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THOMSON, JOSEPH (1858-1895)

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Originally appearing in Volume V26, Page 875 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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THOMSON, See also:JOSEPH (1858-1895) , Scottish explorer in See also:Africa, was See also:born on the 14th of See also:February 1858 at Penpont, See also:Dumfries-See also:shire, being the fifth son of See also:William Thomson, originally a working stonemason, who had attained the position of a See also:master, builder. In 1868 his See also:father removed to Gatelawbridge, where he rented a See also:farm and a See also:quarry. Joseph Thomson was soon attracted by the See also:geological formation and See also:historical associations of See also:Nithsdale. For a See also:short See also:time he worked in his father's quarry. In 1875 he went to See also:Edinburgh University, where he paid particular See also:attention to See also:geology and See also:botany, and after completing his course in 1878 he was appointed geologist and naturalist to the Royal See also:Geographical Society's expedition to See also:East Central Africa under See also:Keith See also:Johnston. The latter died at Behobeho, between the See also:coast and the See also:north end of See also:Lake See also:Nyasa, on the 28th of See also:June 1879, and Thomson then took command. Though only twenty-one his coolness and tact were remarkable, and he successfully conducted the expedition across the desolate region of Uhehe and Ubena to the north end of Lake Nyasa, and then by a hitherto unexplored track to Lake See also:Tanganyika, where he investigated the See also:moot question of the Lukuga outlet. From Tanganyika he started to reach the See also:Congo, but troubles with his See also:carriers, who dreaded the warlike Warua, obliged him to retrace his steps. Going See also:round the See also:south end of Tanganyika he discovered Lake See also:Rukwa, whence he marched via Tabora to the coast at See also:Bagamoyo, reaching See also:London in See also:August 1880. In the following See also:year he published an See also:account of his travels under the See also:title To the Central See also:African Lakes and Back. About this time the See also:sultan of See also:Zanzibar, being anxious to develop certain supposed See also:coal beds on the See also:river See also:Rovuma, was advised to obtain See also:independent See also:expert See also:opinion as to their value. Application was made to Thomson, who undertook to survey them, and started from Mikindani, on the 17th of See also:July 1881.

The coal, however, turned out to be merely bituminous shale, and Thomson, on his return to Zanzibar, had to endure much delay and vexation through the sultan's chagrin. For a considerable time the explorer had directed his attention to Masailand, a region of East Africa occupied by a powerful tribe of warriors who had a reputation for savagery and intractability somewhat greater than their actions warranted. Through their territory ran the shortest route from the See also:

sea to the headwaters of the See also:Nile. In 1882 the Royal Geographical Society took up the question, and requested Thomson to See also:report on the practicability of taking a See also:caravan through the See also:Masai See also:country, which no See also:European had yet been able to penetrate beyond Mt See also:Kilimanjaro. By undaunted courage and See also:great resourcefulness he succeeded in See also:crossing the Njiri See also:desert and exploring the eastern rift-valley. Thence he went with a picked See also:company through Laikipia to Mt See also:Kenya and Lake See also:Baringo, afterwards traversing the unknown region lying between Baringo and See also:Victoria See also:Nyanza, reached on the loth of See also:December 1883. On his way back he visited Mt See also:Elgon and discovered there a See also:series of wonderful caves. The account of this adventurous See also:journey appeared in 1884, under the title of Through Masailand, and it is a classic in See also:modern travel. The hardships and anxieties attendant on such a career began to tell upon Thomson's exceptionally See also:hardy constitution, but in 1885 he undertook an expedition to See also:Sokoto for the See also:National African (afterwards the Royal See also:Niger) Company, and succeeded in obtaining the signatures of the sultans of Sokoto and See also:Gando to See also:treaties with which he had been entrusted by the company, treaties which did much to secure See also:British interests in See also:Nigeria. In 1888, by way of recreation, he travelled through See also:southern See also:Morocco and explored a portion of the See also:Atlas range, and published the results in the following year, under the title Travels in the Atlas and Southern Morocco. In 1890 he entered the service of the British South Africa Company and in that and the following year, starting from See also:Quilimane he traversed the region between lakes Nyasa and See also:Bangweulu and the See also:Zambezi. It was a See also:period of great tension between the Portuguese and the British, and Thomson's party on leaving the Portuguese frontierwas fired on by the Portuguese who, too See also:late, realized that they had allowed a treaty-making See also:envoy to pass through their territory in the See also:guise of a peaceful trader.

Thomson concluded treaties with native potentates which gave to the Chartered Company See also:

political, trading and See also:mining rights over a large See also:part of the See also:district since known as North-East See also:Rhodesia. This journey, in which he covered nearly a thousand See also:miles of hitherto unexplored country, proved disastrous to a constitution already undermined. In 1893 he visited South Africa in See also:search of See also:health, but unavailingly. He died in London on the and of August 1895. The accounts of his travels not recorded in the books mentioned were published in magazines or in the Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society. Thomson was the last, as he was one of the most successful, of the great geographical pioneers in Africa. He had an extraordinarily keen topographical See also:instinct which enabled him to comprehend at a glance the natural features of the countries he traversed. To undaunted courage and promptness of decision he added a forbearing and patient disposition. " Joseph Thomson," wrote See also:Sir Clements See also:Markham, " had the high and glorious distinction of never having caused the See also:death of a native. This is a See also:proof of very rare qualities in the See also:leader of an expedition, and places him in the very first See also:rank of explorers." Besides the accounts of his own travels Thomson wrote, in collaboration with See also:Miss E. See also:Harris See also:Smith, Ulu (London, 1888), a novel based on his insight into the working of the African mind, Mungo See also:Park and the Niger (London, 189o), a See also:sound See also:critical See also:biography and many See also:magazine articles on African politics. See Joseph Thomson, African Explorer (London, 1896), a biography by his See also:brother, the Rev.

J. B. Thomson, which contains a See also:

list of the published writings of the explorer.

End of Article: THOMSON, JOSEPH (1858-1895)

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