Early Explorers of Libya & The Sahara

Nasamons	Herodotus	G. A. Laing	H. Barth	J. Richardson

Today Libya remains one of the last countries in the world where very little scientific work has been done and as such many archaeologists know Libya as the " undiscovered country " .

Many travellers and early explorers of   Libya were outraged by the Sahara's Tuareg society, in which women attained high position, enjoyed superior status and exercised more authority than Tuareg men and than men in their own countries; and thus, egotistically, were quick to promulgate promiscuity rather than recognise their ancient matriarchal unity. Tuareg men covering their faces when their women do not was like adding a pinch of salt to a painful wound.

North African (Berber) Explorers:

The Nasamons: like some European scholars had pointed out, to say that the Libyan Sahara remained unexplored until the eighteenth century merely means that the Libyan Sahara had not been visited by European explorers and travellers until then. The five Berber Nasamonians of eastern Libyan, according to Herodotus, were the first explorers of the Libyan Sahara and as such were the first northern people known to history to venture into the Sahara desert. The Nasamonians were the sons of chieftains who draw lots for five of their number to explore the Libyan desert and try to penetrate further than had ever been done before.

Hanno (ca 500 - 450 BC): the Periplus of Hanno are considered some of the oldest documents of classical geography, in which the North African Hanno was perceived as the first (known) explorer of west Africa. He started out from Carthage, travelled beyond the Pillars of Hercules into the Atlantic Ocean, and then sailed along the west African coast as far as Senegal. During his travels, he encountered crocodiles and hippopotami, an island by the name of the Western Horn, a large hill called the Chariot of the Gods (a volcano ?), and the Southern Horn, where he met hairy people called gorillas by his interpreters. No one knows exactly where Hanno went or how far he travelled. But upon returning to Carthage, he erected a tablet describing his voyage in the temple of Bel, which did not survive. But in a Greek translation of some of the passages of the document, in which he was mentioned as " king " , Hanno described his crossing of the Pillars of Hercules, and the erection of an altar to Poseidon at Cape Soloeis. The accuracy of the Greek translation, just as the Roman translation of Africanus, was doubtful, as it is difficult to imagine how 30,000 men and women, supposedly travelled with Hanno, would fit in 60 ships.

King Juba (about 2000 years ago): Mauritania's King Juba's expedition went as far west as the Canary Islands.   As complete records from Juba's expeditions did not survive, it is difficult to know if his expedition   did venture south into the Sahara or not.

Al Idrisi (1100 - 1166): unlike other works of his time, al-Idrisi's contemporaries considered al-Idrisi's work as scientific, and many sources say he was heavily influenced by the concepts he borrowed from Ptolemy; much of whose work has came down to us through al-Idrisi's. It was also reported that the Moroccan explorer and geographer al-Idrisi was the first to discover that the river Nile flowed from the equatorial lakes of Africa, long before European explorers re-discovered the source   which they called Lake Victoria (Speke), Lake Albert (Samuel & Florence Baker), and Lake Edward (Stanley). The Moorish (Berber) astrolabe, which was invented around 1067, was used for geographical orientation before the Chinese invented the magnetic needle in 1119.

Ibn Battuta (1304 -1368) spent nearly 30 years exploring the world, travelling across as many as 50 countries in North Africa, Middle East, Turkey, Central Asia, China and India; in which respect he was often mentioned in relation to Marco Polo. His last adventure saw him leave his homeland, Morocco, towards the Sahara and the Kingdom of Mali, with gold-merchant caravans. His travels across the western Sahara desert in ten-day journeys recall the descriptions of Herodotus who often described distances in that manner. His claim of reaching the Far East was disputed as an exaggeration and many say he never reached that far east.

Ibn Khaldoun (1332 -1406) was a North African philosopher, historian, explorer, geographer and politician of great insight into the psychology of human civilisations, who was considered by some sources as the most important figure in historiography. His major work is the Muqaddimah (Introduction, or Outline of History), in which he gave a detailed account of the Berber nations of North Africa. His knowledge of the Berber society and history indicates, without a doubt, his Berber ancestry, although, according to critics, al-Idrisi and al-Bakri were said to have supplied him with most of his material regarding the Berber Sanhaja group.   Ibn Khaldun also used a world history survey by the Christian Paulus Orosius. His monumental 7 volume library remains one of the most valuable sources still available to students of North Africa today.

