over by Hugon, she even seems to downplay the importance of ending the slave trade.
At the end of the 18th century, leaders of the Christian world rather belatedly decided that the slave trade was inconsistent with its aspirations and teachings, whereupon a number of missionaries once again set out for the African unknown to spread the gospel.
Read precisely, this is true, but read normally it’s very misleading. Christian leaders had recognized that the slave trade and slavery itself were wrong since at least the fifth century. Even recognizing that this statement applies specifically to political leaders misses an important point, however: belatedly it may have been given the teachings of the church that slavery was wrong, the recognition of slavery as a general wrong (as opposed to “wrong for me”) was nonexistent among political leaders elsewhere, including among African tribes.
This decision [“that the slave trade should be abolished”] was largely based on philosophical grounds, even though learned Europeans remained for the most part deeply ignorant of African societies. Seeking to promote “civilization” and happiness on the continent, many ignored the individual characters of African cultures. Even the Scottish missionary David Livingstone, who was little given to disparaging the Africans, betrayed a well-meaning condescension when he wrote that his object was to help the people of Africa to “take a place among the nations of the Earth.”
Now, there’s certainly something that could be said about the condescension of Europe toward Africa. But ending the evils of slavery is not one of them.
This patronizing attitude was based on the undoubted, and recent, technological advances of the Western world, in which Europeans quickly saw an indication of their own moral superiority.
This fits with what she wrote one page earlier that European technologists saw ending slavery as a reason for their technological progress—correctly so, in my opinion.
On the one hand, you have to give her some props here: she tried to strike a blow at the sturdiest argument in favor of European, especially British, moral superiority. On the other hand, downplaying the evils of slavery is not a very convincing blow. Among the many differences between cultures, it is difficult, and probably morally wrong, to argue that cultures that support slavery are not inferior to cultures that abolish slavery.
The author also seems to conflate different definitions of “superior”, which results in muddy paragraphs such as:
He [Livingstone] undoubtedly paid the Africans great respect, yet his vision was still colored by his belief in the superiority of the white man, a superiority he regarded not as innate, but the result of education and the influence of Christianity… he devoted himself wholly to the Africans he had come to “save,” and to the Europeans whom he encouraged to carry on his mission.
But if Livingstone believed that the white man’s superiority was the result of education, and that Africans would be equal with similar education, then he did not believe in the superiority of the white man, a phrase that has a specific meaning; nor, for that matter if by “the influence of Christianity” he meant the belief that slavery was wrong, was he wrong about that education’s moral superiority.
The quotes around “save” in that respect seem entirely misleading because the major thing he came to save them from according to the author was slavery both from external, at that point mostly Arab, slavers and, internally, African slavers. That is a morally superior position and to the extent that his efforts reduced slavery in the region, real saving, not quoted saving.
Those asides are mostly a small part of the book, however. Most of it is presenting exciting stories and anecdotes about great explorers, possibly the last great explorers of lands unknown to them.
She also reproduces fascinating excerpts from the books written by these explorers, which makes me want to read more: Mary Kingsley, Richard Burton, Henry Morton Stanley, and David Livingstone. This was a fascinating era, not just because the explorers were true adventurers more exciting than fiction, but because they were also of an era where their skills were up to the task of relating those adventures themselves. And supporting themselves on the proceeds from their works.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews