Hugh Clapperton


1788 - 1827

Explorer. Born in Annan (Dumfries and Galloway), the son of a surgeon, Clapperton served in both the merchant fleet and the navy, travelling to India and Canada. He was Invited by the Admiralty to take part in an expedition which sought the source of the River Niger, which had been partially explored by Mungo Park (1796). Clapperton reached Lake Chad in 1823, which was the source of one of the Niger's major tributaries. He vied with Alexander Laing (1793 - 1826) in the race for Timbuktu. On a second expedition to the same area, he died of fever near Sokoto (Nigeria). His travelling companion returned with records of the expedition which were published as the Journal of a Second Expedition into the Interior of Africa (1829).


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