Hugh Clapperton

Hugh Clapperton

Hugh Clapperton (* 1788 near Annan in the county of Dumfries / Scotland, † April 13, 1827 near Sokoto (Nigeria) ) was a Scottish explorer of Africa .

Clapperton went into the service of the British Navy at a young age and in 1821 accompanied Walter Oudney , who was sent by John Barrow , to Africa together with Lieutenant Dixon Denham . They reached Bornu on their arduous journey , then Denham went alone to Baguirmi and Mandara . Clapperton looked for Lake Chad with Oudney and, after the death of his companion, advanced westward to Sokoto . With Denham he returned to England in 1825 .

Clapperton was appointed captain and a little later commissioned by Lord Bathurst to advance from the Bay of Benin to Sokoto and Bornu and to explore the course of the Niger . On this journey Clapperton reached Sokoto again, where Sultan Bello forbade him to travel to Bornu.

Clapperton was the first European to reach the Sokoto Caliphate.

Works

• Difficult & dangerous roads: Hugh Clapperton's travels in Sahara and Fezzan 1822-25. Sickle Moon Books, London 2000, ISBN 1-900209-06-3
• Journal of a second expedition into the interior of Africa, from the bight of Benin to Soccatoo. Cass, London 1966 (reprint of the London 1829 edition)
• with Dixon Denham and Walter Oudney: Narrative of travels and discoveries in Northern and Central Africa. Mayf , London 1985, ISBN 1-85077-057-3 (reprint of London 1826 edition)

literature

• Richard Lander : Records of Clapperton's last expedition to Africa. Cass, London 1967 (reprint of the London edition 1829–1830)
• James RB Lockhart: clapperton in Borno , Cologne 1996.
• Paul E. Lovejoy: Hugh Clapperton into the Interior of Africa. Brill, Leiden 2004, ISBN 90-04-14155-3

Web links

• Literature by and about Hugh Clapperton in the catalog of the German National Library