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KILIMANJARO

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Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 792 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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KILIMANJARO , a See also:

great See also:mountain in See also:East See also:Africa, its centre lying in 3° 5' S. and 370 23' E. It is the highest known See also:summit of the See also:continent, rising as a volcanic See also:cone from a See also:plateau of about 3000 ft. to 19,321 ft. Though completely isolated it is but one of several summits which See also:crown the eastern edge of the great plateau of See also:equatorial Africa. About 200 M. almost due See also:north, across the wide expanse of the Kapte and Kikuyu uplands, lies See also:Mount See also:Kenya, somewhat inferior in height and See also:mass to Kilimanjaro; and some 25 m. due See also:west rises the See also:noble mass of Mount Meru. The See also:major See also:axis of Kilimanjaro runs almost east and west, and on it rise the two See also:principal summits, Kibo in the west, Mawenzi (Ki-mawenzi) in the east. Kibo, the higher, is a truncated cone with a nearly perfect See also:extinct See also:crater, and marks a comparatively See also:recent See also:period of volcanic activity; while Mawenzi (16,892 ft.) is the very See also:ancient core of a former summit, of which the crater walls have been removed by denudation. The two peaks, about 7 M. apart, are connected by a See also:saddle or plateau, about 14,000 ft. in See also:altitude, below which the vast mass slopes with great regularity in a typical volcanic See also:curve, especially in the See also:south, to the plains below. The sides are furrowed on the south and east by a large number of narrow ravines, down which flow streams which feed the Pangani and See also:Lake Jipe in the south and the Tsavo tributary of the See also:Sabaki in the east. South-west of Kibo, the Shira See also:ridge seems to be of See also:independent origin, while in the :forth-west a rugged See also:group of cones, of comparatively recent origin, has pouredforth vast See also:lava-flows. In the south-east the regularity of the outline is likewise broken by a ridge See also:running down from Mawenzi. The lava slopes of the Kibo See also:peak are covered to a See also:depth of some 200 ft. with an See also:ice-cap, which, where ravines occur, takes the See also:form of genuine glaciers. The crater walls are highest on the south, three small peaks, uncovered by ice, rising from the rim on this See also:side.

To the central and highest of these, the culminating point of the mountain, the name Kaiser Wilhelm Spitze has been given. The rim here sinks precipitously some 600 ft. to the interior of the crater, which See also:

measures rather over 2000 yds. in See also:diameter, and is in See also:part covered by ice, in part by a See also:bare cone of ashes. On the west the rim is breached, allowing the passage of an important See also:glacier formed from the See also:snow which falls within the crater. See also:Lower down this cleft, which owed its origin to dislocation, is occupied by two glaciers, one of which reaches a lower level (13,800 ft.) than any other on Kilimanjaro. On the north-west three large glaciers reach down to 16,000 ft. Mawenzi peak has no permanent ice-cap, though at times snow lies in patches. The See also:rock of which it is composed has become very jagged by denudation, forming stupendous walls and precipices. On the east the peak falls with great abruptness some 6500 ft. to a vast See also:ravine, due apparently to dislocation and sinking of the ground. Below this the slope is more See also:gradual and more symmetrical. Like the other high mountains of eastern Africa, Kilimanjaro presents well-defined zones of vegetation. The lowest slopes are arid and scantily covered with scrub, but between 4000 and 6000 ft. on the south side the slopes are well watered and cultivated. The See also:forest See also:zone begins, on the south, at about 6500 ft., and extends to 9500, but in the north it is narrower, and in the north-west, the driest See also:quarter of the mountain, almost disappears.

In the alpine zone, marked especially by See also:

tree lobelias and Senecio, flowering See also:plants extend up to 15,700 ft. on the sheltered south-west flank of Mawenzi, but elsewhere vegetation grows only in dwarfed patches beyond 53,000 ft. The See also:special See also:fauna and See also:flora of the upper zone are akin to those of other high See also:African mountains, including Cameroon. The See also:southern slopes, between 4000 and 6000 ft., form the well-peopled See also:country of Chaga, divided into small districts. As the natives believe that the summit of Kilimanjaro is composed of See also:silver, it is conjectured that See also:Aristotle's reference to " the so-called Silver Mountain " from which the See also:Nile flows was based on reports about this mountain. It is possible, however, that the Silver Mountain " was See also:Ruwenzori (q.v.), from whose snow-clad heights several headstreams of the Nile do descend. It is also possible, though improbable, that Ruwenzori and not Kilimanjaro nor Kenya may be the range known to See also:Ptolemy and to the Arab geographers of the See also:middle ages as the Mountains of the See also:Moon. Reports of the existence of mountains covered with snow were brought to See also:Zanzibar about 1845 by Arab traders. Attracted by these reports Johannes Rebmann of the See also:Church Missionary Society journeyed inland from See also:Mombasa in 1848 and discovered Kilimanjaro, which is some 200 M. inland. Rebmann's See also:account, though fully See also:borne out by his colleague Dr See also:Ludwig Krapf, was at first received with great incredulity by professional geographers. The See also:matter was finally set at See also:rest by the visits paid to the mountain by See also:Baron Karl von der Decken (1861 and 1862) and See also:Charles New (1867), the latter of whom reached the lower edge of the snow. Kilimanjaro has since been explored by See also:Joseph See also:Thomson (1883), See also:Sir H. H.

See also:

Johnston (1884), and others. it has been the special study of Dr Hans See also:Meyer, who made four expeditions to it, accomplishing the first ascent to the summit in 1889. In the See also:partition of Africa between the See also:powers of western See also:Europe, Kilimanjaro was secured by See also:Germany (1886) though the first See also:treaties concluded with native chiefs in that region had been made in 1884 by Sir H. H. Johnston on behalf of a See also:British See also:company. On the southern side of the mountain at Moshi is a See also:German See also:government station. See R. See also:Thornton (the geologist of von der Decken's party) in Proc. of See also:Roy. Geog. See also:Soc. (1861–1863) ; Ludwig Krapf, Travels in East Africa (186o) ; Charles New, See also:Life . . . in East Africa (1873) ; Sir J. D.

See also:

Hooker in See also:Journal of Linnean Society (1875) ; Sir H. H. Johnston, The Kilimanjaro Expedition (1886) ; Hans Meyer, Across East African Glaciers (1891); Der Kilimanjaro (See also:Berlin, 1900). Except the last-named all these See also:works were published in See also:London. (E.

End of Article: KILIMANJARO

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