Leo Africanus (1485 - 1554) is a North Africa Berber geographer,explorer and traveller who explored Africa during the sixteenth century, and wrote a Geographical History of Africa, including a description of the Berber kingdoms and Timbuktu. The proper geography of Africa became known to Europeans only after the publication of his work. Even three centuries later, European geographers continued to draw fancy pictures of wild beasts in unknown places and brown " Africans " and dwarfs in uninhabited zones.   Leo Africanus wrote his book in Arabic, then it was translated into Italian, or, according to some sources, mistranslated into Italian, as during the time his book was written in 1526, and the time it was published in 1550, the book came into the hands of one Jean-Baptiste Ramusio who may have rewrote the entire book; particularly so as the original did not survive. The Italian edition was later translated into English in 1600 by John Pory. Arab sources who also contributed to our knowledge about the Sahara include:  al-Biruni, Ibn Hawqal, Ibn Ali Zar, Ibn Sa'id, Yaqut, al-Bakri, and al-Warraq.

Major European Explorers:

Over the centuries Libya has attracted the curiosity of many foreign explorers and travellers,   particularly in the eighteenth century, when most of the northern and central regions of Africa were still unexplored " by Europeans " . Apparently, the idea behind the expeditions belonged to the British authorities, after receiving reports of the rich countries of Bornu, Hausa, Sokoto, the Niger River, Lake Chad and the Sudan. The reports returned home by   those who survived murder and disease were later proved useful in dividing the spoils.

Herodotus (480s BC - 420s BC), in his Histories, gives one of the earliest descriptions of Libya and Libyan mythology and traditions. His work remains one of the most quoted sources of antiquities about Libya and the Berbers. He  travelled around the eastern Mediterranean,  Mesopotamia, the Black Sea, and  Egypt. His description of North Africa and particularly the Libyans is a mixture of  descriptive geography, history, legend and mythology. This led some critics and scholars to dismiss his work. But given the fact that during his time, when writing was still a new discovery, oral traditions were the primary source of history, which, with time, evolved into myths, legends and tales. Mythology and oral traditions were therefore the only means to keep alive distant memories which otherwise would not survive. And therefore like some historians have pointed out, you need to read Herodotus’ work and extract the historical information you need.

Major Daniel Houghton (1740-1791), his quest was to find Timbuktu; travelling up the Gambia across the Senegal and disappeared around Simbing.

Friedrich Hornemann (1772- 1801), disguised as a muslim merchant, travelled with a caravan from Cairo to Murzuk and then to Lake Chad and Kano. On the 5th of September, 1798, he left for Fezzan in southern Libya and reached Murzuk in safety, where he remained  for a considerable time. He then visited Tripoli, after which he returned to Murzuk and started thence in April, 1800. From that time no information was received directly from him; but Major Denham many years later learned that he had penetrated as far as Nyffe on the Niger, where he fell a victim to disease.

Major Alexander Laing (1793-1826), from Tripoli he crossed the Sahara and reached Timbuktu. he was said to be the first explorer from Europe to reach Timbuktu and also the first to reach Ghadames. In a letter from Timbuktu, dated September 21, he announced his arrival in Timbuktu through Ein Salah on the preceding August the 18th. It was ascertained, from native records, that he was murdered on his way back from Timbuktu on the night of September 26th that same year. Laing’s papers were never recovered, though it is believed that they were secretly brought to Tripoli in 1828.

Major Dixon Denham (1786-1828), Captain Hugh Clapperton (1788-1827) and Doctor Walter Oudney (1786-1828) , in 1822, 1823 and 1824 became among the first Europeans to reach lake Chad. The London African Society set up an expedition to reach Central Africa through Tripoli and the Fezzan region, and was entrusted in the hands of London-born Major Dixon Denham, Dr Walter Oudney and Captain Hugh Clapperton, who had been sent by the British government via Tripoli to the central Sudan. Dixon joined the expedition at Murzuq in the Fezzan. It started in Tripoli in 1822 and eventually reached   Fezzan and Ghat and later Bornu. Dr Oudney was struck dead by tropical fever. Denham had separated himself from the expedition to explore the Shari River, the principal source of Lake Chad; while Clapperton went south and west in an attempt to reach Timbuktu, and he also travelled 1500 miles across the central Sahara from Fezzan to Lake Chad. Denham rejoined Clapperton at a settlement south of Lake Chad and the two eventually returned to Tripoli where they arrived almost three years later, in January 1825, and then to the British capital, where they published: “Narrative of Travels and Discoveries in Northern and Central Africa in the years 1822, 1823 and 1824”.

John Davidson (1797-1836), unlucky explorer who was killed in his way to discover Timbuktu.

