Hugh Clapperton
Hugh Clapperton - A Famous Scottish Explorer
Hugh Clapperton (1788 - 1827) was born, on May 18, 1788, in Annan, Dumfriesshire, the son of a surgeon. As a child Clapperton had gained some education in practical mathematics, including navigation and trigonometry as his father had placed him under the care of an eminent mathematical tutor, Mr Bryce Downie. At the age of 13 he was apprenticed, to a Mr Smith, of the Postlethwaite of Maryport, a cross-Atlantic ship trading between Liverpool and North America. After a few journeys Clapperton faced ruin after he was caught smuggling a few pounds of rock salt. Faced with a choice between jail or the navy Clapperton chose the later. During his service in the navy he rose to the rank of midshipman.
In 1814 Hugh Clapperton moved to Canada where he was promoted to lieutenant and worked on a schooner on the Canadian lakes. He returned to England in 1817 and, in 1820, he moved to Edinburgh. While there he met the Walter Oudney, the meeting awoke, in Clapperton, a desire to explore Africa.
In 1822 he and and Walter Oudney set sail on a British government expedition, travelling from Tripoli across the Sahara. In 1823 they arrived at Lake Chad, the first Europeans to do so.
Hugh Clapperton was the first European explorer in West Africa, in search of the source of the Nile, to return with an account of Nigeria and one of the first to visit Lake Chad. From there Clapperton explored much of what is now Nigeria. In June 1825 he returned to England and was the first European to return with an account of the region. Not long after arriving home he set off on a second expedition to Africa with the intention of finding the source of the Niger River. Unfortunately he never managed to accomplish this task.
Hugh Clapperton died, of dysentery, on April 13, 1827, near Sokoto in the Fulani Empire.
In 1828 his "Narrative of Travels and Discoveries in Northern and Central Africa in the Years 1822 - 1823, and 1824" was published and, in 1830 " Records of Captain Clapperton's Last Expedition to Africa" was published by Richard Lemon Lander , who had brought back Clapperton's journal.
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