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CLAPPERTON, HUGH (1788-1827)

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Originally appearing in Volume V06, Page 423 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CLAPPERTON, See also:HUGH (1788-1827) , Scottish traveller in See also:West-Central See also:Africa, was See also:born in 1788 at See also:Annan, See also:Dumfriesshire, where his See also:father was a surgeon. He gained some knowledge of See also:practical See also:mathematics and See also:navigation, and at thirteen was apprenticed on See also:board a See also:vessel which traded between See also:Liverpool and See also:North See also:America. After having made several voyages across the See also:Atlantic he was impressed for the See also:navy, in which he soon See also:rose to the See also:rank of See also:midshipman. During the See also:Napoleonic See also:wars he saw a See also:good See also:deal of active service, and at the storming of See also:Port See also:Louis, See also:Mauritius, in See also:November 181o, he was first in the See also:breach and hauled down the See also:French See also:flag. In 1814 he went to See also:Canada, was promoted to the rank of See also:lieutenant, and to the command of a See also:schooner on the See also:Canadian lakes. In 1817, when the flotilla on the lakes was dismantled, he returned See also:home on See also:half-pay. In 182o Clapperton removed to See also:Edinburgh, where he made the acquaintance of See also:Walter Oudney, M.D., who aroused in him an See also:interest in See also:African travel. Lieut. G. F. See also:Lyon, R.N., having returned from an unsuccessful See also:attempt to reach See also:Bornu from See also:Tripoli, the See also:British See also:government determined on a second expedition to that See also:country. Dr Oudney was appointed by See also:Lord See also:Bathurst, then colonial secretary, to proceed to Bornu as See also:consul with the See also:object of promoting See also:trade, and Clapperton and See also:Major See also:Dixon See also:Denham (q.v.) were added to the party.

From Tripoli, See also:

early in 1822, they set out southward to Murzuk, and from this point Clapperton and Oudney visited the See also:Ghat See also:oasis. See also:Kuka, the See also:capital of Bornu, was reached in See also:February 1823, and See also:Lake See also:Chad seen for the first See also:time by Europeans. At Bornu the travellers were well received by the See also:sultan; and after remaining in the country till the 14th of See also:December they again set out for the purpose of exploring the course of the See also:Niger. At Murmur, on the road to See also:Kano, Oudney died (See also:January 1824). Clapperton continued his See also:journey alone through Kano to See also:Sokoto, the capital of the See also:Fula See also:empire, where by See also:order of Sultan See also:Bello he was obliged to stop, though the Niger wa.s only five days' journey to the west. Worn out with his travel he returned by way of See also:Zaria and See also:Katsena to Kuka, where he again met Denham. The two travellers then set out, for Tripoli, reached on the 26th of January 1825. An See also:account of the travels was published in 1826 under the See also:title of Narrative of Travels and Discoveries in See also:Northern and Central Africa in the years 1822-1824. Immediately after his return Clapperton was raised to the rank of See also:commander, and sent out with another expedition to Africa, the sultan Bello of Sokoto having professed his eagerness to open up trade with the west See also:coast. Clapperton landed at Badagry in the See also:Bight of See also:Benin, and started overland for the Niger on the 7th of December 1825, having with him his servant See also:Richard See also:Lander (q.v.), See also:Captain See also:Pearce, R.N., and Dr See also:Morrison, navy surgeon and naturalist. Before the See also:month was out Pearce and Morrison were dead of See also:fever. Clapperton continued his journey, and, passing through the Yoruba country, in January 1826 he crossed the Niger at See also:Bussa, the spot where Mungo See also:Park had died twenty years before.

In See also:

July he arrived at Kano. Thence he went to Sokoto, intending afterwards to go to Bornu. The sultan, however, detained him, and being seized with See also:dysentery he died near Sokoto on the 13th of See also:April 1827. Clapperton was the first See also:European to make known from See also:personal observation the semi-civilized See also:Hausa countries, which he visited soon after the See also:establishment of the Sokoto empire by the Fula. In 1829 appeared the See also:Journal of a Second Expedition into the Interior of Africa, &c., by the See also:late Commander Clapperton, to which was prefaced a See also:biographical See also:sketch of the explorer by his See also:uncle, Lieut.-See also:colonel S. Clapperton. Lander, who had brought back the journal of his See also:master, also published Records of Captain Clapperton's Last Expedition to Africa . . . with the subsequent Adventures of the Author (2 vols., See also:London, 1830).

End of Article: CLAPPERTON, HUGH (1788-1827)

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