Mungo Park

11 September 1771 – c. 1806

Mungo Park (1771-1806) was a Scottish explorer and surgeon, famous for his expeditions to West Africa in search of the course of the Niger River. On his first journey (1795-1797) he became the first Westerner known to have reached the central portion of the Niger, and his book Travels in the Interior of Africa became a classic of exploration literature. He died during a second Niger expedition, believed drowned at the Bussa rapids.

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Life events

Born at Foulshiels near Selkirk, Scotland
11 September 1771

Mungo Park was born on a tenant farm at Foulshiels on the Yarrow Water, the seventh of thirteen children.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Birth ✓
Studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh
1788 – 1791

Park studied medicine and botany at Edinburgh, completing his medical training there.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Sailed to Sumatra as assistant surgeon on the Worcester
1792 – 1793

Through the patronage of botanist Joseph Banks, Park served as assistant ship's surgeon on an East India Company voyage to Benkulen in Sumatra.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Began his first expedition to West Africa for the African Association
1795

Park was selected by the African Association to explore the course of the Niger River and set out from the Gambia River into the interior.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Reached the Niger River at Ségou
20 July 1796

After surviving months of hardship, including imprisonment by a Moorish chief, Park reached the Niger at Ségou and confirmed that it flowed eastward.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Achievement ✓
Published Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa
1799

Park's account of his first expedition was an immediate popular success and made him famous throughout Britain.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Married Allison Anderson and settled as a physician in Peebles
2 August 1799

Park married the daughter of his former surgical master and practiced medicine in the Scottish border town of Peebles.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Departed on a second, government-sponsored Niger expedition
31 January 1805

Park led a large government expedition to trace the Niger to its termination, but disease killed most of the European party before they reached the river.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Died at the Bussa rapids on the Niger River
c. 1806

Park is believed to have drowned in early 1806 when his party was attacked at the Bussa rapids in present-day Nigeria; the exact circumstances remain uncertain.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Death ✓