Dane Kennedy discusses two ill-fated British expeditions that aimed to explore the interior of West Africa in the early 19th century, but ended in catastrophe
In the early 19th century, two different British expeditions headed into the interior of West Africa – and both ended in disaster. But what was driving the expeditions, and why were they so ill-prepared? Speaking to Elinor Evans, Dane Kennedy, author of Mungo Park’s Ghost shares the tale of the ill-fated missions, and explores the wider story of British exploration of the continent.
Dane Kennedy is the author of Mungo Park’s Ghost: The Haunted Hubris of British Explorers in Nineteenth-Century Africa (Cambridge University Press, 2024).