Gustav Nachtigal.

Gustav Nachtigal (February 23, 1834 - April 20, 1885), German explorer in Central Africa, son of a Lutheran pastor, was born at Eichstädt in the Mark of Brandenburg. After medical study at the universities of Halle, Würzburg and Greifswald, he practised for a few years as a military surgeon. Finding the climate of his native country injurious to his health, he went to Algiers and Tunis, and took part, as a surgeon, in several expeditions into the interior. Commissioned by the king of Prussia to carry gifts to the sultan of Bornu in acknowledgment of kindness shown to German travellers, he set out in 1869 from Tripoli, and succeeded after two years journeyings in accomplishing his mission. During this period he visited Tibesti and Borku, regions of the central Sahara not previously known to Europeans. From Bornu he went to Bagirmi, and, proceeding by way of Wadai and Kordofan, emerged from darkest Africa, after having been given up for lost, at Khartum in the winter of 1874. His journey, graphically described in his Sahara und Sudan (3 vols., 1879-1889), placed the intrepid explorer in the front rank of discoverers. On the establishment of a protectorate over Tunisia by France, Nachtigal was sent thither as consul-general for the German empire, and remained there until 1884, when he was despatched by Prince Otto von Bismarck to West Africa as special commissioner, ostensibly to inquire into the condition of German commerce, but really to annex territories to the German flag, before the British did. As the result of his mission Togoland and Cameroon were added to the German empire. On his return voyage he died at sea off Cape Palmas on the 20th of April 1885, and was buried at Grand Bassam. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (900x1062, 77 KB) German explorer Gustav Nachtigal. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (900x1062, 77 KB) German explorer Gustav Nachtigal. ... February 23 is the 54th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1834 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... April 20 is the 110th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (111th in leap years). ... 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). ... The Lutheran movement is a group of denominations of Protestant Christianity by the original definition. ... Eichstädt is a town in Brandenburg, Germany. ... Surrounding but excluding the national capital Berlin, Brandenburg is one of Germanys sixteen Bundesländer (federal states). ... Halle (also called Halle an der Saale in order to distinguish from Halle in North Rhine-Westphalia) is the largest town in the German Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt. ... Würzburg is a city in the region of Franconia which lies in the northern tip of Bavaria, Germany. ... Greifswald in Germany Ernst Moritz Arndt University of Greifswald is located in Greifswald, Germany, between the Islands Rügen and Usedom, and is the second oldest university in Northern Europe. ... Nickname: al-Bahjah Location of Algiers within Algeria Algiers 944 A.D. Area    - City 273 km² Population    - City (2003) around 2. ... The following is a list of Kings of Prussia (Könige von Preußen) from the Hohenzollern family. ... Sultan (Arabic: سلطان) is an Islamic title, with several historical meanings. ... The Kanem-Bornu Empire existed in Africa, established around 1200 and lasting, in a changed form, until the 1840s. ... Tripoli (Arabic: طرابلس Tarābulus) is the capital city of Libya. ... Categories: Africa geography stubs | Mountain ranges | Stratovolcanoes | Hotspot volcanoes | Mountains of Chad | Volcanoes of Chad ... Borku, or Borgu, a region of Central Africa between 17 and 19 N. and 18 and 21 E., forming part of the transitional zone between the arid wastes of the Sahara and the fertile lands of the central Sudan. ... The Ouaddai Kingdom was an originally non-Muslim kingdom, located to the east of Lake Chad in present-day Chad. ... Kordofan is a former province of central Sudan. ... Khartoum (in Arabic, al-Khartûm: الخرطوم, meaning elephant trunk) is the capital of Sudan, at the point where the White Nile coming from Uganda meets the Blue Nile coming from Ethiopia. ... Motto: Gott mit Uns (German: God with us”) Anthem: Heil dir im Siegerkranz (unofficial) Territory of the German Empire in 1914, prior to World War I   Capital Berlin Language(s) German (official) Polish (Posen, Upper Silesia, Masuria) French (Alsace-Lorraine) Government Constitutional monarchy Emperor  - 1871-1888 William I  - 1888 Frederick... Bismarck redirects here. ... Togoland was a German protectorate in West Africa. ... Harper, also known as Cape Palmas, is the capital of Maryland County in Liberia. ... Grand-Bassam is a city in Côte dIvoire, lying east of Abidjan. ...

Gustav Nachtigal remains the other great German explorer in Africa, second only to Heinrich Barth (1821-1865). Like his predecessor Nachtigal was mainly interested in ethnography and additionally in tropical medicine. His works stand out because of their wealth of details and above all because of the traveller's unbiased views on Africans. In contrast to most contemporary explorers he did not believe in the alleged inferiority of Africans, which is clearly reflected in his descriptions and even in his choice of words. He had witnessed slave hunts performed by African rulers and the cruelties inflicted on other Africans. The horror that he felt about these atrocities made him enter the colonial service because he naively believed that European domination of Africa might stop slave hunting and slave keeping. Heinrich Barth (1821-1865), German explorer, was born at Hamburg on February 16, 1821, and educated at Berlin University, where he graduated in 1844. ...

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

• Gustav Nachtigal - ein deutscher Forscher und Afrika (Manuscript of speech held at the Togo Exhibition at Düsseldorf 1986. - In German only), Peter Kremer.
• Die Forschungsreisenden, in, Cornelius Trebbin & Peter Kremer, Die Tuareg. Düsseldorf 1985.