Mungo Park
Biography, Chronology of Park's Life, Map, Travels in The Interior Districts of Africa
Mungo Park was born in Scotland in 1771. He was a trained physician for the East India Company. He was contracted by the African Association to travel to Africa to find the Niger River. The African Association's aims were to investigate the possibilities for economic opportunities as well as scientific study in Africa. Park made three unsuccessful attempts to locate the Niger river, until his trip in 1795. He spent 18 months in the interior regions of Africa, traveling eastward from the Gambia River towards Timbuktu. He finally found the Niger River on July 22, 1796. Park's record of his travels was entitled Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa, and it was first published in 1799. Park's final trip to Africa was in 1805 where he died, the cause being unknown for certain, it is recorded that he was attacked by natives and drowned in the Niger River.
Chronology of Mungo Park's Life
September 10 or 11, 1771 Born; Foulshiels Farm, near Selkirk, Scotland.
1785- Moves to Selkirk; apprentice to Thomas Anderson, surgeon; attends Selkirk Grammar School.
1788- African Association founded.
1788- Enrolls for three terms at Edinburgh University; studies medicine and botany.
1793-Takes oral exams for the Company of Surgeons in London; receives a low pass; signs on as a surgeon's mate on the Worcester, bound for the East Indies.
1794- returns to England
1795- Makes final arrangements with the African Association for a west coast approach to the Niger River, sets sail on the Endeavor, May 22
1796- Captive of the Moors, March 7-July 1. Arrives at the Niger, July 22, begins return journey.
1797- Arrives back in London, December 25
1798- May 26, General Meeting of the African Association; Park is commended for his success.
1799-Goes home to Selkirk; Publishes Travels in May; Marries Allison Anderson in August
1801- Moves to Peebles, Scotland, and sets up a medical practice.
1802-Commissioned by government to make another African expedition
1805-Sets sail for Africa on the Crescent in January; last journal entry, November 16, from Sansanding on the Niger River.
1806-Charleston Courier in America publishes first rumor of Park's death.
Here is a map I found of Mungo Park's Route
Travels in The Interior Districts of Africa
Mungo Park's book describes tribes in the regions of Gambia and their environment, appearance, values, morals, living arrangements, and customs. Park's book presents these people through the eyes of the Eighteenth Century Westerner, including all their bias and comparisons to their culture. Because of Park's purpose in his travels to Africa, he often focuses on the possibility for economic opportunity, as well as tries to make objective observations about the peoples he encounters.
His instructions by the African Association were as follows: "to pass on to the river Niger, either by way of Bambouk, or by such other route as should be found most convenient. That I should ascertain the course, and, if possible, the rise and termination of that river. That I should use my utmost exertions to visit the principal towns or cities in its neighbourhood, particularly Timbuctoo and Houssa; and that I should be afterwards at liberty to return to Europe, either by the way of the Gambia, or by such other route as, under all the then existing circumstances of my situation and prospects, should appear to me to be most advisable."
The whole text of the book can be found online for free at:
http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext04/mng110.txt
Some Quotes that reveal 18th Century Views of Africans and the African country in Park's Travels are:
The People of Africa and their Customs:
"...but they are commonly very noisy and very troublesome, begging for everything they fancy with such earnestness and importunity, that traders, in order to get quit of them, are frequently obliged to grant their requests."
"Among all these nations, the religion of Mohammed has made, and continues to make, considerable progress; but in most of them the body of the people, both free and enslaved, persevere in maintaining the blind but harmless superstitions of their ancestors, and are called by the Mohammedans kafirs, or infidels."
"Of the Feloops, I have little to add to what has been observed concerning them in the former chapter. They are of a gloomy disposition, and are supposed never to forgive an injury. They are even said to transmit their quarrels as deadly feuds to their posterity, insomuch that a son considers it as incumbent on him, from a just sense of filial obligation, to become the avenger of his deceased father's wrongs."
"The Jaloffs (or Yaloffs) are an active, powerful, and warlike race, inhabiting great part of that tract which lies between the river Senegal and the Mandingo states on the Gambia; yet they differ from the Mandingoes not only in language, but likewise in complexion and features."
"The Foulahs (or Pholeys), such of them at least as reside near the Gambia, are chiefly of a tawny complexion, with soft silky hair, and pleasing features. They are much attached to a pastoral life, and have introduced themselves into all the kingdoms on the windward coast as herdsmen and husbandmen, paying a tribute to the sovereign of the country for the lands which they hold."
"The Mandingoes, generally speaking, are of a mild, sociable, and obliging disposition. The men are commonly above the middle size, well-shaped, strong, and capable of enduring great labour. The women are good-natured, sprightly, and agreeable."
"The negroes do not go to supper till late, and, in order to amuse ourselves while our beef was preparing, a Mandingo was desired to relate some diverting stories, in listening to which, and smoking tobacco, we spent three hours. These stories bear some resemblance to those in the Arabian Nights' Entertainments, but, in general, are of a more ludicrous cast."
"Their language abounds much in gutturals, and is not so harmonious as that spoken by the Foulahs."
Natives views on Park:
" We found the monarch sitting upon a mat, and two attendants with him. I repeated what I had before told him concerning the object of my journey, and my reasons for passing through his country. He seemed, however, but half satisfied. When I offered to show him the contents of my portmanteau, and everything belonging to me, he was convinced; and it was evident that his suspicion had arisen from a belief that every white man must of necessity be a trader."
"He then observed that his women were very desirous to see me, and requested that I would favour them with a visit."
The Country of Africa:
"...the night is spent by the terrified travellers in listening to the croaking of frogs (of which the numbers are beyond imagination), the shrill cry of the jackal, and the deep howling of the hyaena, a dismal concert, interrupted only by the roar of such tremendous thunder as no person can form a conception of but those who have heard it."
"The country itself being an immense level, and very generally covered with wood, presents a tiresome and gloomy uniformity to the eye; but although Nature has denied to the inhabitants the beauties of romantic landscapes, she has bestowed on them, with a liberal hand, the more important blessings of fertility and abundance. A little attention to cultivation procures a sufficiency of corn, the fields afford a rich pasturage for cattle, and the natives are plentifully supplied with excellent fish, both from the Gambia river and the Walli creek."
Portrait of Mungo Park is taken from: www.lector.net/phyabr00/ mungo.htm
Map of Mungo Park's Travels is taken from: http://africanhistory.about.com/cs/biography/p/bio_Park.htm