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History of the study of Africa. Study of Africa by Russian travelers

Africa - a distant and mysterious continent, which opened its secrets to Europeans quite recently. Several centuries ago there were no detailed maps showing the hot exotic countries on the African continent. The history of the study of the continent is filled with interesting cases and unusual details that deserve attention. For their understanding, a table can be drawn up (the study of Africa was conducted in different areas). This way you can make a general idea of who studied the continent, and we will examine their research in more detail.

Territory Who studied?
East Africa

Charles Jacques Ponce

James Bruce

Valley of the White Nile William George Brown
West Africa

Bartholomew Stybs

Andre Brew

The Niger Valley Mungo Park
Angola Giovanni Antonio Cavazzi
South Africa

August Frederic Beytler

Jan Danckart

Jakob Kutze

Madagascar Etienne Flacourt
Central Africa Yegor Kovalevsky

Travel to East Africa

In the seventeenth century Europeans did not possess all the necessary geographical information. Studies of Africa, mainly, concerned only the Mediterranean countries. Therefore, many scientists have sought the continent for further information. At the end of the seventeenth century, a French doctor named Charles Jacques Ponce established the connection of Ethiopia with the Mediterranean Sea (formerly the Portuguese traveled there only on Red). Having joined the Jesuit mission, the scientist ascended the Nile, passed through the Nuba desert and found himself in the capital of the country, where he cured the sick monarch Iyas the First. Further his journey was directed to the Red Sea, by which he made an ordinary Portuguese trip to Lower Egypt, from there returning to France.

The next scientist, who began to study Africa, was Scot James Bruce. Interestingly, he was a doctor, like Ponce. He studied the way from Alexandria to Ethiopia, drove with a caravan across the Arabian desert, visited the northern shores of the Red Sea, documenting the coastline. In the process of medical practice, he also visited Lake Tana. His personal history of the discovery of Africa is set forth in the book Travels for the discovery of the origins of the Nile in 1768-1773, which was published in 1790. The appearance of this work attracted the attention of geographers to the continent and became the starting point for a whole series of new studies.

Studying the White Nile

The left bank of Bahr el-Abyad for a long time was a "mysterious country" for Europeans. White Nile was connected with Ethiopia by a lot of trade routes. The first European, who went through one of them, was an Englishman William George Brown. He wanted to study Darfur, but the ruler of the country forbade him to do it. In the capital, under the name of El Fasher, the archaeologist had to spend three years until the Sultan allowed him to return to Egypt. Despite such limitations for the study of Africa, Brown collected a lot of data for a valuable report. Until the twenties of the nineteenth century, his description of Darfur, located in the territory of modern Sudan, was the only one.

West Africa

Until the eighteenth century Europeans knew only part of the surrounding Gambia River basin . The geographical position and study of Africa became the subject of interest of the Englishman Bartholomew Stibbs, who in 1723 proceeded 500 kilometers further than the territories studied before and reached the Fouta-Jallon mountain range. He found that the Gambia is not connected with the Niger and begins somewhere nearby. In the wake of his travels, the British officers Smith and Leach made a map and plotted the exact coordinates of the river in 1732. A considerable contribution was left to the French. Their studies of Africa concerned the basin of Senegal, during which they were studied in detail as colonizers. Especially stood out Andre Bru, the former director of the trading company. He studied the Atlantic coast and became the first of Europeans who began to strive for penetration into the interior of the continent to establish colonies. His reports were processed by the missionary Jean Baptiste Laba, who wrote the book "A New Description of West Africa" on their basis. Work was published in 1728 and became an important source of information about this territory.

The emergence of the African Association

Many internal areas of the continent remained unexplored even in the second half of the eighteenth century. In order to continue the study of Africa, the Joseph Banks Association was founded. She had to solve several problems. First, it was necessary to find the origins of the White Nile. Secondly, the precise coordinates of the Niger River were unknown. Thirdly, Congo and Zambezi were equally unexplored. Finally, it was worthwhile to study the tributaries of large African rivers to discover possible connections. The most important thing was to deal with the territory around the Niger. Therefore, the African Association sent several expeditions there. All attempts ended in the death of travelers or simply did not lead to anything. Scotsman Mungo Park was invited for research. He went east on a horse, accompanied by African servants. The success of his expedition Mungo is obliged to go to territories that have not yet belonged to Muslims. So he managed to reach the Niger. Returning to England, he published the book "Journey Deep in Africa in 1795-1797." But some of the sites remained unknown to him.

Portuguese Contribution

The list of people who studied the mainland includes people from different countries. The study of Africa was conducted by the Portuguese. With their efforts, the basins of the Congo, Kwa and Kwango rivers were mapped. In addition, it was the Portuguese who studied the cities of Angola - Benguela and Luanda. The explorers and capuchins were also engaged in research. Traveled to them allowed the Portuguese king. One of the Capuchins, Italian Giovanni Antonio Cavazzi, studied the whole of Angola, after which he published the most reliable notes. No less successful, the Portuguese studied the Zambezi basin, where gold seekers worked. Their maps have made it possible to form a good picture of this part of the continent.

Southern part of the continent

The history of Africa's discovery and exploration of the Cape of Good Hope is associated with the Dutch. There they founded a village, now known as Cape Town. From there, the main expeditions to the deeper regions of the continent also took place. By the middle of the eighteenth century, the Dutch managed to map all the coastal regions. Especially outstanding was the expedition of Augustus Frederick Beitler, who reached the Great Kay River. The Oliphants River was discovered by Jan Dantkart, and Jakob Kutze discovered Orange. To the north, the Dutch discovered the previously unknown plateau of the Great Namkvaland, but the heat did not allow them to advance further.

Madagascar

The history of the study of Africa will be incomplete without studying this island. It was opened by the French. Etienne Flacour completed several successful expeditions to the interior regions of the island, and in 1658 he published "The History of the Great Island of Madagascar", where he described in detail all that had been learned before. This is the most important document, which is still considered very significant. As a result of expeditions, the French managed to establish domination on the island, and Madagascar became an official colony.

Russian contribution

Many countries sent to the mysterious continent of the expedition. The Russian Empire was no exception. The study of Africa by Russian travelers was associated with different territories. Central areas studied Kovalevsky, invited to excavate gold mines ruler of Egypt. He was in Cairo, the Nubian Desert, Berber and Khartoum, he studied the Tumata basin and reached his upper reaches, becoming the first European to move so far. Another famous scientist was Tsenkovsky, who studied the Nile Valley. He brought to Russia an amazing collection of natural science exhibits. Africa also carried away the famous Miklouho-Maclay, who studied Sudan and Eritrea, while doing zoological research in parallel. Finally, it is worth mentioning Juncker and his travels along the equatorial part. He lived for several years in the wild tribes and obtained information about the local inhabitants, which the history of the study of Africa knew neither before nor after.

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