River of the Gods: Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile by Candice Millard
Having read Alan Moorehead’s best-selling books, The Blue Nile and The White Nile at an impressionable age, I have always been fascinated by the story of the Europeans’ exploration of the Nile River and its environs. Published in the early 1960s, Moorehead’s books are probably dated, but at the time I loved them. (The fold out maps were an especially fun feature!)
Less comprehensive than Moorehead’s books, Candice Millard’s River of the Gods: Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile, concerns just two expeditions sponsored by the Royal Geographical Society of London between 1856-1863.
The leaders of the first expedition were the author, adventurer, and polyglot Richard Francis Burton (1821-1890) and the aristocratic John Hanning Speke (1827-1864), a soldier and big-game hunter. Instead of following the Nile upstream to its headwaters, a trip no European had successfully completed, Burton and Speke traveled cross country from Africa’s east coast near the island of Zanzibar.
With 100 porters, guides, guards, two cooks, donkeys, gifts for trade, surveying equipment, guns, and much more, the expedition moved at a glacial pace. The varied terrain included a 7,000-foot mountain range, dense jungle, open grassland, and deep bogs. The Europeans were frequently violently ill, but the locals sickened and died as well. Attacks by large animals such as lions and elephants were a risk, but the continent was abuzz with deadly insects too. Adding to the overall stressful experience was the fact that the explorers didn’t really know where they were going. Furthermore, with their vastly different temperaments and experience, Burton and Speke argued constantly.
Against all odds, Burton and Speke successfully reached their destination, Lake Tanganyika (Sea of Ujiji), which is not the source of the Nile but an enormous fresh water lake.
With Burton too sick to travel further, Speke and their native guide, the formerly enslaved Sid Mubarak Bombay, traveled with a small entourage to the southern tip of Lake Victoria (Nyanza), located northeast of Lake Tanganyika. With limited food, supplies, and equipment, Speke had to turn back before he gave the lake more than a cursory glance.
Speke was convinced that he had discovered the source of the Nile, which with more luck than skill, he had. But Burton, undeniably jealous, correctly countered that without having circumvented the lake it was unclear whether it flowed into the Nile or was another inland lake like Tanganyika. The two men became bitter enemies, and their feud was fought in the newspapers, in the offices of the RGS, and in academic circles. The more charismatic Burton usually came out on top.
To support his claim, Speke set out on another expedition with the modest James Grant as his second in command. The two explored the western shore of Lake Victoria, adding credence to Speke’s theory. Speke, however, was not a compelling or disciplined writer, unlike Burton who churned out hundreds of precise pages with ease. Speke’s articles and book were riddled with errors, which undermined his accomplishments. The two rivals continued to snipe at each other until the day before a scheduled public debate with Burton, Speke died by suicide. Sadly, he is best remembered for his well-known racist views rather than his African journeys.
After Speke’s death, Burton joined the Diplomatic Service and traveled extensively in Equatorial Guinea, Brazil, Damascus, and Trieste. A scholar at heart (albeit a combative one), he wrote numerous books and articles and translated Arabic texts. In 1886, he was given a knighthood, although by then he was largely forgotten except in academic circles.
More than a decade after Burton and Speke’s first expedition, Lake Victoria was confirmed as the source of the Nile by the American journalist Henry Morton Stanley, who also famously “found” missionary Dr. David Livingstone. His lead guide was Sid Mubarak Bombay.
A fascinating read of courage, colonialism, and hubris.
WHO WROTE IT
Candice Millard is the author of The New York Times bestsellers The River of Doubt, Destiny of the Republic, and Hero of the Empire.
WHAT OTHER REVIEWERS SAY
The New York Time Book Review: “A lean, fast-paced account of the almost absurdly dangerous quest by [Richard Burton and John Speke] to solve the geographic riddle of their era.”