Cameron, Verney Lovett

Cameron, Verney Lovett (kăm`ərən), 1844–94, English traveler in Africa. A naval officer, he served (1868) in the British expedition against Ethiopia and assisted in the suppression of the East African slave trade. He was sent (1873) by the Royal Geographical Society to relieve Livingstone but, finding him dead, recovered his papers, explored and mapped Lake Tanganyika, and proceeded to the Atlantic, becoming the first European to cross equatorial Africa. His expedition was recorded in Across Africa (1877). In 1882 he explored the Gold Coast with Sir Richard Burton and was coauthor with him of To the Gold Coast for Gold (1883).

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Cameron, Verney Lovett 

Born July 1, 1844, in Radipole, Dorsetshire; died Mar. 27, 1894, in Salisbury. British naval officer, explorer of Central Africa.

Sent to help D. Livingstone, Cameron in March 1873 traveled west from the shore of the Indian Ocean at 6° 30′S way from Zanzibar to Lake Tanganyika he met African companions of Livingstone carrying his remains to the sea. Cameron reached Lake Tanganyika in 1874, explored part of its shores, discovered its western outlet, the Lukuga River, and reached the Lualaba River, which he rightly considered as belonging to the Congo system. He followed the Lualaba southward to approximately 8°S lat., traced the watershed between the basins of the lower Congo and the upper Zambezi, and reached the Atlantic Ocean at 12°30′ S lat. in November 1875. While crossing Africa, Cameron made about 4, 000 altitude measurements, thus initiating the precise study of the relief of Central Africa.

WORKS

Across Africa, vols. 1–2. London, 1885–88.