Travels Into The Interior Of Africa (2004) - Plot & Excerpts
TRAVELS IN THE INTERIOR OF AFRICA. (1799). Mungo Park. ****.This is, without a doubt, the best narrative of exploration that I have ever read that had Africa as its subject. Mungo Park was a Scotsman from Selkirk who had studied at university in the medical arts. He took up a challenge when he was offered the job of exploring certain areas of West Africa that were, at that time, relatively unknown. His goal was to characterize and plot the territories around the Gambia and Niger rivers. During the course of his explorations, he managed to correct many of the incorrect beliefs of the geography of the area at the time. He also managed to elucidate the various populations of the area, along with their customs, religions and tribal practices. Most of the names of the various villages that he passed through are completely unknown today. The only name I recognized was Timbuktu. Fortunately, the edition that I was able to get hold of and read was published by The Folio Society, which had the foresight to include maps as the endpapers. It also included the original drawings that were published with the 1860 edition of the work. Park was very thorough in his descriptions of the tribes he met along the way. Unfortunately for him, however, he tended to give the various natives the benefit of the doubt in his dealings with them. He was continually cheated and robbed as he proceeded through the country, and was not well received in most of the various villages in spite of his “Christian” approach to the natives. It was obvious that the native Africans and Park represented two polarities of two totally different cultures. The key feature of his narrative, however, was his claim to presenting the ‘truth’ as he saw it. He was meticulous in attempting to learn as much about the natives as possible, and went on to describe them as accurately as he could. In addition to his human studies, he also managed to provide a survey of the flora and fauna of the various regions. In all, he was the perfect explorer – except that he was incredibly naïve. His knowledge of the native languages was also rather deficient, which might have been the reason for many of his troubles. He did begin to learn some of the basic tongues, along with Arabic – the language used by most of the Moors in the area. Having a good translator along would have been extremely helpful. The contents of this journal, as I have mentioned, covered a variety of topics. One that I found particularly interesting was that on slavery as practiced in the region that he explored. He estimated that three out of every four people were slaves to the single free man. The practices were usually subhuman between owner and slave, and slaves themselves were used as articles of trade among the natives. In all, I learned a lot from this journal of his first expedition. He did manage to return to Scotland, and spent some time in his country. He married and took up a medical practice, but was persuaded to go on a second tour. On this second tour, he provided himself with an accompanying lieutenant and 38 men. This was all to no avail, since the party ultimately failed and all of its members were killed off by disease or murdered by native enemies. If you have never read a book about an expedition, this would be an excellent place to start. Recommended.
Mungo Park was 24 when he set out in 1795 to follow the Gambia River inland and then through the interior to the River Niger, through then unknown regions of West Africa. The Scottish Park, educated as a botanist and a surgeon, traveled alone or with a few local guides, which was unusual in and of itself. More striking was his clear-sighted view of the societies he encountered and his lack of prejudice. In this respect he reminded me of another favorite West African explorer, Mary Kingsley. Park comes across as a simple, patient, and open-hearted man, endowed with a keen sense of humanity.Park's expedition was fraught with incredible hardship. He was imprisoned for four months by one king, and robbed and beaten on more than one occasion. Conversely, often his survival depended on the kindness of poor villagers, who nursed and fed him when he was at death's door even though they had almost nothing themselves. Despite these ordeals, he faithfully recorded what he saw, noting in great detail the practices and beliefs of various peoples he encountered. His damning accounts of the slave trade in particular were unique and of singular interest. Park finally managed to reach the Niger and traveled along the river for a short distance before being forced to turn back. When he finally made it home to Scotland (via America) in 1797, he found that he'd been presumed dead. His account of his travels, published in 1799, became extremely popular and has seldom been out of print since, even though he is not as well known today as later explorers such as Stanley, Burton, and Speke. Park and all his companions died during a much larger second expedition to Africa in 1806. Park was one of the last survivors of that ill-fated mission, but he reportedly drowned in some rapids after being attacked by hostile natives.
What do You think about Travels Into The Interior Of Africa (2004)?
Journey of a young Englishman into a part of Africa previously not explored by Europeans. This book allows the reader to re-live Parks journey in a place that will never exist again. Park took this trip and published his journal for the Royal Explorers Society in London (need to check the name). Because of this we now have an accurate veiw of the how highly developed and well functioning societies were in Africa during the 1700-1800's. In addition to this book's historical significance, it is an exciting story about a man who takes a trip that causes him(stop reading if you don't want to know anything about the story itself) to be kidnapped by Moors and taken to the brink of death only to be granted mercy.
—Marcella
This is an account of travels by one of the first Europeans in West Africa starting in 1795, and is remarkably readable even today, useful for anyone who is traveling in the region or working there. Park's observations are detailed and mostly balanced so he is a good reporter. A couple of items we know better about now (he thought the Africans backward because they had not domesticated elephants like the Indians, but African elephants do not domesticate), but overall it is a good neutral telling that looks at people as individuals, not as representatives of their class/race/tribe. One thing that would make this book better would be to include maps either just of the region or better, with the route marked, but this complaint is targeted at the publisher, not the writer.
—Mary
Simply a great travel book. Park shows what makes a truly great traveller as he overcomes imprisonment, the perils of nature and regular loss of property at the hands of unscrupulous natives in order to go on with the task at hand; namely the exploration of western Africa and the Niger river. In spite of his of-the-time views on slavery he comes across as a kindly soul and in turn is met with great acts of kindness by the local population. There are also moments of humour whether intentionsal or not which add greatly to the whole experience.READ IT!!!
—Torben
