ࡱ > N P M U@ bjbj C 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 J r r r 8 J j f h h h h h h $ Q" R $ B 6 F @ @ 6 6 R % % % 6 6 f % f % % ; h 6 6 0-&H4 r R 0 $ " $ J J 6 6 6 6 $ 6 t , % t M J J N $ J J N Exploration in Mid-Victorian Britain Politics The history of the government policy on British involvement in Africa and the character of the official mind that directed it has long been the subject of debate for historians. The formal acquisition of territory was only one way through which British interests in Africa could be secured; it was frequently a last resort, designed to thwart the ambitions of other European powers or avert some immediate military or political threat. Commercial and financial interests, notably in the City of London, were a strong influence on British policy abroad, leading to selective intervention where conditions for trade were promising. London Missionary Society The Society was founded in 1795 and by the time Livingstone joined in 1838, it had a worldwide network of missions in every continent, including South Africa. British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society This Society was founded in 1839, and was dedicated to the suppression of slavery worldwide, following its abolition in the British Empire in 1833. Building on a generation of campaigners against the slave trade, it co-ordinated a worldwide network of correspondents detailing developments in its journal, the Anti-Slavery Reporter. Although critical of some of the effects of European expansion on indigenous peoples, the campaigners shared many of the prejudices of the day concerning race and culture. The abolition of slavery offered one of the most moral justifications for the Scramble for Africa in the late nineteenth century. Royal Geographical Society Founded in 1830, it served as a kind of information exchange for explorers, soldiers, administrators and naturalists. It provided intelligence and advice for a range of government departments. Its map room was a frequent source of information for the military. David Livingstone dedicated his bestselling Missionary Travels to Sir Roderick Murchison who was President of the RGS for much of the mid-nineteenth century. During his presidency, the RGS developed into one of the popular and fashionable scientific societies in London. For the public, the RGS was closely associated with exploration and travel. The Society published a guide on how to conduct expedition, called Hints to Travellers. It loaned surveying and photographic equipment to explorers and sometimes trained them in its use. It sponsored expeditions and the geographical knowledge brought back by explorers enabled territories to be evaluated, frontiers to be drawn up, wars to be fought and peoples to be conquered. Maps of Africa Maps of Africa became symbols of British missionary, scientific and imperial endeavour during the nineteenth century. No meeting concerning Africa whether to promote missionary activity, to debate the location of rivers and lakes, or to contemplate imperial schemes was complete without a large map of the continent. Popular exhibitions designed to celebrate the British achievements in Africa were filled with maps of all kinds, showing the progress of European knowledge of the continent and the extent of British influence. But at the same time, the rhetoric of darkest Africa of central Africa as a region of disease, superstition and timelessness was becoming more established in the popular mind. One critic has said that Africa grew dark, as Victorian explorers, missionaries and scientists flooded it with light. Each explorer into the African interior colonised a new piece of territory, opening it up for others to follow. One HYPERLINK "http://www.unlockingthearchives.rgs.org/themes/encounters/gallery/resource/?id=323" Map of African Literature published by Winwood Reade in 1873, the year of Livingstones death, showed the white spaces of the continent being gradually colonised by the names of European explorers, Livingstones being the most prominent of all. Source: Felix Driver, Geography Militant, Cultures of Exploration and Empire, (Blackwell, 2001) ' ( ) 2 m 5 i { - I J K ƹxmWx *j h h 6CJ OJ QJ U h 6CJ OJ QJ j h 6CJ OJ QJ U h >*CJ OJ QJ h CJ OJ QJ hQt h 6CJ OJ QJ hQt h >*CJ OJ QJ hQt h CJ OJ QJ .j hS CJ OJ QJ UaJ mH nH sH u hQt h 5CJ OJ QJ hS j hS UmH nH sH u ' ) 2 l m 5 Q R , - r s A B C gd $a$gd $a$gdS K d e f Y ĸ hG j hG UmH nH sH u h CJ OJ QJ aJ hQt h CJ OJ QJ hQt h 6CJ OJ QJ j h 6CJ OJ QJ U h h 0J 6CJ OJ QJ gd9 . A!"#$% n GyIm*PNG IHDR . ) sRGB pHYs ~ |IDATx^e]p@C;}n/uq欮NILF#'HD 'ܥ[7=Oy"$@"'tح8#?HD Hڂ@בFءCǞu4:@"$͌@F;EGt>jqfCf#Ǟ$@";U>#c$@"дgiz5mS6-"9D HV{>[NaÆaO_%@"$T}&c.QwE?}4lD-HD eI{;kQ-kg/cB$@"дt<(cL. B6G<2~o2x@ӢOD9`at5^ϱҽw#Q߾囷3:/G$@!С{~7fz_raQ$M`7HfA=[ϱjIsDC