Libya: Archaeology and Civilisation (Part 30)

Gordon Alexander Laing had to face a lot of problems before emerging as the first explorer from Europe to reach Timbuktu. In fact, in his letters he spoke about some of the problems he had to face to his health and from attacks on his caravan that left him wounded.

Then in another letter from Timbuktu dated September 21, he announced his arrival in that city,through Ein Salah on the preceding August 18, and the insecurity of his position owing to the hostility of the Fula chieftain Bello, who was then ruling the city.

There is almost undivided agreement that besides Timbuktu, Laing was also the first European to enter the town of Ghadames, known as the Jewel of the Sahara, in modern times.

He wrote that he had intended to leave Timbuktu after three days. But then no further news was received from the traveller.

However, from native information it was ascertained that he left Timbuktu on the day he had planned before being murdered on his way back from Timbuktu, only a short distance away from the town itself on the night of September 26, that same year.

All agreed that Laing truly was the first European to set foot in that part of the world, but he was not destined to enjoy the reputation which he had already built for himself.

Laing’s papers were never recovered, though it is believed that they were secretly brought to Tripoli in 1828.

In 1903 the French government placed a tablet bearing the name of the explorer and the date of his visit on the house occupied by him during his 30-day stay in Timbuktu.

It is worth recalling that in 1824 while he was still in England, Laing prepared a narrative of his earlier journeys. It was published in 1825. It was entitled: “Travels in the Timannee, Kooranko and Soolima Countries, in Western Africa”.

Those early travels by Laing and ot-her explorers were, in fact, the first attempts ever to be made to chart the central parts of the African continent.

Already, the northern littoral of Libya was proving itself to be the link between the European and the African continents and it was not surprising that it was from Tripoli that most of those expeditions had originated.

Indeed, Libya was reliving its traditional role as the crossroads between the two continents, an important role that it had always played, in particular because it was strategically placed to meet with ease this position. Today, as then, this historic city still provides a vital link with the south.

At the turn of the eighteenth century, when many explorers from the European continent appeared to be determined to explore what were at that time considered to be the mysteries of the dark continent, Tripoli did not fail to rise to the occasion. It was from here that the more important of those expeditions started, as evidenced by those in 1822 by Lucas, Clapperton, Denham, Oudney and also in 1925 by Laing, that have all been dealt with in this series.

The unfortunate death of Gordon Alexander Laing who had managed to travel as far as the Saharan city of Timbuktu, only to be killed at the start of his return journey to Tripoli, in no way brought to an end further attempts to explore central Africa.

In 1845, another explorer, by the name of James Richardson followed, in Laing’s footsteps, arriving in Tripoli from Tunis. He moved southwards towards the oasis of Ghadames.

Richardson appears to have taken great interest in the life of the inhabitants of the ‘Djebel’ on the mountainous terrain which is to be found in that region, and collected many interesting details about the way of life, customs and traditions of the Tuareg before returning to Tripoli nine months later.

Richardson did not linger unduly in the ‘Djebel’ and it is recorded that in December of the same year he changed the direction of his travels and proceeded towards Ghat in the middle of the Sahara, and later to Marzuq.

When he decided to go back to the city of Tripoli, he decided to take a different route, passing through Sokhna and Misratah, the city that had brought to a premature end the journey of Wiliam Lucas who, in 1799 had made the first attempt to explore Libya.

Lucas had then given up on his exploration once it had reached the city of Misratah, and later he was to justify his decision by saying that he had decided to turn back because of what he described as the hostility of the local people.

Apparently, the city of Misratah did not worry unduly Richardson, although he had truly not arrived there before almost half a century after Lucas. Nonetheless, Richardson is considered to have contributed to shedding light on life in Africa during that period of time.

JOSEPH CUTAJAR

(To be continued