The discovery of the African continent was a gradual process that occurred over many centuries. Various ancient civilizations around the Mediterranean, such as the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, and Arabs, explored the northern coast of Africa. However, the vast interior of the continent remained largely unknown to Eurasian and Arab cultures until the modern era.
Early Exploration of Northern Africa
The Phoenicians, an ancient seafaring civilization based in modern-day Lebanon, established colonies along the North African coast as early as the 10th century BCE. Carthage, in modern-day Tunisia, began as one of these Phoenician settlements and eventually grew into a major regional power. Through their mercantile activities and naval expeditions, the Carthaginians likely gathered knowledge about areas beyond coastal North Africa.
The Greeks similarly established colonies in North Africa, such as Cyrene in modern-day Libya, as early as the 7th century BCE. Legendary figures like Herodotus wrote accounts of areas like the land of the “Lotophagi,” thought to be along the North African coast. Alexander the Great conquered Egypt in 332 BCE, bringing Greek knowledge of North Africa. After Alexander’s death, the Ptolemaic Kingdom centred in Egypt continued Greek exploration of the Nile River south into modern-day Sudan.
The Romans took over most Greek settlements in North Africa after defeating Carthage in the Punic Wars (264-146 BCE). The Romans consolidated control over the entire coastal region, which they called Africa Proconsularis. Early Roman emperors like Julius Caesar and Augustus sent expeditions south into the interior, including along the Nile River. Romans established settlements and trading posts deep into the Sahara Desert.
Arab and Muslim Exploration
Beginning in the 7th century CE, Arab traders and explorers played a key role in exploring Africa. After emerging from the Arabian Peninsula, Arabs conquered Roman North Africa. They established trading posts south along trade routes like the Trans-Saharan trade network. Arab scholars gathered accounts of African geography, peoples, and natural resources. By the 11th century, Arabic trade networks connected sub-Saharan West Africa with Mediterranean economies.
In the 15th century, the Ottoman Empire conquered the North African coast, incorporating previous Muslim territories. The Ottomans maintained African trading posts and slave networks. They also sponsored naval expeditions along the East African coast, exerting influence as far south as modern Somalia. The Ottoman Pasha of Egypt sent a naval expedition down the Blue Nile River in the 1520s.
Early European Exploration
European interest in exploring Africa emerged alongside the rise of maritime trade in the 15th century. Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal sponsored voyages down the West African coast to acquire African goods and find sea routes to Asia. Portuguese sailors reached Sierra Leone by 1460 and rounded the Cape of Good Hope by 1488, opening sea trade with Asia.
In the late 15th century, Europeans began establishing trading posts along the West African coast for commerce in gold, ivory, and slaves. By 1500, the Portuguese had mapped the entire coastline of West Africa. The Spanish similarly established colonies in coastal enclaves in northern and West Africa.
These coastal settlements allowed Europeans to gradually acquire information about the African interior from indigenous traders and intermediaries. However, substantial European exploration of inland Africa did not begin until the 19th century.
Key Figures in Inner African Exploration
While knowledge of coastal Africa gradually spread through the Mediterranean and European worlds, the mysterious interiors of the continent remained largely unknown to outsiders until the 1800s. Here are some of the most important explorers who helped reveal inner Africa to the world:
Mungo Park (1771-1806) – Niger River
Mungo Park was a Scottish explorer hired by the African Association of Britain to trace the course of the Niger River in West Africa. In 1795-97, he traveled inland from the Gambia River and became the first Westerner to reach the central portion of the Niger. His reports established that the Niger flowed eastward into the interior.
Hugh Clapperton (1788-1827) – West and Central Africa
Clapperton was an Scottish naval officer sent on several expeditions into the West African interior during the 1820s. He explored parts of today’s Nigeria, Niger, Chad, and other areas. Clapperton confirmed the eastward flow of the Niger River and opened up economic and political contacts in African kingdoms like the Sokoto Caliphate.
Rene Caillie (1799-1838) – Timbuktu
Caillie was a French explorer and the first European to return alive from the West African city of Timbuktu. He reached the city in 1828 after learning Arabic and disguising himself as a Muslim on his overland travels. His return revealed important details about cultures like the Songhai Empire centered along the Niger.
Heinrich Barth (1821-1865) – Central Sahara and Chad Basin
Barth was a German explorer who joined a British expedition into the Central Sudan and Sahara in 1849. Over 5 years, he explored areas like the Lake Chad basin, discovering details of cultures like the Bornu Empire. He pioneered the scholarly study of African history, geography, and ethnography.
