Georg August Schweinfurth
Published: 1878
Total Pages: 346
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Schweinfurth was a German botanist and ethnologist, sent in 1868 by the Humboldt-Stiftung of Berlin on "an important scientific mission to the interior of East Africa." He travelled from Khartoum up the White Nile to Bahr-el-Ghazal and then through the regions inhabited by the Diur, Dinka, Bongo and Niam-Niam peoples; "crossing the Congo-Nile watershed he entered the country of the Mangbetu ... and discovered the river Uele ... which by its westward flow he knew was independent of the Nile." This discovery was "his greatest geographical achievement." He also did much to elucidate the hydrography of the Bahr-el-Ghazal system. "Of greater importance were the very considerable additions he made to the knowledge of the inhabitants and of the flora and fauna of Central Africa. He described in detail the cannibalistic practices of the Mangbetu, and his discovery of the pygmy Akka settled conclusively the question as to the existence of dwarf races in tropical Africa."--Wikipedia.