William Lucas, Dr Joseph Ritchie (ca 1788 - 1819) and George Francis Lyon (1795 - 1832) were among the first to embark on such an adventure. On April 7, 1819 G. F. Lyon and J. Ritchie dressed as locals and took off on a journey from Tripoli to Sudan. The pair had travelled on the road from Gharian to Beni, and then pressed on towards Sokna, Sabha and Murzuq. On November 20 of the same year, Dr Ritchie died. Lyon wandered across Fezzan before finding his way to Gatron where he is said to have made some astronomic observations, and gathered historic and economic information. However, he had wrongly come to the conclusion that the Niger must enter Lake Chad and then flow on to join the Nile.

Heinrich Barth (1821-1865) was one of the greatest Saharan explorers of all time. He published discoveries, in five volumes, titled Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa, is an account of an Expedition undertaken under the auspices of H.B.M.'s Government in the years 1849-1855, together with the Prussian astronomer A. Overweg and J. Richardson (who also   travelled from Tripoli to Ghadames and Ghat). After the deaths of Richardson (1851) and Overweg (1852) Barth managed to carry on the mission alone, and eventually returned to Europe in September 1855.

James Richardson, In 1845,   in Laing’s footsteps, moved southwards from Tripoli to the Mountain area and then to Ghadames, where he had collected many interesting details about the way of life, customs and traditions of the   Berbers. In December of the same year he proceeded towards Ghat and later to Murzuq. He returned to Tripoli through Sokna and Musratha.

Pere Charles de Foucauld (1858-1916): one of the most important sources on the Berbers and the Sahara. After he became a monk in the Tamenrasset region, and had compiled an important Tuareg dictionary.

Georges Marie Haardt (1884-1932) & Louis Audouin-Dubreuil (1887-1960) were the first explorers who crossed the Sahara by motor car.

Frederick William Beechey (1796 – 1856) was an English naval officer, artist, explorer, hydrographer and author. In 1821, he took part in the survey of the Mediterranean coast of Africa under the direction of Captain William Henry Smyth. Accompanied by his brother Henry they sailed along the Libyan coast from Tripoli Derna; their survey was regarded as an accurate record for the mapping of the region, and they have published a full account of their work in 1828 under the title of “Proceedings of the Expedition to Explore the Northern Coast of Africa from Tripoli Eastward in 1821-1822 " .

Jeremy Keenan: Keenan's recent work remains the sole authority on the Sahara's people the Tuareg, their way of life, and their fast disappearing traditions. His book " The Tuareg people Of Ahaggar " (London, 1977) is the best introduction to the people of the Sahara ever written.

Women Explorers of North Africa:

There are a number of women who challenged their times as well as the Sahara in order to explore the world. Their journeys and accounts are not often explored and most people even do not realise that there were women explorers.   For a comprehensive English bibliography of women travellers and explorers of Africa between 1763 and 2004, please visit the Africabib.org: http://www.africabib.org/book/CONTENTS.htm The following five items were taken from the above bibliography:

Tinling, Marion.  " Grace Gallatin Thompson Seton, 1872-1959. "   (In) Tinling, Marion.  Women Into the Unknown: A Sourcebook on Women Explorers and Travelers.  Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press.  1989.  pp. 249-254.

Betham-Edwards, Matilda.  " Alexandrine Tinne, African Explorer. "   (In) Betham-Edwards, Matilda.  Six Life Studies of Famous Women.  New World Book Manufacturing.  1880.  pp. 41-86. 

Forbes, (Joan) Rosita Torr (British)(1893-1967).  The Secret of the Sahara: Kufara. 

Mott-Smith, May (British)(1879-1952).  Africa From Port to Port.  New York: Van Nostrand.  1930. 

Toy, Barbara (British).  Fool in the Desert: Journeys in Libya.  London: Murray.  1956.  180p.
Toy, Barbara, In Search of Sheba: Across the Sahara to Ethiopia.  London: Travel Club.  1961.  242p.
Toy Barbara, The Way of the Chariots: Niger-River-Sahara-Libya.  London: Murray.  1964.  161p.  (Autobiography).

  Books:

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Free Travel eBooks to Download

Owing to the huge distances separating many of the Libyan sites, driving can sometimes go on for hours. In such situations, an MP3 player or an eBook may save the day. To download a travel eBook now, just head for our Free Download Page   and browse through the small selection of Sahara travel books we currently have from public domain. Our goal is to build a small download library of free Sahara travel ebooks. New titles will be added as we find them. Temehu's current collection includes: Herodotus The Histories; the Great African Travellers by W.H.G. Kingston; The Great Desert of Sahara by James Richardson; and The Great Sahara by H. B. Tristram.