John Hanning Speke (1827-1864) – Nile Source
Speke was a British officer who accompanied Richard Burton on expeditions in East Africa to find the source of the Nile River. In 1858, Speke located Lake Victoria and confirmed it as the Nile source. His findings opened up the East African interior to further exploration and ultimately to British colonial control.
David Livingstone (1813-1873) – Zambezi and Congo River Basins
Livingstone was a Scottish medical missionary who became one of the most renowned African explorers of the 1800s. He mapped large areas of southern and central Africa, discovering areas like Lake Ngami and Victoria Falls along the Zambezi River. He helped open up much of the interior to later European colonization and missionary activity.
Henry Morton Stanley (1841-1904) – Congo River and Great Lakes
Stanley was a British-American journalist sent by the New York Herald in 1871 to find the missing Livingstone. After locating him, Stanley conducted extensive explorations of central and East Africa, tracing the course of the Congo River and circumnavigating the Great Lakes. His journey led to the Scramble for Africa in the 1880s.
Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza (1852-1905) – Congo River Basin
De Brazza was an Italian explorer who charted the Ogooué and Congo rivers for France in the 1870s and 1880s. His expedition up the Congo competed directly with Stanley’s Belgian-sponsored exploration. De Brazza’s diplomatic treaties with local rulers formed the basis for French claims to vast territories in Central Africa.
Later Explorers and Scholars
In addition to these pioneering explorers, many later Western travelers, officials, and scholars helped fill in knowledge about the peoples, geography, languages, and resources of Africa into the 20th century. Key figures included:
- Verney Lovett Cameron (1844-1894) – crossed Africa from east to west (1875-1876)
- Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza (1852-1905) – explored Congo River basin for France
- Georg August Schweinfurth (1836-1925) – studied peoples of Upper Nile region
- Gustav Nachtigal (1834-1885) – explored Sahara and West/Central Africa for Germany
- Paul du Chaillu (1835-1903) – searched for source of Nile, encountered Pygmies of central Africa
- Mary Kingsley (1862-1900) – studied history and cultures of West Africa
- Sir Richard Burton (1821-1890) – prolific British explorer of Africa’s lakes and rivers
- Sir Samuel Baker (1821-1893) – explored upper Nile River regions like Lake Albert
- Emin Pasha (1840-1892) – Governor of Equatoria province in southern Sudan
- Dr. David Livingstone (1813-1873) – famous missionary and explorer who searched for Nile source
These and many other explorers gradually opened Africa’s interior to greater outside knowledge and eventually to colonial control by European powers in the late 19th century.
When Was Africa Considered “Fully Explored?”
By the end of the 19th century, almost all of Africa’s geography was known to Europeans, but filling in the detailed maps was a more gradual process. Some milestones:
- 1850s – Source of the Nile found, but detailed hydrology still unclear
- 1870s – Congo and Niger Rivers largely charted, but not fully surveyed
- 1880s – European powers formally divided Africa between them, but inland areas not fully controlled
- 1890s – “Scramble for Africa” brings most areas under firm colonial rule
- 1900s – Technical surveys and boundary demarcations continue in colonial era
- 1950s – Newly independent African nations begin own localized surveying and mapping
- 1980s – Satellite imagery provides detailed geographical information
- Modern – Advanced global positioning systems, remote sensing, and geographic information systems reveal the last geographical insights
Therefore, while the basic outlines of African geography were established by the early 20th century, filling in details on altitudes, resources, boundaries, and other features has continued up to the present day.
Why Did It Take So Long to “Discover” Africa’s Interior?
There are several reasons why the exploration of Africa’s interior took so many centuries:
- Disease burden – Diseases like malaria made travel in the interior very deadly to outsiders.
- Dense vegetation – Thick rainforests and scrublands made penetration on foot difficult.
- Powerful African kingdoms – Well-organized states in the interior resisted outside entry and control.
- Lack of trade goods – Unlike Asia, Africa lacked goods to compel greater European exploration prior to the 1800s.
- Lack of settled populations – The sparsely populated interior held little attraction compared to other regions.
- Hostile inhabitants – Some tribal groups fiercely resisted early European explorations.
- Geographic barriers – Deserts, highlands, rainforests, and rivers impeded travel.
- Limited technologies – Things like quinine, steamships, and global mapping were not developed until the mid-1800s.
Thus, while coastal areas and the fringes of the Sahara were known relatively early, it took modern technologies, medicine, and imperial incentives to finally uncover the deep interior.
Conclusion
The exploration of Africa was a gradual process spanning many centuries. Trade, scholarship, and limited expeditions revealed details about the coasts and the north. However, the vast interior remained a mystery until dedicated European expeditions mapped its major features in the 19th century. Even today, new insights are still being revealed about the world’s second largest continent.