Joseph Thomson (explorer)
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Joseph Thomson (February 14, 1858 - August 2, 1895) was a Scottish geologist and explorer who played an important part in the Scramble for Africa. Thomson's Gazelle is named for him.
Excelling as an explorer rather than an exact scientist, he avoided confrontations among his porters or with indigenous peoples. His motto was He who goes gently, goes safely; he who goes safely goes far.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
Born Penpont, Dumfriesshire, he was apprenticed into his father's stone-masonry and quarrying business. He developed a keen amateur interest in geology and botany which eventually led to his formal education at the University of Edinburgh, studying under Archibald Geikie and Thomas Henry Huxley.
[edit] Tanganyika
On graduating in 1878, he was appointed geologist and naturalist to Alexander Keith Johnston's Royal Geographical Society expedition to establish a route from Dar es Salaam to Lake Nyasa and Lake Tanganyika. Johnston perished during the trip and it was left to Thomson to take over the leadership. Thomson successfully led the expedition over 3000 miles in 14 months, collecting many specimens and making sundry observations.
[edit] Lake Victoria
In 1883, he embarked on a further Royal Geological Society expedition to explore a route from the eastern coast of Africa to the northern shores of Lake Victoria. British Empire traders were demanding a route that would avoid the fearsome Maasai and the hostile Germans who were competing for trade in the area. The expedition set out a few months behind the rival German expedition of Gustav A. Fischer.
The expedition was again a success demonstating the feasibility of the route and making many important biological, geological and ethnographic observations, though Thomson's attempt to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in a day failed. However, on the return journey, Thomson was gored by a buffalo and subsequently suffered from malaria and dysentry.
[edit] West Africa
Recovered, in 1885, Thomson was employed by the National African Company to forestall German influence in the vicinity of the Niger River.
[edit] Africa is played out ...
In 1886, Thomson returned to the UK to lecture, disillusioned that there were no further opportunities for large-scale exploration in the continent. He was discontented with his life in the UK and struggled to identify new opportunities for exploration. A modest expedition to the Atlas Mountains of Morocco was marred by trouble with porters and local political difficulties.
[edit] South Africa and convalescence
In 1890, Cecil Rhodes employed Thomson to assert the British South Africa Company's claims to 'Zambezia' (later called Rhodesia). Though he made a sequence of important treaties on the trip, his health deteriorated through cystitis, schistosomiasis and pyelo-nephritis.
In 1892, he contracted pneumonia and, seeking the right climate in which to recuperate, spent time in England, South Africa, Italy and France. He died in London.
[edit] Bibliography
[edit] Works by Thomson
- To the Central African Lakes and Back (2 vols., 1881)
- Through Masailand (1883)
- with E. Harris Smith Ulu (2 vols., 1888)
- Travels in the Atlas and Southern Morocco (1889)
- Mungo Park and the Niger (1890)
[edit] Works about Thomson
- Rotberg, R.I. (1971) Joseph Thomson and the exploration of Africa
- Thomson, J.B. (1896) Joseph Thomson: African explorer
