Prior to 1830, foreign merchants little ventured into the interior of East Africa. Arab and Indian traders, brought to the shores of East Africa by favorable monsoon winds from at least the 10 th century, mostly restricted their activities to the coasts, trading and settling on small offshore islands that afforded security. Mixing with local populations, they contributed to the formation of the Swahili civilization

t is important to note that while explorers’ books can readily be subjected to postcolonial criticism, and while the exploration of Africa and the later events of the scramble were undoubtedly connected, recent scholarship has problematised any attempt to posit a “direct line of causation between exploration and empire”. If, as Kennedy puts it, “exploration was the avatar of empires” we must conclude that “empires were [...] directed to multiple, often contending, objectives” (2014, 9, 10)

Henry Morton Stanley is one of the best-known names in the roster of Victorian explorers.

In James Newman’s judgement, it is also the case that “In terms of exploration and discovery as defined in nineteenth-century Europe, he clearly stands at the top”.

. CAPrAIN BUETON, late Commandant of the East African Expedition, read out a general account of his proceedings subsequent to the tentative journey to Fuga and Usumbara, which appeared in the 28th Vol. of the Journal of the SocietJr.

The Paper contained a description of the personnel of the East African Expedition vvhen leaving the coast for the purpose of exploring the i'Sea of Ujiji." The difficulties of departure and the severe trials of patience on the road were then dwelt upon