Libya: Archaeology and Civilisation (Part 27)

Over the centuries the vast terrain that makes up the country of Libya has inevitably attracted the curiosity of many explorers, scientists and travellers. This has been particularly true of the seventeenth and eighteenth century, when most of the northern and central parts of the African continent were still unexplored.

During those years when no efficient and fast means of travel exited, the exploration of the continent undertook largely the form of an exciting adventure, at times not without risk.

As early as 1799 the first explorers had already set foot on Libyan territory with the intention of travelling southwards to discover the then mysteries of the so-called Dark Continent.

Those early explorers came mainly from the continent of Europe. Some of them succeeded to set foot in the more remote parts of Africa.

Their findings, scientific or otherwise, helped to a substantial extent to shed light on the earlier civilisations of the continent, and provided proof of the ancient heritage of Africa, and subsequently of Libya itself from where most of those adventurous journeys started.

William Lucas was the first to embark on such an adventure. Two other English ‘explorers’ tried to follow his example and to penetrate the interior of Libya. They were Dr Joseph Ritchie (ca 1788 - 1819) and a naval captain by the name of George Francis Lyon (1795 - 1832).

Records show that on April 7, 1819 the two men, dressed as Arabs and took off on a journey from Tripoli. Their final destination was Sudan.

At the time, Tripoli was the capital of one of the six Barbary States, of which the others were the Empire of Morocco, the Deylik of Oran, the Deylik of Algiers, the Beylik of Constantine and the Beylik of Tunis. All of these states, with the exception of Morocco, were nominally part of the Ottoman Empire, but the Basha of Tripoli was practically independent, and had be-come an ally of the British Government following Nelson's victories that had given Great Britain the maritime control of the Mediterranean.

Apparently, the idea behind the expedition belonged to the British authorities. Their consuls who represented Great Britain diplomatically and commercially in Tripoli had been sending reports of the Sudan trade, and of the rich countries of Bornu, Hausa, Sokoto, the Niger River and the great Lake Chad. So they felt that the best course to follow was to send an expedition across the Sahara Desert to reach the lower Niger.

The expedition was under funded and lacked support, however, a caravan was organised by Dr Joseph Ritchie and George Francis Lyon. It started from Tripoli and decided to follow the coastal belt for as much of the distance as they could.

There are several accounts that demonstrate that, in fact, the pair had travelled on the road from Gharian to Beni. From there they pressed further eastwards onto Sokna and then southwards towards Sabha and Marzuq.

However, it appears that they had to give up their planned expedition. Some of their own accounts speak of great difficulties, and it is ascertained that on November 20 of the same year, Dr Ritchie died. Nonetheless, captain Francis decided to push further south on his own.

Lyon is documented to have wandered over a large area of the Fezzan, finally finding his way to Gatron where he is said to have made some astronomic and scientific observations, and gathered historic and economic information that together with that which had been collected by his unfortunate companion, made a somewhat relative contribution towards what was then known of that part of the world.

But then Lyon was forced to return home. Later it was discovered that he had wrongly come to the conclusion that the Niger must enter Lake Chad and then flow on to join the Nile. Lyon's mistaken theory influenced the direction of British government's next expedition.

This time the plan was to go to Bornu, the kingdom around Lake Chad, using the same caravan route had had been taken by the German, Frederick Hornemann, in 1798.

Four years later, in 1822, a much stronger expedition to Bornu and Lake Chad was mounted. A three-man team for the expedition to Bornu and Lake Chad was selected in London. The explorers were an Edinburgh doctor and botanist, Walter Oudney, a naval lieutenant, also from Edinburgh, Hugh Clapperton and an army officer, Dixon Denham.

The expedition left Tripoli and began the journey across the desert with a caravan of camels and equipment. Before long all three were sick with malaria. Although they were really to ill to attempt to cross the desert, they struggled on until they reached Lake Chad.

The journey from Tripoli had taken them 11 months, but the result made it worthwhile, as they were the first Europeans to see the lake. The party then camped at Kukawa, the capital of the kingdom of Bornu, and went on to explore the lake.

They concluded that it was not the key to the mystery of the Niger, as had been suggested by Lyon. None of the rivers flowing from the west was big enough to be the Niger, and no great river flowed out of it to the east.

The trek from Lake Chad back to Tripoli took them from mid-September 1824 to the end of January 1825.

Other explorers and adventurers were to follow. They were not only from Britain by from many other countries, mostly European.

Through their exploits some of them had made valid contributions to the sciences, as they were known and practised at the time. Others were more adventurers and perhaps fortune-seekers whose exploits were both harmful and negative.

JOSEPH CUTAJAR

(To be continued)