Daniel Houghton
Daniel Francis Houghton (* around 1740 in Ireland ; † July 1791 in West Africa ) was an English major and the third traveler to Africa on behalf of the African Association .
Major Houghton, son of Captain William Houghton and grandson of Sir William Houghton , had been in Morocco in 1772 and from 1779 to 1783 in command of the fortress on Gorée . On December 20, 1783, he married in London Philippa Evelyn (* 1760 in London; † October 27, 1824), the daughter of Charles Evelyn and Philadelphia (Philippa) Wright . The couple had two sons Frederick Hugh Evelyn Houghton (born July 4, 1783), Charles Evelyn Daniel Francis Poplet Houghton (born September 20, 1784) and daughter Philippa .
Unlike the two previous travelers, Simon Lucas and John Ledyard , Houghton tried to get to Niger from the Gambia to explore its course and neighboring cities and states. His successor at the Association , Mungo Park , took the same path. Houghton started from Plymouth in 1790 and was able to send important insights to London. In particular, that the Niger flowed north to Timbuktu and then made a bend to the east. This has certainly also contributed significantly to the theories that the Niger flows into the Nile or in the Sahara near Wangara ebbs in a lake or swamp. However, he was unable to gain any information about the further course of the Niger, which flowed further south-east, because he died near Nioro du Sahel , west of Timbuktu. The reasons for his death could never be fully explained. According to Mungo Park's later information, which he heard during his trip, Houghton was robbed and then starved to death ( Lit .: Sattin, 2003, p. 123).
literature
- Frances Archer: The Gambia Colony and Protectorate (Library of African Study) Routledge, 1967, ISBN 0714611395
- Arnold Gailey, Harry A. Hughes: Historical Dictionary of the Gambia The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1999, ISBN 0-8108-3660-2
- Anthony Sattin: The Gates of Africa: Death, Discovery and the Search for Timbuktu , HarperCollionsPublishers, London 2003, ISBN 0-00-712234-9
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Houghton, Daniel |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Houghton, Daniel Francis (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Africa explorer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | around 1740 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Ireland |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 1791 |
| Place of death | West Africa |