Baker, Sir Samuel White

Baker, Sir Samuel White, 1821–93, English explorer in Africa. He explored the Nile tributaries in Ethiopia in 1861–62. Going up the Nile from Cairo, he reached Gondokoro in 1863. He continued his journey southward in spite of the opposition of Arab slave traders and visited Lake Albert (Albert Nyanza) on Mar. 14, 1864. In 1869, with the authority of the khedive of Egypt, he returned to the region and, creating an administration in the Lado Enclave, he suppressed the slave trade and opened up the lake areas to commerce.