George Grenfell (1849-1906) was an English missionary and explorer. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Year 1849 (MDCCCXLIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... 1906 (MCMVI) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... This article is about the English as an ethnic group and nation. ... For other uses, see Missionary (disambiguation). ... See also explorations, sea explorers, astronaut, conquistador, travelogue, the History of Science and Technology and Biography. ...

Grenfell was born at Sancreed, near Penzance, Cornwall. In 1875 he went as a Baptist missionary to Cameroon, West Africa, with Alfred Saker (1814-80), and thereafter did some exceedingly important work in exploring little-known rivers of the Congo Basin. In 1877 he removed to Victoria and explored the Wuri River and in the following year he ascended Mongo ma Loba Mountain. In 1881, cooperating with the Rev. T. J. Comber and others, he established a chain of missions at Musuko, Vivi, Isangila, Manyanga, and other points, and in 1884, in a small steam vessel, he explored the Congo to the equator. He established headquarters at Arthington, near Leopoldville, in 1884, and launched on Stanley Pool a river steam vessel, the Peace, in which he explored the Kiva, the Kiwango, and the Kasai rivers, discovered the Ruki, or Black River, and ascended the Mubangi for 200 miles (320 km) to Grenfell Falls, at lat. 4° 40' N. In 1885 he explored with Curt von François other tributaries of the Congo, notably the Busira, along which he found the dwarf tribes of the Batwa. In the following year he examined the Kasai, the Sankuru, and the Luebo and Lulua, and made careful records of the Bakuba and Bakete tribes. He was awarded the medal of the Royal Geographical Society for his map of the Congo Basin. In 1891 he was appointed a plenipotentiary for Belgium to delimit the boundary line between the Belgian and Portuguese possessions along the Luanda frontier. He protested to King Leopold against Belgian maladministration in the Congo Free State, but with little effect. Sancreed is a village and civil parish in the Penwith district of Cornwall, England. ... Penzance Harbour and surrounding area as seen from the air Penzance (Cornish: Pensans) is a civil parish and port town in the Penwith district of Cornwall, England, UK. Granted various Royal Charters from 1512 onwards and incorporated in 1614,[2] it has a population of 21,168[1] people and... For other uses, see Cornwall (disambiguation). ... 1875 (MDCCCLXXV) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations · Other religions Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Archbishop of Canterbury · Catholic Pope Coptic Pope · Ecumenical Patriarch Christianity Portal This box:      Baptist is...  Western Africa (UN subregion)  Maghreb[1] West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. ... Monument to Alfred Saker in Limbé Alfred Saker (b. ... Image of Kinshasa and Brazzaville, taken by NASA; the Congo River is visible in the center of the photograph Length 4,380 km Elevation of the source m Average discharge 41,800 m³/s Area watershed 3,680,000 km² Origin Mouth Atlantic Ocean Basin countries Dem. ... 1877 (MDCCCLXXVII) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... The shore at Limbe Limbe (also spelled Limbé) is a city in western Cameroon. ... Year 1881 (MDCCCLXXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Vivi is a town in the Bas-Congo province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. ... Year 1884 (MDCCCLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... World map showing the equator in red In tourist areas, the equator is often marked on the sides of roads The equator marked as it crosses Ilhéu das Rolas, in São Tomé and Príncipe. ... Kinshasa (formerly Léopoldville or, before 1960, also Leopoldstad) is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. ... Year 1884 (MDCCCLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Image of Pool Malebo, as well as the cities of Kinshasa and Brazzaville, taken by NASA The Pool Malebo (formerly Stanley Pool, also seen as Malebo Pool), is a lake-like widening in the lower reaches of the Congo River. ... The Kasai River is a river in central Africa. ... 1885 (MDCCCLXXXV) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Curt von François (1852-1931) was a military and political figure in the early days of German colonialism in Africa. ... The Twa, also known as Batwa, are a pygmy people who were the oldest recorded inhabitants of the Great Lakes region of central Africa. ... Sankuru River (upper right) entering Kasai River, seen from space. ... The Royal Geographical Society is a British learned society founded in 1830 with the name Geographical Society of London for the advancement of geographical science, under the patronage of King William IV. It absorbed the Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa (founded by Sir Joseph... The Congo River (for a time known as Zaire River) is the largest river in Western Central Africa. ... Year 1891 (MDCCCXCI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... The term plenipotentiary (from the Latin, plenus + potens, full + power) refers to, as a noun, a person who has, or as an adjective that confers, full powers. ... Leopold II (Léopold Louis Philippe Marie Victor (French) or Leopold Lodewijk Filips Marie Victor (Dutch) (April 9, 1835 – December 17, 1909) was King of the Belgians. ... Capital Boma Government Monarchy Ruler and owner Leopold II of Belgium Historical era New Imperialism  - Established 1885  - Annexation by Belgium 15 November, 1908 The Congo Free State was a corporate state privately controlled by Leopold II, King of the Belgians through a dummy non-governmental organization, the Association Internationale Africaine. ...

Publications

• Life on the Congo. By W[illiam] Holman Bentley; with an introd. by George Grenfell. London: The Religious tract society, 1887.
• The upper Congo. Geographical Journal, Bd. 20 (1902)

References

• Sir Harry Johnston: George Grenfell and the Congo. 2 Vol., London: Hutchinson, 1908. (A history and description of the Congo Independent State and adjoining districts of Congoland, together with some account of the native peoples and their languages, the fauna and flora; and similar notes on the Cameroons and the island of Fernando Pô, the whole founded on the diaries and researches of the late Rev. George Grenfell, B.M.S., F.R.G.S.; and on the records of the British Baptist Missionary Society; and on additional information contributed by the author, by the Rev. Lawson Forfeitt, Mr. Emil Torday, and others. Reprint, New York: Kraus, 19XX.
• George Hawker: The life of George Grenfell, Congo missionary and explorer. London: The Religious tract society, 1909.
• Shirley J. Dickins: Grenfell of the Congo. Pioneer, missionary, and explorer. London: Sunday School Union, 1910.
• Harry Lathey Hemmens: George Grenfell: pioneer in Congo. London: Student Christian Movement, 1927.

See also George Grenfell For the footballer, see Harry Johnston (footballer). ...

• This article incorporates text from an edition of the New International Encyclopedia that is in the public domain.