presumably

One of the difficulties facing all those who have written on the subject is that of distinguishing between the traveler to exotic places and the scientificexplorer; naturally, the RGS insisted on its concern with the latter. 9 In practice the distinction was not and is not always easy to draw: most of the East African explorers' publications partook of the character of tourist travelogues aswellas scientific treatises. Nor was the society averse from taking financial and social advantage of the popular interest generated by the adventures and personal disputes of their explorer heroes

they were waiting for Europeans to come and free them from the yoke of the slave trade. 4

widened.

The limited support which the government gave to the RGS and its explorers in East Africa might also be seen as symptomatic even if foreign secretaries were wont to claim that they were simply encouraging geographical science. Whatever the state of the economy or of middle class opinion, the obvious conclusion to be drawn from the evidence is that even if the Foreign Office did arrange limited help for explorers and did give Livingstone a roving consul's commission to the chiefs of the interior of East Africa, the government certainly did not want to become directly involved beyond the coast lands.

cynical

Following Livingstone's death in 1873, a great many of those Europeans whose interest in East Africa had been aroused by the explorers began to consider various kinds of direct intervention. From 1876, there were, for example, serious attempts to provide an infrastructure of communications. Meanwhile the missionaries were encouraged to produce useful Africans in "industrial" missions where carpentry would be as important as the Gospel. In short, very direct interference in the lives of Africans was planned. By 1876, in fact, what I would wish to call the "unofficial mind" of imperialism had been so conditioned by the explorers as far as East Africa was concerned that it was prepared through various agencies to undertake this sort of direct action. It is not surprising to find this same "unofficial mind" responding very readily to King Leopold's initiative in setting up an international association to regenerate Africa, an initiative which was itself a direct response to the reports of African explorers. 73 C. M. Andrew has written of an "unofficial mind" of imperialism

Over the next century, Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Portugal, and Belgium all established (or tried to establish) colonies, trading outposts, or both in Africa. Although warfare between competing European powers rarely erupted, the natives often resisted European incursions. The African tribes, however, could neither coordinate their efforts nor overcome the technological advantage of European weapons. In every instance but one (Ethiopia, who defeated the Italians in 1896), they failed to resist the onslaught of European colonizers.

Mediterranean Sea.

fierce storms

Portugal’s exploring aims were largely commercial. The Portuguese wanted to find a sea route around Africa to the riches of Asia. Like other European powers, they wanted to trade directly in valuable Asian spices. The older trade routes to Asia were becoming increasingly blocked to them.

The Portuguese wanted to end Muslim control over northern Africa. That desire was one of several reasons why Portugal explored the continent in the 15th century. Spreading Christianity in Africa was another motive for Portuguese exploration, along with scientific curiosity. They also sought great wealth.

The Portuguese also wanted to establish trade with western Africa. Gold, ivory, and African slaves had long been traded across the Sahara to Muslims in the north.

By the time Henry died in 1460, his navigators had explored the coast as far south as Sierra Leone. For a time the Portuguese were busy fighting the Moroccans, and few exploring expeditions were sent out. John II became king of Portugal in 1481. Under John, the Portuguese once again began exploring Africa regularly

stone pillar

For the next 15 years, Livingstone was constantly on the move in the African interior. First, he ventured north of Cape Town into the Kalahari, a vast dry plain. By 1842 he had already traveled farther north in the Kalahari than any other European. In 1844 he traveled to Mabotsa to establish a mission station. Along the way he was mauled by a lion, and his left arm was injured. The following year Livingstone married Moffat’s daughter Mary. She accompanied him on many of his travels.

Modern exploration of the Nile basin began when Egypt conquered Sudan starting in 1821. As a result, the Egyptians learned more about the courses of the Blue Nile and the White Nile. A Turkish officer, Selim Bimbashi, led three expeditions between 1839 and 1842. Two of them reached the point in what is now South Sudan where rapids make navigation of the Nile difficult.

s too. It was not just that Europeans now began to arrive in larger numbers, demand more and

ample,

Europeans,

omoted

to switch from

In the period of exploration the most notable visitors for the majority of East Africans were not the European explorers so much as other Africans and, more particularly, the Swahili and Arab traders from the coast and Zanzibar. By the late 1870s again, it might be argued, some sort of accommodation showed signs of being reached between these traders and many African

'Scientific geography' did, in fact, mean, more than anything, the recording of accurate observations for latitude, longitude and height on the basis of which satis? factory maps could be constructed. In this sense, the 'discovery' of a feature like the source of the Nile was indeed a discovery for it definitively established a scientific fact.

'scientific geo

appear to have been in the Society mainly because it was part of the fashionable London scene. Many such individuals may have joined because they considered their continental tours made them explorers but it seems reasonable to distinguish as a separate group the wealthy amateur travellers and big-game hunters who constitute 4 per cent of the sample. But much larger than all these groups except the scholars, bulks the servicemen, no less than 47 (23 per cent) of the sample being

out th

Clements Markha

r. There was in fact much more social and political cohesion in East African societies than most explorer

Although the British government moved to increase its control over East Africa for reasons that involve much wider considerations, the apparent need to improve law and order provided at least a very powerful justification. Indeed it was a necessary part of the process by which imperial objects could be achie

precursors. It is much more difficult to attempt an answer to the question of what Africans learned or thought they learned about Europeans during the period of exploration in East Africa. Obviously, first of all, the explorers' direct social and economic impact was slight. It is true that Captain Speke seems to have fathered a daughter in Buganda by one of the Kabaka's

Krapf was in a weak position and could not be more than a pawn but Speke, for example, had too large a following of reasonably well-organized porters to be taken entirely for granted. It was therefore possible for him to be a desirable ally for one side or the other in the war between the Tabora Arabs and Mnwya Sera; in the event, he tried to mediate in the dispute with some effect (Bridges, 1971). Stanley, who had an even more formidable caravan on his expeditions, and who, unlike all the other explorers, showed a willingness to act in a ruthless way, did frequently intervene as, for instance, in the war between Mirambo and the Arabs in 1

European explorers could, then, have a noticeable political effect although generally only in the short term. In the longer term, their special characteristics probably operated in different and less easily described ways. Early European visits to Buganda were marked by great questionings of the explorers on the place of Man in Society and in t