Discovering the “Dark Continent”

FUN WITH MAPS – ISSUE 2021-177 DAILY FEATURE:

By Steve Kovacs (Introduction by Chuck Gibson)

LOVELAND, OH (September 14, 2021) – In Issue 2021-177 of Steve Kovacs Fun with Maps, we find the lost missionary and learn about the greatest explorer.

FIRST TRANS-AFRICAN EXPLORATION

Henry Morton Stanley and his expedition left Rwanda on September 14, 1876 to complete the fourth and final objective of his African explorations – to investigate the flow of the Lualaba River and determine if it was the source of the Nile. (It proved to be the source of the Congo.)

Stanley had also investigated several other bodies of water and whether they were interconnected to each other or to the Nile – Lake Victoria, Lake Albert, and Lake Tanganyika.

While his information about the “Dark Continent” cannot be underestimated, most people remember Stanley as the rescuer of a lost missionary and his famous (although disputed) question, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?”

The 7000 miles he traveled and wrote about easily give Stanley the claim of Africa’s greatest explorer.

Here is Cambridge’s Map from 1864 showing Lake Victoria, Lake Albert (today much smaller than shown here), and the northern tip of Lake Tanganyika.

Steve Kovacs and his wife Theresa reside in Loveland, Ohio where they raised their two children. He is a passionate collector of antique maps.

Visit his antique map boutique world-on-paper online. Watch for his daily feature Steve Kovacs: Antique Maps & Fun Facts here on Loveland Beacon.